Tactics Archives | Page 2 of 4 | Make This Your Last Time

January 13, 2024March 18, 2024 - 1 Comment

Lessons Learned from Failing the Bar Exam (Live Workshop Replay)

I did a live workshop + Q&A with Doreen Benyamin (host of “Before You Take the LSAT”) on what I wish I had known on my first attempt at the bar exam.

This was a fire conversation! I’m happy to share that the recording is now available as a podcast episode (links and handout below).

It’s been edited down to 48 minutes long. But you’re not here to dilly dally. So here’s some social proof from other people who already spent the time:

"I found you from Doreen’s Benyamin’s zoom a few weeks ago and I appreciated your insight. I’m in crunch time and I’m hoping your Magicsheets and Approsheets will get be over the hump. I’m obviously very nervous and worried that I haven’t dedicated enough time to this but I look forward to going over your sheets!"

Hopefully this forced a suggestion in your mind that maybe it’s worth a click.

Not sorry in the least. I know it’ll be worth at least a few seconds of your time, so it’s my obligation to share it with you.

If you’re in the middle of preparing for the bar exam, this is a great time to calibrate how you’re doing in your studies.

The episode covers:

Philosophies for effective bar prep
What moves the needle in bar prep
Optimizing for learning vs optimizing for performance
How to spend the last month of studying (including sample schedules in the Handout linked below)
Memorizing
Motivation and confidence
Q&A (tons more Q&A and goodies in the Handout)

Listen on Spotify:

Listen on YouTube:

And a message from Doreen:

Handout linked above. Magicsheets samples here.

I’m eternally grateful to Doreen for making this happen and for her hard work putting this together for us.

Please show her some support:

Play the episode.
Share the Spotify or YouTube link above (or this page) with a bar taker you care about.
Tell us your takeaways or what you want to see in the future, by commenting on the YouTube video or below.

February 10, 2023June 2, 2026 - 4 Comments

Using AI (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) to Learn the Law for the Bar Exam

A bar taker asked me to explain supplemental jurisdiction with an example. At 1:27 in the morning.

The problem: When someone asks me to explain some law, I have to go research it (just like they should have in the first place).

I have to make sense of it theoretically and look at examples and hypos. How are we supposed to memorize (and use) the rule without understanding it?

This takes time and mental processing. I don’t have the energy especially this late at night. Plus, I’m not a tutor, and people for some reason seem to think they can ask me random questions about supplemental jurisdiction instead of the tutor they might be paying thousands of dollars for (but I have a soft spot for people struggling with this death ritual).

Yet I was able to send her a response at 1:36 AM (9 minutes later)—without having a working knowledge of supplemental jurisdiction, and without flipping through outlines or Googling hypos.

How? I’ll show you below. (With examples using supplemental jurisdiction, Contracts remedies, the rule against perpetuities, hearsay, and more.)

Try this idea if you’re also tired of yourself being stuck and not understanding a bar exam rule.

June 18, 2022February 23, 2025 - 1 Comment

What to Do in the Final Month of Bar Prep (“I’ve fallen into the trap of relying on what Barbri tells me to do”)

A question about what to do in the final month of bar prep after sitting through Barbri:

“I have fallen in the trap of relying on what Barbri tells me to do. I am 200 hours in and have watched all the videos for the 7 main MBE sections. I know basics, but I feel vastly unprepared to tackle this exam and kind of hopeless. Now that I have your materials, do you have any advice on what I can do to master all this material will four weeks left? Sitting through hours of lectures did nothing for me. Thank you so much for preparing all these materials.”

Sound familiar?

The Plan isn’t working. Panic sets in, and cold sweat oozes down your unkempt hair.

First off, this understandable and common. Still, in years past, many people have made it out in the final month and even in the final two weeks.

So right off the bat, know that you can do this (as cliché as it sounds). You are capable. And you will make it out, even if you don’t believe so right now. You have to make it out, to be exact.

No pressure, right? The thing to do right now to regain your sanity is to take stock of what you need to do and have at least a rough idea of what to do from here. Create a plan of attack if you don’t have one yet.

Here are some areas to prioritize and some pointers on how to spend the remaining few weeks (and when to stop relying on notes for closed-book practice):

June 1, 2022February 23, 2025 - No Comments

How to Study for the Bar Exam While Working Full Time

Studying for the bar exam is no easy feat. It takes a lot of time, energy, and focus to make it happen. But if you’re juggling work on top of all that studying, it can feel even more overwhelming.

Preparing for the bar exam is costly not just in time but also financially (and mentally, and emotionally, and…). If no one else is supporting you or your family, then you’re probably working and cramming your studies, if you even have the energy left. Yikes, even the thought of that is dreadful.

But other bar takers have done it. And they were able to blow the exam out of the water. How did they balance a job and studying for the bar exam? It’s not impossible to do both at the same time, but it does require some creativity and discipline.

The first thing to keep in mind is that constraints force you to get creative and focus on what moves the needle. You’re not going to have much time or attention to waste on stuff like sitting still like a statue while the lecturer rambles for 4 hours. So you gotta make the most of your time.

This can be a blessing in disguise because you won’t be wasting time. Let me share some tactics for studying efficiently while working full time, with examples from past bar passers.

October 26, 2020January 2, 2026 - 3 Comments

What do REAL bar takers think of the remote/online bar exam? And their advice on how to study for an online bar exam

The bar exam world changed in 2020.

It became possible to take the bar exam remotely—from anywhere on the planet—thanks to the miracle of high-speed Internet. It’s the bandwidth revolution! The Great Reset!

But with new ideas come poo-poo-ers.

People were complaining about how it won’t work, they’re going to spy on us through the camera, there aren’t any bathroom breaks in the middle of a session, there will be tech issues, there are hackers, people will cheat, it’s too complicated, etc.

Some of it DID happen.

Some of it was preventable by bar takers (like remembering to go to the restroom beforehand).

People are calling for remote bar exams to be abandoned, proposing alternative formats, cutting multiple choice questions and making essays open book, and suggesting diploma and license privilege.

They are all valid concerns.

But just because something is uncertain or new doesn’t mean it’s always bad. (Remember when people complained when Facebook kept changing its interface and got used to it within a day?)

I don’t do doom and gloom here. Examples: