Bar Prep Is Overwhelming: Making Independent Choices for Yourself

You have questions about the bar exam. How to study. When to study. Whether you’re on the right track. Picking the right bar prep supplements.

But do you want the “best” answers. Or is certainty what you’re really looking for? Someone to just tell you what the hell to do?

That’s where the danger lies in the landscape of bar prep. Everyone who passed is suddenly a “tutor” who can teach you their secrets. You shop around and yet end up where you started.

There are no secrets, and there are a million ways to pass. You have it in you already. It’s always been up to you to make them work for you.

Sounds scary but also freeing, right?

Sure, you could use some support from others, but I want to encourage you to listen to yourself a little more instead of blindly doing what someone else says you “need” to do… Not just with bar prep but with everything else.

But it’s all so overwhelming… 

Examples of frequently asked questions:

• Which course/program should I take?
• “Any tips” for the MBE/essays/passing the bar?
• Should I get AdaptiBar or UWorld?
• Which outline should I get?
• I’m a retaker. What do I do now? ThOuGhTs?

X or Y? A vs B?

Analysis paralysis keeps you from doing anything at all. (Plus, you can find answers on my blog if you want my thoughts.)

It’s good to get various opinions, but waiting for perfect knowledge before you act can make you LESS certain. Unless they know your situation, advice is often just a reflection of their own situation and agenda.

Bar prep is personal.

If you want to make the wrong decision, listen to everyone. Debate over conflicting views. Ask question after question and don’t do anything with the answers.

Oftentimes, you already know the answer! But maybe you just want to vent or have someone validate you in this time of uncertainty.

Instead, I want to empower you to make your own independent choices about what makes sense for you (and be confident about them).

How to make decisions about bar prep (supplements and advice) when you’re overwhelmed

Again, it’s good to do your due diligence. It’s part of making a decision. But let me offer some suggestions to narrow down that process:

1️⃣ Part of getting good answers is asking questions well.

There’s a difference between these examples:

“I failed the [unspecified state] bar exam. Do you have any tips for improving?”

• No background information, forcing the other person to probe or give a useless answer
• No regard for the other’s time and attention, probably a Google-able question
• Vague and overbroad enough to be struck down if it were a regulation of speech

“Thanks for this great email as always! I learned XYZ. But I have a question about X that I couldn’t seem to find an answer to.

Here’s my history with bar exams (first timer/repeating the XX state exam). I struggle with ABC. I have these resources.

What would you do in my shoes? Thanks again, no rush and no worries if you can’t get to it.”

• Appreciative, easy to respond to (Hint: Busy people don’t answer questions in the order received)
• High regard for other’s attention, has already done due diligence
• Specific but concise

If you want vague or overwhelming answers (aka useless answers that waste everyone’s time), ask vague questions that took 5 seconds to dictate to your iPhone. Might as well use ChatGPT.

If you want thoughtful answers, ask thoughtful questions. Quality of output ∝ quality of input.

Thinking about the reader is useful in your essays, career, and everyday life.

2️⃣ If you need structure, any major course will “work” (but I’m not a fan of Kaplan).

It’s not about which tennis racquet you use against Serena Williams that’ll make the difference. It’s your technique with the racquet.

A course is a supplement, not a default.

If you use a course, know how to use it properly so that you’re learning from it.

3️⃣ Curate advice as well, not just tools.

There’s a cost to getting 100 different recommendations and joining every free workshop and study group:

You’re lowering the signal-to-noise ratio. How are you going to decide which advice to use? You get even more confused.

Pick and stick to sources of advice you can trust. Your biggest bottleneck is your attention.

4️⃣ Our minds play a trick on us where we think that the more extreme an action is, or the more we pay for something, the more we think it’ll change things.

It’s still on you. See 2️⃣.

Are you paying for the feeling of relief and reassurance?

5️⃣ No one can teach you. You can only learn.

You could have a gym trainer but see no changes because you don’t actually exert yourself through the motions and keep the same shit diet at home.

You could have a therapist and not see any changes because you’re unwilling to change your thoughts.

Of course, like anything else, there are good ones and ones who aren’t a good fit for you.

There’s a lot of advice out there. The question is how you can implement it in your specific situation. Take what you can use, and leave the rest.

There’s no such thing as the “best,” only what is a fit for you. Instead of agonizing over the “best” resource or the “best” teacher, you should be concerned about how YOU can be a good student. Successful students apply the advice they do get instead of waiting for the advice they want to hear.

I’ve already curated some tools and approaches that have worked for me and many others. There’s no way for me to guarantee an outcome, but I can help you weigh the outcomes.

If you try something and it doesn’t work, great. Elimination is one way to progress. Cross it off the list, and try another. This is how you figure out what works for you.

Ultimately, bar preparation is a self-study endeavor. Tools, courses, and supplements are simply there to support that.

Put another way, you’re the dean of your own studies. Here’s how to fix 4 common mindsets that hold you back from being an effective dean.