Abel passed the 2023 July California Bar Exam on his first try, after he’s had enough of his bar prep course.
I’ll keep this one short since you have eggnog to drink and I’m in Cancun on vacation.
But this success story still emphasizes important messages for your success on this exam.
Here are 2 pieces of advice from 2 different mentors that made an impact on Abel and his success.
1) You don’t understand something unless you can teach it
Like Jared from last week, Abel used his own unique approach to learning. That was to teach himself by pretending he was teaching others.
Albert Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.” Can you ELI5 (explain like I’m 5)?
That’s because teaching something is a sign that you understand it (correctly or not). You could know just enough to be dangerous, but it’s at least a start. And if you can’t teach, then you for sure don’t know enough.
💬 “My boss always tells me that the best way to truly become comfortable with any subject is to teach it, and I don’t think he could be more correct. You cannot teach something unless you can explain it, and you cannot explain unless you understand.”
More specifically, he would talk out loud to himself and imaginary people in a class.
(I talk out loud to my cat and no one in particular all the time! Wait, that’s not strange, is it…?)
💬 “When approaching a sheet, I would read the entire thing out loud to myself, two times. I would then read it in my head a third time. Then, the last thing I would do is pretend I was up in front of a lectern, teaching an overview of whatever particular subject I was working on, without looking at the sheet or anything else.”
It was like he was a professor, taking questions and explaining concepts. The exercise was that he should be able to explain if he understood.
💬 “I would pace around my room, talking aloud, answering imaginary questions from imaginary students and explaining concepts and issues as if I really had to explain them.”
Of course, talking to himself wasn’t the only thing he did. He shied away from someone else’s structure and would BEGIN.
💬 “Whenever I’d go to start a timed essay, I’d look over the relevant sheet once. And then begin. . . . In short, I treated the sheets as my own little personal pocket constitution, pulling them out whenever and wherever I felt I needed them. And I think that made all the difference. As soon as I got away from the ‘structured’ study program, and began studying on my own, everything began to click.”
This independent “trust yourself” (vs. “trust the process”) approach was based on this next piece of advice…
2) Take control of your studies (ditch your prep course if you want)
Your bar prep course may not be the holy grail.
💬 “Some days I felt I could do way more than Themis wanted to. Other days I was sleeping-walking through lectures and fill-in outlines with zero retention.”
It’s good for a general introduction and a structure you can feel free to use or deviate from.
“I can…?” Yes, friend, what’s in the course is just a suggestion. Use it the way it will benefit you.
Just because you paid a ton of money to stream videos in 4K doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll make you confident or become an expert.
💬 “Prior to purchasing MagicSheets, I did not stray from Themis at all. I diligently completed every task, every day, up until about a month prior to the exam. I was at about maybe 60/65% completion percentage at that point. But let’s just say I didn’t feel particularly confident. It’s not that I wasn’t scoring well, it was more that I felt somewhat directionless.”
Rather, you become an expert by DOING. See point 1 above.
Sometimes this means you free yourself from the captivity of your bar prep course, especially if you’re a repeater.
You don’t need to ditch it like Abel eventually did (just use the course properly). But it helps to be free from things you “need” to do (like going through the motions to fill in a completion meter) and focus on what is actually necessary for you.
💬 “And that’s when I stumbled onto your site. I wish I could remember the exact article I read, but the gist of it was: take control of your study schedule. The goal is to pass the exam, not reach 100% on some arbitrary ticker. I’m not sure why that made such an impact on my end, but it did. I think perhaps it’s because that’s damn good advice. . . . I purchased the MagicSheets and ditched Themis altogether (minus their essay bank).”
It also helps to build belief from seeing others win. My dream is for you to win using the resources I provide you.
💬 “So thank you for the endless emails with well wishes and advice and for always sharing stories. God do I wish this was a staple of the regular courses you pay thousands of dollars for. Let me know how ordinary people approached studying. Let me hear their stories and their thought processes and their success stories. Your website provided just that and I can’t thank you enough for it. Thank you!”
💬 “Thanks again for all the help and inspiration over the summer! You provide an amazing service.”
Great work, Abel!
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Abel’s full story
