Tag: law students

Simulated bar exams: Take them next week!

If you are preparing to PASS the upcoming bar exam, calendar your simulated bar exam next week so you have time to learn from -and improve from- the experience. Take the exam under as close as possible to simulated exam conditions. And, study the sample answers to any questions you got wrong or guessed on as soon as possible after the simulated exam.

#barexam, #simulatedbar, #barreview

Don’t forget to Breathe!

How tense are you right now? How much learning is blocked from coming into and staying in your brain because of nerves.

My constant refrain that I ask bar takers and other students getting ready for exam to tell yourselves is: “Turn Panic into Power and not Paralysis.” That power phrase appears in my books and articles and in most every talk I give to students preparing for high stakes exams.

There are many steps for turning panic into power. Step one is always to breathe. We’ll talk about next steps in future blog posts.

July Bar Takers: Five Prompts for Bar Success Planning, Starting Now

If you are taking the July bar exam, start planning now. Here are five prompts to get you started:

1. Where will you live after graduation?

2. Do you have a place to study that is conducive to learning?

3. Have you lined up all the bar review resources you will need?

4. Have you let your family and friends know you’ll be gone in June and July – and, have you taken care of all summer obligations so that you can either handle them by May or put them off until August?

And, last but not least, for now,

5. Do you have enough money saved to live for two months after graduation without working?

#barexam, #barexamtips, #barsuccess, #lawschool, #lawstudent

Ten tips to manage procrastination

Many students share that as midterms and finals approach, and during bar prep, they find themselves unusually eager to clean their homes, review and delete old emails, clip their toenails. You get the idea – anything other than studying!

Here are tips if this is your situation:

  1. Know that procrastination is normal. Lose the self-criticism.
  2. See some procrastinating as a positive. Sometimes, it does serve a useful purpose – helping re-charge your batteries so that you are all-in when you are studying.
  3. If your procrastination is paralyzing, rather than positive, seek help from reliable, expert resources.
  4. Think of an academic goal as a series of finite projects. It is more tempting to avoid something that feels like a huge challenge. Identifying tasks as doable parts of a project makes them more approachable.
  5. Once you identify the various tasks, ask yourself if any of them feel overwhelming, and see if you can get some help with those pieces of the puzzle.
  6. List what you tend to do when you procrastinate and schedule specific, limited time slots for those things. Don’t make them guilty pleasures. Make them a controlled part of your day. For example, if you procrastinate with social media, you may find yourself losing many hours. If you know that every day, you have social media “office hours,” you will be less apt to use that as an escape.
  7. Study first, then take your time “off.”
  8. Adopt a routine. Being on a schedule will help your body and brain “accept” that you just do particular tasks at certain times. You just do.
  9. Talk to yourself about how good you feel when you accomplish what you set out to do. And, if it’s helpful, remind yourself how icky it feels when you don’t. Simple example: many people have a habit of never going to sleep with dirty dishes in the sink. No matter how tired they are, they just don’t procrastinate on that one. Why? They find it pleasant to wake to a clean sink and very unpleasant to wake to dirt. They also realize that the task gets more difficult the longer food sticks to dishes. And, they know that a sink for of dirty dishes attracts bugs.
  10. Articulate why your big goals are important and valuable. And give yourself props for all the hard work you are doing.

#studysuccess, #academicsuccess, #lawschool, #lawstudent, #ASP, #barsuccess

Bar Exams and Law School Differ

For example, when you go into your Civ Pro final, you knew you would be tested on civil procedure. Bar examiners will fire questions at you on dozens of subjects, in random order –and they won’t be labeled! You’ll have to figure out what subject you are in, hopefully before even reading the full question.

The are many differences. The one I am thinking about today is with the MPT. Format your answer the way the Task Memo (sometimes called the Sr. Partner Memo) tells you to.

When my students show me beautiful Memos, for example, formatted just the way their Legal Writing professor told them to write and ask why they got low grades in bar prep, I simply say, “You need to follow the instructions for this exam.”

In practice, you may work for and report to different partners who will have completely different styles. You may appear before different judges who have different rules in their courtrooms. Likewise, when you are writing for the bar exam, write for bar graders.

In bar prep and on the bar exam, forget for a moment what you learned in law school and in any legal work experiences. Follow the bar examiners’ directions. (I say for a moment because all that learning will come back and be utilized when you are in practice.)

For more bar success tips and strategies, read or listen to the audio book of Bar Exam Success: A Comprehensive Guide –available on Amazon, ABA Publishing, and West Academics (free for certain law students who have West Academics subscriptions).

#barexam, #barsuccess, #lawschool, #lawstudent, #ASP, #academicsuccess,

Ten Motivation Tips

How to Motivate for Bar Exam Studies here. And, big hint, motivation for bar study is similar to motivating for any academic challenge and most every other challenge in life as well.

Ten Motivation Tips:

  1. Know your why – have a clear, articulated purpose for what you are doing;
  2. Focus – delve deep into the tasks at hand and resist everything that takes you away. See many other posts on this blog and in books on the website for how to effectively combat distractions;
  3. Train/practice regularly – you can’t learn to swim by watching videos on swimming; you must jump in the pool!
  4. Get help from trustworthy experts – when you don’t get help from reliable resources, you can find yourself spinning in circles -a sure way to lose motivation;
  5. Sleep – it is hard to accomplish small tasks when you are tired; set yourself up for success by getting sufficient sleep and rest. Be sure to exercise and eat healthfully as well; you are feeding your brain and your body;
  6. Find and keep a safe outlet to express doubt and frustration – these are normal. You don’t want doubt, frustration, loneliness or other feelings to derail you, though, so get them out where it is safe to do so.
  7. Take your time and avoid rushing through things that just take a lot of time. We have come to expect that everything can happen quickly. But, especially in certain studies (and in making maple syrup), take your time. Read slowly and carefully, stop to re-read, think, put what you’ve learned into practice, read more, think more, discuss with colleagues, ask questions, and keep at it! As the Maple Syrup Song goes, “everything worthwhile takes a little time.”
  8. Break large projects into smaller tasks. It’s easy to get overwhelmed at the thought of having to read an entire book, for example, but much more inviting to read one chapter at a time. Break challenges into do-able pieces and you are more apt to do them!
  9. Reward yourself – give yourself small, daily and weekly inspirational gifts, and give yourself something big when you accomplish your current goal. When you are working toward something big, such as a degree that takes years to earn, or a book, or passing the bar exam, the work you are doing each day may seem invisible. No one recognizes your effort until you have a visible outcome. So, reward yourself along the way!
  10. Believe you can accomplish this goal, and set your next goal when you do – there is hard science to confirm that people who believe that they can do something persist more often than people do not believe. Belief must be coupled with action, of course. But action without belief is hard to sustain, especially when you have setbacks –which you will (because everyone does). The Little Engine that Could was onto something!!

#motivate, #accomplishyourgoals, #lawschool, #lawstudents, #barexam, #academicsupport, #academicsuccess, #barprep, #passthebar, #motivation, #prelaw, #pre-law,

Health and Wellness in Law School and during Bar Prep

It is normal to struggle. And, it’s also normal to need help. Practice self-care, taking care of your physical and mental health. Adopt daily practices of diet, exercise, positive self-talk, meditation, and others that make you feel your best. And, if you feel you might want or need them, check out the many mental health, substance use, and wellness resources at ABA for Law Students.

#BarReview, #LawSchool, #BarPrep, #LawStudent, #BarSuccess

Law School and Bar Passage are Worth all the Effort: Keep at it!

Remember every day, in every moment of struggle, that it is worth it. With your JD and law license, you can do well and do good, for decades to come. And we need you. You are our future leaders and future guardians of the law.

Keep believing, keep struggling, keep learning, and keep working. Slow and steady wins the race.

Ten Reasons People Pass the Bar Exam

  1. You have an effective study schedule, and you stick to it! Slow and steady wins the race.
  2. You devote two full months to full-time bar preparation after law school.
  3. You clear your calendar during bar prep of outside responsibilities, commitments, and distractions.
  4. You engage fully in the bar review process, learning everything that will be tested (especially what will be heavily test) including mastering concepts you never fully grasped in law school.
  5. You master systems or frameworks to memorize key rules and concepts.
  6. You enlist the support of reliable, helpful people and resources and you separate yourself from those who distract you intentionally or inadvertently.
  7. You take practice tests and study answers to every one to determine how to improve. You approach practice tests as if training for a marathon.
  8. You admit and manage the anxiety and nerves that are a normal part of high stakes exams and high stakes aspects of the profession.
  9. You practice self-care throughout bar prep, eating healthy foods, getting regular and adequate sleep, and engaging in some form of daily exercise.
  10. You believe you can and will pass.

#barexam, #barsuccess, #barreview, #academicsuccess, #lawschool

Are you on a 2022 Roll ?

It is easy to feel stuck in pandemania, but there will be a future, and the time is now to prepare yourself for it. The time is now to push through the challenges, to seek and receive assistance if you need it, and to follow your vision – one step at a time.

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