As the various bar review courses get under way, I wanted to list some of the common mistakes that I see graduates make in their bar preparation:
- Decide to save money and not take a bar review course.
- Coast the first few weeks and lose valuable time in their preparation.
- Look for shortcuts rather than smart strategies: shortcuts undermine learning while smart strategies increase learning.
- Lose their common sense: they do not evaluate what is or is not working in their studying and make adjustments as needed.
- Completely ignore studying for some portions of the bar exam because they are worth less in the weighting (examples: MPT or state evidence/procedure section).
- Go overboard on studying and exhaust themselves before they get to the exam itself.
- Avoid doing lots of practice questions because their percentages are low initially.
- Spend too much time on non-bar-preparation interests: going on a cruise, planning a wedding, remodeling a house, perfecting their abs, training for a marathon (all of these are real-life examples).
- Waste time on e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and other electronic distractions.
- Work part-time or full-time while preparing for the bar.
- Focus on doom and gloom and convince themselves that they will fail so that they fulfill that prophesy.
- Lack a support group while they are studying for the bar: other bar studiers can encourage one another, answer questions, and keep each other accountable.
- Lose sleep, eat junk food, give up exercise, depend too much on sugar and caffeine: a healthy lifestyle is essential to successful bar preparation.
Best wishes to all of our graduates who are starting their bar exam preparation. (Amy Jarmon)
