A bar exam has two or for those states that have the performance exam, 3 different bar components. How do you sufficiently study and cover all the components of your bar exam?
I find that most of the commercial bar review courses rely heavily on teaching the MBE law and its strategies for the MBE, which is, of course, essential to passing the bar. Unfortunately, those same commercial bar review courses do not treat the essay or performance component nearly as comprehensively as it does the MBE.
Treating the essay or performance component as an afterthought is a danger you do not want to put yourself in. Let’s look briefly at the Florida bar. The Florida bar is a cumulative bar. The applicant does not have to pass both sections; she just has to get a total point score of 272.
The Florida section consists of 3 essays and 100 multiple choice questions. If the applicant does well on the essays, she can bring a number of points to the MBE score to ensure that, even if she does not pass the MBE of 136 points, she can still pass if she does well on the essays. Of course, the reverse is true – if she can do well on the MBE, she can bring the points to a weaker essay score.
One of the reasons why the MBE is hard is because you either get the answer right or wrong. If you get the answer wrong, you get no points. For an essay or performance question, you can beat around the bush a bit and still get some points. That’s why writing a good essay or good performance memo/brief can be a strategically good move.
How do you get enough study time for your essays and/or performance component in sight of the high demands of the MBE?
You must take time to prepare for your essays and/or performance component. Do not allow the bar review courses to take away from the necessity of studying for those components.
You must do MBE testing every day. I’ll discuss, in a few days, about how to maximize your MBE testing.
In addition to the MBE, I recommend that you do at least 3 or 4 essays and/or performance tests per week. By testing day, you will have done 24 essays and/or performance memos that will hold you in good stead for the exam. Try to do an essay every other day and do at least one essay or memo on Saturday and one more on Sunday. Since you will not have bar review classes on the weekend, you have 12 -13 hours to write and review your essay or memo. You can spare the hour and a half to devote to your essay or memo.
Don’t take the essay and/or performance test for granted. You are going to want the maximum points possible from those writing assignments.
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