Your Job This Summer is to Study

Your full-time job this summer IS studying for the Bar Exam. There is no ifs or buts about this. You need to be clear headed, dedicated, persistent, unyielding and your thoughts of “bar” need to be all encompassing.

The reason a person fails the bar is not because he or she is not smart enough. We all know plenty of people that we are shocked when that person passed the bar. They were the ones who we thought were dumb in law school, wasn’t in law review, wasn’t running in the right circles, etc. Whatever the reason, we knew that person could not pass the bar because he or she didn’t have it. Well, what they had was a plan of action that gave them ample opportunity to learn the materials necessary to pass the bar.

A person does not pass the bar for many reasons, but one underlying theme of their failure is that they didn’t put enough time into the material. The word “time” has many different meanings. You didn’t have actual time because you were working at a another job, a family member is gravely ill (this actually happens a lot – I have personally known 2 or 3 students in just this year, whose parent was ill and/or died).

Time also concerns how you work. You’d be surprised how much time you actually waste, talking to friends, not concentrating on the words in your outline, flipping through your books, etc. You have to work smart.

Work Smart

First you need to structure your day. As a student, you just go from class to class, do studying whenever you can find an hour or two. As a graduate studying for the bar, you must make your study time count and work like it’s your first job and you want to impress your managing partner. I guarantee you, once you pass the bar and begin working, putting in 60-80 hours a week will be normal – so you might as well start working like a demon now.

How do you structure your day?

Work the Actual Bar Schedule

Wake up early enough to eat breakfast, read your e-mail, look at the news or exercise, look over today bar review topic with plenty of time to get to your bar review course. I know that some people will take the later sessions of bar review or are not morning people. But you must start working the bar schedule as soon as you can. You need to start mimicking the bar so on July 28th, you are ready to start the bar at 9:00 am, work 3 hours of the morning session, take an hour break and work 3 more hours of the bar. You want your body clock to be on bar exam time.

In order to work the bar schedule, you need to start preparing yourself for early mornings so you are ready to be an your optimal best on July 28th bar start time and you need to get into the habit of working at least 4 hour stretches with no interruption so you can sit easily for the 3 hour stretch of the actual bar.

Towards July, figure out how long it will take you to get up, get yourself ready for
the bar, eat something, drive time to the bar location, wait time to get into the bar location, and check-in time at the bar location, so you’ll in your sit at the 9:00 am start time. Starting about the first week of July start getting yourself out of bed at that time so your body will be acclimated to the wake up time. You do not want to be sleepy or fuzzy because you didn’t train your body to get up at a time you are not used to.

Also, many of us are just not breakfast eaters. But you know that you cannot go 3 hours without eating when you are taking the bar. Practice eating something prior to the bar, as you will need need the fuel and the energy for the bar. Start small, like an egg or a banana or toast – something to put in your body for the bar.

Since you will be doing more than 6 hours of studying per day to get ready, here’s how you should structure your day.

9:00 am – 1:00 pm: Go to Bar Review, or to your designated location and work a 4 hour stretch. The reason I recommend 4 hours is the reason why a sprinter runs more than the 100 yard dash. If you study in 4 hour stretches, the 3 hour bar sessions are going to make it easier for you to concentrate and put out your optimal best for the 3 hours required.

1:00 – 2:00 pm. Take your break – go exercise, eat, take a nap. Rest your mind.

2:00 pm – 6:00 pm. Another 4 hour stretch of uninterrupted study time.

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm. Take another break.

7:00 pm – 10:00 - 11:00 pm. Study for another 3 to 4 hours prior to going to bed.

Tomorrow, we’ll discuss how to study.