BARWRITE TIP NUMBER ONE. Repeat rules for mastery. Educational psychologists know that we learn things better by lightly repeating them over a long period of time rather than by trying to cram them into our brains overnight. Recite your basic definitions from memory every day or every other day.
BARWRITE TIP NUMBER TWO.If you can’t explain the law to another person, you don’t know it. Explain the statute of frauds and give a sample analysis of a case to your study partner or to your three-year-old child or your dry cleaner. If you can’t make the law clear to another person now, you
won’t be able to explain it on a bar exam essay, either.
Focus on legal analysis in both the essays and the MBE. Your reasoning must use both law and facts. Again and again the state bar examiners stress the importance of logical reasoning and careful proof. This is analysis. Many bar candidates lose points on the essays because they either re-tell tell the story or jump straight to the conclusion, skipping the analysis. When they do the MBE, they focus on the answer choices instead of using law and facts to analyze the case. Careful analysis is key.
BARWRITE TIP NUMBER THREE. Order a copy of the classic book Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays right away, and get started. The St. John's Law School Forum called it "possibly the best money you can spend on bar exam preparation." The just-issued Third Edition contains the classic text plus a new 2006 Appendix on "How to Do Legal Analysis." For more information on Scoring High, click here. To order the book click here .
Remind yourself to sign up for the must-take BarWrite Seven-Day Essay-Intensive Group Coaching School. The Seven-Day School includes two days of MBE study techniques, plus four days of essays and one day of Multistate Performance Test. Gemma Waananen says, "Dr. Gallagher's MBE Method was phenomenal. I did exactly what she told me to do, and my score went from a 127 in February to a 149 in July 2000." For detailed information, and to enroll, visit our web site, at Seven-Day School.
By the way, you will receive
Best of success on the bar exam!
MCG
BarWrite
Mary Campbell Gallagher, J.D., Ph.D., is president of BarWrite™ and BarWrite Press. Dr. Gallagher holds the J.D. from Harvard Law School and the Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Illinois. BarWrite's mission is applying linguistic systems to teaching writing, including legal writing and the bar exam.
Dr. Gallagher is the author of Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays: In-depth Strategies and Essay-Writing Practice That Bar Review Courses Don’t Offer. The Third Edition contains the classic text plus a new 2006 Appendix on "How to Do Legal Analysis." Students should check their law school bookstores or order from BarWrite Press, at BarWrite.com.
Bookstores can order on the usual retail terms from Legal Books Distributing, at Legal Books Distributing.
