How can I begin right away to study for the bar exam?
A. Here is the answer from BarWrite® founder and president Dr. Mary Campbell Gallagher:
(I.) THREE HINTS FOR PREPARING FOR THE BAR EXAM *NOW.*
(1.) BarWrite® BAR PREPARATION TIP NUMBER ONE.
To maximize credit on both the MBE and the New York essays, concentrate
on knowing two subjects cold: (a) contract formation and (b)
negligence. These are the topics with the largest numbers of questions
on the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE). In addition, Contracts/UCC, usually
including formation, appears on 8 out of 10 New York essay exams. The
best study aid is the yellow box of Law-in-a-Flash flashcards for
contracts. They used to be published by Emanuel, and they are now
published by Aspen Law & Business. Click here to order: http://www.aspenpublishers.com/emanuel.asp . The telephone number is (800) 317-3113.
(2.) BarWrite® BAR PREPARATION TIP NUMBER TWO. Do not use taking the bar exam to find out whether or not you are ready for the bar exam! The most important thing for you to *know* now is how you are doing in your bar preparation, and whether you are really getting ready or not. To tell whether you are making progress studying for the MBE as the bar preparation period goes along, locate two 200-question tests now, from the same source. It is important for these tests to be from the same source so that they are of similar difficulty. Give yourself the first test right now, under exam conditions--watch your time. Then, after you have been studying for the bar for a month, take the second 200 questions. Compare your scores. Then compare your scores on contract formation in the two exams. Warning. Do not rely on the percentages of questions you get right if you do twenty or fifty contracts questions at a sitting. That is unreliable.
It is smart to know exactly how you are doing at all times in your bar preparation, and it is foolish just to "give the exam a shot."
Another thing you should do now is to take five questions on contract formation, review the answers, analyze the fact patterns. Then in two days do the analysis on those same five questions again. I don't mean remember the answer choices, I mean work through the analysis: This is an offeror, this is an offeree, this is consideration, etc., etc. Pre-testing and re-testing is a technique educational testers use. It tells you whether you are making progress on your study or just--how to put it--spending your time. You should constantly review the key material, over and over, right until the bar exam. Re-test yourself on the key material many times during your weeks of bar preparation, to see whether you are on track to pass the exam.
Word to the Wise. *Reading* alone is almost useless. Law does not stick to the brain. You must study, review, recite, test, review, recite. Keep testing yourself on the same MBE questions, doing the analysis. The "right answer" does not matter. It is the careful, slow analysis that counts: this is an offeror, this is consideration, etc. The book we use in the LTS - Law Training Schools is The Finz Multistate Method. It has excellent tables of contents that allow you to do five questions on contract formation, review the subject, recite, test yourself on another five questions on contract formation and so on. It is published by Aspen. The telephone is (800) 317-3113. Visit: http://www.aspenpublishers.com/search.asp
(3.) BarWrite® BAR TIP NUMBER THREE. Sign up for the must-take Ten-Day BarWrite Essay-Intensive/Retaker School. It includes two days of MBE study techniques, plus four days of essays and one day of Multistate Performance Test. Gemma Waananen Kenney 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 http://www.BarWrite.com, and enroll on our secure website. Questions? Email Staff@BarWrite.com.
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And now a key hint for how to begin studying now, from Bar Write Blog's sponsor:
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helps you pole-vault the bar. "My MBE went from a 126 to a 149!" Gemma
Waananen Kenney (Member, New York and New Jersey Bars). Dr. Gallagher
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with BarWrite's TEN-DAY ESSAY-INTENSIVE GROUP COACHING SCHOOL. THE BARWRITE® THREE-DAY NEW YORK ESSAY BOOT CAMP
boosts essay scores. "Dr. Gallagher takes the mass of information
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essays," says Christina Valentine, Australian solicitor (Member, New
York Bar).
