BarWrite® Blog

Read "Five Tips for Early Bar Exam Prep"

 

Any readers thinking about preparing for the bar exam? Heads up! I've just published some good tips as a guest on The Lawyerist blog, "Five Tips for Early Bar Exam Prep." It includes what may seem like callous advice, to send your small children away! Click through to read the details. http://bit.ly/IyJa5X

1. Have you eliminated all distractions?
2. Do you have a dedicated study space?
3. Are your finances in order?
4. Have you arranged to take two months off from work?
5. Have you persuaded your family and friends to support you?

Take a look. http://bit.ly/IyJa5X

And for two free chapters from Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays, visit bit.ly/I4WQoa.

*****

Monday Morning Map: "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have." - Teddy Roosevelt

*****

All the best,

MCG

***** From Bar Write Blog's sponsor:

SCORING HIGH ON BAR EXAM ESSAYS . This book "may be the best money you can spend on bar exam preparation." -- The St. John's Law School Forum. PERFORM YOUR BEST ON THE BAR EXAM PERFORMANCE TEST (MPT): TRAIN TO FINISH THE MPT IN 90 MINUTES "LIKE A SPORT(TM). A Study Guide for All Bar Exam Performance Tests, and for Law Students and Practitioners, to Develop Strong Organizational Habits "Like a Sport" and Produce More Efficient Work Products. BARWRITE® TEN-DAY COACHING GROUP 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). BARWRITE® THREE-DAY NEW YORK ESSAY AND ONE-DAY MPT BOOT CAMPS boost bar scores. "Dr. Gallagher takes the mass of information studied and teaches her students how to apply it effectively in essays." Christina Valentine, Australian solicitor (Member, New York Bar). Read the announcement here about those new BarWrite Three-Day New York Essay Boot Camps.

"Jog Your Brain" 4.23.12

Jog your brain! The New York Times Magazine for April 22, 2012, carried a strong report on the IQ-enhancing advantages of strenuous exercise. "How Exercise Could Lead to a Better Brain." The article reports on the stunning results for their little brains when mice had only toys in their cages versus toys plus an exercise wheel. Not just for mice, for . . . lawyers and bar candidates, too!

Why would exercise build brainpower in ways that thinking might not? The brain, like all muscles and organs, is a tissue, and its function declines with underuse and age. Beginning in our late 20s, most of us will lose about 1 percent annually of the volume of the hippocampus, a key portion of the brain related to memory and certain types of learning. Exercise though seems to slow or reverse the brain’s physical decay, much as it does with muscles.

http://tinyurl.com/jogyourbrain

My thoughts are with the people waiting for the New York bar results.

***** Monday Morning Map 4.23.12:

"Do what you can, where you are, with what you have." - Teddy Roosevelt

***** All the best, MCG

Mail to:  Staff@BarWrite.com

***** FREE Teleseminars. Visit BarWrite.com.

REQUEST. If you know of a student group or lawyer group that might like to hear me speak about success in law school, practice-readiness and the bar exam, or else about the MPT, please let us know. Staff@BarWrite.com.

COMBO BOOT CAMPS. Combines 1-Day BarWrite MPT Boot Camp with 3-Day New York Bar Exam Essays. Sessions June and July in New York City.

10-DAY COACHING GROUP FOR NEW YORK BAR EXAM. Meets week-ends in New York City. MBE, MPT, and New York Essays. Abundant materials. Personal attention. Especially recommended as supplement for foreign-trained attorneys and for re-takers. Starts 6.10.12.

NEW BOOK: Perform Your Best on the Bar Exam Performance Test (MPT): Train to Finish the MPT in 90 Minutes "Like a Sport(TM)" plus the classic text: Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays. Order both from Amazon.

HOUSTON BOOT CAMP. 3-Day BarWrite New York Essay Boot Camp. May 17-18-19. Offered in cooperation with the LLM program at the University of Houston.

COACHING: Personalized instruction, in person or by telephone.

Wishing you every success,

Cheers, MCG Mary Campbell Gallagher, J.D., Ph.D., President BarWrite® and BarWrite Press P.O. Box 1308 Gracie Station New York, NY 10028-0010 

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BarWrite® Blog: Ten Tips for Staying Calm, Avoiding Stress, and Studying More Effectively Before the Bar Exam

Dr. Mary Campbell Gallagher's BarWrite® Tips for Avoiding Stress and Panic Before the Bar Exam

Bar-exam expert Dr. Mary Campbell Gallagher, President of BarWrite®, which offers bar-preparation courses in New York City and at law schools around the country, asked her students for ideas for reducing stress and maximizing study results before the bar exam, and she chose these ten suggestions:

1. Make a realistic daily schedule that includes both study and exercise. Plan for variety in your studying, and stick to your plan. Get up early and do your most challenging studying first. Take a five-minute break every hour. Work steadily. Do not aim for speed, which just causes stress and reduces how much you can learn.

2. Pray. Do yoga. Use meditation or hypnosis tapes. Get a full-body massage the last week.

3. Stay away from electronic devices that intensify stress, Facebook, MySpace, blogs, text messaging, and email. Turn your cellphone off. Use earplugs while studying.

4. Get plenty of sleep.

5. Schedule some time on one special day each week for taking care of yourself. Get a haircut, do your grocery shopping, clean your room.

6. Schedule 15 minutes every day for having fun. Walk your dog, play a musical instrument, horse around with your children. Read something enjoyable before bedtime.

7. Have one supportive person you can speak to for 10 minutes a day, your safe person.

8. Focus on how much you have done to prepare, not on how much you have not done. If you do what you plan to do every day, that's all you can hope for. Your results on the bar exam are in the hands of the gods.

9. Breathe deeply. Breathe in for seven counts, hold for one count, exhale slowly for seven counts. Repeat until calm. Relax. Smile.

10. Finally, perhaps the man who made this last suggestion was not serious: Listen to Barry Manilow recordings while you study, to increase the pain. Then you will never want to take the bar exam again.

BACKGROUND ON DR. MARY CAMPBELL GALLAGHER and BARWRITE®. A graduate of Harvard Law School who holds the Ph.D. in linguistics, Dr. Mary Campbell Gallagher is president of BarWrite® and BarWrite Press, which offer large courses preparing candidates for the bar exam, and author of the book and CDs Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays. The St. John's Law School Forum called Scoring High probably "the best money you can spend on bar exam preparation." Dr. Gallagher's new book, Perform Your Best on the Bar Exam Performance Test (MPT), is just out, and it has received rave reviews. A widely-published writer and consultant, Dr. Gallagher lectures at universities around the country. For information on BarWrite® courses and publications visit http://www.BarWrite.com.

***** *** From Bar Write Blog's sponsor:

SCORING HIGH ON BAR EXAM ESSAYS . This book "may be the best money you can spend on bar exam preparation." -- The St. John's Law School Forum. PERFORM YOUR BEST ON THE BAR EXAM PERFORMANCE TEST (MPT): TRAIN TO FINISH THE MPT IN 90 MINUTES "LIKE A SPORT(TM). A Study Guide for All Bar Exam Performance Tests, and for Law Students and Practitioners, to Develop Strong Organizational Habits "Like a Sport" and Produce More Efficient Work Products. BARWRITE® TEN-DAY COACHING GROUP 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). BARWRITE® THREE-DAY NEW YORK ESSAY AND ONE-DAY MPT BOOT CAMPS boost bar scores. "Dr. Gallagher takes the mass of information studied and teaches her students how to apply it effectively in essays." Christina Valentine, Australian solicitor (Member, New York Bar). Read the announcement here about the new BarWrite Boot Camps.

How to Manage Time on the New York Day of the New York Bar Exam (Revisited)

The time structure for the New York day of the New York bar examination is your lifeline for excelling on the bar exam. Focus on time. Grip your external time cues, including your watches, your clocks, and your notes to yourself that tell you when each part of the exam will begin and end. Time is key. The structure of the exam is time.

Avoid thinking about constructs in your own mind, like your lifetime goals. Avoid thinking about family