Working Part Time and Studying For The Bar Forum

[sparty99]

Is anyone working part-time and studying for the BAR? How many hours should you devote to studying?

[sundontshine]

I'll be working full time for the 8+ weeks leading up to the bar and studying at night when I can. Crossing my fingers that everyone studying 8 hours a day is just overstudying, especially since I'm in a state with a relatively high passing rate.

[sparty99]

I'll be working full time for the 8+ weeks leading up to the bar and studying at night when I can. Crossing my fingers that everyone studying 8 hours a day is just overstudying, especially since I'm in a state with a relatively high passing rate.

How many hours a night would that be for you?

[sundontshine]

I'll be working full time for the 8+ weeks leading up to the bar and studying at night when I can. Crossing my fingers that everyone studying 8 hours a day is just overstudying, especially since I'm in a state with a relatively high passing rate.

How many hours a night would that be for you?

Probably 1-2 initially and then maybe ramping it up to 3-4 per night the last couple weeks.

[drs36]

Part time here. 4-5 hours studying/night (M-Th). Don't work Fridays, so study 5-6 hrs, and 3-4 hrs Saturday and Sunday. Fun summer.

[spleenworship]

doing 20 hours a week of work, 35 hours a week bar prep.

this is gonna blow.

[Johann]

Worked part time while studying. Started studying June about 10 hours a week. In July ramped it up to 20 a week. Put in 2 30-40 hour study weeks before the bar and passed. You're all gonna be fine. Minimum competency test for most states. Good luck.

[sparty99]

doing 20 hours a week of work, 35 hours a week bar prep.

this is gonna blow.

Thanks, Spleen. Sorry for being a douche btw.

[spleenworship]

Don't even sweat it bro. Water under a bridge.

[bzmaru24]

I work full time and just passed the CA bar. It's possible. You just have to fully commit to your schedule. I worked all day, did MBEs at lunch, came home around 6pm, studied until 10-11, and then went to sleep. This went on for 2.5 months. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. You're going to hate every minute of it. But, was it worth it? Absolutely.

[amk110]

I'm also doing this. (Working M-F 8:00am-12:00pm). Getting about 3-4 hours per weekday in. None on the weekend so far (I really need to start).

Not sure what the hell to make of the people putting 8-10 hours per day in (BARBRI recommends 10 hours per day, 7 days per week).

I graduated a year ago, so a lot of my law school friends have moved on. But of the three I have that are still around -- 1) studied 20 hours per week through June, and about 40 hours per week through July, and passed; 2) studied around 3 hours per day and passed; and 3) studied about 20 hours per week for two months and passed, while also working at the same job I'm doing now, taking classes for a master's, and planning a wedding.

Not that everyone can do what they did, mind you.

Just remember that it's not graded on a curve, and it's only testing minimum competency.

[spleenworship]

My understanding was that it IS graded on a curve?

[duskfall]

My understanding was that it IS graded on a curve?

not sure what bar you're taking but the California exam is not graded on a curve.

[amk110]

Oregon's isn't curved. I didn't know any of them were. That's brutal.

[JenDarby]

I am working Mon, Wed and Friday from around 1pm to 6:30pm. Those three days I watch the main lecture for the day at 1.5x speed (10am to 1pm) and then I do some MBe questions at work and maybe flashcards at night. I haven't been dedicating much time after work to studying, but I will start doing that soon.

On tuesday and Thursday I do the main daily lecture at 1.5x speed as well as the other requirements that don't seem wasteful for my studying style (like Kapplan one sheets). I am also going to start using those days more efficiently as catch up days.

At this point I spend about 5 hours over the weekend studying (basically doing whatever lecture that Kaplan may require or some catchup).

Overall I am working around 15-20 hours a week and studying around 20-30. I am basically on track with Kaplan at this point or I would probably dedicate more time to studying.

[amk110]

Watching the lectures, for me anyway, did indeed to prove a complete waste of time. (I took BARBRI). In fact, they're probably partly responsible for the reason I burnt out last summer and ended up chickening out before the test.

I'd wake up at 8:00 determined and ready to bang out an entire day of study. But by the end of one of those three hour BARBRI lectures (watched either in person, or online) I just felt completely wiped out and exhausted.

This summer I'm starting the process with all those lectures (and their corresponding outlines) completed already. I've completely forgotten just about everything from watching the lectures and have gotten way more out of each subject by simply reviewing the completed lecture outlines.

Thus, if I could do this over again, I'd just start with some completed outlines (or fill out the incomplete ones myself from the other books). But damn those lectures were terrible.

[JenDarby]

I agree that the lectures are exhausting. I did one this morning on 1.5x speed and then took a nap before coming into work. Unfortunately I think the repetiveness of the videos helps me.

[amk110]

I didn't try watching them on the faster speeds. I had to frequently pause many of them while frantically filling in blanks (especially for some subjects, that were almost *entirely* blanks.. like Civ Pro for BARBRI).

And some of them were so unbearably boring, it would honestly take me about 6-8 hours of watching at home to get through a 3 hour lecture, as I'd constantly be needing to take a break from it.

If they're working for you, keep at it.

For me anyway, I keep hearing that "this isn't the time to reinvent the way you learn..." and I never learned a thing from filling out blanks on a worksheet. Not since I was six. For me to learn and retain a rule of law, I need to write or type it out (or otherwise say it to myself inside my own head, in my own voice).

And for subjects I hadn't had in awhile, or never had, most of the time during the lecture, I found myself completely lost and not really learning anything, but just trying to complete the outline so I could eventually learn something from it later. In hindsight, completing these outlines on my own would have allowed me to retain the information a lot better.

And in... current... sight, it seems to be working out well. I never watched the three BARBRI contracts lectures and could not STAND that subject's outline (it was literally 100 examples...) and I also don't have access to BARBRI's website this time around (just their materials), so I had to make my own contracts outline using the Conviser. It's definitely a more proactive way of learning something than filling out the worksheets. (For me anyway.)