Is it just me or... Forum

[3|ink]

...are the Barbri assignments completely unmanageable? They expect me to spend 6.5 hours on this today? Am I really going to be studying 6.5 hours a day for the next three months?

[Teoeo]

6.5 hours is a pretty light day for bar prep...

[seizmaar]

come back in a month and post this

[Neve]

6.5 hours a day is on the light side for bar prep. Barbri officially recommends 8-10 study hours per day including watching the video lectures. I only did 4-5 hours of bar prep per day from late May until the end of June; then I spent 15-18 hours per day on bar study during the month of July. I passed. July was a long, hot, miserable month for me. Cramming doesn't work for everybody though. Although plenty do cram for the bar.

[psteele99]

6.5 hours is about right.... the last month I was averaging about 9 to 10 hours per day. Some people were doing way more, but I could never focus for longer than that. You'll soon start getting so busy, that you won't realize you haven't moved from your study spot for 6.5 hours. Hang in there.

[bk1]

I don't think that's unreasonable. That said, lots of people take shortcuts such as watching videos at 2x speed. Plus people generally come nowhere close to getting 100% completion on barbri's meter.

[3|ink]

Well I'm fucked. I thought I'd be able to do this while working.

[3|ink]

I don't think that's unreasonable. That said, lots of people take shortcuts such as watching videos at 2x speed. Plus people generally come nowhere close to getting 100% completion on barbri's meter.

Holy shit. I didn't know about this feature. Thank you.

[seizmaar]

you can, you just need to triage.

[rinkrat19]

I watched the first video at 1.25 speed and it was almost unnoticeable that it was sped up. 1.5 speed was a little quick for me because I write slowly (and I was coloring). But even just 1.25 speed takes 45 minutes off a 3.5 hour lecture. Not insignificant time savings.

It also allowed for 4 hours to prep for a lecture. Reading the Conviser outline and even checking a few things in the bigger outline didn't take me 4 hours. (Maybe it will on the subjects that I didn't take in LS.) And re-reading my lecture notes afterwards didn't take the full hour they allotted.

Of course, then the Barbri video froze twice, so that added like an hour. But I could get up and do other things while I waited for it to load.

[3|ink]

I watched the first video at 1.25 speed and it was almost unnoticeable that it was sped up. 1.5 speed was a little quick for me because I write slowly (and I was coloring). But even just 1.25 speed takes 45 minutes off a 3.5 hour lecture. Not insignificant time savings.

It also allowed for 4 hours to prep for a lecture. Reading the Conviser outline and even checking a few things in the bigger outline didn't take me 4 hours. (Maybe it will on the subjects that I didn't take in LS.) And re-reading my lecture notes afterwards didn't take the full hour they allotted.

Of course, then the Barbri video froze twice, so that added like an hour. But I could get up and do other things while I waited for it to load.

Are you taking notes during the lecture? Or just filling-in the handout?

[bk1]

Well I'm fucked. I thought I'd be able to do this while working.

You can, it's just shitty (and also there's a higher chance you'll fail).

[rinkrat19]

I watched the first video at 1.25 speed and it was almost unnoticeable that it was sped up. 1.5 speed was a little quick for me because I write slowly (and I was coloring). But even just 1.25 speed takes 45 minutes off a 3.5 hour lecture. Not insignificant time savings.

It also allowed for 4 hours to prep for a lecture. Reading the Conviser outline and even checking a few things in the bigger outline didn't take me 4 hours. (Maybe it will on the subjects that I didn't take in LS.) And re-reading my lecture notes afterwards didn't take the full hour they allotted.

Of course, then the Barbri video froze twice, so that added like an hour. But I could get up and do other things while I waited for it to load.

Are you taking notes during the lecture? Or just filling-in the handout?

So far just filling in the handout.

[Holly Golightly]

6.5 hours a day is on the light side for bar prep. Barbri officially recommends 8-10 study hours per day including watching the video lectures. I only did 4-5 hours of bar prep per day from late May until the end of June; then I spent 15-18 hours per day on bar study during the month of July. I passed. July was a long, hot, miserable month for me. Cramming doesn't work for everybody though. Although plenty do cram for the bar.

I would not recommend this study plan to anyone. Sounds like a great way to burn out and fail.

[rinkrat19]

When Barbri says that X percent of takers finish 75% of the course, what are those people skipping? Entire subjects? or just like reviewing or some of the diagnostic tests and assignments?

I don't feel like there's 25% of this stuff that I can afford to skip. NOT that I plan to study for 12 hours a day and burn out by week 3. I'm aiming for like 6 hours, max. That seem sustainable.

[Holly Golightly]

When Barbri says that X percent of takers finish 75% of the course, what are those people skipping? Entire subjects? or just like reviewing or some of the diagnostic tests and assignments?

I don't feel like there's 25% of this stuff that I can afford to skip. NOT that I plan to study for 12 hours a day and burn out by week 3. I'm aiming for like 6 hours, max. That seem sustainable.

I struggled to get to more than 50% on Themis. There are SOOOOOO many practice questions and reviews.

[bk1]

When Barbri says that X percent of takers finish 75% of the course, what are those people skipping? Entire subjects? or just like reviewing or some of the diagnostic tests and assignments?

I don't feel like there's 25% of this stuff that I can afford to skip. NOT that I plan to study for 12 hours a day and burn out by week 3. I'm aiming for like 6 hours, max. That seem sustainable.

I skipped a lot of the pre-lecture stuff and some of the post-lecture stuff (e.g. review your notes or w/e it was called). I skipped a lot of practice questions. I probably got around 50%, like HGL. Though I don't recommend going that low percentage-wise.

[mephistopheles]

you people's stress is stressing me out.



cheeeeeelllllllllll

[ashle484]

I don't think that's unreasonable. That said, lots of people take shortcuts such as watching videos at 2x speed. Plus people generally come nowhere close to getting 100% completion on barbri's meter.

I would caution that most people I knew to take shortcuts last summer were most often the people who failed. If you can do it, I would make this your full-time job. I worked full-time while studying for Feb New York-15, but that was only after having passed the CA July 14 bar, and I would not suggest it. I studied from 6 am till approx. 8:30 in the mornings and then after work till around 10 or 11. And then I completely dedicated my weekends to studying and didn't take any time off. Simply put, this schedule was grueling, and while it was worth it in the end, I think it ultimately only really worked out because I had studied so much over the past summer. But if this is your first bar I would highly suggest giving it 110% so you don't get to July 29 and have regrets.

[mr.hands]

Right now, I've done all of my assignments without coming close to 8 hours. What are you people doing right now?

Barbri has me watching a 4 hr video and doing 1 hour of review. Am I missing something?

(I say this as someone who did 12 hours or prep before the class started)

[rinkrat19]

Right now, I've done all of my assignments without coming close to 8 hours. What are you people doing right now?

Barbri has me watching a 4 hr video and doing 1 hour of review. Am I missing something?

(I say this as someone who did 12 hours or prep before the class started)

12 hours of prep before the entire course, or before your first day lecture?

Just looking at the Barbri assignments for my first day, ConLaw I:

Prep for class (read Conviser outline & look things up in big outline book) - 4 hours (I spent more like 3 hours)
ConLaw I lecture - 3.5 hours (2.8 hrs at 1.25x speed)
Review lecture notes - 1 hour (took .5 hours).

So Barbri had 8.5 hours assigned yesterday. I took more like 6.3 hours.

[mr.hands]

Right now, I've done all of my assignments without coming close to 8 hours. What are you people doing right now?

Barbri has me watching a 4 hr video and doing 1 hour of review. Am I missing something?

(I say this as someone who did 12 hours or prep before the class started)

12 hours of prep before the entire course, or before your first day lecture?

Just looking at the Barbri assignments for my first day, ConLaw I:

Prep for class (read Conviser outline & look things up in big outline book) - 4 hours (I spent more like 3 hours)
ConLaw I lecture - 3.5 hours (2.8 hrs at 1.25x speed)
Review lecture notes - 1 hour (took .5 hours).

So Barbri had 8.5 hours assigned yesterday. I took more like 6.3 hours.

maybe my state doesn't assign that much for the first few weeks.

My assignments are:
Watch Domestic Relations (3 hours) --> The video was really 4 hours
Review Domestic Relations Notes (1 hour)

On Saturday, my only assignment is to prep for constitutional law, which will take an estimated 2 hours. (The first video starts the next day)

Not sure what to think...

(also, by 12 hours I mean for the entire course before class started. I watched a video on corporations, crim law, and civ pro 1)

[gk101]

6.5 hours a day is on the light side for bar prep. Barbri officially recommends 8-10 study hours per day including watching the video lectures. I only did 4-5 hours of bar prep per day from late May until the end of June; then I spent 15-18 hours per day on bar study during the month of July. I passed. July was a long, hot, miserable month for me. Cramming doesn't work for everybody though. Although plenty do cram for the bar.

this is insane. I have no idea how you didn't burn out.

FWIW I did about 4-5 hours/day when I took the VA bar -- listening to the lecture and simultaneously filling out the handbooks) and doing some practice questions at the end. I ramped it up to 6-7 hours for the last couple of weeks once the panic set in but that was probably unnecessary. As long as you stay current with the lecture schedule, you'll be fine.

I am taking the IL bar this summer while working so most of my bar prep is done over the weekends. Still can't imagine ever spending 15-18 hours a day on this stuff

[A. Nony Mouse]

FWIW I did about 4-5 hours/day when I took the VA bar -- listening to the lecture and simultaneously filling out the handbooks) and doing some practice questions at the end. I ramped it up to 6-7 hours for the last couple of weeks once the panic set in but that was probably unnecessary. As long as you stay current with the lecture schedule, you'll be fine.

This sounds about like what I did (not a difficult state, though). When I took it Barbri assigned reading in the long outlines and I pretty quickly jettisoned that because it took forever and I can't really learn from reading outlines anyway. I also skipped a lot of the essay practice questions. I think my Barbri meter was at about 60-65%, and I don't know anyone who came close to 100%. We all passed.

Admittedly, I did do a lot of cramming in July - basically once the course was over I sat down and finalized my notes/outlines and set out to memorize them. I did a lot of walking around the apartment reciting things out loud to myself. I didn't remember any of it a few months later, but it worked for the exam.

(I don't know that anyone needs to create outlines but for me it was how I handled the material - by outlines I mean I basically took notes on my computer during the lecture and learned those.)

[gk101]

I was at 58% completion and I cheated on filling out the completion boxes to make myself feel better