Game Day Strategies and Final Thoughts from Repeaters Forum

[AMCD]

Would it be helpful to try to give succinct last minute pointers to cheer on the repeaters here, from those of us who have suffered through this and finally prevailed?

I don't think it should be long writing strategies etc., but more how to handle the last few days, the actual days of the test, stress, sleep, eating, what to do during the breaks etc.??

Just a thought. I know I did things very differently when I passed this last July, so in case that would be helpful for us to pool ideas, just wanted to throw it out there.

[DueProcessDoWheelies]

I'd love some pointers. I'm a repeater. Feeling pretty confident this time, but holy shit I am so burnt out right now. I just want to do nothing until next Tuesday.

[cbbinnyc]

Pretty sure this will vary person to person but, fwiw ...

Don't drastically disrupt your usual schedule; it will probably backfire. Meaning: if you normally get 6 hours of sleep, don't try to get 9 hours the night before the test. If you normally have a cup of coffee, don't have 3 cups of coffee. If you normally have a light breakfast, don't have a huge breakfast because you think it will give you more energy. Etc. Basically, try to treat test day like any other day, within reason. You need to find the confidence in yourself that you are prepared and that you could walk in with bronchitis and still nail the test. I was so obsessed with every little detail when I took the test the first time that I overlooked the fact that I was disrupting my usual rhythm and doing more harm than good.

[law732]

I'd love some pointers. I'm a repeater. Feeling pretty confident this time, but holy shit I am so burnt out right now. I just want to do nothing until next Tuesday.

I'm with you. Feeling a lot better this time around than I did 5 days before the July exam. Idk why this stuff just wouldn't stick over the summer. Prob just burnt out from an awful final semester of law school (5 finals).

[austinmom]

I'm both a repeater and a first time taker in a new state.

It took me three tries to pass NY. I did not have my shit together the first two tries (failed by 6 points).

If you've been disciplined these past 6-8 weeks and know the material, you will be fine. You obviously passed law school and I would like to think that the majority of them require some form of discipline. Just as with law school exams, do not let yourself panic. Tell your brain to calm down and do the task at hand. If you encounter a topic/question that you don't know, skip it and come back. Do the easy essays first. That's how you rack up the most points.

Be prepared for annoyances at the testing center (slow proctor, shitty parking, long distance to restroom, sitting next to a person who cracks his/her knuckles) and shut them down. Don't let them distract you or put you in a bad mood. It's irrelevant to the task at hand.

Don't get trigger happy when doing the MBE. If you think you immediately know the answer, reread the fact pattern and double check for buzz words. Passing over a simple word like "knowingly" because you're reading too fast can cost you points where you knew the right answer.

And at the end of the exam, know that this exam does not make or break you. When I failed the second time, I thought my world was over. I owed Sallie Mae, I knew I had to quit my job and I thought I would be forever judged for my failures by both my peers from school and my future fellow attorneys. Well, once I got my license, I got a new job and no one ever asked me about those two times I failed. Not once.

It's now been almost 8 years since I sat for NY and now I'm sitting for Texas (I didn't actively practice long enough to waive in). I really hate this exam and I feel like I'm back at square one since I've already been a real lawyer but I know that this test does not define me or my career. Yes, it's a nasty little bitch of an obstacle, but it's not the worst thing to ever happen to me. In five years, you will look back at this time and laugh at how much this sucked.

I wish you all the best of luck.

[Raiden]

I'm both a repeater and a first time taker in a new state.

It took me three tries to pass NY. I did not have my shit together the first two tries (failed by 6 points).

If you've been disciplined these past 6-8 weeks and know the material, you will be fine. You obviously passed law school and I would like to think that the majority of them require some form of discipline. Just as with law school exams, do not let yourself panic. Tell your brain to calm down and do the task at hand. If you encounter a topic/question that you don't know, skip it and come back. Do the easy essays first. That's how you rack up the most points.

Be prepared for annoyances at the testing center (slow proctor, shitty parking, long distance to restroom, sitting next to a person who cracks his/her knuckles) and shut them down. Don't let them distract you or put you in a bad mood. It's irrelevant to the task at hand.

Don't get trigger happy when doing the MBE. If you think you immediately know the answer, reread the fact pattern and double check for buzz words. Passing over a simple word like "knowingly" because you're reading too fast can cost you points where you knew the right answer.

And at the end of the exam, know that this exam does not make or break you. When I failed the second time, I thought my world was over. I owed Sallie Mae, I knew I had to quit my job and I thought I would be forever judged for my failures by both my peers from school and my future fellow attorneys. Well, once I got my license, I got a new job and no one ever asked me about those two times I failed. Not once.

It's now been almost 8 years since I sat for NY and now I'm sitting for Texas (I didn't actively practice long enough to waive in). I really hate this exam and I feel like I'm back at square one since I've already been a real lawyer but I know that this test does not define me or my career. Yes, it's a nasty little bitch of an obstacle, but it's not the worst thing to ever happen to me. In five years, you will look back at this time and laugh at how much this sucked.

I wish you all the best of luck.

*Stands up and starts a slow clap*

[not guilty]

Hydrate more so than usual. But not too much you will pee yourself.

Delicate balance this bar exam is.

[Good Guy Gaud]

Relax. You got this.

[fadedsunrise]

I'd love some pointers. I'm a repeater. Feeling pretty confident this time, but holy shit I am so burnt out right now. I just want to do nothing until next Tuesday.

SAME

I started out by being able to zone out distractions and study for hours in a row...I can barely hold myself to a full day of study these last few days by doing something like 1 essay on, 10 min off or 10 MBEs on, 5 min off, etc. I'm also actually confident I'll pass, but the desire to just chill out and stop studying is bothering me.

[AMCD]

If you are starting to get burned out, now is the time to regroup. This is a test that tests your ability to take a marathon test as much as it tests your knowledge. You need to be able to hold it together for the distance. Rest up, eat well, get some sleep now.

This last time when I passed, I looked at the test not as a three day exercise in misery, but as many incremental tests that were manageable if I didn't view it as a mountain. Told myself: OK, this morning, just need to get through three essays. That's all I think about. Not the PT this afternoon, not the MBEs the next day, not what could be on day three, just three essays.

Take the lunch break as a BREAK. Don't be that person in the hallway with all the outlines on the floor, or sitting outside smoking and reading. Don't be that person who goes back to their room and starts looking up every freaking issue that was tested. Let it go. This is what they count on -- your focus being lost in the afternoon b/c you are worked up about what has passed and that which you cannot change.

Walk around. Stretch your legs. Get some air. Take that full break as a gift to refresh, not an opportunity to look at PT styles. Realize, the PT doesn't have to be pure torture. Everything you need is there. Read the file/library in the order you have decided upon (but, have a plan); knock out an outline draft then, get up, go to the bathroom, get a drink of water (outside, not at the front of the auditorium) even if you don't need it. This will clear your brain. Relax you for a minute. Five minutes is not going to make or break you. Come back. Take a breath. recheck the outline. Start typing.

End of Day One: Go to your room. Try to talk to nobody on the way, or when you arrive. If you drink, have a drink when you get there. Lay on the bed, watch TV, relax, take a hot bath. Call someone who is supportive but is not going to talk to you about the exam. It's good to have a familiar voice at the end of each day. If you must, talk about the day for 5 mins. to get it off your chest. Avoid FB, emailing etc. Don't expend nervous energy the night before the MBE. Review short one-pager outlines on the MBE (Stanford has some great free short outlines on their website). Get to bed at a decent hour after having something to eat. Even if you don't fall asleep right away, laying in bed and closing your eyes will rest you. Wear ear plugs, and try to get as much rest as you can. Nobody does this test on much sleep, so if you are still awake at 2 am, don't stress further. Try repeating elements of crimes or torts in your head -- that always worked for me to send me to sleep in 10 mins!

MBE morning. Again, don't look at it as a whole day, six hours etc. Tell yourself: Just got to do 100 Qs this morning. I have done hundreds/thousands up to this point. 100 ain't that bad. I got this. I always did this little thing that Barbri suggested: As soon as I opened the AM and PM booklet, I would turn to Q 35 and then Q 70 and circle them. This prevented me from looking at my watch until then and only focusing on the fact patterns. Furthermore, it got rid of the initial anxiety of not immediately reading a fact pattern. When I would get to Q 35, I would do a time check and try to adjust if needed. On those looooong property Qs (and property was one of my best subjects always) I would read quickly and confidently, then choose an answer and bubble it in. If I didn't feel great about it, I would circle or star that Q and hopefully come back to it at the end. If not, I had made an educated guess and not got bogged down. I personally feel it's dangerous to leave Qs blank and come back. Too many people I know have had trouble getting lost on the scantron. Make a choice, trust yourself, and move on. When I get to Q 70, if I was ahead on time, I would get up and go to the bathroom, get water etc. just like on the PTs -- whether I needed to or not. Found I had more clarity when I returned with only 30 Qs left.

Break in the lunch hour same as above. Don't study. Walk. Get some air. Relax your hands and your mind. Just another 100 Qs to do and you are more than 2/3 there.

Evening of Day Two: Do the same. Relax. Eat. Have a drink. Try not to hang out with Bar people. This is like a job, not a social event. You don't want to be back there again, so be less sociable and friendly than normally. Keep off the phone, emails, etc. if you can't control yourself. Otherwise, call your mother or father or someone who doesn't understand anything anyway, so you can't get too involved in any discussion.

I didn't feel good after PTA the evening of day one. I called my great friend and talked to him about it briefly and then we talked about other things and just focused on letting go of the day and not carrying that with me into Day Two.

Do a light review of subjects still up for grabs on Day Three essays. Just think about that component of Day Three -- just three essays to knock out. Not that bad.

Allow yourself to BOMB one essay and still know you can do OK. Seriously, I wrote crap for that corps. essay, but felt good about the other essays.
Don't let a bad essay/hour derail you. Keep focused. Keep forging ahead in increments.

PTB: Repeat approach from Day One. You will be tired. They are counting on this. Take as much of a total break between AM and PM of day three. This is critical. This is where a LOT of people crash. Too many points on PTs to throw away b/c you are frazzled.

Leave the test center and then call whoever you want, go through whatever aspect of the test in as much detail as you want! Now you can do what you want but please, please try to avoid this during the process.

OK, hope there's one nugget in there at least that some of you can use.

We have your backs.

We have been there.

We failed.

Then we prevailed.

You forget the failures the moment you see your name on the pass list. Truly. This is a process. This too shall pass. And so will you.

[gtg]

If you are starting to get burned out, now is the time to regroup. This is a test that tests your ability to take a marathon test as much as it tests your knowledge. You need to be able to hold it together for the distance. Rest up, eat well, get some sleep now.

This last time when I passed, I looked at the test not as a three day exercise in misery, but as many incremental tests that were manageable if I didn't view it as a mountain. Told myself: OK, this morning, just need to get through three essays. That's all I think about. Not the PT this afternoon, not the MBEs the next day, not what could be on day three, just three essays.

Take the lunch break as a BREAK. Don't be that person in the hallway with all the outlines on the floor, or sitting outside smoking and reading. Don't be that person who goes back to their room and starts looking up every freaking issue that was tested. Let it go. This is what they count on -- your focus being lost in the afternoon b/c you are worked up about what has passed and that which you cannot change.

Walk around. Stretch your legs. Get some air. Take that full break as a gift to refresh, not an opportunity to look at PT styles. Realize, the PT doesn't have to be pure torture. Everything you need is there. Read the file/library in the order you have decided upon (but, have a plan); knock out an outline draft then, get up, go to the bathroom, get a drink of water (outside, not at the front of the auditorium) even if you don't need it. This will clear your brain. Relax you for a minute. Five minutes is not going to make or break you. Come back. Take a breath. recheck the outline. Start typing.

End of Day One: Go to your room. Try to talk to nobody on the way, or when you arrive. If you drink, have a drink when you get there. Lay on the bed, watch TV, relax, take a hot bath. Call someone who is supportive but is not going to talk to you about the exam. It's good to have a familiar voice at the end of each day. If you must, talk about the day for 5 mins. to get it off your chest. Avoid FB, emailing etc. Don't expend nervous energy the night before the MBE. Review short one-pager outlines on the MBE (Stanford has some great free short outlines on their website). Get to bed at a decent hour after having something to eat. Even if you don't fall asleep right away, laying in bed and closing your eyes will rest you. Wear ear plugs, and try to get as much rest as you can. Nobody does this test on much sleep, so if you are still awake at 2 am, don't stress further. Try repeating elements of crimes or torts in your head -- that always worked for me to send me to sleep in 10 mins!

MBE morning. Again, don't look at it as a whole day, six hours etc. Tell yourself: Just got to do 100 Qs this morning. I have done hundreds/thousands up to this point. 100 ain't that bad. I got this. I always did this little thing that Barbri suggested: As soon as I opened the AM and PM booklet, I would turn to Q 35 and then Q 70 and circle them. This prevented me from looking at my watch until then and only focusing on the fact patterns. Furthermore, it got rid of the initial anxiety of not immediately reading a fact pattern. When I would get to Q 35, I would do a time check and try to adjust if needed. On those looooong property Qs (and property was one of my best subjects always) I would read quickly and confidently, then choose an answer and bubble it in. If I didn't feel great about it, I would circle or star that Q and hopefully come back to it at the end. If not, I had made an educated guess and not got bogged down. I personally feel it's dangerous to leave Qs blank and come back. Too many people I know have had trouble getting lost on the scantron. Make a choice, trust yourself, and move on. When I get to Q 70, if I was ahead on time, I would get up and go to the bathroom, get water etc. just like on the PTs -- whether I needed to or not. Found I had more clarity when I returned with only 30 Qs left.

Break in the lunch hour same as above. Don't study. Walk. Get some air. Relax your hands and your mind. Just another 100 Qs to do and you are more than 2/3 there.

Evening of Day Two: Do the same. Relax. Eat. Have a drink. Try not to hang out with Bar people. This is like a job, not a social event. You don't want to be back there again, so be less sociable and friendly than normally. Keep off the phone, emails, etc. if you can't control yourself. Otherwise, call your mother or father or someone who doesn't understand anything anyway, so you can't get too involved in any discussion.

I didn't feel good after PTA the evening of day one. I called my great friend and talked to him about it briefly and then we talked about other things and just focused on letting go of the day and not carrying that with me into Day Two.

Do a light review of subjects still up for grabs on Day Three essays. Just think about that component of Day Three -- just three essays to knock out. Not that bad.

Allow yourself to BOMB one essay and still know you can do OK. Seriously, I wrote crap for that corps. essay, but felt good about the other essays.
Don't let a bad essay/hour derail you. Keep focused. Keep forging ahead in increments.

PTB: Repeat approach from Day One. You will be tired. They are counting on this. Take as much of a total break between AM and PM of day three. This is critical. This is where a LOT of people crash. Too many points on PTs to throw away b/c you are frazzled.

Leave the test center and then call whoever you want, go through whatever aspect of the test in as much detail as you want! Now you can do what you want but please, please try to avoid this during the process.

OK, hope there's one nugget in there at least that some of you can use.

We have your backs.

We have been there.

We failed.

Then we prevailed.

You forget the failures the moment you see your name on the pass list. Truly. This is a process. This too shall pass. And so will you.

You're awesome!!!

[tealeaf23]

If you are starting to get burned out, now is the time to regroup. This is a test that tests your ability to take a marathon test as much as it tests your knowledge. You need to be able to hold it together for the distance. Rest up, eat well, get some sleep now.

This last time when I passed, I looked at the test not as a three day exercise in misery, but as many incremental tests that were manageable if I didn't view it as a mountain. Told myself: OK, this morning, just need to get through three essays. That's all I think about. Not the PT this afternoon, not the MBEs the next day, not what could be on day three, just three essays.

Take the lunch break as a BREAK. Don't be that person in the hallway with all the outlines on the floor, or sitting outside smoking and reading. Don't be that person who goes back to their room and starts looking up every freaking issue that was tested. Let it go. This is what they count on -- your focus being lost in the afternoon b/c you are worked up about what has passed and that which you cannot change.

Walk around. Stretch your legs. Get some air. Take that full break as a gift to refresh, not an opportunity to look at PT styles. Realize, the PT doesn't have to be pure torture. Everything you need is there. Read the file/library in the order you have decided upon (but, have a plan); knock out an outline draft then, get up, go to the bathroom, get a drink of water (outside, not at the front of the auditorium) even if you don't need it. This will clear your brain. Relax you for a minute. Five minutes is not going to make or break you. Come back. Take a breath. recheck the outline. Start typing.

End of Day One: Go to your room. Try to talk to nobody on the way, or when you arrive. If you drink, have a drink when you get there. Lay on the bed, watch TV, relax, take a hot bath. Call someone who is supportive but is not going to talk to you about the exam. It's good to have a familiar voice at the end of each day. If you must, talk about the day for 5 mins. to get it off your chest. Avoid FB, emailing etc. Don't expend nervous energy the night before the MBE. Review short one-pager outlines on the MBE (Stanford has some great free short outlines on their website). Get to bed at a decent hour after having something to eat. Even if you don't fall asleep right away, laying in bed and closing your eyes will rest you. Wear ear plugs, and try to get as much rest as you can. Nobody does this test on much sleep, so if you are still awake at 2 am, don't stress further. Try repeating elements of crimes or torts in your head -- that always worked for me to send me to sleep in 10 mins!

MBE morning. Again, don't look at it as a whole day, six hours etc. Tell yourself: Just got to do 100 Qs this morning. I have done hundreds/thousands up to this point. 100 ain't that bad. I got this. I always did this little thing that Barbri suggested: As soon as I opened the AM and PM booklet, I would turn to Q 35 and then Q 70 and circle them. This prevented me from looking at my watch until then and only focusing on the fact patterns. Furthermore, it got rid of the initial anxiety of not immediately reading a fact pattern. When I would get to Q 35, I would do a time check and try to adjust if needed. On those looooong property Qs (and property was one of my best subjects always) I would read quickly and confidently, then choose an answer and bubble it in. If I didn't feel great about it, I would circle or star that Q and hopefully come back to it at the end. If not, I had made an educated guess and not got bogged down. I personally feel it's dangerous to leave Qs blank and come back. Too many people I know have had trouble getting lost on the scantron. Make a choice, trust yourself, and move on. When I get to Q 70, if I was ahead on time, I would get up and go to the bathroom, get water etc. just like on the PTs -- whether I needed to or not. Found I had more clarity when I returned with only 30 Qs left.

Break in the lunch hour same as above. Don't study. Walk. Get some air. Relax your hands and your mind. Just another 100 Qs to do and you are more than 2/3 there.

Evening of Day Two: Do the same. Relax. Eat. Have a drink. Try not to hang out with Bar people. This is like a job, not a social event. You don't want to be back there again, so be less sociable and friendly than normally. Keep off the phone, emails, etc. if you can't control yourself. Otherwise, call your mother or father or someone who doesn't understand anything anyway, so you can't get too involved in any discussion.

I didn't feel good after PTA the evening of day one. I called my great friend and talked to him about it briefly and then we talked about other things and just focused on letting go of the day and not carrying that with me into Day Two.

Do a light review of subjects still up for grabs on Day Three essays. Just think about that component of Day Three -- just three essays to knock out. Not that bad.

Allow yourself to BOMB one essay and still know you can do OK. Seriously, I wrote crap for that corps. essay, but felt good about the other essays.
Don't let a bad essay/hour derail you. Keep focused. Keep forging ahead in increments.

PTB: Repeat approach from Day One. You will be tired. They are counting on this. Take as much of a total break between AM and PM of day three. This is critical. This is where a LOT of people crash. Too many points on PTs to throw away b/c you are frazzled.

Leave the test center and then call whoever you want, go through whatever aspect of the test in as much detail as you want! Now you can do what you want but please, please try to avoid this during the process.

OK, hope there's one nugget in there at least that some of you can use.

We have your backs.

We have been there.

We failed.

Then we prevailed.

You forget the failures the moment you see your name on the pass list. Truly. This is a process. This too shall pass. And so will you.

This made me tear up a little reading it. Thank you. I have so many mixed feelings going into Round Two and I'm trying not to psych myself out. I'm actually feeling kind of confident (and then feeling guilty about feeling confident) so I'm hoping that carries through to next week.

We got this guys!

[BVest]

On Sunday or Monday, set up your stuff to reduce the amount of non-bar thinking you'll have to do on test days. I could go into detail but it's easier to just show you:



[disclaimer: not a repeater]

[kellyfrost]

It took me more than one shot to pass this exam. You need to have confidence. Even if you have failed before or failed multiple times, you must have confidence in yourself to do well. The human brain is a weird thing. Self confidence can really go a long way. When I took the bar exam for the first time I wasn't actually that confident. After I failed it was even harder to feel confident but you have to do it. Even if it is fake, that might work. Look, just have confidence. Once I found confidence and really buckled down and studied hard I passed.

If you have prepared well and have confidence I expect great things for you. It does not matter if you are a repeater. Like a poster above me said, that will never come up and no one will care. The feeling you have when you pass will be unlike any you've felt before. Let me try and describe it:
You've seen that meme with the cat who appears to be strutting his stuff, walking on two legs like a human, right? Passing the bar exam is the closest you are ever going to get to understanding how that cat in that picture feels.

[AMCD]

Consider whether you have the stomach to look ahead at your essay questions immediately upon starting. There are several schools of thought on this. Some suggest starting with the best or worst subject to either get it out of the way/start off strong and gain confidence.

When I failed, I looked ahead with one set of essays, and it sent me into a big panic, b/c whatever subject was third was something I was dreading. Just thinking I would identify the general subject didn't work, and I of course then had to skim the calls. That made it infinitely worse! So, there I was as I went back to Q1 and tried to write, all the while trying my best to think of anything and everything I could possible come up with for Q3 while writing Q1. It stressed me then to the point that with Q1 and Q2 I went over time on both, telling myself -- I don't know crap about Q3 so I had better try to get more points on these two and started rambling and losing a clean and crisp style.

Everyone knows what they can take, but if you are like me and won't be able to turn off once you have flipped that switch, try taking the essays in order. I did that this past July. Yes, I had butterflies when I turned the page, but then, even when I got that PR/Corps. crapfest, just took a breath and gave myself the hour even though, frankly, I was done in about 40 mins!

Another tip someone gave me a while back which I found helpful was to first read the essay call/s, then read the fact pattern at a good pace, but not so fast you are skimming it -- this immediately alerts you to look, even in just a cursory manner, for triggers on the right clusters of issues/poss. sub-issues. Then re-read the call--trust me, a few times in practice when I would do this, it would amaze me how I missed something from the direction of the call the first time around. Next, read the fact pattern at a steady and careful pace to pull out the issues and sub-issues. Draft up a quick outline with your skeleton notes and start to type. I always gave myself 15 mins to read and outline every essay. If I was done early outlining, I would go back and double check I wasn't skimping on anything or missing something entirely. If nothing else, it calmed me down and slowed down my brain to think thoroughly not rapidly.

Finally: In those fact patterns, every sentence counts. There is SOMETHING in each sentence, no matter how short, that you need to get in there -- either facts for analysis, an issue, or sub-issue. I recall doing a PR Q in practice where there was a short sentence saying something like "Bob and Dan had shared a dorm in college" and I just went right past it. Ended up triggering some issue relevant to possible prejudice/conflict of the lawyer to favor his old college roomie 30 years later in the current transaction. After Bob and Dan, I would systematically cross out each sentence as I went along and make sure it had a home!

We are all thinking of you. I remember this day from last year all too well. In a summary of the words of Rudyard Kipling, starting on Tuesday morning: keep your head when those about you are losing theirs!

[101670944]

I love the advice and support everyone has contributed in this thread. Thanks so much.
This is EXACTLY what TLS is all about.

Best of luck to everyone.

[rhs67858]

Friends,

Let me add something:

You have all taken the bar before. You know the deal. You know that environment and you know the process. Now, think about this for a second: Think about the fact that you have all been through the process and have since studied very, very hard to dominate that process this time around. Believe in yourself... believe in your prep... relax on test day... close your eyes... then, open them and seriously stream roll through this exam question by question, and essay by essay. Stay confident, think brilliantly, trust your judgements on the fly when warranted, and just do this. Do it. Let things come to you--as they will because you're prepared--and as you go through both days. Do it.

This is your time to pass the bar examination.

[NY_Sea]

This thread has been amazing... I thank all of you for the encouragement and advice and I wish all of the fellow repeaters the best of luck. Let's get this done!!

[Cscottrun]

I passed in July, but I thought'd I'd chime in with some advice. It is very much possible, actually, its incredibly likely, that you pass despite completely screwing up an entire essay. In fact, you could probably leave an entire essay blank and still pass. I reviewed administrative law once before the NY July exam, and it was an entire essay. I freaked out, for the rest of the day (and summer), but I still passed. Remember, this isn't law school where you are trying to get the best grade in the class. You just need to pass. You won't have that successful feeling you have when you come out of a law school test. This is not a test meant to be passed with flying colors.

I can't recommend studying between the morning and afternoon sessions. Its just a waste of time. It won't help. You need to clear your head during that period of time. I discussed the exam with others during the break. I don't regret doing so, but I ALWAYS know to go into those conversations with the thought that I prepared well and the others can be and probably are wrong (even if I'm wrong, its helpful to go in with that mindset).

For those of you taking MBE, there is not a single company that has realistic MBE prep questions. The MBE questions on the real exam seemed much much harder to me than the practice questions. Don't freak out about that. Everyone is in the same boat.

Lastly, if you are not a foreign test taker, statistics show you have a huge advantage. So just look around the room before the exam starts, and realize that you already are in a better position than a lot of the people in there.

[AMCD]

Posted some more last minute thoughts and tips I picked up that a grader passed along. They are on the California Bar 2016 thread.

Good luck all of you. PM or post with last minute worries, questions, or pep talks needed!!

[a male human]

This is an awesome thread. I posted this in the CA one, reposting:

Admire the buttcrack (and 8 other last-minute tactics)

Damn, Sunday's almost over? Time is relentless when you think back to December when you were bound by holiday obligations and skipping along thinking the bar was far away.

Now with less than 48 hours left, are you anxious about the seemingly insurmountable hurdle in front of you? Need some last-minute tips before doomsday?

The fact may be that all that studying and memorizing and practicing and pacing in the bathroom and having nightmares and telling yourself “you can do this!” and telling yourself “I’ve seen better heads on lettuce, loser”… weren't a cure-all despite your efforts.

That’s all right. I’m not saying don’t have regrets in general because I’m all for acknowledging your mistakes or wanting to do better. But at this point, if you’ve done your best, have no regrets as you go into the exam.

Brooding about the bar at this point doesn’t impact the past nor the future but takes away your energy in the present. Time travel costs energy, as confirmed by Stephen King.

If you’re obsessing over whether you’ve done enough in the past 2-3 months, you’re glued to an irreversible past. If you’re anxious and having nightmares about what kind of questions will appear, you’re jumping ahead to conclusions about an unknown future. Now’s the time to conserve your mental energy. Worry about it after the bar.

At the very least, next week will be a mock exam where you get real feedback (if you don’t pass). Here are some quick tactics the best of your mock exam:

1. The entire week is the exam. Focus on not being pulled into their own pace. Organize your notes, outlines, cooked essays, and other review material to bring to your hotel. Have your Ziploc® bag ready. Bring a pillow if you think it will keep your back or ass comfortable. Figure out ahead of time where you’re going to get lunch and dinner. Remember to “be arrogant” and put forth all you’ve learned; do the real thing as if it were practice.

2. Consider not answering the essays in order, depending on how comfortable you feel about each subject. Your best subjects first to gain confidence? Your worst subjects to spend more of your mental stamina? Reorder your essays ahead of time depending on your preference and don’t forget to write in the correct answer space.

3. Bring a watch (check your state's rules first). There may not be a clock in the test room. 33 MBE questions per hour. 17 per half hour.

4. Get to the test center on time. Don’t be late and start off frantically.

5. Don’t gamble on subject predictions by your favorite pundit. All subjects are fair game. (PR will appear for sure.) EXCEPTION: If you’re desperately strapped for time, prioritize which ones to practice instead of planning to ignore some subjects (at least read the model answers).

6. Chew gum to release anxiety. It helps your brain into thinking whatever you’re doing is no big deal if you can still “eat.”

7. Sleep well, and try to sleep in 90-minute intervals (REM cycles). Add 15 minutes to your 90-minute cycles to account for falling-asleep time. For example, if you want to wake up at 7:30, go to bed at 11:45. And bring earplugs to the hotel in case there are trucks next to the hotel banging on metal from 3 to 5 AM on a Tuesday morning. Oddly specific? It happened to me. If worse comes to worst, adrenaline may be your best buddy.

8. Avoid people you know. Get a hotel or Airbnb room for yourself (or home only if you live alone really close by). Come back to close your eyes on an actual bed during lunch time instead of eating in your car. Peace and solitude will help you focus instead of being conscious of classmates or relatives. You can always chat with others here or email me.

9. Once you’re in the test center, try to worry less. As I said above, it’s too late and early for that. Don’t let yourself waste your mental energy. Just admire the buttcrack of the person sitting in front of you.

Every night, you can look forward to something nice like dinner or smashing your face into a pillow or shitposting on TLS or studying some more because that’s all you know how to do nowadays.

Hang in there. Check off one day at a time: __ Tuesday __ Wednesday __ Thursday

And then it’s over! Look forward to it.

[BVest]

3. Bring a watch. There may not be a clock in the test room. 33 MBE questions per hour. 17 per half hour.

Check the rules for your state. Texas recently went to no watches (not even analog), and the examiners left the distinct impression that this was mandated by NCBEX (eta: confirmed), so if you're in an MBE state (i.e. you're not in Louisiana), you may be affected by it.

[a male human]

3. Bring a watch. There may not be a clock in the test room. 33 MBE questions per hour. 17 per half hour.

Check the rules for your state. Texas recently went to no watches (not even analog), and the examiners left the distinct impression that this was mandated by NCBEX (eta: confirmed), so if you're in an MBE state (i.e. you're not in Louisiana), you may be affected by it.

Thanks! Didn't know some states banned it

[ReachTheBar79]

Ah tomorrow is my first essay day. The nerves are starting to set in.

[dtruong23]

I took and passed the CA July 2015 exam. While not a repeat taker, the best piece of advice I was given was to simply TUNE OUT ALL OF THE NOISE. Don't listen to what anyone has to say, don't discuss questions during the break, etc. If you see a friend or classmate, say hello and move on. Don't waste your energy talking with others when all that really matters during the test is how you are doing.

With regards to taking the essays in the order presented and not looking at the other prompts, I think that is a matter of preference. I chose to just look at the calls for each essay just to see what general topics were being tested, then proceeded to tackle each essay as they came. Also, don't spend more than an hour on each essay. The second the hour is up, conclude and move on. There are more points to be had than trying to get every last issue or point from the essay that is eating up your time.

I remember during the lunch break feeling my brain just do a memory dump of the three topics that were tested in the morning. I think this is normal and a good thing, as long as you can remember the topics covered on the MBE.

When it comes to PTs, do what you have been practicing up to this point. Whether you read the case file first or the library, do what makes sense and what you are comfortable doing. The law is given to you, you just have to track it down and apply it in the manner that the task memo tells you. The task memo is probably the single most important sheet of paper. READ IT MULTIPLE TIMES!

On MBE day, treat the test as a regular practice day, where you go in and bang out 100 MBEs and then take a break, and do it all over again. Use the break to get refreshed, and not get bogged down over questions from the morning's session. I remember getting tripped up about a torts question, and it carried over into the afternoon session. I was wondering how I could possibly have missed that one. Turns out, it was an experimental question that didn't even count. This is why you shouldn't get worked up about the answers already submitted. For those who took Barbri, the actual MBE questions felt a lot shorter, and people, including myself finished with 15-20 minutes to spare. Not saying to not worry about time, but the length of questions shouldn't be what is holding you up from finishing.

After day 2, I was planning on studying for the remaining essay topics that were not tested day 1. This proved to be impossible. I just went home, and called it a night.

The last day was a blur. I just remember feeling excited that this hellish journey was coming to an end.

After the exam is over, go out, have a few drinks to celebrate!

Good luck everyone.