To cram or not to cram... Forum

[davidtothej05]

First time taker here. I have followed barbri to the letter. Except now I am debating whether to take the day off on Monday (1st state day is Tuesday). I know everybody says that you should take the day off. But I am having doubts and am considering spending the day drilling flashcards. I was a crammer in law school, and that turned out ok....

Thoughts?

[YalteseFalcon]

If that's your style of preparation, I think you should continue. Good job on keeping up with your Barbri plan. That's one hell of a workout. I imagine I'll achieve completion around 78% on the PSP. It's a funny thing--because the average completion is obviously quite low, yet I don't feel as if I'm performing that much better than average. In fact, I'm demonstrably not. 58th percentile on the simulated MBE. I commend all of those students able to manage this information without the structure of the PSP.

[cnk1220]

Do what works best for you. No need to change up your study habits now!

[pdwannabe]

ya i strongly recommend doing what you normally do. i was a huge crammer in law school but took the monday off to rest the first time i took the exam since thats what everyone said, and then i failed by 2 points. and i still feel like i wouldve passed with my normal amount of cramming. so dont let people tell you to rest and relax if thats not what you normally do. treat it like you would any other test IMO

[didntretake]

I don't think you should cram, even if you are inclined to do so or are used to doing so from law school. This isn't like a 4 hour final. It sounds like you've done what you need to do.

[justaguest]

Do what you normally do - don't change it now.

I studied the same way. I planned to take Monday off but I just couldn't. There was just so much more to learn.

I read old exam essays and model answers. I also looked up one stupid little thing (knowing it would be worth like .000001 point) that came to me when reading other things.

One of the essays on the exam was nearly identical to one of the essays that I read the day before and I was essentially able to regurgitate the model answer (because, as a crammer, I have pretty good short-term memory). The one stupid little thing I looked up? It was one part of a larger essay question on the exam. I like to think it was my knowledge of that stupid little thing that put me over the edge.

[rcharter1978]

First time taker here. I have followed barbri to the letter. Except now I am debating whether to take the day off on Monday (1st state day is Tuesday). I know everybody says that you should take the day off. But I am having doubts and am considering spending the day drilling flashcards. I was a crammer in law school, and that turned out ok....

Thoughts?

To each their own, but I'm a crammer, and I did the same with the bar exam.

I was still reviewing lean sheets the morning of the exam.