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Sorta confused on how to approach my barbri study. Obviously very early in the process, but just want to make sure I'm following the program correctly (I'm a "trust the process" kind of person, fwiw). I watched the lecture for day 1 today, filled in the lecture notes etc. Only thing left on the study plan is to review lecture notes... Fine, no problem I'll do that. But should I be doing anything else today? i.e. making note cards? Practice problems? Or does that all come later?

RaceJudicata wrote:Sorta confused on how to approach my barbri study. Obviously very early in the process, but just want to make sure I'm following the program correctly (I'm a "trust the process" kind of person, fwiw). I watched the lecture for day 1 today, filled in the lecture notes etc. Only thing left on the study plan is to review lecture notes... Fine, no problem I'll do that. But should I be doing anything else today? i.e. making note cards? Practice problems? Or does that all come later?

I would start doing MBE questions. It's not enough to know the BLL, you need to be able to apply it correctly and you'll see how it's tested when you begin doing MBEs. Plus by doing the MBE questions along with learning the law you'll reinforce what you've learned from the lecture.

Exercise. It'll ramp up as you go, and there'll be topics you want to review outside the daily curriculum.

If you really want to feel like you're doing more bar stuff, cnk1220's suggestion of MBE drills is good.

RaceJudicata wrote:Sorta confused on how to approach my barbri study. Obviously very early in the process, but just want to make sure I'm following the program correctly (I'm a "trust the process" kind of person, fwiw). I watched the lecture for day 1 today, filled in the lecture notes etc. Only thing left on the study plan is to review lecture notes... Fine, no problem I'll do that. But should I be doing anything else today? i.e. making note cards? Practice problems? Or does that all come later?

Do the next day's lectures. In my first week of Themis I did 1.5 to 2 days worth of lectures in one day. Getting ahead of scheduled helped later in the summer when I had to take time off for random things.

Thanks for quick responses. Should I try and focus on MBE questions for the topic covered? Or just more generally tackle questions/read answer explanations to pick up material for the test at large?

ETA: Also realize that I do NOT want to get burned out, so not gonna go crazy... just want to be comprehensive.

RaceJudicata wrote:Thanks for quick responses. Should I try and focus on MBE questions for the topic covered? Or just more generally tackle questions/read answer explanations to pick up material for the test at large?

ETA: Also realize that I do NOT want to get burned out, so not gonna go crazy... just want to be comprehensive.

Most the MBE topics will be stuff you covered in school. The topics should be familiar, even if you need refreshing. You should be able to dive straight in to those.

Don't burn yourself out! It is still early and will definitely pick up.

I also felt like I didn't do enough for the day at first. I did a few MBE questions after I finished BARBRI for the day (related to the lecture topic) or reviewed the Critical Pass deck for the related topic.

Good luck!

nyclawgrad16 wrote:Don't burn yourself out! It is still early and will definitely pick up.

I also felt like I didn't do enough for the day at first. I did a few MBE questions after I finished BARBRI for the day (related to the lecture topic) or reviewed the Critical Pass deck for the related topic.

Good luck!

This. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Getting a little ahead is fine but trust the schedule. You'll get plenty of practice throughout the next 10 [weeks]. Doing practice MBE questions now is nonsensical. You don't know the law and you'll just waste the bank that you have. Add supplemental questions closer to the exam when they will actually be uselful.

RaceJudicata wrote:Sorta confused on how to approach my barbri study. Obviously very early in the process, but just want to make sure I'm following the program correctly (I'm a "trust the process" kind of person, fwiw). I watched the lecture for day 1 today, filled in the lecture notes etc. Only thing left on the study plan is to review lecture notes... Fine, no problem I'll do that. But should I be doing anything else today? i.e. making note cards? Practice problems? Or does that all come later?

I'm in the exact same boat as you. I did the lecture and reveiwed the handout a couple times and I feel pretty good about the info I covered today but I also can't help but thinking I should do more. The Barbri video tips they give you said not to worry about memorization just yet, so I didn't really focus on that.

The Barbri video tips are a little confusing though - they say to spend 8 - 10 hours a day (even now) but they also say not to burn yourself out..? I don't really know how I could have spend 5-6 hours today after the lecture reviewing the 40 pages of civ pro we covered today without going crazy...

Also feeling the same as OP. Barbri's insistence to not memorize freaks me out since I feel I am not absorbing the material by just listening to the lectures and reading the outlines. I think I will purchase the Critical Pass Flashcards to start internalizing the black letter law during slow days like the past two days.

itsme123 wrote:Also feeling the same as OP. Barbri's insistence to not memorize freaks me out since I feel I am not absorbing the material by just listening to the lectures and reading the outlines. I think I will purchase the Critical Pass Flashcards to start internalizing the black letter law during slow days like the past two days.

Yeah but there aren't going to be that many slow days as the program picks up. After doing diagnostics for other subjects, you'll get a ton of AMP and MBE practice questions as homework.