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Just seeking the collective TLS Wisdom -

How did you guys go about studying for a second bar exam while working? A friend and I have both passed our first bar (non-MBE) and now want to take a UBE. Since the exam is late February, we have roughly 4 months from now.

How would you spread out the studying? To be fair, we both passed the first while having completed less than 50% of the entire course, but we obviously have much less time this go around. Especially my friend, who works (on average) roughly from 9 AM to 8 PM from M to F and works a half day on Saturday too.

Did you guys watch one lecture a day? Two? How many p sets per day? When did you ramp up the pace? And how much did you ramp up your pace? All thoughts/advice are appreciated. I usually get fantastic advice on TLS so hoping that you guys can help me calm down my friend. Thanks.

P.S. If this helps, we have access to Barbri.

Really good question. About 90% of my students work while studying so I've learned a lot from their approach. Many will either put aside a few hours in the morning prior to going to work or a few hours in the evening after work. This depends on some personal traits and when you feel you are more likely to get the most out of the time. But the key is consistency. To be honest, when you've only got a few hours you can get a lot done because knowing that the time is limited you'll be more focused.

And then the weekends are key. Frankly, you have to be willing to give up at least one day and as the exam gets closer both days of the weekend for long studying days.

By studying a few hours each weekday, and long hours on the weekend, you'll be spending a decent amount of time preparing for the exam. But you'll still have to study smart because you won't be able to study as hard as those who are not working. For the UBE, you should be reading a lot of the old essays that the NCBE has released since you won't have time to write many. You should be working through many MBE questions, since you won't have time to pour over outlines. And you should read over a few old MPTs, since working through them will be too time consuming.

People in general should probably study smarter than they do, but those who are working full time really have no choice. But it's doable, and I've seen it done successfully many many times.

Sean (Silverman Bar Exam Tutoring)