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Working through bar prep right now. I’ve got two of the MBE subjects finished (lectures/outlines read/etc.).

The schedule starts moving into other non-MBE subjects now. I’m curious what thoughts are on deviating from their schedule and completing the MBE subjects first. I have AdaptiBar in conjunction with my main bar course - so I want to get the MBE topics finished ASAP so I can start using Adaptibar daily.

Is there some actual secret reasoning behind the bar preps schedule or can I proceed with my little deviation? Looking for reassurance here lol.

Thanks!

Nothing wrong with remaining flexible. It's great to have the prep companies as a guide, but it's simply not true that every person will need to stick to the same exact schedule so you shouldn't be afraid to skew when you think it's better for you to do so!

Sean (Silverman Bar Exam Tutoring)

The fact of the matter is that you will not have time to complete everything and your motivation will wane as you continue. I completed all MBE and enough other subjects to get to 75% completed. MBE was definitely my focus and I passed. There were state specific portions where I had no clue because I had skipped entire sections. On the other hand, I finished my MBE sections with enough time to get out of the room before they locked it at 15 min remaining and beat everyone to Starbucks.

That’s not to say that your experience will be the same. But you should feel free to focus on what you need and want to, as long as you reach the completion percentage required to get a free course in the event you need to retake.

collegewriter wrote:The fact of the matter is that you will not have time to complete everything and your motivation will wane as you continue. I completed all MBE and enough other subjects to get to 75% completed. MBE was definitely my focus and I passed. There were state specific portions where I had no clue because I had skipped entire sections. On the other hand, I finished my MBE sections with enough time to get out of the room before they locked it at 15 min remaining and beat everyone to Starbucks.

That’s not to say that your experience will be the same. But you should feel free to focus on what you need and want to, as long as you reach the completion percentage required to get a free course in the event you need to retake.

What resources did you use for the MBE?

collegewriter wrote:The fact of the matter is that you will not have time to complete everything

I'm really curious about this claim.

I totally understand that people prepping for the bar while working are likely to not have time to get everything done. But for people taking the bar after graduation, what's the impediment to finishing the full course (aside from not wanting to do the work)?

cavalier1138 wrote:

collegewriter wrote:The fact of the matter is that you will not have time to complete everything

I'm really curious about this claim.

I totally understand that people prepping for the bar while working are likely to not have time to get everything done. But for people taking the bar after graduation, what's the impediment to finishing the full course (aside from not wanting to do the work)?

Well maybe some total automatons do. But you just get beaten down after a while. Days of working 10-14 hours get to you and you start to get less productive. You take a day off here and there, you have bad days, you have to attend a wedding, etc. I’m sure there are people who finish everything but I don’t know anyone who did. And that’s ok. You just want to know enough to pass.

lexingtonhr wrote:

collegewriter wrote:The fact of the matter is that you will not have time to complete everything and your motivation will wane as you continue. I completed all MBE and enough other subjects to get to 75% completed. MBE was definitely my focus and I passed. There were state specific portions where I had no clue because I had skipped entire sections. On the other hand, I finished my MBE sections with enough time to get out of the room before they locked it at 15 min remaining and beat everyone to Starbucks.

That’s not to say that your experience will be the same. But you should feel free to focus on what you need and want to, as long as you reach the completion percentage required to get a free course in the event you need to retake.

What resources did you use for the MBE?

I followed the Themis program and did as many practice questions as possible (you can buy more if needed). I was really diligent about watching the videos and taking good notes and then reviewing those notes. Honestly, your bar program is set up to make it almost impossible to fail as long as you put in a good effort to understand the material you’re working on.

Don’t be afraid to deviate from the bar course to study in ways that make sense, including but not limited to mixing up subject order. Particularly if you’ve done well in law school, you’re a good test taker and you know how to study. Trudging through the course can be a good way to lose confidence when you know that a different method / order / approach to your study time would work better for you. I realized this was posssible about halfway through bar prep and only wish I’d realized sooner. I still used the course but selectively, and I incorporated my own typical study methods. (Caveat: if you have good reason not to be confident in your test taking abilities, it might make more sense to stick diligently to the rigor and schedule of your course.)

collegewriter wrote:Well maybe some total automatons do. But you just get beaten down after a while. Days of working 10-14 hours get to you and you start to get less productive. You take a day off here and there, you have bad days, you have to attend a wedding, etc. I’m sure there are people who finish everything but I don’t know anyone who did. And that’s ok. You just want to know enough to pass.

Which bar prep program involves 10-hour days?

And not to put too fine a point on it, but do you think the only people capable of holding down a full-time job are "automatons?" I'm not saying it's thrilling and interesting work, but it's a job you have to (at least mostly) complete in order to pass the bar. There's nothing wrong with completing the program to the point where you feel confident that you're prepared for the exam. But I'm still a little bemused by the claim that no one could possibly do the whole course unless they don't have feelings.

cavalier1138 wrote:

collegewriter wrote:The fact of the matter is that you will not have time to complete everything

I'm really curious about this claim.

I totally understand that people prepping for the bar while working are likely to not have time to get everything done. But for people taking the bar after graduation, what's the impediment to finishing the full course (aside from not wanting to do the work)?

I've rarely heard of anyone finishing Barbri. I think it's not that they don't want to do the work, but their time is better spent elsewhere. I also think it's A LOT of work, and there is a good chance that if you do all of it you're just doing busywork and not really engaging with the material in a meaningful way.

I did Barbri the first time and didn't pass, and I think some of that was trying to strictly adhere to a schedule even if I wasn't getting anything out of it and was just going through one task to get to the other. The second time I was way more engaged with the material and studied the way that I found in comfortable. I'm guarantee I did fewer actual tasks, but the work I put in was quality work.

Hi all,

I recently sat for the February 2019 bar exam and passed, thank God. I only finished 60% of my bar program and to tell you the truth u probably only finished a little less than that since some of the items I sped through or I picked the easier stuff to watch/learn.

Do not be afraid to supplement your materials or veer off course a little bit. You need to learn the material and that's all that materials. Whether you finish most of your bar course is not predictive as to whether or not you will ultimately get the score you want.

For me, I was worried about the multiple choice aka mbe section so I ended up deviating substantially from my course and used critical pass mbe flashcards and some practice multiple choice questions to test my level of competency.

I suggest you do the same. You do not want to take the bar exam 2x. Its not worth it. It's a miserable enough exam as is and you really want to give it your all the first time.

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