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When should I start bar prep? I’m doing Themis and have UWorld. Is there anything else I should purchase? Anything I could be doing now? Super light last semester of 3L so I have time.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 28, 2021 10:12 pm

When should I start bar prep? I’m doing Themis and have UWorld. Is there anything else I should purchase? Anything I could be doing now? Super light last semester of 3L so I have time.

I started Themis the day after graduation in mid-May for a late July administration of the bar. In hindsight, I regret starting that early and should have taken at least a full week or two to decompress from finals/graduation/process the emotions of finally being done with law school. I ended up completing 75% of Themis and passed the bar in a UBE jurisdiction by a very comfortable margin.

Definitely don't start bar prep while you're still a 3L unless you're at a school that historically has very low bar passage rates and you really need the extra prep. If you really want to overachieve as a 3L you're better off in the long term focusing on your classes and padding your GPA than you are cranking out a few extra weeks of bar prep.

No one will ever care that you passed the bar exam by 60 points more than the minimum passing score in your jurisdiction, but some people (very few) might care that you got straight As as a 3L and/or qualified for slightly higher/more impressive honors that you can list on your resume or law firm bio for the rest of your legal career.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 28, 2021 11:08 pm

I started Themis the day after graduation in mid-May for a late July administration of the bar. In hindsight, I regret starting that early and should have taken at least a full week or two to decompress from finals/graduation/process the emotions of finally being done with law school. I ended up completing 75% of Themis and passed the bar in a UBE jurisdiction by a very comfortable margin.

+1 to all this. I started on the Monday after graduation weekend, worked 9-3 every weekday and maybe four hours a day on the weekend, and managed to complete 90% or more of the Themis program by the July test date. Blew past the minimum exam score by about 70 points.

I started barbri two weeks before the exam and passed with 4 points above the new york passing score, which I think is the perfect result. Spending a lot of time studying to get a high score for this stupid exam is probably one of the stupidest things.

If you're a first time taker and will be studying full time, it's entirely fine to follow the schedule that is provided to you by Themis. For those who are either working, or repeating, or both, adjustments should often be made. Especially for those working. I tend to think if you'll have 1/2 the amount of time to study you should give yourself 2x the length of time. If you'll have 2/3 the amount of time, 3/2 the length of time, etc.

Sean (Silverman Bar Exam Tutoring)