Sunday, June 26, 2011

Essays, Essays, Essays

In my bar preparation, I am giving the essay questions short shrift. This is a sensible strategy for a few reasons: Most importantly, the essays are not weighted as heavily as the multiple choice questions (25% vs. 50%). For another thing, it's hard to practice for the essay test because the grading is not objective--I have model answers to my practice questions, but those are "ideal" answers. They don't really tell me if my crummy answers would pass or fail. This lack of feedback on practice essays may be the biggest disadvantage to blowing off a commercial prep class. Lastly, let's not kid ourselves, it's easier to fake it on an essay test than on a multiple choice test. After three years of law school, I should be able to write a plausible essay on even a branch of law I've never heard of.

With all that in mind, I picked up a book from the library that contains practice questions and short outlines (most are under twenty pages) of the essay subjects not covered on the multiple choice test. I also got copies of longer outlines of subjects I didn't study in school (commercial paper, conflict of laws) or did poorly in (family law). For the last week I have been reading quickly through one or two outlines per day, then writing two or three practice essays. To date I've written thirteen such essays. Most have been pretty poor, but my expectations are low. One day this week I plan to wrap up my essay prep by giving myself a complete practice test, meaning six essays in three hours. After that I'll spend a maximum of two days practicing for the "performance" portion of the bar (a test of one's ability to interpret and draft legal documents), then it's back to multiple choice drills.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Spring Grades

Spring grades are out, so my GPA is finally set in stone for ever and ever. I managed to give it a .01 bump in my last semester and finish with a nice round number. Excelsior!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Immortalized on Film

Last week the school surprised me with a complimentary 5x7" photo of me receiving my leatherette diploma cover. Very nice. It makes me glad I put off responding to the eight emails I've received to date from the graduation photographer.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Scant Progress

Three weeks after graduation and five weeks before the bar exam, I have finished my first pass through the multiple choice test topics. My performance to date on practice questions is 283 out of 428, or 66%. That's weak. The conventional wisdom I've heard is that one should be able to hit 80% consistently on practice tests before taking the bar.

Even so, I have to put the multiple choice stuff down for now. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to spend a week or two writing practice essays. Maybe the multiple choice questions will look easier when I have fresh eyes.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Developing a Study Plan

I don't know what my colleagues are doing in their Barbri and Kaplan classes, but here is the pattern I've slid into as I review for the multiple choice portion of the bar exam:

I spend six or eight hours going through a subject outline, taking notes (these are duplicative of notes I already have, but note-taking is the only way I can force myself to read slowly and carefully). After each outline, I take a sixty- to seventy-five-question practice test on that subject. The test takes about two hours, so by the time I review the questions I missed I've spent about ten hours on each subject. With six subjects tested by multiple choice (constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, evidence, property, and torts), I'm on a pace to get through a complete review in sixty hours of study time.

After that, I'll spend some time prepping for the essay and practicum portions of the test, then go back for more multiple choice practice in July.