The Bar is Coming!

With the bar exam just over a week away, many of you are probably starting to get very nervous about taking the test. The first piece of advice that anyone would give you is simply to stay calm and avoid getting too stressed out. Below are some additional pointers that you might find helpful for taking the exam (and keeping everything together until you do) from posts by Douglas Whaley, Susan Gainen, and Bar Exam Mind.

1. Don’t be an overachiever – “You don’t need to ace this exam. You only need to make a passing grade. That leads to altered study tactics.”

2. Don’t start fighting hopeless battles – If you don’t know anything about a certain topic, don’t spend the rest of your study time trying to understand a subject you have little hope to gain mastery over. Seriously just “do nothing.”

3. Switch into memorization mode – “You should have all your study materials completed or nearly complete by now. In the final two weeks before the bar exam, you need to concentrate on memorizing your notes, outlines and/or flashcards.”

4. Show what you know – “Telepathy is not a bar exam tool…bar exam graders do not know what you know…test takers should write down everything.”

5. Think about the answers you got right – Avoid stressing yourself out by going over all of the questions you didn’t answer perfectly after day one. You can’t change your answers and recapping the test with friends will only make you tense for the second day of the exam.

Good luck from all the law library staff!