Should I Read Barbri Cmrs or Full Outlines

This commodity pertains to my methods of studying/preparing for the 2021 bar exam as a 3L. Information technology does not include how/why I took the test before graduating from law school. My hope is that information technology volition aid friends and colleagues who are almost to prepare for the bar.

I'll present this content in three sections. Feel free to skip ahead.

1. Personal groundwork (east.k. what life looked similar when I prepared for the exam)
2. What resource I relied on to prepare for the exam.
3. My modified Barbri approach.

(i) Personal Background

As 2020 was coming to a close, I made the decision to attempt the bar test early. The winter break during my 3L twelvemonth was extended by one calendar week and I decided to utilize the break to prepare for the Feb 2021 test. Studying was a major challenge since ..... well.... my life is insane! Here'southward a snapshot of what things looked like immediately before I began my preparation:

• My married woman and I had a daughter in September 2020. She was 3 months old when I started my prep. I understand that not every person in police force school has a child, so I'll sum it upwards like this: TAKING Care OF A Babe IS WILD AND EXHAUSTING. It'due south too amazing, simply I'll save that for a different article.
• I was still in school (3L) and would accept to balance classwork during part of my bar prep.
• My wife took an extended maternity leave, so nosotros were dependent on my income during my prep time (i.e. I was working).
• I was getting ready to launch a modest medical writing service in January 2021.
• I still had NOT taken several of the subjects taken on the UBE (family police, corporations, secured transactions, conflict of laws, and trusts and estates).

Equally yous tin encounter, time was scarce. Several people told me that they studied betwixt 8–10 hours per day for 8–10 weeks for the bar exam. That was not an option for me. I didn't really know what it would take to prepare for the bar examination, but I knew my arroyo would need to be modified.

Before we dive in, please continue two things in mind:

1. Every person has different strengths, different lives, different etc. etc. etc. I provide details on my arroyo below, merely that doesn't mean information technology's right for you. I adult my plan based on my ain life circumstances, my own strengths, and tips from others. You should do the same.
2. The bar test is not like your constabulary school finals. The bar examiners are not testing you on legal nuances. Rather, y'all volition exist tested on tried and true legal rules. Therefore, practice, repetition, and memorization are very valuable. The bespeak is not to get the side by side scholar in secured transactions. Learn the rules. Practice spotting issues. Apply those rules on the bar exam.

The bar exam should not be taken lightly. Out of all the test takers that sat for Vermont's 2021 bar test, just 57% passed. But you lot admittedly have what information technology takes. 2 quotes stuck with me during the duration of my prep—each came from a Barbri lecturer:

(1) Practise it once. Practice it right.

(two) This is a become to moment.

(2) What materials I used to prepare for the bar exam:

I started preparing for the bar exam based on my own study "plan." I didn't think that a bar prep class was really necessary. After two weeks of prep, however, I felt like I was moving too irksome. Given the intensity of my other responsibilities, I was opting to exercise things other than bar prep also ofttimes. Long story short: I needed someone to hold me accountable in this example. I ultimately concluded up relying on two resources to study:

1. Barbri (modified arroyo detailed in Section three of this article)
2. Critical Pass Flashcards

(A) Critical Laissez passer

Allow's start with Critical Pass because information technology is brief. A friend of mine recommended the Critical Laissez passer flashcards and I loved them. The cards are concise and easy to memorize. I would apply the cards to review and synthesize content after getting a foundation from Barbri. The cards were easy to carry around the house and the free app enabled me to study when we were on the go (due east.thou. while I sabbatum in the parking lot during Ella's appointments since only one parent was allowed in). My recommendation is to at least consider purchasing the MBE cards. I purchased the MBE and MEE cards, only relied on the MEE cards far less. I relied on Barbri lectures excessively for MEE prep (more in Section iii).

If y'all would similar to buy Critical Laissez passer flashcards, here is a link that you lot can employ to get 10% off: http://criticalpass.refr.cc/anthonyfanucci

Note: The links in the Critical Pass section above are affiliate links. By using them, you receive 10% off your social club and I receive credit from Disquisitional Laissez passer. It's a win-win situation, but I wanted to make sure you were aware. This did not impact my review of their cards.

(B) BARBRI

Let's become this out of the way... which bar prep plan is best?! Who knows! I was guilty of stressing over this question, but it'south the wrong question to be asking. The 2 big names at my school are Barbri and Themis. I chose Barbri and ended up really liking it (and I passed). The key to your success will likely exist consistency, not whether you chose Barbri or Themis.

This section will include general details and some personal notes on the materials that Barbri provides. Section three will cover my modified approach.

Here are the books that Barbri sent me (it's a delightfully heavy bundle):

• Outlines for Multistate (AKA massive book of outlines for MBE subjects)
• Outlines for MEE (thick book of outlines for MEE subjects)
• Conviser Mini Review outlines (thin volume of abbreviated outlines for MBE and MEE subjects)
• Simulated MBE book (practice MBE that y'all take midway through course)
• Lecture Handouts (you make full these out equally you picket MBE and MEE subject area lectures)
• MEE Testing (practice essays and model responses)
• MPT book (practice MPTs and model responses)
• MBE Practice Questions (do multiple option questions)

Boosted notes nigh Barbri's online plan:

• Yous get a Personal Report Plan (PSP) that adapts to your progress and tells you what content you should be studying each twenty-four hour period. It too provides a recommendation for the number of hours yous should exist studying each solar day to finish the grade on fourth dimension.
• My plan included the option to have essays and an MPT graded past Barbri instructors (Section 3 includes whether I used these offerings or non...).
• You go a false MBE test midway through the prep course. Barbri compares your results to every other educatee using Barbri at that fourth dimension. The results from this practise examination are very valuable.
• Barbri provides a lecture for each MBE and MEE subject. Most of the lecturers are peachy (including the stellar Rich Freer, who y'all may have listened to when learning civ pro during 1L year).
• Barbri provides general lectures on things similar: (1) how to construction an essay response, (ii) how to structure an MPT response, etc. etc.
• There is an MBE-approach lecture for each MBE subject (Barbri'southward input on how to approach MBE questions for that subject).
• Barbri will too assign you daily MBE exercise questions and MEE exercise essays.
• Lastly, Barbri offers a ton of final quizzes/tests during your final week of prep. I did not do 100% of the course so I can't say how beneficial these are.

(3) My Modified Arroyo to Studying

I used—and enjoyed using—Barbri's prep course. I did not follow the plan as prescribed though. If you are fix on following their plan exactly, I can't say whether it would be a good or bad thing. I tin say that I only did not take enough hours or interest in post-obit the programme precisely. That does not mean an abbreviated approach is proper for yous.

I believe that bar prep courses provide you with substantially more than information than you need to laissez passer the bar test. The reason is likely twofold: (one) more material makes students feel like they are preparing properly, and (two) more than material makes the substantial price of a bar prep grade more paletable. In regard to the former point, I couldn't disagree more. The bespeak of this test is Not to memorize as much content as possible. The point is to memorize the well-nigh important content. If you lot are familiar with Pareto'south Principle then you get where I'm coming from...

With this principle in mind, I thought it would be helpful to rank Barbri'southward materials into three categories:

(A) Materials that I set aside, never opened, and permit my daughter use every bit a platform for her jumper (since she wasn't tall enough):

• Outlines for Multistate (these outlines are ridiculously huge... I actually laughed when I saw them)
• Outlines for MEE (I focused on the lecture handouts for MEE subjects... more details beneath)

(B) Materials that I opened less than five times:

• Conviser Mini Reviews (Many people like these outlines and find them helpful, but I even so thought they were as well long)
• MPT book (I did one practice MPT, had it graded, and never returned)

(C) Materials that I truly relied on:

• Barbri's online lectures
• Lecture handouts
• MEE book of essays (even though I only wrote ii-3 essays out... more details below)
• MBE practise questions (And then IMPORTANT. I did the questions online, simply they are the same as the ones in the volume. You lot MUST Practise ALL THE MBE QUESTIONS THEY ASSIGN.)
• Simulated MBE

A closer look at my modified written report menstruum

Barbri provides report recommendations each day in your PSP. They make these recommendations based on how much time yous take earlier the exam and what content is most important to learn. Looking back on my prep for the bar, I would say that I focused heavily on three groups of content:

1. MBE Questions - I ever did the MBE questions that Barbri recommended. Repetition is key for MBE questions.
2. MEE Questions - I reviewed somewhere between l–seventy% of the essays that Barbri recommended, only I only wrote out 2–3 essays total. I didn't feel like I needed to work on my writing ability, merely I did demand to larn the police force. Therefore, I would read the assigned essay, respond it in my head or in a few bullet points, and and then review Barbri's model answer. If my answer was terrible then I would get back and review the rules. I did not waste time writing essays and I did not accept any essays graded. Note: Barbri provides a short lecture on essay writing. Their format is strong and will go you lot more points. Follow it for whatever essay you write.
3. Lectures - I really liked the Barbri lectures, even though I expected to feel the opposite about them. Some of them are very lengthy (holding law is something like eight hours), just I plant that almost of the lecturers really emphasized the almost important content. They extracted the content from the outlines that was essential to learn. Many of the lecturers even tell y'all the almost tested areas. The bar exam is all about beating the odds, so y'all need to know the rules pertaining to these emphasized areas. For case, I did not know a matter nearly secured transactions, just I knew exactly what I was going to write if a secured transactions essay appeared (it did). Not every Barbri lecturer narrows things downwardly to the about important areas, only many do. For lectures like Civ Pro—where at that place'southward simply too much content to select what is most of import—lecturers will often provide scripts to follow for essays. I loved this approach. I'll describe how I made the near out of lectures in my example below.

Hither'south an example to illustrate how I approached my prep on virtually days:

On any given day, Barbri may recommend a lecture, practice essays, MBE do questions, a practice MPT, or a conviser mini outline to review.

Here'southward out I would tackle each:

• MBE exercise questions: Always exercise them. My arroyo varied. Some days I would start with MBE questions, other days I would conclude with them. Timing matters less than doing them and reviewing the questions yous got incorrect.
• MEE essays: Equally mentioned above, I but wrote out ii-iii essays total (much less than nigh people). But I did effort to answer most essays in my head and review Barbri's model response.
• MPT questions: I watched Barbri's MPT overview lecture (important to know how to arroyo the MPT), submitted one MPT response for grading, and and then skipped every other MPT suggestion. Knowing how to approach the MPT is about of import (Barbri covers this).
• Outline review suggestions: At times, Barbri volition recommend that you review a large outline or a conviser mini outline. I did not review any of Barbri'south outlines... ever. Rather, I would spend time reviewing my Disquisitional Pass flashcards and my own written outlines (next bullet betoken).
• **Lectures**: This may be the are where I improvised the most. If a lecture was recommended, I would watch it. But I felt that the key was to actively sentinel the lecture. Barbri enables you to watch lectures at faster speeds (east.chiliad. 1.5x), but I would actually discourage it. Listening passively does NOTHING. Actively engaging with the lecturer was key to my success. Equally I watched a lecture, I would do various things. If the lecture was for an MBE field of study, I would create my ain handwritten outline. I'll be frank: these are terribly time consuming to brand. Simply I cannot express how valuable these outlines were in the concluding week of prep. If the lecture was for an MEE field of study, I would complete Barbri'south lecture handout. Why approach these subjects differently? Near of the MBE subjects contained too much cloth for the lecturers to say what was most critical. The examiners test a wide range of areas for MBE subjects. I plant the opposite to be true for MEE subjects. During MEE lectures, the lecturer was able to pinpoint the near critical testing areas. Near of the MEE lecture handouts were structured in a mode that provided you lot with precise essay templates. Therefore, I plant the handouts more valuable for MEE subjects. Lastly, I did create some attack outlines (very 1-2 pages) for some subjects.

Concluding Thoughts

After posting that I passed the bar exam early, I received a massive number of comments and questions. I hope that this article provides succinct responses to most of them. If not, please do not hesitate to contact me. In most cases, standardized testing is a right of passage that maintains no correlation to your success every bit a professional. Therefore, if I tin can assist someone conquer this antiquated manner of "testing" an individual's preparedness, and so I am all for it.

Your friend,

Anthony Fanucci

kingnoulter89.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-i-prepared-passed-2021-bar-exam-early-anthony

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