Category: Bar Exam Mindset

The Bar Exam is a Mind Game. Get your mind Prepped!

Increase your Bar Exam Confidence

Many people have lots of fears going into their bar exam.  So, let’s turn to the late tennis player Arthur Ashe for some advice.  Arthur was the first African American to play for the US team in the Davis Cup and won the NCAA championship in tennis.  He later went on to win the U.S Open and Wimbledon championships during his career.

When asked how he accounts for his speedy rise to success in tennis, Arthur responded:

One important key to success is self-confidence.
An important key to self-confidence is preparation.

Preparation. Preparation. Preparation.

To truly be ready for your bar exam, it’s really important to prepare as best you can.  Put in the time and the effort.  Be committed to going for it and making it happen.  Don’t take the bar exam in half-stride, in your strategic preparation, nor your mental preparation.

Do the work. Do what you have to do.  Your bar exam destiny is in your own control. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  The bar exam will be a challenge and a struggle.

But you can do it.

All you have to do is keep on moving and keep on preparing.  Take it seriously and just picture the results you will achieve and the reasons why you want those results.  Do it all in stride with a smile on your face, and that name on the pass list will be right around the corner.

Prepare well and work hard.  Your confidence will soar.  And so will you when you pass.

Because You are a Bar Exam Passer.

“This name appears on the pass list”

You Control Your Bar Exam Destiny

As your preparation for the bar exam nears, it’s important to keep in mind who your biggest competition is for your bar exam.  And, it’s quite simple.  Look no further than your own mirror.

You are Your Biggest Competition

Some people like to get caught up in the statistics of the bar exam pass rates.  Well, in some jurisdictions the numbers look bad.  The pass rate in California for February is less than 40%.  But guess what, you are not competing with other people.

You are competing with yourself.

In the end, what others are doing to help them pass the bar exam does not really matter.  It’s all about you.

This is not a football game. Your outcome does not depend on the how well the other team plays. This is like running a marathon.  You are in complete control as to how you finish. You are in control of the preparation, the mindset, and the follow through.

You control your Bar Exam Destiny!

So, if your mind ever starts wandering and focusing on how you’re going to do compared to other people, bring it back to yourself.  Affirm, “I control my destiny. I can do this.”

Do so and you will be well on your way to reading the following come results day:

“This name appears on the pass list”

 

Bar Exam Peak Study Time

Do you ever wonder when is the best time during the day to study for the bar exam?  Have you felt that your energy increases during certain time periods and wanes during others?

The reason for that is your body has an energy clock.  If you are able to synchronize your studying with your energy clock, you will be more efficient and do better in your bar prep by synchronizing your energy and alertness levels with your study time.

According to a combination of studies conducted by USC and Penn State, knowing your body clock and can lead to more effectiveness, a healthier life, and better results.

Your Bar Exam Body Clock

Although, body clocks vary from person to person, here are some general rules to follow:

  • Most adults perform best in late morning
  • A warm morning shower can jump start your day
  • People are more prone to distraction from 12pm to 4pm
  • Sleepiness peaks at 2pm
  • Exercising between 3pm and 6pm makes you less prone to injury
  • Evening study, even when you’re a little bit tired, may be best for novel thinking (thinking up new ideas)

But, the good news for bar takers is that analytical thinking performance remains mostly constant throughout the day.

Your productivity also depends on whether you are a morning person or evening person.  Morning people are early risers and peak early in the day.  Evening people wake up later, start more slowly, and peak at night.

Optimal Bar Exam Study Schedule

Here is a sample bar exam study schedule you can follow according to your body clock tendencies.  Obviously, a combining the ideas and catering them to your own style will be most beneficial.

Morning People – Get the most intensive studying completed in the morning

  • Start with a hot shower in the morning
  • Eat a good, hearty breakfast
  • Study until late morning
  • 12pm – Take a lunch break
  • Do some lighter studying or reviewing of rules or notes
  • 3pm – Take a break, a light nap, call some friends or family
  • Do some lighter studying or reviewing of rules or notes
  • 6pm – Eat dinner
  • Do light studying
  • Exercise
  • Hour of Power – relax and prepare for the next day
  • Sleep (8 hours)

Evening People – Get the most intensive studying completed in the evening

  • Eat breakfast
  • Do some life maintenance activities or light reading and studying
  • Eat lunch
  • Light to Medium study
  • Exercise
  • Dinner
  • Intensive Studying
  • Hour of Power – relax and prepare for the next day
  • Sleep (8 hours)
Now, you know your body.  Thus, in time, you will read:
“This name appears on the pass list”

CA Bar

The CA bar exam is considered the most challenging of all the bar exams.  It is longer than most other bar exams and traditionally has a lower pass rate.

But that information is only good information to know what’s ahead.  It is NOT a determining factor in how you will do.

Don’t you want to know if the road ahead is going to be smooth like ice cream or a little more rocky like a sprinkled donut?

But either way, you’re probably going to keep moving forward and eat either of those delights, right?  So, it’s really just a matter of preparing and knowing how you’re going to move forward for the bar exam.

Too many people get caught up in the stats of the CA bar being difficult and having a lower pass rate, they forget that it’s not about others, it’s about themselves.

It’s about you.

How are YOU going to prepare for your bar exam?

How are YOU going to react to adversity along the way?

It’s easy to get caught up in comparing yourself to others, but what ‘they’ do isn’t going to be what ultimately matters.

It’s about what YOU do.

So, make the decision now that you are going to do what it takes to pass the bar exam.  Make the decision that if others have done it, so can you.

It’s your bar exam, and it’s your time for your glory.

I’ll be here to ride alongside you during your journey.  Read around the blog.  Subscribe to my newsletter.  I send all kinds of exclusive tips and coaching to my newsletter subscribers.  Subscribe to my podcasts. Join me on Twitter and Facebook.

Let’s make this bar exam the only bar exam you ever have to take again!

“This name appears on the pass list”

Bar Study

Every year, the minds of many bar exam students are filled with questions about the bar study process.

What’s the best way to study for the bar exam?  How many hours will I spend each day studying?  Should I spend the money on a bar prep program?  Should I study in groups?

It is natural and normal for you to be filled with all these questions about the bar exam.

Even if you are taking a bar exam prep program, there are many of these more subtle questions that are not addressed.

This is why on this website, you will find tons of tools to help you pass your bar exam with ease and confidence.

The most important thing to keep in mind about the bar exam is that it is a marathon, not a race.  You will have about two months to spend preparing (you don’t need more than that).

It is also important to get everything situated before you start the bar exam, so you don’t have needless distractions during your bar exam prep.

Also, during you bar exam, make sure you have a good system of maintaining your energy, thoughts, and balance.  It’s important to stay focused, and keep yourself from burnout.  It really is about energy management, not time management.

Subscribe to my email list and I’ll send you all these types of tools to your inbox basis during your bar exam season.

Until next time,

“This name appears on the pass list”

 

 

 

What is the Bar Exam?

The bar exam is your final test.  It is your Mt. Everest.  It is the Mt. Doom of Mordor.  It is the Commodus that Maximus must do battle with.

Ahh, but despite the epicness of the bar exam and all the talk that surrounds it, never fear!

Not only should you not hype up the bar exam, but you should also equip yourself with all the tools needed so you can open login on bar exam results day, open up your screen, and read the beautiful words:

“This name appears on the pass list”

On this site, you will find TONS of information to help you de-mystify the bar exam experience and make the climb up Mt. Doom a short stroll in the park.

And you should know the bar exam really comes down to 3 general areas you should focus on: Knowledge, Action, and Beliefs:

(1) Knowledge

Knowledge is power.  Believe it or not, the bar exam is NOT a test of your ability to be a lawyer.  Nope.  Nor is it a giant compilation of everything you learned in law school.

The bar exam is a very specific and focused test designed to test your ability on one thing.

The bar exam test is ONLY designed to determine whether you can pass the bar exam.

You don’t need to know every topic on every subject.  The bar exam loves to rinse and repeat specific topics over and over and over, and they love to leave other topics virtually untouched.

So, don’t study EVERYTHING.  And don’t think you need to be a lawyer yet.  Both are false.

This is why I strongly recommend you take a good bar prep course.  These prep courses have professional attorneys who have made it their career to study and break down the bar exam for you.

They are a coach and guide for you in many ways.  Take advantage of their expertise and knowledge so you can focus on only what truly matters and leave the rest.

If you want an in-depth analysis of some of the top bar exam prep programs offered throughout the country, check out my post  on it here.  Or you can listen to my podcast on the topic here.

(2) Action

Well, if knowledge is power, then applied knowledge is Super Power!  Obviously, you won’t get anywhere without taking action.  But what kind of action should you take?

After all, a hampster takes plenty of action every day and stays stuck in his wheel in his cage.  The key is know what is the RIGHT ACTION to take.

This goes hand in hand with knowledge.  If you have a good bar prep program and coach, you will be guided which action to take.  You won’t study the wrong materials or the untested materials.

You’ll be able to focus on the right things, the drivers, the key material you need to pass the bar exam.

The 80-20 principle applies to the bar exam.  You can get 80% of your results with 20% of your work.

It’s just key to know what to focus on.  This blog shares my experiences with the bar exam.  What worked and what didn’t work.  What I should have focused on and what I shouldn’t have focused on in retrospect.  It will help you focus on what really matters.

Learn about the importance of practicing, a good study routine, and goal setting to get started.

Action goes hand in hand with beliefs as well.

If you don’t believe you’re going to pass, your mind will guide you to the action steps to take so you, in fact, don’t pass.  If you do believe you will, your mind will guide you to those steps.

(3) Beliefs

Ahh beliefs.  It’s the #1 determiner of what we get and don’t get in our lives.  With a right belief system and framework in place, the bar exam can be easier and passing the bar exam could be an already-accomplished reality in our minds.

With a poor belief system, we could take the bar exam 17 times, spend countless hours doing the right things, but still not pass.

Nurturing a positive, bar exam passers belief system is important. I graduated in the bottom half of my class and statistically speaking, was not supposed to pass the bar exam.

But, I did.  And I did it in California on my first attempt.

In my prep, I took care to nurture my belief systems, using visualization, prayer, and affirmations to help me focus on passing and doing what it takes to pass.

I have tons of tips in my mindset category.  Check it out.

I also provide a free meditation mp3 that will uses guided visualization to help you relax, along with weekly bar exam tips and knowledge around bar exam time via a free email listserv.

I combine all my tips and learning into the Bar Exam Mental Edge program, which I designed to give you a system to give you rock-solid beliefs in yourself and passing the bar exam.  It takes everything I have learned and applied with the mind and puts it into one awesome program for you.

That is all for now!
Keep checking back periodically.

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and by Email.

Until next time, remember:

“This name appears on the pass list”