Category: Podcasts

How to Deal with 4 Causes of Bar Exam Misery Podcast (Episode 008)

Today, I talk about the 4 mind states that cause bar exam misery and give you actionable items on how to overcome these moments during your bar exam.

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Greetings future bar exam passers from all around my name is Dustin Saiidi founder of IPassedMyBarExam.com and I want to talk to you today about the four causes of bar exam misery and how to deal with those when they arise during your bar exam prep.

You already know that the bar exam is not the most pleasant time during your life, but what is it exactly, almost at the level of science that is really causing misery during the bar exam time. I want to go through that first and then I will talk about how to deal with each of those emotions that you are feeling in that moment. I can deal with that in a really appropriate and empowering way that is going to help you pass that block and be able to keep moving forward.

What we are going to go over today are not necessarily feelings and emotions that you are going to stop or that you did not want to stop necessarily, but it is more going to be about how can you choose to deal with it in the moment that it arises, how to first recognize that it is arising and that it is affecting you in that moment and then how to deal with it in an empowering way.

So what is the definition of misery for the purpose of this podcast is: negative emotions that are affecting you at an intolerable level. You are going to feel one or a combination of all four of these at some point, so let us see how we can go from hat negative emotion to a more positive and healthy emotion to get through that period.

The first emotion that you may feel that is causing misery during your bar exam is number one, the feeling of being stifled . So what is stifled exactly? Really it is feeling suppressed or stuck or in context of the bar exam not knowing where to go or what you should do next not knowing how to get around a certain topic or a certain subject, maybe you just did not pass an essay and you are not sure why and you cannot figure out why, or you did not get an high enough score to pass on the MBE or a practice test and you are not sure why and you do not know how, you do not know where to go and fix the problems.

Those feeling were you do not know where to go next that you are feeling stuck, that is the feeling of being stifled. Guess what this is going to happen to you during your bar exam. It happens to me and probably in million and one times. Part of dealing with the solution is seeing the bigger picture, getting out of that mentality that you need 90% to pass or 90% to get an A. A lot of you are very smart A students in college and even high school and law school has kind of broken that down a little bit out of us and really the mentality for the bar is if you are getting a 65%, that is your new 90% that is your passing. You know in a lot professional careers as a football player of a quarterback throwing 65% in the field they are doing incredible job.

If you are a sales professional and you are selling 65% you are you know god. If you are playing basketball and you are hitting 65% of your shots you are doing an incredible job. So it is the same kind of mindset mentality on the bar exam, 65% is the golden limit. If you are hitting 65 you are doing a good job you are doing well enough to pass. Even if you are not getting a 65 let us say you are getting a 60 or 50 or even downward 40, you are still not doing bad you just need to find what is the problem and how you can solve it, what is stopping you and how you can go about creating the solution and that my friends is the key in getting pass the feeling of being stifled.

Just stop in the present moment recognized one if you are feeling that kind of hangster that negative feeling and you are not sure how to recognize it, say am I stifled in this moment, am I feeling this now that I thought about questions or an essay that I took that I did not pass or did I just take it essay or do some practice questions on an MBE and felt I did not pass, so am I feeling that in this moment okay that is number one recognizing the feeling. Secondly what do I do wrong and how can I fix that, what issues did I miss this essay and how can I go and make sure I get those next time. Maybe I need to go retake that essay and practice swatting those issues.

If it’s an MBE what questions did I miss, let us go look up the rule and let us go retake that question and how will I approach it differently the second time, by stopping and being methodical and realizing okay this is just some kind of emotion that I am feeling right now, it does not reflect reality per say, it is just the emotion I am feeling in the moment, let us sit down, focus, let us see what is the problem, how can  fix it, what is the solution and moving forward. That is going to help you pass that momentary feeling of being stifled and move forward to improve your scores on the bar exam. So anybody can pass this bar exam, you can as well so go ahead and just focus on what the  problem is and how to fix it.

By the way I mentioned if you are getting 65 you are doing great, you are passing. If you are getting a 70 or 75 you are really, really an opporture and if you are getting over….I think it is a 75% score on your essays will put you on the top 10% of all essay takers, it is something crazy like that, I don’t think it is the exact number but it something crazy like that and If you are getting like an 80% on your scores that is nearly impossible. So do not think like getting a 65 everybody is ahead of you or that you are barely passing, you might not be on the 6:14 or whatever. 70, 75 you are really, really in the upper 6:18 so just remember 65 is that bottom line price point.

Okay so in that moment if you are feeling stifled just is okay with it too. Understand that all these emotions that I am going to go through is kind of part of the bar exam process, do not make yourself wrong for it or beat yourself up or get mad at yourself for feeling that. It is okay, it is totally a natural flow. After you look at the emotion and just spin with for a second or minute, or a day or how long you want to, then just focusing on what you need to improve, be okay with that uncertainty.  Also remember to see the big picture 65 is passing and focus on what you can do to improve not make up stories about the negative emotions that you are not able to do it or pass or anything like that because that is not true that is just what you are making up in your mind in that moment.

Emotion number 2 that maybe causing bar exam misery ask yourself in the moment when you are feeling like eggs, am I feeling number 2, scared . Am I feeling scared? Fear is a very common part of the bar exam. There are basically 3 kinds of fear that you are going to deal with on the bar exam:

  •  one is the fear of loss
  • second is the fear of process
  • third is the fear of outcome

One of the main causes of fear of course is the physiological fear of a person, that is not an issue here so cross that one off, you do not have to worry about that one. So the other three fears the fear of loss is about losing something that you like or care about doing or that you want to do. Losing something that you like or care about doing or that you want to do. So in the context of the bar exam, maybe you want to practice as an attorney or maybe you want to start working and pay off your debt or start working and making money or really just move on from the bar exam and go on into the field, so there is that fear of loss that you are not going to be able to do what you want to do, so just pay attention if in a moment where you get that negative kind of feeling in your mind ask yourself oh am I having a fear of loss in this moment.

The second one, fear of the process. Now, there are persons that have that as well, it is the fear of the process of the bar exam. Oh this is going to be a lot of work, this is going challenging, I have to memorized a lot, I am going to be 8:46 miserable, I do not want to put all this work in, I want to go and spend my summer doing what I want, or my winter doing what I want. The fear of the process that you are going to undergo during the bar exam, that is the second kind of fear that might come up so again first step is understanding the fear when it comes up and you can be able to deal with it and which all go through in a moment.

The third fear is the fear of not getting the outcome that you want. So basically for this one for the bar exam is fear that you are not going to pass the bar exam, that is the fear of getting the outcome that you do not want. So how do you deal with these fears when they come up in the moment, well if you notice the questions that run through our heads during each one of these fears, they are all what if statements in the negative.

So what if I do not get to do what I want to do, what if I do not get to practice as an attorney or start working as an attorney, fear of loss, fear of process. What if I do not get to do the activities that I want, what if I cannot memorize all this, I do not want to have to work and go through this challenge, that is the fear of process fear of outcome what if I do not pass the bar exam. If you noticed all the statements that are coming out of my mouth right now are negative statements what if, negative, so how do you deal with these statements, very, very simple just change the statement to a what if positive statement, say the same words what if I do not pass the bar exam, say what if I do pass the bar exam. What if this bar exam process does turn out well?

What if while going through this process I become a better person, it developed my character. What if it is challenges me to become a better person. What if I do get to work as an attorney. What if I do get to start working in the field that I want and start making money? What if I do? Notice that as you ask yourself those questions, you start orienting your mind to an open state a state of possibility, a state of excitement of where you can go as oppose to the negative statements I said earlier where it closes your mind and creates that frustration, that misery that worry, that ache, that inner feeling inside.

The key to dealing with the fears you may have is to orient them toward a positive what if statement okay to what if things go right, what if I do pass the bar exam, what if I grow from this challenge or if I become a better person, what if people are inspired by me passing the bar exam, what if my family is proud of me passing the bar exam, what if my future clients are happy that I passed my bar exam. So orient towards those positive what ifs and in that moment you are going to find that you are able to more easily get pass that miserable feeling and that fear of being scared in that moment.

So number one was being stifled, number was being scared and number three is in the moment am I feeling overwhelmed. The feeling of overwhelm s caused when you have too much to do at once, too much information is coming in at once. Will this happen on your bar exam?

Oh yea most definitely, you are going to have 12 or 13 topics to cover, you are going to have lot of rules to memorized, essays to practice and MBE’s to practice, performance test to practice. There is going to be a lot of information that you are going to have to take in, but guess what despite all that information you have to take in you can only be present and you can only be doing one thing at a time and that is going to be the key in dealing with overwhelm, is just taking all this information and really just chunking it down and realizing at this point in time at this moment in time that there is only one thing I can work on.

I cannot be memorizing rules for and taking contracts essay and doing evidence multiple choice questions all of the same time, instead I can only be doing one of these at a time. So to deal with the overwhelm just pick one activity that you are going to do and focus only on that one activity, okay. I know it is easy to allow overwhelm to bother us to get to us, but really overwhelm is not something that the world does to us, it is not something the bar exam does to us, it is really something that we decide, that we have control of, that we often allow to be done to ourselves.

There really are two kinds of overwhelm, one is us taking on too much again having all these materials that we have to do and then there is the mental component where we think about all the stuff we have to do and we allow a lot of frustration to brew in our mind that upset and cause bitterness and feel oh why do I have to do all this at one time, but in reality that is us allowing the overwhelm to mess with our mind and it is not so much what is going on in reality. As long as you do it in a positive and empowering way, then you can get pass the overwhelm and you will end up doing better in your bar exam, have more energy and be able to focus better.

You do not need to give your power away to the bar exam, you are generating the feeling of overwhelm and you can generate the opposite, the feeling of being focus and focusing on only one task at a time, and by doing this you are going to actually prevent the overwhelm. So let us say you have to do contract essays and contract MBE right, you cannot do them at the same time so what you do is just pick one that you are going to work on at the moment, so let us say it is the MBE and you schedule that for  1 pm okay 1 pm I am going to work only on contracts MBE questions, and what you do at that time is that you take the desk that you are working on and clear it off of all other materials, get the essay books out of there, get the flash cards out of there, get only what you need to do the MBE at that point in time, so that there is no other visual distractions that is pulling your attention this way and that way and focus only on that one task.

Now say on the back of your mind you still know you have to do the contract essays and you know whatever else, so schedule those so say okay well at 3 pm I am going to work on contract essays and you can even write that down at one place and it is schedule. Once it is scheduled in your mind it will create a little sense of relief, a little calmness, a little peace like okay cool now that I got that scheduled I can sit here focus only on the MBE and be not be mentally distracted by the other things that I have to do.  Another key in dealing with the overwhelm remember there is that procedural aspect of it, where you have all the stuff to do, but there is also the mental component that you brew on the frustration of it, cut out from your life other distractions such as people or other responsibilities that you have to do, especially if they are irrelevant to the bar exam.

Do not allow those to come into your mind, into your life and create more overwhelm, more distraction from what it is you are focused on, what it is you are trying to do which is to pass the bar exam okay. So clear the clutter out, focus only on the one task at a time, you can only do one task at a time, focusing on that time be present with it and that should help you deal with the overwhelm.

Let us move on to number 4. The number 4 cause of bar exam misery is in the moment are you feeling alone. Now this can be common on the bar exam a lot of people we kind of forget that even though you are sitting around and seeing dozens if not hundreds of other bar exam takers studying with you, we kind of forget that they are all going through the same thing that we are going through the same thing that we are, they are all going through the anxiety, they are all dealing with the fears and the doubts and that normal stuff that kind of goes on through the mind during the bar exam, it is not just you, everybody is dealing with that.

Now they may not look like they are right, I mean everybody seems calm and cool and collective for the most part and guess what, that is what other people are thinking about you like oh well, they look at you and oh that person looks calm, cool and collected you know I am the only one dealing with the anxiety about it, but in reality everybody is, everybody is trying to learn a lot, everybody is making mistakes and it is really about how you are dealing with it, how you are getting through with those. So that is something that is really important to remember that you are not alone on this bar exam  journey whatsoever, thousands upon thousands of people are going on the same journey with you, they are dealing with the same things you are, so one way to deal with that feeling that may arise in a moment, particular the moment during your bar exam is again just to realize hey I am not alone on this other people are dealing with this as well and just to kind of know that in your mind.

Secondly is to really try to make a more proactive approach of positively engaging with other. It is important if you can to have a good strong support group with you during the bar exam and that can be family, it can be friends, it people you can go to, talk to and really feel connected with and speak with that will provide support for you during the bar exam, people you can vent to or that will encourage you. This is going to help you with that feeling of maybe being alone that you are the only one doing this. So try and create that support group that set up that network for yourself while taking the bar exam and that is going to really help with feeling of being alone.

These are the four causes of bar exam misery a lot of these are based a training program I took with Brandon Richard who talks about the four causes of misery. I hope this podcast has served you. So again just understand that these four feelings that may come up is just a particular feeling in a particular moment, it does not reflect the reality necessarily of the situation. It does not reflect the future outcome that you are going to get or not get; it does not reflect what is really going on. It is just a fear of feeling of overwhelm, feeling of being stifled, a feeling of being alone in the present moment, if once you recognized it is the key is the number 1. To recognize it. 2. Is deal with it in an empowering way in a ways that we talked about today.

So then the quickly review the first one was the feeling of being stifled in a particular moment and the way to deal with that is to write down what is the problem here and how can I focus on solving it, what am I missing, what can I improve upon and again seeing the bigger picture that a 65% is the passing point. Second is the feeling of being scared in a particular moment and then the key to that in that moment is to recognized okay I am fearful that either I am not going to get what I want here or the process is going to suck or I am not going to get the outcome I want and to re-orient the question to what if positive statement, what if I do past, what if I do get what I want, what if things do turn out alright, okay.

Number three: the feeling of being overwhelmed and the key to that is to focus in on one task at a time, eliminating all of the distraction around you and number 4 is the feeling of being alone and to just know and understand that you are not alone everybody is in the same boat as you and that to try and increase the positive engagement that you have with some of your close friends or family that can provide that support for you.

 If you want more tips like these delivered straight to your inbox in a free relaxation MP3 as a guided visualization and relaxation MP3 delivered straight to your inbox, go ahead and sign up for the email list serve I have on my website ipassedmybarexam.com also subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and you will be automatically notified of brand new episodes that come out. I wish you the best of luck in your bar exam prep and always remember that this name appears on the pass list.

Enjoy and overcome!

“This name appears on the pass list”

Bar Exam Go Time Podcast (Episode 007) – 12 Tips

It’s bar exam go time! This week is the bar exam.  Here are 12 final tips to remember as you head into do a wonderful job to pass your bar exam!

“It’s go time” – Seinfield <– Click to tweet this

You can listen in the player below or download directly to your computer.

Greetings bar exam takers and future bar exam passers, my name is Dustin Saiidi from ipassedmybarexam.com and today I want to give you 12 tips to help you with the bar exam week. I know I have a different podcast on the bar exam week, here is an updated one that I thought I would share with you as the bar exam week is this week so it is go time now.

Tip number 1. Everybody just calm down. Yes let us just calm down. I have been looking at Twitter and online I see a lot of people all riled up about this thing. Let us just take a deep breath in through the nose, push out the belly and breathe out the mouth and slow down the breath. As you slow down the breath your body will become more calm and become more relaxed as I explain to my bar exam body podcast by slowing down the breath you can calm down the body and your mind cannot be both anxious and calm at the same okay, so just focus on being calm, focus on slowing down the breathe, taking deep breaths in, whenever you get stressed and just let it go. Let us not over hype this thing just keeping calm will help you focus, will help you be composed and will help you do better, okay. So that is tip number one just calm down.

Number 2. Laugh it off. Meaning whenever you see something stressful this next week just starts laughing. If you get scared or anxious just start laughing, when you think about going into the bar exam room or something triggers you, just start laughing. If you see other people who are stressed and anxious and whatever, just start laughing again you do not have to laugh at them, you do not have to laugh out loud necessarily, but just laugh to yourself. Just observe and laugh and do not try to make some big meaning out of it, just laugh.

They say laughter is the best medicine and the more you laugh this next week, the more 2:31 you are going to create in your body the happier you are going to be and the better you going to do. So when you see things good, small, bad, right, wrong whatever rather than assessing a meaning to it or making a judgment about it just laugh. Also if you can laugh at the bar exam you are going to take it down off this high horse, this big pedestal that it is on and just laugh at it, you bring it all the way down and you will realize oh well this is just another exam I have taken a million of these before in my life and I am just going to laugh at you, bar exam. Alright, so calm down and laugh at everything.

 Number 3. Try and make it a game. Remember when you were a kid and you used to play detective or  you know you used to be like a problem solver for whatever purpose just try and make it a game almost like when you are going into the bar exam and you are given this task, this assignment and you have to decipher the code and you have to pick the right answers on the MBE or write the right essay answers and decipher what the issues are just make it like a fun game for you, that is going to make it more fun and it is going to take  less out of this serious zone or mindset or be like oh my god this thing is so serious, just make it a fun game.

We do better when we are playing games anyway and more fun for us, so go to your inner childhood and have some fun with it, you do not have to tell anybody just go have fun with it and enjoy yourself. Life is just an experience anyway just go make it fun. This is just one experience in the many you have had in your life and will continue to have in your life.

Tip number 4. Make stuff up. 4:19 What do I mean? well, if you do not our rule and you do not know an issue or something on the bar exam which is bound to happen, it happens to everybody just make things up, you read enough rules by now where you could easily be a judge and you could easily make up rules, so if you do not know something make a rule up apply some facts to it and you are going to get partial credit for doing so.

I am going to share a quick story on this, when I was doing my essays during my bar exam prep if I finish an essay in about 60 minutes I usual hit pretty much all the main issues and 4:57 facts. Basically I feel I would have passed the essay if I spent 60 minutes on it in full. Now if I did not I finish earlier that usually meant that I miss some big issue or was not doing something right with that essay, that all happen during my preps and I was doing pretty well in my prep, I was pretty much spending about an hour almost on the essays getting all the issues I was doing pretty well. So when it came to bar exam day one we had three essays, first was a contracts one which I really feel I did well on because I knew my contracts at the time.

Second essay I did not remember what it was, but I spent only 35 minutes on it and I was done and this was a immediate red flag for me, because if I was not spending 60 minutes I would have missed a key issue and I spent only 35 minutes and I went back and looked at the essay, looked around and I could not figure out what I was missing or what I had not put there, so I said okay let me just go to the third essay and it would come back, so I went to the third essay did that same thing it took me only about 30 to 35 minutes huge red flag for me so what did I do, well I was not totally sure what to do but I had encountered situation like these during my bar exam prep so, all I did was go back find some facts that I had not used, thought up some vague rules that I thought might apply and I just started putting those in there as well.

Maybe I would hit some more issues and get some more points without really knowing it. But as you can imagine I was during well on my prep and all of a sudden two of my first three essays I am finishing early like a lot early that was a very, very troublesome but I handled it, I handled it well and I just went back and made some stuff up and saw how it went. Now here is the funny on my second day of essays we had three more the same thing happened, two of my essays I finished really, really early and one of those essays was a government takings, this is the February 2010 California bar is the government takings essay question, I may be looked at that once during my bar prep right at the beginning not at all studied it an entire essay was on this thing so I had some pretty much make up the entire essay I made up a four rule task apply a bunch of facts to it use what I could that I knew from law school and my bar study and just apply to it and I ended up passing.

This is especially going to be the key in some of the jurisdictions, I know California they will always throw something in there that will try and test you try and mess you up. The reason for it is: they are trying to test your composure, as a lawyer you are going to have your composure tested all the time whether you are in that position or in front of in front of a judge. There are going to be things that come up that you have not prepared for, that you may think that would not come up and it is all how you handle yourself in that moment, so I think one of the reason they do this is to test your ability to handle yourself and be composed.

You do not have to know all the rules to pass the exam the graders know when you are a lawyer you are going to look up the rules anyway. There are just trying to see how you handle yourself in the moment under pressure, can you do it, okay just make things up again I shared my story 4 of my 6 essays I finish earlier than normal, not because I was super genius or to got it all right I was definitely missing stuff but I was able to pass so minimum competency number is all you need 65 make something up and go for it. Oh I remember with that if you do not know it nobody knows it, you studied pretty much probably as everybody else if you do not know it, nobody knows it everybody is in the same boat, you just cannot see that because you are in the middle of your exam, but everybody is in the same boat.

Tip number 5. I said this a million times eat good food, make sure you do not have heavy carbs and a combination of meat at lunch, like do not have a huge hamburger with a bunch of fries at lunch because it is going to make you sleepy in the afternoon session, so have some chickens, have some vegetables, have a lot of good snacks like some cheerio mix or green Obars no big heavy foods or heavy soups or anything like that especially for lunch because that will make you go to sleep. The MBE in the afternoon and the performance test in afternoon are long enough already so you do not want that any worse by having a huge meal.

Tip number 6. Sleep well the night before and watch your favorite motive the night before the bar exam. For me I watched gladiators that is my favorite movie and it is just an epic movie. You know if a guy can go starving make it through dessert starving, taking on 20 other gladiators at once fight gladiators and tigers and lead people all the way back to take control of an entire nation and If he can do that certainly I can spend three days in a bar exam taking a stupid test.

So get nice and comfortable put on your favorite movie whatever that maybe or it could be an inspiring movie maybe like legally blond, yes I watched legally blond during my first year at law school it helped me get through my first year at law school. So put on something epic this is going to get you in the zone you will have nice dream of you overcoming and conquering the bar exam.

Tip number 7. Keep it all in perspective. Yes the bar exam is important but you know what the bottom line is in a hundred years from now everybody who is listening to this probably is going to be dead. A hundred years from now from the time you listen to this you are probably going to be dead and so are the rest of us. As you planned and living to a 123 years old they are not going to be around. So you know what this is important but in the grand scale it is not that big of a thing. This is just one of the many moments that are going to happen in your life.

That recent tragedy that happen in Colorado during batman movie it was very unfortunate that should really gave you some perspective, at least we have our life, and at least we have our health and our vitality. Many parts of the world they wake up wondering if they are going to eat that or if they are going to survive that day. You fortunately do not have to worry about that your troubles are just for the bar exams.   so really just keep things into perspective, you are already one of the top point 0.1% of the entire world the fact that you are even in this position to be able to take the bar exam, so just be appreciate and honor that and keep this thing into perspective.

That leads me into tip number 8. Ask yourself what is the worst that can happen. What is the worst thing that can happen and is it worth getting all stressed and anxious and riled up over. The worst thing that will happen is that you failed the bar exam okay got it fine, so have thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people who have failed it as well, so what that is really the worst that can happen, you are not going to lose your life, you are not going to lose your health, nobody is going to die 12:21 to take these fears and exaggerate them and make them grow very, very big but you know what just write that down okay this is worst list t that can happen that will clear your mind and you can proceed forward focusing on doing, focusing on success.

Tip number 9. Do not over hype the bar. Yes this thing is planted in your mind since day one, the big scary Mount Everest bar exam, you know what bring it back down, bring it back down to earth, this is an exam that many have passed and you are very, very capable of passing, it is very, very doable. It is just a combination of all the stuff you learned in law school but it still at the end of the day just an exam. You are not going to be tested on every single subject, you may have studied it which is good, but you are not even going to be tested on every single subject.

The bar exam graders they want you to do well, they want you to pass, it keep the profession running and moving forward bringing in new energy, new blood. So do not over hype this thing, do not let the media likes to over hype things or over exaggerate things, do not allow people discussions and thoughts about the bar make it so big, make it so huge, bring it back down this is a test that you can do, you have done many of these test in the past, you made it to this point, you graduated from law school for goodness sake, you can do this okay, so do not over hype the bar bring it back down to earth.

Tip number 10. Make sure you keep on going during the bar exam. This is somewhat bewildering to me, but some people does spend months and months preparing for the  bar exam then comes the bar exam day they maybe feel they do well on day one or on day two and then they stop they do not show up the next day. That is the worst thing that you can probably do is to not show up anymore, I mean you spent all this time putting in all this effort and you are not showing up because you think that you did not do well enough to pass, but it is not even a reality and people have done this and a lot of them found out that they actually had passing scores on day one, they just did not continue going because they got scared.

We ask what was the worst thing that can happen; the worst thing that can happen is that you failed. So if you stop showing up, if you do not show up to the test on the next day guess what you are going to fail so you are just creating the worse that is going to happen. So you put in the time just give yourself the opportunity and the chance to all the days of the bar and do the best you can.

Nobody walks out there feeling like they nailed it, they were prefect, they feel awesome, nobody feels that way. I described the way I handled the essays on my first day, there were two of them where I almost thought I did not pass because I finish way too early and was certain I miss major issues, and that did not really happen during or towards the end of my bar exam prep, I felt that I was on my game and then that happen during the bar exam you can imagine what was going on in my mind. So just show up give each portion you all, be present with each portion and keep moving hopefully and probably you will be surprise by the results come bar exam results day. Give yourself the chance, you deserved it and you have earned it.

Tip number 11. Do not compare your answers with others. Don’t do it. Once that portion of the exam is done, it is done you are not going to go back, you are not going to look at it, you cannot change anything, do not talk to other what they got, what issues they got blah, blah, blah. My roommate in law school when he took the bar he was sitting next to a guy who after one of the portions of the exam started asking him questions like oh yea did you get this issue, did you get this?

Whatever issue I do not know what the specific issues were just started asking him oh yea did you get this yea I got this, you know he was that guy that probably was not going to pass, probably did not feel he did that well so what does he do, he was trying to make people around him feel anxious, to make people around him riled up to make himself feel better, he is the one says oh yea that was so easy I got this, I got that, I got this, I got that and the main issues that you may not have talked about and may not have thought were relevant but because it is in your space now, because you heard it, you might start you might start questioning oh yea was I suppose to do that, was I suppose to talk about that blah, blah, blah.

So if you hear someone talking about that, first laugh you remember tip number 2 laugh, and then run get away from that person, you do not need that person in your life at this time. Bar exam you can meet a lot of people if you want, you can meet a lot of friend, but it is not really the time to make friends you are here to focus on your exam and do your thing.

Last tip number 12. Trust that the material you studied will come back to you. It is just like..if you played any kind of like sporting game and you know you have the championship the play offs and you got nervous before the game but once you are in it everything you have put up to that point comes back to you all your preparation comes back to you believe it or not.

I think that is a reward you get essentially from the universe or the way you have been training with your mind. That is a reward you get if you put in the time and the effort it comes back to you during bar exam time. So I know you may be thinking you are nervous okay do I have the tack sheet for all these subjects, a lot of that most of that will come back to you when you see it on the bar exam. Trust in your preparation, trust you had done what it takes to get you here and just be calm and go know this bad boy out.

Alright so those are my twelve tips:

  1. Number 1 is calm down
  2. Number 2 is laugh at everything this next week
  3. Number 3 is make it a game you are now the detective
  4. Number 4 is make stuff up and if you do not know it nobody knows it
  5. Number 5 is eat good food
  6. Number 6 is watching epic movies the night before
  7. Number 7 is keep things in perspective you are still in the top 0.1% of the entire world just being in the situation that you are
  8. Number 8 ask yourself and write it down, what is the worst thing that can happen
  9. Number 9 Do not over hype the bar, bring it down to earth
  10. Number 10 is no matter what, you keep on going
  11. Number 11 is do not compare answers with others
  12. Number 12 trust in your preparation, trust it will come back to you

Good luck this week go get ’em, go know go know ’em down and we will see you on the other side of the bar exam. Hopefully this is the last bar exam podcast you have to listen to and remember your name appears on the pass list. Take care and have a wonderful bar exam.

Bar Exam Body Podcast (Episode 006) – 10 Tips

In this episode, I give you 10 tips to get the optimal Bar Exam Body – the body that will help you perform, study, and retain information better.

 

The Bar Exam Body

Hello future bar exam passers from all around the country my name is Dustin Saiidi author and founder of ipassedmybarexam.com and today I am going to tell you 10 tips to give you the bar exam body. A lot these tips are going to come from a training program I recently took with Brandon Burchard he is kind like a Tony Robins of productivity and performance and a lot of these tips are going to come from him I kind of modified them a little to apply it directly to the bar exam, so that is what I am going to be talking to you about today. So without further ado let us get into it.

Tip number 1 for the bar exam body is, take a 1 to 7 minute break every 60 to 90 minutes. I will say that again. Take a 1 to 7 minutes break every 60 to 90 minutes. Okay why? Studies have shown that if you do this throughout the day when you are trying to be productive and get things done you take a 1 to 7 minutes break every 60 to 90 minutes at the end of the day not only are you going to be more productive and accomplish more you also are going to feel more energized. See our minds can only take and learn so much in a given period of time so we have to disengage from what we are doing to give it some time to process.

Now the more information we accumulate throughout the day means we have to give little more time at night that is why we sleep at nights is to process the information we receive during the day. So if we can take these little break throughout the day, studies have shown only 1 to 7 minutes is all that is necessary if you take it consistently every 60 to 90 minutes by doing that you are going to give your mind a mental break that allows it to come back and be more productive and perform better. This is going to help you retain information better, help you remember information better, recall information better and at the end of the day you probably look at the day ad say wow! This day just went by so fast and I got so much more done.

Now this comes as a little caviat it all depends on what you are doing during that 1 to 7 minutes break. During that break you need to do two things; one is to completely disassociate from whatever it is that you are doing and studying and number two is to get up and move your body. Okay so during that 1 to 7 minute break literally get up and move your body, meaning go for a walk around the block, go for a walk even to the rest room or to go get a drink of water, just get away from the computer disassociate yourself mentally from that computer and go walk around.

Do some jumping jacks, do some pushups, do something from 1 to 7 minutes that engages and move your body because when you are sitting there throughout the time that you are studying your body is stagnant your energy is stagnant, now when you get up and move your body you create energy, you create flow within your body that moves blood throughout the body, moves blood to the mind so you will be able to focus and able to learn better. You got more brain power by doing that. So how can you play this directly when you are studying for your bar exam?

You can make a rule for yourself after you take a practice essay 1 hour then you go take a break or just set a timer for yourself a 1 hour timer when you are studying and every hour go take a break. Try this out today and you probably are going to feel a little more energized and a little more build, a little more productive by the end of the day.

Let us get into bar exam body tip number 2 which is, drink 3 liters of water every single day. That is drink 3 liters of water every single day. Why? Water is the best and most natural thing you can put into your body. The human being is mostly made up out of water and I am sure you have heard probably your whole life that you are suppose to drink lots of water, you may have heard the rule to drink 64 ounces of water, the program I went through he actually recommend you drink up to 6 liters of water a day which is a lot, I have actually tried to get up there, I can barely even reach 3 liters of water today by consciously intending to. I mean if you want to go up to that level certainly go for it. I recommend get at least 3 liters of water per day.

For me it helps me feel more vitalized and I feel healthier and more energetic when I do that. It also clears out a lot of toxins that are in the body. We build up a lot of toxin due to stress or from different foods that we eat and water is great for cleansing those toxins out. If you are wondering how many is 3 liters well you know those big 7Ups bottles those are 2 liters of water so drink 1 and a half of those a day..The way I rationed it out is that I get a glass and fill it up and I try to drink 1 of those glasses every hour and it is a 16 ounce glass.

Now I do not know if it is every hour but if this is something that you can put in association with your breaks so you…and for every hour or 90 minutes you get up you take a break go have a glass of water and then you come back, that could be a great combination you will be knocking out both of these tip right away and you will be helping yourself pass the bar exam because you are vitalizing your body which is going to make you more productive and able to remember, recall and perform better .

Let us go to bar exam body tip number 3 which is, eat 4 to 5 meals per day, and again eat 4 to 5 meals per day. Now let me first say these are not the traditional meals were you eat to stuff yourself, this is all about fueling your body not filling your body, fueling your body not filling your body. Food, what main purpose of food basically is for us is to fuel our body, a lot of us would eat it for the taste and things like that or as a comfort food, which is fine but it is not going to give us the best high performing body if we are just eating whatever takes to satisfy our own taste buds.

We need to consciously active and aware of what we are putting into our body to feed it the best thing that is going to help us to perform. Let me just quickly say too, a lot of anxiety that people suffer and I learned this recently is actually have nothing to do with the studying that they are going through, it has to do with what they have eaten in the last 2 to 3 hours. So the next time you feel anxiety during your bar exam first question ask yourself what have I put into my body the last 2 to 3 hours.

Now if you have not put any food in your body or if you put some food like a muffin or Starbucks or cookie or something like that, here is what your body is doing, if it does not get enough food in its system it things that something is wrong so what it does is begin to go in survival mode and begins to release at least small amounts of it is not that quick rush that you get when you get scared, but it is small amount of trying to fuel your body and keep you sustain at a high level.

Now when it not getting that fuel from natural sources like food what it does is shoots its and that causes stress and tension on the body which creates anxiety in your body system then what happen is because we are stressed out whatever we are dealing with at the moment we believe that it is whatever we are doing that is causing the stress when in actuality we have not fueled our body enough and body is reacting to that. So what ends up happening is because we do not know that our body is doing that, we associate the activity with stress and we continue to go through that then eventually even if you have eaten and have had enough food you begin to associate that activity with stress anyway.

So let us say you are driving in the morning and you have not had a good breakfast and you are in traffic..if you had a good breakfast it might be still stressful but not as much as if you have not had a good breakfast because every little thing is again trigger a response so even after you realized this when you are driving if you do it enough times you would be again to associate driving with stress when in actuality it was not caused that, it was cause by low blood sugar in the body not having enough fuel in your body. Now the bar exam is stressful  enough but how much more stressful is it going to be if you are not eating in a good way that is taking care of yourself and just adding to that stress.

Now it also depends on what kinds of food you are throwing into your body if you are throwing in the muffin and the Starbucks and the toast, I will talk about the Starbucks later but that actually causes more anxiety. So you got to eat really good food you got to eat some vegetables and you have some chicken, have a variety of good healthy foods that is going to give you good energy and remember we are eating to fuel not to fill. If some of these meals are snack or small salads that is great too. I highly recommend eating Omens or chicken salad with vegetables or there is those green Oat bars which I devoured during my bar exam and also drink lots of water while you are doing that, so eat good, drink lots of water, take breaks. That is our first 3 tips.

Let us go to tip umber 4, which is sleep 8 to 9 hours every single day, again sleep 8 to 9 hours every single day. Now I am sure you heard that one since you were a kid. You probably survived on less than that amount of sleep and I certainly have too. What lack of sleep does though if you do it consistently getting lack of sleep, again your body thinks that there is something wrong and will trigger you into survival mode which means it is going to start pumps adrenaline into your body in order to fuel you and to help you it thinks there is something wrong.

So what this is going to do is it is going to cause more tension, more anxiety and you will not be able to function as well or retain information as well or perform as well. Now it is  not like if you do not get 8 to 9 hours you are not going to perform, cannot remember, it is not like that at all, after doing two days of my bar exam I had only got 6 hours of sleep the night before because I had some trouble sleeping, because of the way I had been living my routine I am of a more night person than a day person anyway so it is still doable, but if you want to really perform at you optimal, perform at your best try to get 8 to 9 hours of sleep per night.

If you are not getting enough sleep at night try taking a nap during the day. It has been proven that people live longer when they take naps anyway, so try and take naps during the day that is going to help out as well. If you are having trouble sleeping also check out the bar exam relaxation MP3 I am giving for free on my website all you have to do is to sign up for the list serve and I will email you that for free and it is great for helping you relax and feel calm. I use different kinds of hypnosis and inductions to help you relax in that CD, you can also go to barexammind.com he is another bar exam blogger he gives a lot of good techniques for relaxing and using Yoga and things like that to help you relax. So do a couple of those things to help you get to sleep.

Let us go to bar exam body tip number 5 and it is exercise, exercise. You knew this was coming, why should you exercise? How is that going to help you pass the bar exam? Well beside the fact that exercise is proven to be healthy for you. What it does it releases toxins in negative energy that you have stored in the body, cleanses out the body and the mind and creates endorphins in your body. So it actually makes you feel happier, makes you feel more energized, you are able to focus better, perform better, do better.

There are so many benefits to exercise, so many benefits especially during something as mentally and intensive as the bar exam. I always recommend if you have 8 hours in a day it is infinitely better to spend 1 hour exercising and next 7 hours studying as oppose to just spend those 8 hours studying, because if you exercise I guarantee you, you are going to be more focused, more able to perform better, do better.

Now the question becomes is how often should you exercise. Well in the training program he actually recommend about 3 to 4 times a week that is great, if you can do at least 2 to 3 times a week and do about 20 minutes of cardio you are putting yourself a long way, if you add weight lifting to your program as well…I am not your nutritionist or doctor or any kind of professional for you but you got to figure out your own system and routine, but if you can get on that cardio for 2 to 3 times a week at least 20 minutes that is going to do a lot in helping you de-stress and clear your mind, clear your body of toxins and negative energy and allow your mind to really just settle and focus and be able to re focus itself again.

And it is going to help you pass your bar exam which is what you want to do, right? One of the signs I used as well…I mean I had a pretty good exercise routine during my bar exam prep but if you ever wake up and you hit that brick wall where you just cannot study, one of the things that will help you get pass that is actually go exercise that is just maybe you body or your mind telling you hey you I can take a little break right now you have time let us go exercise it is going to make us more efficient and happier and better doing our bar prep. Anyone who exercise will agrees with me on those tips.

Let us go to bar exam body tip number Stretch your body, again that is stretch your body. Stretching is part of engaging the body, what it does as well is again releases tension and loosen your body up. When you loosen your body up you feel more loosed feel more relaxed helps you feel more calm and confident. There are all kinds of stretching exercises you can do.

I recommend stretching out the arm strings and the quad muscles, the groin muscles, the upper body, the shoulders, the arms, the neck, if you spend at least 10 minutes a day and even if you Google different stretches that you can do, that is just going to help you loosen body, relax the body and you are really going to feel it right away and how great is this you can go ahead and stretch right before you exercise and knock out two these tips in one shot. So again check that out barexammind.com he has got a post on there that put you through some different Yoga poses if you are in the yoga and that is something you want to do check that out as well.

Let us go to bar exam body tip number 7 and that is your posture. Have good posture, can I say it have good posture. We are going to do a little experiment here, if you are sitting or standing right now go ahead and just slouch you body, hunch your shoulders over, sit down in your chair and do that for about a couple of seconds and then ask yourself how do you feel when you are slouching your body. On a scale 1 to 10 how do you feel?

Now go ahead and sit upright, sit straight, put your shoulders back, chess out, you know sit tall, sit proud and now how do you feel on a scale of 1 to 10? It might not be a big difference, but it is probably a noticeable difference and what happens is if you are slouching your body throughout 8 hours a day or whatever that you are studying, your mind will respond to the way you are holding your body, so if you are slouching it, it is going to think, oh well I am not confident or I am not secure in myself which may or may not be true, but your mind is going to start to accept that suggestion as reality.

When you are studying really make an effort and even when you are walking around just really make an effort to stand upright, stand tall, walk proud, walk strong. It is more like a fake it till you make it act the part and you will become the part kind of thing, because your mind response to the body, so if you are moving confidently, acting confidently you will start to feel confident, talk confident and you will start to be more confident when you are studying as well.

You know they did a study of depressed people actually and what they did they is they took these group of people who were clinically depressed they put them in front of a mirror and have them smile at the mirror for 20 minutes a day. They did that for a couple weeks or couple months, at the end of the couple months not a single person in that study was depressed anymore. Can you believe that, they did not use any drugs, they did not use any therapy, just smiling at themselves in the mirror and that is how the mind responds to your body language and to your body signals.

So sit up today when you are studying, try it out and you can also try out that smile technique too when you are at home just go look at yourself and smile, if you are feeling down and just smile at yourself and just force yourself to look at for 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes, I know it might feel silly but do not worry no one is watching you, you are only there by yourself so try that out too it is a great technique, I did it before I felt silly and weird but it helped me as well.

Let us go to bar exam body tip number 8. How are you breathing? How are you breathing? Most of us are breathing basically from our chest muscles. You just pay attention to your breath you are not breathing in a lot of oxygen you are just breathing it from your chest muscles, so actually try this technique, if you are sitting down or standing up go ahead and inhale some air and as you do push your stomach out, focus on your stomach and push it out almost like you are forming that belly that, belly we did when we were kids and we were pretending we pregnant trying to show everybody else, hey look

I am pregnant when you go ahead and you squeeze out you belly, go ahead and do that when you are inhaling, really push that belly out and then when you exhale release it and do it again inhale pushing the belly out and again releasing, good you may even want to put your hand on your belly as you are doing that and really feel your belly pushing it out. What this does is increases the oxygen flow to your body and the oxygen flow will help your brain to be able to focus and perform more.

You will increase the oxygen flow, you will increase the blood flow, you slow down your breath if you are ever feeling tense or anxious in a moment just go ahead and slow down your breath and really breathe into your stomach, your tension and your anxiety will disappear in that moment because it cannot exist when you are controlling your body and you are breathing it cannot exist there because you are going into a calm state and two different states cannot exist at once, you cannot be calm and anxious at once, so if you are just focusing on your breath and breathing into your stomach you are going to feel instantly more calm and more relaxed.

Okay so try that out try that out during the day whenever you are tense or anxious, just try that breathing technique and even when you are studying whenever you become conscious of it just increase the oxygen flow throughout your body by slowing down and increasing your breath intake.

Bar exam body tip number 9. Take a long walk in nature. Take a long walk in nature. At least one time a week spend about an hour walking in a park, going on a hike being somewhere in nature. Why? How is this going to help you pass your bar exam?

Well first of all you are getting outside, you are getting out the library or wherever it is you are studying and you are getting real natural air. Secondly it depends on whatever part of the country you are living in and when you are listening to this, you are also going to be getting some sun which contains vitamin D which is going to give you more natural and energy. There is also something about being in nature about being connected with your natural environment.

You know human beings we appeared on earth in nature, we did not appear in big brick buildings and libraries, nature is our natural environment that is where we feel most connected to ourselves and our bodies and our minds. Our bodies actually do not natural like to be cooped up into indoors for too long it is not a natural place for us to be. So you can get out and get into nature, you can take walks into nature you are going to increase your energy vibration you are going to be able to think more clearly and you are going to have more intuition and insight and lest anxiety and worry by connecting with nature.

Not to get into a religious discussion here, but if look at Jesus or Buddha or Moses; a lot of them have their big insight when they were in nature. Buddha was under a tree when he had his huge insight. Moses was at the top of the mountain, Jesus spent forty days and what not in the dessert, so there is something to be said about being in nature and how it clears up the mind to think and process more and connects you with your true self, giving you energy and helping you pass your bar exam.

Can we get a big drum roll for bar exam body tip number 10, you are going to love this one and that is no more caffeine or sweets, again, no more caffeine or sweets and yes that means no Starbucks. Now a lot of you listening do not turn off the recording yet, do not just run away yet, I know you like your Starbucks, but consider this, when you drink coffee it contains caffeine which increases you cortisol levels and cortisol causes stress on the body.

So aside from the high that you get and the crash that you go through and experience when you have a lot of caffeine cortisol will cause you to feel more anxious, so if you do not want to give up your Starbucks that is fine, but know and understand that when you drink it, it contains cortisol which is going to increase your anxiety and stress. So if you are feeling anxious and stress just know hey what did I have in the last 2 to 3 hours, did I have any Starbucks in last 2 to 3 hours, any coffee, any kind of caffeine, soda, Pepsi then that is probably going to be a big cause in causing your anxiety and stress.

Just at least know that about yourself and what is going on, if you want to reduce the stress and anxiety really try to cut that caffeine down or cut it out completely, cut that soda out completely and just try and replace with water. Drink lots of water and that is going to do wonders for you, it is going to help you a lot and you are going to feel more calm and more relaxed, have that with almonds and snacks and some of the other tips that I gave you and you are going to be on your way having the bar exam body.

So let me just review all 10 of these tips real quick

Number 1. Take a 1 to 7 minutes break every 60 to 90 minutes

number 2. Drink 3 liters of water every single day

Number 3. Eat 4 to 5 meals a day remember to fuel your body not fill your body

Number 4. Sleep 8 to 9 hours a day ad if you need to take a nap

Number 5. Exercise 2 to 3 times a week

Number 6. Stretch your body out

Number 7. Have good posture

Number 8. Breathe from your belly, breathe have to belly

Number 9. Take long walks in nature 1 hour a week

Number 10. Replace caffeine with water

Okay so I hope these bar exam body tips will help you and I hope you understand the importance of the body and how it plays a role with the mind in your bar exam. I hope you like this if can please give us a good review in ITunes if you liked it also, if you want some awesome help with the mind in coping with stress, anxiety, I have a new program out it is call the Bar Exam Mental Edge and it uses guided visualization, affirmations and imagery techniques to help you relax and really tap into that power in your subconscious mind to help you with your bar exam by tapping into that 90% of your mind to help you focus, to do better on your practice essays, issues spotted better, do better on the MBE’s and also put you through a visualization while in your subconscious of how you are going through your bar exam prep and doing well, taking essays well and also going through your bar exam week and how that is going to happen for you by playing it out in your mind enough times it will come so much reality. That is what I offer with the bar exam mental edge.

So check that out on the website and you can also go to ipassedmybarexam.com/barexammentaledge. I hope you got some value today and best of luck this week on your bar exam prep and always remember that your name appears on the pass list. Have a wonderful day.

Practice Makes Passing Bar Exam Results Podcast (Episode 005)

In this episode, I go further into the importance of practicing in order to pass your bar exam.

I also give a great mental tip about how to keep moving forward, even if you’re failing some practice tests.

Click the link below to download the episode or play in the player.  Enjoy!

Practice Makes Passing 

Today we are going to be talking about how practice makes passing and how practice can help you pass your bar exam this summer or if you are listening to this in the winter time this winter.

Let us tart with this analogy, if I told you that at the end of July or the end of February if you are listening to this for your February bar. At the end of this time if I would give you one million dollars if you hit a free throw shot what do you think is the first thing that you would set out and do. Well, probably you would run out to the nearest basketball hoop and start shooting free throw shots; you would start practicing the free throw right?

You might do well you might do poorly you might hit the shots you might not, but after you practice some then you probably think well how can I get really good at this, I really want to hit this free throw shot, how can I get good at this, so you might go to YouTube and watch YouTube videos on free throw shooting, you might start reading on line how to make a free throw shot, you might start reading books, you might find a mentor or a coach or somebody who knows what they are doing who has done this before and ask them.

There are all kinds of different things and then you will take what you learn from that video you watched, those books you read, or the internet or the mentor and you start applying that to your free throw shot, so you might start changing different aspect of your free throw shot, you might start changing the stroke, you might start changing the position of the elbow or the way you follow through, the way your feet are positioned.

You will start going out and implementing those and practicing those every day okay good. So now what if I issue the challenge to you and I said at the end of July or the end of February (if you are listening then) you are going to have three essays and you will have to take those three essays in three hours and if you pass those essays I am going to give you one million dollars. Well surprisingly instead of going out and start practicing those essays many of you might just start going and reading books on how to pass the essays, start memorizing the rules that you need to do it.

Shockingly a lot of you would actually not go out at all over this period of time and start practicing those essays. You might just caught up reading the books and memorizing the rule as oppose to practicing, but it is important to know the number one reason why people do not pass the bar exam is because they do not do enough practice test during their preparation. Yes, that is true and if you ask any mentor any bar exam coach, anyone who has passed the bar exam they are going to tell you that practicing those essays were probably one of the most important things that they did.

Let go back to the free throw analogy, so if you are reading all of those books on the free throw and watching video and getting the coaching, looking online you are doing that all for one purpose and that so you can make the free throw on the big day.

When that day comes you want to be able to make that free throw. All that other stuff is just to make you a better free throw shooter so you can make the free throw. None of that stuff is the main focus, you are not going to be asked to tell other how to make a free throw, you are not going to be asked to teach others to the follow through and what is the position of the elbows is going to be. None of that all really matters you are just learning that stuff so you can be a better free throw shooter.

The same thing applies with the bar exam, all those rules you are memorizing and reading over and over, there is one purpose and one purpose only to get those rules done and that is so you can write good passing essays o the day of your bar exam. I will say that again. The rules that you are reading and memorizing are for one purpose and one purpose only and that is to make you a good bar exam essay writer so you can pass the bar exam, and by the way when I say the essays I also do mean the MBE’s and for those of you with performance test again this applies to that as well, it applies for the MBE’s, the essay and the performance test.

Your goal is not to memorize the rules you goal is to pass the essays and pass the MBE’s so now let us apply what a lot of you are doing for your bar exam, let us apply that what it would look like if you were preparing that way for the free throw shot. Well, many bar exam takers are spending a lot of time watching those videos, reading those books, trying to memorize the way the wrist should flick, how the follow through should look.

This is not going to be what is best and what most effective use of your time to hit that throw, it is not the best use of your time to pass those essays and the MBE and the performance tests. Doing some of that is fine, but if you are not out there taking the shot over and over and over, learning, readjusting, taking them over and over and over, you are not doing the best job to prepare yourself for the bar exam, now some of you will do a little bit bet as oppose to just watching the  videos and reading the books on shooting a good free throw, you actually go to the basketball court and you will just kind of go  through the motions you might not actually take the shot, but you will kind of just flick the wrist at the hoop and go through the motions and get a feel for what it is like, I feel a little bit better that is okay I analogize that to outlining essays, that is a little bit better it is again okay but it is not actually taking the  practice shot, so really ideally you got to get that ball and you got to be shooting and shooting and shooting and shooting.

Now personally I almost recommend a dramatic approach to the essays, when I first started doing my bar prep I would spend a lot of time up front memorizing the whole bunch of rules and going through the hypotheticals and for those of you who do not know I took Barbri and there was actually one point during my bar exam prep where we were studying for contracts and I said you know what I am going to fall behind on the other stuff and I am just going to really get contracts done.

I remember spending three days going over all the over hundred plus contracts hypotheticals in my Barbri class, I went through all the rules trying to get them down to memorizing, like three days on contract that is all I did, and then I went to the essays and I open the essays I was very excited I am going to really nail this essay down, I open the essay book and I almost went in tears because I had no idea of what to do, what to answer, what to say, what the issues were, what the rules were, I felt like I spent all  of that time and it really got me nowhere and I did the same with the MBE’s and I said okay that is fine let me try and do the MBE, I know I am going to hit the MBE’s because I did so many practice hypotheticals and when I looked at the MBE’s same thing, I think I did five questions and I had one of them correct in the first five, so it was at that point…that was like a real big turning point for me and not only did I really catch up with my homework after that, but as at turning point for me in the way I approached the bar exam and how I prepared for each topic.

Having gone through that and by the end of the bar exam prep having change my strategy completely, what I recommend for people to do is actually jump straight into the essay even before you know all the rules or even some of the rules or maybe even any of the rules, even before you look at the rules on a certain subject jump into the essays, take a dive in and see what happens and then as you are in the essay in that moment make your adjustments by going back and looking at the rules from the sample answer or if you know a rule that apply then go look at the outlines and see what rules apply and that is a fantastic ways to learn the rules and how they apply in the context of an actually essay which is what you are actually going to be doing on the bar exam as oppose to learning the rules playing in themselves.

They have actually done some studies on the way people learn and the number one way people learn is through application, applying what they are learning. One of the lowest way of learning is reading; reading is actually one of the worst ways to actually learn something, it is actually through the application of what you are reading and learning that really is determinative of whether you are going to learn it or not.

It is a much better, much more effective way to learn that and I wish I had known that starting my bar prep and I actually wish I had known that starting law school to be honest. So here is what  recommend you try, take an exam dive right in and try to do it, if you have not looked at any of the rules you probably have no idea how to handle it, but guess what even if you have looked at the rules, you probably still have little or no idea how to handle it. Memorizing the rules does not make you a good essay exam taker, practicing the essays and learning the rules through the practice makes you a good essay taker.

This is something if you do not see it now, you probably will see it by the end of my bar prep as I did and as other people that I have talked to about the bar exam as my friends as they also saw as well. Here is my actual approach, dive in start one essay and time yourself for 15 minutes and that 15 minutes no matter what you are going to spend the time and try and do a outline of the essay, regardless of what you think that you do not know anything or have no idea of what is going on try and do a 15 minutes outline of that essay.

After the first few minutes you probably hit a brick wall, that is what always happen to me every single time, I had no idea how to do it, but I stayed discipline I said since I am sitting here for 15 minutes and I have to do this, what would I write if I have to write something and you know I went through and I sort of seen some rules, start making up some rules or using some rules that would be logical to me, I used some facts and throw it in and as each essay is the facts and each essay for specific reason and I began to learn use those facts and see what is it the bar exam tester is pointing me toward by saying these certain facts, what is the bar exam tester want me to see here, so I would use those and kind of make up a rule that I learn from law school or from my experience and I would make that up and kind of make a little sample outline there.

Although I felt hopeless it forces me to look through the facts and use what knowledge I had to make stuff up. Believe it or not this is one of the most overlooked and one of the most important skills on your bar exam especially in California, because on your exam, (especially in California I cannot say for other jurisdiction) you are going to see things on there you are going to see facts and rules and stuff that comes up that you will not know what it is.

You have studied everything and you will just not seeing this and you do not know how to you do not know what to put there, there was always this notorious at least in California that one essay that tends to be like that, for me it was like two or three maybe four on the bar where I saw stuff and I was like what is that, I do not know what this is, and there is a specific reason the bar exam takers do this, they want to see if you are going to get rattled or not, or if you are going to keep your composure and that is actually a big skill as an attorney there are all kinds of things that will come up, you might be in court and something happens, are you able to handle yourself with composure or are you going to freak out and give up.

So this is the skill that they are testing, they want to test your mental composure by doing this to you and you know what that is okay because it is just a skill that you can develop throughout your bar exam prep, it is a part of it. So do not look at it as the evil bar exam graders are trying to make me fail and they are out to get me. Just look at it, okay this is a skill that I need to develop to learn for the bar exam, that is it.

During my practice I would just make up a rule even if it is the wrong rule and throw in some facts in there and by the way if you do that on the exam, you are going to get partial credit even if you use the wrong rule but you apply the fact correctly to it you get partial credit for your answer. That is very important remember that.

What you are doing here with this method I am telling you is, you are really just practicing this skill, practicing dealing with the unknown, you throw in these facts and rules which you do not know the issues or you do not know what to do with, but you are able to handle it and make up something, and that will make you more ready when the exam time comes and you see this you will be able to handle it because you have practice it.

By the way on my exam, you can look this up actually it is the February 2010 bar exam that I took, I think it was question number 5 they gave us a common law question on full and partial government takings. I had looked at takings maybe once for about 5 minutes earlier on in my bar prep and had absolutely no clue how to handle it, you know what I did not freak out because I had been in this situation before many times during my prep and I took the facts they were using I literally made up like four rule test (I do not know where I got that I just kind of made it up) and I went with it and you know I ended up passing the bar exam, I do not know how I did on that essay, but I passed the bar exam.

You see that the grader give you guide posts, all the facts in that exam are there for a reason, do the why, why, why test with each facts that are in there ask yourself why, why, why is this fact here, what is the grader pointing me to. Okay so I would spend 15 minutes do the outline then I would go look at the sample answer outline, I never looked at the actual California model answers I think those are way too good to compare yourself to and I mean if you do not have anything else you can look at those, but those are very, very, very good answers I never wrote anything ever nearly as good as those answers, what I would do I would look at the Barbri samples answers and the Barbri sample outline, by the way if you are not taking Barbri you can get these books ( I had a email question about this the other day) you can get these books on Amazon or find a way that you can take practice essays from the pass and see sample answers, good sample answer.

Again the model answers on like the website those are ridiculously good you do not have to even live up to those so if you can get a sample good sample answer though that was maybe written from someone from Barbri or someone else if you know somebody else, like another tutor or bar prep program.

So I would look at my outline and I would see hey you know what, I actually got some of these issues right, I may have got some of the rules right and use some of the facts right, it was not a passing outline by any means but I did better than I actually thought I would by forcing myself to do that, so then what I recommend going back and doing that same essay, doing the entire essay. So again starting the timer 1 hour and go and write out the entire essay.

Now a lot of you will do that first part and then move on to the next essay or a lot of you might just go out there and outline essay answers and think oh I outlined it I got it, well I do not think you do, you do not got it because when you go and write out an actual essay you will see that you do not really have it, it is not until you write the essay that you are going to really see if you got this or not. Again on the bar exam you are not going to go in there and write outlines you are going to go in there and be graded on your essays, you write outlines, but you are not graded on outlines you are graded on the essays. So go in there and practice writing this essay from start to stop the full thing and that is going to develop the skills and the mindset for you to pass.

By doing so as well you will see that writing the outlines and writing the essays are actually different things, there a certain facts you did not know how to write or how to word the rules or how to word the facts and intertwine them, how to organize writing your answers. You only get that by actually going and practicing the essay. After you do that go back and review the entire sample essay answer in its entirety and see where you miss, what facts did you miss, what rules did you miss, how did you word it, how could you have worded it better, really get all the intricacies all the ins and outs of what you miss and how you can make your essay better.

Then I recommend you actually go back and do this essay from start to stop a third time, yes again, and you go there and you do it again and by this time you will have practice writing out all these rules, how they apply, all the nuances in a good passing manner, you will have basically written a passing essay because you will have this good sample to go by. And guess what by this time; do you think that there is any way that you would not be able to knock this essay out of the park? You have all the rules and how to apply them down.

Now guess what the bar exam test the repeat the same major issues over and over and over and over and over, so the issues you saw on this essay you will probably going to see them in the essay if not that one, you will see it in the third essay and guess what you know how to do those, cool. So what I recommend is then go to the second essay and do the same process, so you spent 15 minutes outlining, review the outline, a hour writing the essay, review the essay, if you want you can go write the essay again kind of cater this to your specific style, but now go on to the third essay and guess what by that third and that fourth essay you are literally going to be crushing the essays.

You will have gone from other despair in the first essay to crushing the essay all within a few hours of studying the essays. This is a technique that really, really, really worked for me it save me a lot, a lot of time and you know if there were rules that I could not get out of the sample answer because I try to learn all the rules basically from the sample answer, if there is something I did not understand I would then go look at the rule or there is something I could not remember I would then go look at the rule and try and memorize it, all that stuff because I know how to apply it now. This is a very effective technique I want to try and tell you this earlier on in your bar prep so you kind have gone through some of the experience of just memorizing the rules and here is an alternative way to do that.

By the way if you just spent time memorizing the rules you probably learning but it is not really helping you a whole lot with the essays, because essays do not just require they require skills and issue spotting, writing the facts and applying them to the rules, how you are going to outline use the headings, what to underline, you do not pass the exam by just memorizing the rules, you pass the exam by taking practice test. Make sure you get out there and you practice your free throw shots, take those practice essays.

I want to end today too by giving you a mental edge tip; if you find yourself taking essays or MBE’s or PT…and you find yourself failing them quote end quote failing them, not really failing them because you are practicing, try not to beat yourself up about it, the bar exam is a lot like learning to walk, when a baby is trying to learn how to walk, what happens?

The baby falls, but what does the baby do after it falls? It gets right back up, it readjust what he or she was doing ( I do not want to call baby an it) and try start walking again and guess what it falls again, and it falls again, but it gets right back up and readjust and keeps going until it learns how to walk. The baby does not think oh you know I fell, I am over this thing, I am just over this walking thing, I will just crawl around for the rest of my life, no it gets back up he does not even think that it made a mistake or it failed.

It is like okay next time you know put right foot before left foot and step on the balls of my feel as oppose to you know trying to drag my feet, it just makes the adjustment that the baby needs and eventually pretty soon eventually starts walking right. Treat your bar exam prep the same way. If you are failing things do not think oh well I cannot do this, start panicking, start freaking out, and start getting into your head like I am not going to be able to do this blah, blah, blah it is okay, it is fine, do not worry, just focus on…ok what did I miss, let us learn it, let us readjust and let us go take the next one. Okay learn the lesson from the baby, do not tell me the baby approaches life from a smarter way than you and if it is then learn from the baby, babies learn from us, we can learn from the babies it is all good, we all learn from each other.

Let us review remember practice your free throws the goal is to make the free throw not just to learn the nuances of how to make a free throw, take practice test everything else is helping you so you can do better on the practice test, learn the skill of making stuff up, you do that by practicing without knowing the rules or necessarily how to handle it just make it up and then be the baby learn, readjust, move forward, learn readjust, move forward. I hope this helps you and gives you some inspiration and value in helping you for your bar exam.

I do want to share with you as well, I am working on something I think it is going to be really, really helpful for you, I have not told anyone about it but a few of my mentors and coaches were helping me create this program, it is going to be very effective and powerful for you and taking the bar exam I think it is going to help not only help you pass the bar exam but it going to help you deal with the stress and the fears along the way.

It implements some techniques that I used when I took my bar exam but it is really taking that 10 times deeper to an entirely new level. I am going to share that more with you in a later blog or a later podcast you can follow that on my website or if you join the email list as well I will send out some email information about that.

I hope you got some value out of this podcast, you can find me on ipassedmybarexam.com. Please email me with any questions, you can also find me on Facebook, facebook.com/ipassmybarexam and Twitter ipassmybarexa.

Good luck and remember your name appears on the pass list. Thank you so much and have a wonderful day.

4 Mental Phases of Bar Exam Prep Podcast (Episode 004)

Check out the latest podcast where I talk about the Four Mental Phases you may encounter during your bar exam preparation!

Four Mental Phases of the Bar Exam 

In honor of episode number 4, today I am going to discuss with you the 4 mental phases of the bar exam prep period, so you know what to expect mentally and how you can best prepare for it. These phases are based on what I personally went through when I was studying for my bar exam in California and what I observed others going through as well and just from motoring the forums on the bar exam and getting comments directly from people, seeing what other people are saying, basically what I have boiled the four phases down into are – As you notice in this podcast I have included the epic music effect at the beginning, I hope you liked that. I have also upgraded my microphone quality so I can provide better sounding podcast to you to your home, park, car, and bench or wherever else you might be listening to me right now.

Let me give you a quick overview of what these four mental phases are and by the way I have also written a blog post on this topic, you can find it on my website ipassedmybarexam.com under the bar exam mindset category on the right side of the page. Let me tell you first what these 4 phases are and then I will go into depth into each phase to tell you what is coming and how best to handle it. So to analogize what the four phases are, let us basically take a look at the track and field in the 400 meters race that’s run, so for those of you who are not familiar with what that exactly it is basically a run around the oval shape track and field one time and each face is going to be a 100 meter of the track. So each phase of the bar exam will be about a 100 meters of the track.

In phase one I will call it the kick off which will be basically how you start your bar exam prep. This first phase is going to last about two to three weeks depending on a variety of fact or circumstances, if you are taking the summer bar exam starting you prep around mid-May or so, you are probably will be in phase one until around the first or second week of June. If you are taking the winter bar exam starting the first week of January for your bar prep, it is going to be…this phase will probably last around until mid or late January. Phase 2 is called the grind.

This is going to last another two to three weeks for you Summer bar exam takers this will probably lead you into about late June for you Winter bar exam takers this will probably lead you into about early February. Phase 3 I call it calm and cool on the website, you can also call it essential the home stretch it is those final few weeks before the bar. For the Summer taker and the winter takers actually it is going to take you all the way up from the end of phase two until about the Thursday or Friday before your bar exam the following week and then phase 4 it is what I call the finish. It is basically those final few days before the bar exam and then the bar exam week and then how to prepare for that, so we will go into that as well.

Let us talk about phase 1. On the track and field this right when you are coming out of the blocks, this is when you start up pretty fast you are probably going to be at your highest level of energy throughout the entire race, throughout the entire bar exam prep period and this is also the time when you are kind of figuring out yourself and system and what is the best system to use and how should I go about this during my bar exam prep.

So before I give my recommendation let me talk really briefly about what I called layered studying and the importance of layered studying during your bar exam. You have you twelve or so topics on the bar exam and what ends up happening is you do not just look at each topic once, you ended up looking at each topic several times in layers just like an onion. So you look at it once okay, maybe couple days, couple weeks later you look at it again, look at it again and slowly you start to peel off that onion really hit home the core concepts that you need to learn for each topic.

Understanding layered studying will help you in phase one because my next recommendation in phase one is to actually do your MBE topics in phase 1, that is the torts, evidence, contracts, property, common law and then criminal law/ crimpers. Seven topics, 6 topics depending on how you break it down, but I recommend during this phase one, during this first 2 to 3 weeks you do your MB’s topics during that time and when I say MBE topics I mean doing the MBE questions for the topics and the essays for the topics.

At least getting that first layer done on these topics, the first peel of the onion. So why should you do the MB topics first and again by the way these are all just general recommendations this is all the stuff that I did, I did take Barbri and that is what they did for us as well so ultimately you got to go with what works best for you.

Let me tell you some advantages of doing the MBE because first of all if you do the MBE first you will have literally seen you essentially knock out the MBE topic again this is the first layer but you have seen your MBE questions, you have studied your MBE topics and because of this concept of layering you want to look at that first you are going to have to look at it again, second or third or even the fourth time throughout your bar exam prep and what you have done is during this time when you are fresh and you are just starting off your bar exam prep you have seen basically your MBE and you are able to look at it with fresh eyes.

If you try and learn the MBE later on when you have less energy and less maybe mental focus it might be a little bit harder to learn and you also have less opportunities to do peel more layers of the onion of the MBE, so that is why I recommend you start off with it first. Not only that if you do those topics first you will have covered your entire MBE and you will have covered half of your essay topics, so in a way you would almost have done with half of your bar exam prep.

Again you technically  would not have been done because of the layer thing you are going to have to look at these two or three times, but basically you have seen half of your bar exam, you have seen half of your essays and the entire MBE you just have the other remaining essays which will not be as difficult to study for because you will just be studying those other topics just the essay portion, you do not have to study the MBE for those other topics, and then you will have your performance test as well. When we were studying we spent about anywhere from one to or maybe three days per topic for each of these core MBE topics.

If you look at let us say about two to three days per topic that is about twelve to eighteen days looking at the topic, maybe taking breaks or doing other things in between that, that is twelve to eighteen days so that is going to last you about two, two and a half weeks, maybe even three weeks there and you will have essentially covered all that during your first phase.

Let us go on to phase 2. Phase two on the track and field the second 100 meters is basically…you actually is going to slow down a bit, you start to go into stride, start to gallop, you are not running at full steam ahead pace. You keep moving but you are basically gearing yourself up and to put yourself into position to have a successful home stretch and this is just like the bar exam too.

So there is two real things to try and to take away from phase two (1) is to keep doing enough work to reasonable stay on schedule and the (2) is to take frequent break. I am sure you have heard that word reasonable enough throughout your entire law school period and during this phase really is not about sticking to…you know if you are taking Barbri and you are actually on pace with the schedule, please let me know, because I do not know anybody who was actually on pace with the Barbri schedule by the time the third` week hit.

Everybody was behind that thing because the set that bar so high, so if you are taking Barbri and you are not on schedule that is perfectly okay. What happens in this phase a lot of times it is when…sometimes when that inner doubt maybe begins to hit like can I really do this, you start to look for other people for acceptance and belief in yourself that can really handle this thing that is come in there and I want to let you know that, that is perfectly normal, perfectly natural, do not let that get to you if you can because it is normal, it is natural and it is a part of it, you are actually probably experiencing something what you have not before your final weeks during law school maybe lasted up to three weeks, two the three weeks and now you are entering now a fourth week of studying and you are not really used to that so you might start feeling stressed or anxious or whatever else that you may not have felt before, so do not beat yourself up about if you do feel that knowing that it is normal and natural and everybody is feeling it okay.

If you are not on schedule do not beat yourself about that either, okay. Personally I fell behind, this is the phase where I sort of start breaching off kind of what Barbri was telling me to do and started focusing on my own things and developing my own system of what I felt I had to do. I was not reading many review as much I was mostly trying to focus on practicing the essays, practicing the MBE’s and learning the rules in between there, so if you are not on schedule that is ok but do try reasonable on schedule, you do not want to fall too far behind and this phase because you want to put yourself in the position where phase 3 you can kind of hit that home stretch. This phase is very important to manage your energy, so keep moving do not over do and really try and conserve your energy as much as you can.

You will end up winning the bar exam in late July or late February, so do not burn yourself out now where you do not have enough energy to sustain yourself for the next month going through. This might also be the phase where words from other people start to upset and bother you a little bit more, you might hear people saying oh I spent thirteen, fourteen hours straight studying today, well you know good for them if that is what they actually did and then good for them that has got nothing to do with you, that is their prep for their bar exam, you be you, you prepare for your bar exam, I was me and it worked for me, okay so do not worry about what other people are saying, what other people are doing, how they are studying.

Are you studying, are you putting in enough time understand and manage your own self and your own energy and what you need to do to pass, okay. Is during this phase two that I literally would hit, not literally but I would hit that brick wall where it feels like you are literally hitting a brick wall. I just could not study, I know that feeling where you wake up in the morning you are like okay today I am going to accomplish this, this, this and you just could not do it. I  wanted to do these things and I could not do it, I could not study and I could not get myself to do it even if someone had paid me I would not be able to do it.

What did I do? I just…I said I got to respect my own mind, my body, my energy I am just not going to study today, you know take a couple hours off, take a day are two off if you need to as well, go on a job, go call your family, go to the spa it is okay if you are taking some time off during this phase you know two hours walk in the park is not going to kill you, you are not going to fail you bar exam if you do that.

It is interesting actually during the end of this phase right before you know what I call phase 3, I actually ended up taking four days in a row off and going to Barnes and Nobles and just engage in pleasurable reading, reading books I like to read, reading leadership or development type of books which actually was very effective for me because it actually expanded my mindset giving me a chance to disconnect from bar and really clear my mind and gave me that energy to sustain myself for phase 3 and phase 4 for the next few weeks and throughout the bar exam.

I know I did for me got four days is a lot of time I got to fight that thought in my mind well I am going to fall behind I am not going to get enough done if I do this, but listen to yourself, listen to your intuition and what inside is telling you if you need to take a break, take a break and do that. So remember with this phase keep doing enough to stay on schedule in a reasonable manner and take frequent breaks.

Now we go on to phase 3, this is the third leg of you 400 meters.. There are three take aways to take to take from phase 3 and this is the last couple of weeks all the way up to that Thursday or Friday before your bar exam. There are three take aways here one is filling in the gaps, things that you do not know yet that you have not learn yet or that you need to improve it is about filling in those gaps. Second is focus, focus is the key in this phase and third is taking simulated practice exams. Filling in the gaps what do I mean by that? You are really starting to get your second, your third, your forth, your final layers of that onion.

You are starting to peel them and really get to those concepts, really getting to a final zone and mindset per topic of what you need to know per topic you know finishing those attack sheets and outline if outlines are your thing. This is where you start to finalize all those things. So in phase 1 you do lots of studying, phase 2 is managing your energy so phase 3 is just reviewing concepts learning there are still some topics you probably have not looked at, some of the essay topic you probably have not reviewed, learning those and getting to that final zone into that final bar exam mindset basically during this phase.

So do not move too slowly on this phase you also do not need to move too fast, this phase is really mostly about composure and focus. you might start having that thought where oh my god the bar exam is only two weeks away, let is just stay compose, stay calm you have put in so much effort up to this point, do not let the little fear or worry throw you off now, just stay compose and increase your focus this is time really to just start cutting out distractions, cutting out people who are freaking out, make sure you are not around people who are freaking out, you do not need to do any crazy studying now, but you do need to focus on continuing to improve and just keeping your calm, keeping you composure.

Do still take breaks during phase 3 but….I did not do any more four days break taking through this period, I would take breaks but I was little more on task and focus here because I was able to manage my energy in the previous phase so it allowed me to have a little more energy to focus and study through this final phase. In the third thing practice; the number one reason why people fail the bar exam is because they do not do practice test under time conditions, I say it again the number one reason people fail the bar exam because they do not do practice test under time conditions. If you have not been doing those up to this point this is the time to do it, take practice essays time yourself for an hour and just do it from start to finish.

I have a couple of articles on the website regarding this, I also do future podcast specifically addressing this issue, but really taking practice is huge, because you practice how you play and you need to make sure you practicing exactly what is going to happen when you are in that exam room, okay. You know most of the material by now it is now time to make sure you are really applying it and really learning how to apply it when it comes to your exam. So phase 3 filling in the gaps, focusing, cutting out distraction and then doing practice tests in this phase.

Let us go on to the final phase now, phase 4 the finish it is those last days before your bar exam and the bar exam week, it is like the final 20 meters of the track and field the last few days. Key take away point here are this is to keep your energy fresh and keep your mind positive. Keep your energy fresh, keep your mind positive. You have put in a lot of work the last two months and you do not really need to push yourself anymore now, you just give yourself some time to blow off some steam to recoup and to let that energy to simmer down because you want your energy to peak during the bar exam days not before. So do not force yourself, and when I say force do not yourself I mean do not force yourself to do questions if you do not feel like doing it.

If you feel like do some more keep in the zone then do it, but if you feel like you are pushing yourself too much you are going to cause some stress or headache do not do it because you do not want to hurt or cut your energy before the bar exam actually takes place. In California the bar exam is three days long and they have studied this that historically many people have had passing answers on the first two days, but it is the third day that really got them and that is because they did not manage their energy or their mind well or they may have thought they had failed and gave up which of course you never, ever should give up especially during the bar exam week. So do not let this happen to you manage your energy, keep your energy fresh and mind positive. You spent way too much time than to crash on day three of your bar exam and not do as well.

Know that you are deserving and worthy and you have and you have put in all this time and effort so now it is time to finish strong. During this time you could do some light essays, do some PT maybe outlining or writing it out, again if you feel like not pushing yourself too much finalize your attack sheets, review your attack sheet how you are going to approach the bar exam, how you are going to approach each question, it is all about keeping in the zone, but not forcing yourself here. So let go relax make sure you eat well, make sure you drink lots of water, make sure you know where the bar exam test room is and you know how you are going to wake up and you got your friends they are going to call you to make sure that you wake up and all the things like that. Yes so really recharge so you can know it down this final week during phase 4.

I hope I provided some value by giving you an idea of the four bar exam mindset phases that you may go through. Some of you may fill this exactly the way I have described it, some f you might not fill it at all, this is what I experience, what I went through, what I saw other people going through so I decided to share that with you so that you can have an idea so you can better understand the process and the system and better understand yourself during this phase and be able to react proactively to it and stay positive through it.

Good luck on your bar exam again my name is Dustin Saiidi you can find me at ipassedmybarexam.com you can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/ipassedmybarexam, I am also on Twitter ipassedmybarexa and also you can subscribe to our newsletter where we send out free tips on bar exam that is on the website as well or you can email me if you have any questions personally and maybe we will feature them in the future blog or podcast, it is ipassedmybarexam@gmail.com.

Thank you so much for listening and good luck on your bar exam and we will talk to you soon. Take care have a wonderful day.

 

 

Choosing a Bar Exam Prep Program Podcast (Episode 003)

Choosing between one of four bar exam prep program options!

This podcast has been brought to you by www.ipassedmybarexam.com helping you pass your bar examination.

Alright guys, it’s time to talk about which bar exam prep program you should take that is going to be most effective in helping you pass your bar exam. A written article that’s get pretty detailed on the website and this is the follow up podcast to that as well. Basically I break it down into probably four different options, the first is Barbri, the second is Themis, third is Kaplan and the forth is some kind of self study program either on own or through another less expensive and less organized or formalized bar prep program.

The first is Barbri I’ll talk about them first. They are the most well known, most people take Barbri they have a very good passage rate and they do very well you know amongst all different schools and all different states, the only thing is they come with the hefty price tag at around $4,000, if you were fortunate to sign up during your first or second year you may have gotten a discount, but if you didn’t it’s going to be about $4,000 and in a way that’s expensive but also you know it’s kind of have the attitude where you can just add it to the tab of the law school experience, law school get pretty expensive and by reason other expense that comes with it, so it’s pricey but it does pay off, they do prepare you very, very well.

I have taken them and I’ve known a lot of people that taken them that passed and that were successful with them. One thing Barbri does very well as they prepare you at a level really higher than you need to pass the bar exam. For example they will grade your essays and when they grade your essays they you taught a lot harder to pass the Barbri essay than it is to pass an actual bar exam essay. The home work that they give you is also a lot more than you need to do, I’d say  if you do it would  be about 80%, 75% of the actual homework that they give you, you probably still end up passing the exam. Barrrie doesn’t actual publish their actual pass rate, but you figure somewhere in the 80% tile at least and I’m sure each of you have had friends that have pass with Barbri.

The structure of Barbri is also very good especially if you are the type that likes to go and sit in class or the type that likes to have their classes scheduled as oppose to doing it online which I will get into later with Themis. Barbri is very good at that, I think their classes for the summer term start around 9 am. The classes for the winter term start around 6 pm. The classes are set up you go in and you have a guess lecture either the lecturer actually be there or there will be a TV screen with the lecturer. I don’t mind the TV screen at all, I think its fine, you basically getting the same experience as if the lecturer was actually there.

So if you like that kind of structure where they set it up for you and they go and if your are late the you miss out, then that’s good for you, Barbri is a good program as well because of that. Barbri also happens to be the longest running and most experience bar prep program on the market and that is very helpful when you are taking an exam as big as the bar exam, you want that experienced leadership behind you helping you pass your bar exam. Also check on this because they tend to change this sometimes, but if for whatever reason you take the exam with Barbri and you don’t pass a lot of time they will let you use Barbri again if you to either at a very discounted rate or free. I believe it free right now, but that has changed over the years in the past. So check with them before signing up with Barbri.

Now if you don’t want to do the Barbri thing or looking for something a little bit cheaper different, cheaper look no further than Themis bar view that’s T H E M I S. They are also a phenomenon program they are very new, they are comprise of mostly prior Barbri people that have made this program. They are also very inexpensive. Barbri’s price tag is around $4,000, Themis is about $1,500 depending on the jurisdiction where you take the test, which is about a third of what you’ll pay for Barbri, and guess what their pass rates are just as good maybe not quite as good, but just as good or right on up there. Themis on like any other bar prep programs actually publishes their pass rates online and in every state except California.

Their pass rate is close to 90% or higher in California I believe their last bar passage rate was 75% at the time of this recording which was in March of 2012. 75% for California is very good and be close to 90% for most other jurisdiction is also very, very good and especially since the price tag is only a third of what Barbri is charging. So what’s the catch you might say why people would pick Barbri instead of Themis if it’s just as good and only a third of the cost. Well Themis their program is all online based, so you don’t actually have a classroom where you can go and sit down with live lecturers and that already set up for you.

It’s all online based, that can be a bad thing and a good thing for some people. Good thing you can watch it wherever you want, wherever you want on your own schedule on your own time. They do have people that watch your progress or if you are slacking and you are not doing the work you need to, they will call you, they will send you emails, they will also grade your exams that you send in to them, but if you are the type that really like to just have that schedule set up and you don’t maybe trust yourself to be able to wake up at 9 am and do the work you need to do that you are going to wake a couple hours or goof off and if you think you’ll fall behind because of that either get a little more disciplined or try and go with Barbri. I have had some friends who took Themis and they were satisfied with it, so they are good program, they are trustworthy if that’s the path you want to take, do please take them they are a great program.

Now the next one is Kaplan, I still haven’t found a reason why you’d take Kaplan. Kaplan is pricey they are almost as pricey as Barbri and it doesn’t seem like they have the pass rate that Barbri does. A lot of you probably know Kaplan you probably use them in one form or another for taking your LSAT. However for the bar exam they are new, they are maybe a little bit older than Themis but they have not gotten up to that level where they are really providing strong results and helping students pass their bar exam, and also unfortunately their prices are just very high.

If you are going to pay that much money, you might as well ditch in a couple of extra hundred dollars and go with Barbri who is very well established in the field. Now Kaplan did add a Themis type program where it’s pretty much online based and it’s almost the same price as Themis it’s a little bit more expensive, but again Themis has a very a much stronger track record in that department than Kaplan. So as at the time of the recording of this podcast, I would say avoid Kaplan and go with Barbri or Themis.

Then there is of course the other option that I mentioned in the beginning. There is the self study route or going with maybe a lesser known bar prep program or even a private tutor. Private tutors can get pretty expensive, they can be almost the same price as Barbri, maybe up to three, four thousand dollars depending on the tutor. Having spoken to a lot of people who have done this, I know if you have taken the bar exam before and didn’t pass and maybe used Barbri before or Themis before and didn’t pass and you feel maybe that your writing could be improved then going with the private tutor at least partially to improve you writing, to improve the way your approaching test could be very useful. The one thing unfortunately that Barbri I know doesn’t really provide is very strong support for developing your writing as a bar exam taker.

They do grade your exams, they will give some feedback but if you’re kind of struggling with writing and how to write, which is very important y the way for the bar exam. When you are writing you need to write and sound quote end quote like a lawyer as you are writing. So if you are struggling in this department then perhaps going with a private tutor or finding someone who at least just grade your essays in addition to whatever you are doing could be very, very beneficial. There is also the peer self study route some people like to buy the books from Barbri but not actually take the program and maybe get the Barbri pay schedule and just go through what is Barbri’s homework tell you to do. That can work, some people have done it in the past, some people haven’t done it in the past, and you’ll certainly save a lot of money.

Again personally I like going to the lectures to kind of get to know quote end quote on the inside a little bit of how things work that you don’t quite get by just using the books, but if you feel comfortable doing that and you think that will help you pass, then by all means do it. If you thinking of going to self study route I recommend you check out a book written by a co-bar exam blogger and friend of mind that I met through my bar blogging experiences her name is Jessica Kline, she is author of the be a goat blog and there is actually a link on the website if you go to ipassmybarexam.com on the top left side there is a picture of a book and a goat icon, that’s the book that she wrote, she self studied for the bar exam, no she actually didn’t pass the first time, ended up passing the second time and basically gave her advice and tips on what she thinks other people should do to help them pass if they are self studying.

It’s a great book, I read it myself you can actually click the link there on the website it will take you to her website and her book. If you do happen to buy the books through my affiliate link just so you know as a discipline I do get a small affiliate commission if you do that. That is not the reason I am recommending the book, I just want to get that out there the open. So that is a good book if you want to go with the self study route, it has got a lot of good tips and tools and give some of the other lesser known kind of programs that could help you pass the bar exam like what kind of flash cards, what kind of programs to used for the multiple choice portions or to have your essays graded. It gives useful tips like that to help you pass your exam as well.

So that is about generally what I have to say about which bar exam prep program to take. Again in summary I recommend either Barbri or Themis. Barbri and Themis both have great bar passage rates and Barbri is more expensive about 3 times more than Themis. Themis advantage or disadvantage however you want to see it they do everything online whereas Barbri you have to actually could sit in class go and sit in actually lecture situation.

At this point I would advice staying away from Kaplan and if you do want to do the self study route, check out that book on the be a goat blog or ask some friends who have done self study route too and see what they say and what they done to help them pass. Self studying is definitely a way you could pass. I do recommend going with some kind of bar prep program, but if you prefer self study route and you feel that’s what your style is more then by all means do that just make sure you prepare yourself and you know what is coming, because the bar exam is all about preparation and knowing how to prepare and what to prepare to pass the bar exam.

So I hope this podcast was helpful to you guys. Please check out the website and good luck on your bar exam. Take care and have a wonderful day.

Bar Exam Week Podcast (Episode 002)

The Bar Exam week has arrived! Listen to the podcast giving you a bar exam pep talk with some tips and suggestions for bar exam week.

This episode we are going to be talking about bar exam week and give you a little pep talk of what you can do this week. So most of you are taking your bar exam this week and I know what it is like, I have been there. Some of you might be flustered and cramming, some of you are probably very calm and relaxed, some of you are between those two emotions and all of that is perfectly okay do not feel one way is right one way is not right, I should have be this, I should be this, all of it is normal and it is okay.

And whatever you are feeling know this, sometimes we as human beings feel we are not deserving or not worthy of something, know that you are deserving and worthy of passing this bar exam, that you have put in the time, you put in the effort you paid your dues, the last one or two months studying, the last three to four years of law school, you have put in the time and you are ready now and you deserve to pass this bar exam.

So think for a second that you do not, do not even worry about passing or not passing just focus on the work you have been doing and go in there and taking the questions, answering the questions, know and put in the back of your mind that these bar exam graders that are grading your exams do in fact want you to pass. They were in the same shoes that you’ are in right now, they know what it is like and they actually do want you to past that is their desire, that other people in the room want you to pass, that your family, your friend, you relatives, people want you to do well, they want you to pass this exam, you are deserving and you are worthy, it is just a matter of going out and executing.

To be honest you already have come over the hill by putting in all this time and effort to prepare, now it is just time to go out there to relax do your best and execute, that is it. That being said make sure you put yourself in a good state of emotions, listen to some nice relaxing music the night before and on the drive or the walk over to the bar exam room. The night before watch one of your favorite movies, watch an inspirational movie, something that will take your mind off the bar and really just kind of motivate you and help you relax.

Eat good food the next few days, have a good hearty breakfast, make sure your lunches are good but not too thick, I have a lot of food tips on the website that you can check out. So believe in yourself you have already put in the work, the time, the effort, you have already pass this exam it is just a matter of going out and having it occur in reality and that is it.

 When you come home after day one and day two, do not worry about how you did or what you might have missed or you did not got tight, do not worry about what other people are saying. Often time I have found it is the people who talked about the exam and almost brag about all the issues that they receive; those are the ones that should not be listened to.

So if you hear someone talking about these issues and everything else that they found do not worry about that, you found what you found, you wrote what you wrote put it in the past and move on to the next day. Also make sure for those of you who are taking the three days bar exam make sure you are ready for day three because statistically scores on day three tends to be a little bit lower than the score on day one and day two, that is because people get tired and what not.

So you put in way too much time and effort to get tired on day three and let your scores slip, so make sure you get a really good night rest on day two, eat some power bars and Omen whatever you need to on day three to make sure your energy is fresh and you are ready to go and to really to close out that bar exam on day three and also no matter what happens do not, do not, do not, do not give up, do not give up on essays, do not give up on questions, do not say I cannot do  this, I do not know this forget about it because the most important thing to remember is that if you do not know something on the exam, nobody know whatever the X being asked on the exam, just give it your best shot, make something up, a lot of times  it is not as bad as it looks.

I saw plenty of things I had no idea, there was an entire essay on a topic I had not even studied for, but I know if I did not study for it nobody had studied for it and that is just how it goes so do not worry about it, just write something, make something up, make some fact, make lot of excuse me, throw in some facts make it look pretty, throw in some headings and baba boob baba bing you got yourself an answer that is going to get you some amount of points. Lastly I also recommend you stop studying at least Monday afternoon, if you want to get some attack sheet saying on Monday morning that is fine, but Monday afternoon I recommend you just stop, you want to make sure your energy is peaking during bar exam days not before and not after. So do what you need to do to manage your energy that’s very important and again I recommend you stop on the days of each bar exam.

For me what I did when I came home sometimes I did do some additional studying, it wasn’t anything intense but I did do some reviewing presumably after the essays on day one I went and reviewed some multiple choice questions after I got home just to get my mind in that zone to be ready to take multiple choice questions the next day. After day two when I got home I did some essays on some of the topic I have not even covered yet just again to get my mind in the zone so, if you want to do that go for it if you feel comfortable either way just make sure you are not doing too much or you will be maxing out your energy. You want your energy to peak on bar exam days.

Ok I have rambled for at least a good 5 or 6 minutes now so I am going to stop talking and let you guys finish up the last minute studying and good luck this week, you can do it, believe in yourself, you got this, this is your time go in there smile, happy, confident and go knock this baby down. Alright good luck on your bar exam. In time you too will see this name appears on the pass list.

 For more tips on passing your bar examination please visit ipassedmybarexam.com and best of luck in passing your bar exam.