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Week 12:
Dear soon-to-be-licensed lawyers:
Dear soon-to-be-licensed lawyers:
It's the final countdown! After three years in law-school purgatory and nine weeks of bar-prep hell, the end is in sight. All of your hard work is about to pay off. But don't take your foot off the accelerator just yet! Make this last week count.
What to do in the final week
What to do in the final week
Here's what I recommend for the final week:
Studying
Studying
Do enough Barbri to hit 90% or Themis to hit 85%. You can keep pushing beyond that if you want to (no one who has completed 100% of Barbri or Themis has failed), but you don't have to.
Keep all the topics circulating through your brain by doing practice problems, flashcards, review, etc. If you ignore any substantive topic, you'll start to regress. You're like a juggler, and the topics are balls. You can't afford to drop any balls before exam day!
Be sure to complete CPE1 & 2 in Adaptibar or Block 1 & 2 in Themis/Qbank. These comprise the most recently released NCBE questions and are the best preview of the kinds of questions you expect.
Most of your essays should be read-think-review at this stage (see last week's blog). Circulate through all the topics, but pay special attention to the ones you are hoping don't show up on exam day. If you haven't written out at least 3 essays back to back at some point during bar prep (most of you did 6 on the written sims), do it this week to get a sense of exam-day timing.
This is when some companies (and preppers) try to predict what topics the MEE will cover this year. Don't bet your law license on them! They have a low historical accuracy.
Logistics
Logistics
Complete the Exam360 "trial exam"
Complete the Exam360 "trial exam"
If you have not already done so, now is the time to complete the Exam360 "trial exam." This is simply to make sure the exam-day software is functioning on your laptop. This is a required step, so make sure you get it done! See https://www.ilgexam360.com/faq.action > How Do I Complete A Trial Exam? for more info.
(Re)Read the General Instructions
(Re)Read the General Instructions
Read the General Instructions--all 15 pages. Pay special attention to what you can and cannot take into the exam each day. E.g., black-ink pens only, and only on day 1. No mechanical pencils. No watches of any kind. No ear plugs (ear plugs will be provided by the BLE). There's a checklist of required/allowed items on page 15.
Read the "no cheating" section (pp. 5-6) to ensure you don't accidentally do something that will jeopardize your law license before you even receive it! In particular, stop writing/typing/bubbling when the proctors call "time." A TAMU examinee violated that rule a couple of years ago, and I doubt he'll ever get licensed--in any jurisdiction--because of it.
Know how to get to the exam site
Know how to get to the exam site
Make sure you know where you're supposed to be next Tuesday! If you're driving to the exam, map and time your route and a couple of alternate routes in case of construction, traffic accidents, etc. Give yourself much more travel time than you think you need. Murphy's Law is in full force and effect on exam day!
Print your ticket
Print your ticket
Print your ticket and put it in your clear ziplock baggie! An examinee forgot her ticket on day 2 a couple of years ago. She called me in a panic (there wasn't anything I could do). Fortunately, the concierge at the hotel adjacent to the exam site printed her ticket for her. But you don't want that stress on exam day!
Mental health
Mental health
Don't work yourself sick this last week. Take breaks. Pace yourself. If you've met all your bar-prep goals, you don't need to study 10 hours a day; 6 may be enough. If you slacked off at the beginning of bar prep, you'll pay the price this week, but remember to pace yourself.
Breathe. Take a deep breath. Hold it. Then exhale your stress. Better yet: De-stress with the "physiological sigh."
Sleep. Sleep is essential to cognition and memory, so get a full night's sleep every night this week. If you haven't adjusted your personal schedule so that you are waking up as early as you will need to on the exam days, do it now!
Exercise. Physical exercise is the best way to control stress. But don't do any sport that might impair performance on exam day! E.g., my sport is mountain biking, and I had to stop a couple of weeks before the exam because if I broke my wrist or clavicle (common mountain-biking injuries), I would have been screwed. I doubled-down on running instead.
Eat healthy. Your mom told me to tell you.
Talk to yourself. Positive self-talk can have a measurable impact on exam performance. "I can do this!" and similar expressions of self-confidence may seem trite, but they work. Ask any elite athlete (different context, same idea). Look bak at all the work you've put in over the past 11 weeks. You've done the things that lead predictably to success on the bar exam. You can do this! Remind yourself that stress is empowering you to achieve a personal best.
Express gratitude. You didn't make it to this point. Family, friends, loved ones, and mentors helped you on this law-school odyssey and especially during bar prep. Thank them! Expressing gratitude has a host of mental and physical benefits: It improves sleep, relieves stress and anxiety, boosts serotonin and dopamine, and activates the prefrontal cortex (which you will be using a lot on exam day!). So take some time to say "thank you!" to the people who have helped you get to this point.
The first rule of the bar exam . . .
The first rule of the bar exam . . .
The bar exam is like Fight Club: The first rule of the bar exam is you don't talk about the bar exam!
This is not because the exam is shrouded in secrecy;* it's to maintain your sanity until the exam is over! Avoid examinees who obsessively want to dissect the part of the exam you just completed. All that will do is freak you out and zap your confidence, and the exam-dissectors generally don't know what they are talking about (and some are downright malicious; they want you to freak out). When the exam is over (over for everyone; remember that some preppers are on a three-day schedule), then feel free to discuss it to your heart's content (but at that point, you might just want to forget the whole thing!).**
*Well, it is shrouded in secrecy, too; see the General Instructions.
**But do not discuss it online. The NCBE monitors sites like Reddit, and posting details about questions or answers may raise character and fitness issues.
Week 12 incentive winners
Week 12 incentive winners
The winners of this week's incentive drawing are Carolyn Wheeler and Cache Hugie. Congratulations!
Final incentive targets
Final incentive targets
Here are the targets for the final week: By 10pm on July 27, complete 93.5% of Barbri or 88% of Themis AND 1610 questions in Adaptibar or QBank.
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