Preparing for the Bar Exam - Post-Bar Review Study Schedule

Many students studying for the New York Bar Exam have asked what to do now that their respective bar review classes are over. Generally, when your bar review course ends, there is about seven to twelve days when you will be on your own, and now you have entire days and nights just to study. The question becomes what, when, and how do you study during these critical remaining days.

Your goal during these final days is to review all of the tested topics by using only your notes, outlines, and rule paragraphs you have generated while studying over the past weeks. This requires a strategy so that you maximize what you need based on your individual strengths and weaknesses.

Continue working by subject, and begin with a review of your weaker subjects since these will be the ones you will review again at the end of the study period. This will give you time for two rounds with these topics with the final review closest to the exam itself.

The Schedule:

1. Do 30 – 33 multiple choice questions and review the answers in the morning. If you need additional multiple choice questions, the National Conference of Bar Examiners releases online practice exams. Supplement your outlines with law, if necessary.

2. Go through released bar exam essays, identifying the issues for each. The New York State Board of Law Examiners releases past exams.

3. After working through the released exams, look at your notes, outlines, and rule paragraphs and write out rules for any issues listed that are not covered in your notes.

4. Select two or three essays and write them out completely (this should take approximately two hours).

5. Study essay sample answers for all essays, including those you did not write out. Where appropriate, annotate or supplement your notes, outlines, and rule paragraphs with new, more concise and appropriate legal language.

6. Read through outlines to continue to review the law.

If time remains after going through all of the essays by subject (and it should), then go back to the subject or two that you felt was your weakest, and review the respective subject(s) again.

Good Luck on Bar Exam!



Note: the following are suggestions are from the forthcoming book, The New York Bar Exam by the Issue (Thomson West).