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Can You Work and Study for the Bar?

August 10, 2022March 8, 2016 by AmeriBar

Law school graduation is just around the corner for some of you lucky 3Ls. In the days surrounding your law school graduation, you will feel pretty good about yourself. You just emerged on the other end of the law school vortex shiny, vibrant, and successful. After that euphoria wears off, two things will weigh on your mind. The first being the behemoth that is the bar exam, and the second being money. The idea of student loan debt trickling in is worse than the plot of a bad horror film, but some people have to work while preparing for the bar. Bills and everyday life don’t stop for the bar exam. When you mention that you are working and studying, you probably either get a raised eyebrow or pitying looks. Is it possible to work and study for the bar? While it’s not impossible, it is not recommended that you study and work so that you can maximize your chances of passing and not have to repeat the whole process again. That caution being out of the way, of course you can pass if you are studying and working at the same time.

Adjust your expectations

Our number one advice is that you must adjust your expectations while studying for the bar and working. For many people, studying for the bar exam is their full time job after graduation. Not everyone has the luxury. So, what’s our best advice for you hard-working multi-taskers?

Choose a bar prep provider

We aren’t just saying this because we are in the business. It is important that you have reputable study materials. Some providers, ahem, ahem, even provide you with practice study calendars that are longer than six weeks. You need to make sure that the course will fit your schedule. Our program can be accessed at any point in your studies–a year out, six months out, etc.

Adjust your study schedule

You have to be mindful of when the bar exam is offered. It is only offered twice a year, in February and July, in all jurisdictions. You will probably need longer than six weeks to prepare for the exam if you are working. Some bar review providers only give their students six weeks to do all of their bar prep. We let you start when you need to start studying. We want you to be fully prepared for the exam whether that means you need six months or a year to prepare for the exam. There is no standard time frame for how long a person should prepare. Understandably, six weeks isn’t going to be enough if you are only studying 3-4 hours a day.

Adjust your work schedule if possible

You should try to work fewer hours if you are preparing for the exam. It’s stressful and daunting trying to juggle work and studying. If it’s not realistic to reduce your work hours for the duration of your studies, you should at least try to get some time off before the test.

Remember, it’s not impossible. It can be done, but you must adjust your expectations and your study schedule. Need help deciding on a program? We have a Part Time Bar Review program that we would be happy to discuss with you. Contact us at 800-529-2651.

Crush the Bar Exam Today!

August 22, 2022February 23, 2016 by AmeriBar

We would wish everyone taking the bar exam luck today, but they don’t need it because they’ve been studying. It will all be over after this week, but then comes the hard part–waiting for results! Next week we will bring you an AmeriBlog about what you should do while you’re waiting for your bar exam results.

If you have any questions that you would like us to address, shoot us an email at support@ameribar.com and your question may be featured on our AmeriBlog!

It’s Two Weeks Before the Bar Exam. Help!

September 26, 2024February 9, 2016 by AmeriBar

The bar exam is two weeks away. Say it ain’t so! You’ve hunkered down and studied for the last six or eight weeks, but the test is quickly approaching. In all likelihood, you feel like you don’t know the material or that you haven’t studied enough. The good news is that this probably isn’t true. So, what do you do with yourself in those final two weeks before the exam?

Begin Your Review Period

With all hopes, you have completely been through all of your material at this point, and you are approaching your review phase. If you’re an AmeriBar student, this should sound familiar to you based on our sample study calendar recommendations. Give yourself a few days to briefly go through all the material. This includes both essay and MBE subjects. If you have a very good grasp on a subject, don’t spend a lot of time on it. You should spend some time doing practice questions. Also, read the essay answers and analyses that you didn’t get a chance to complete.

Don’t Panic

If you’re getting questions wrong during your review period, don’t panic. There’s no way that you’re always going to get 100% of the questions right. If you’re consistently getting 70-75% of the questions correct, you’ll be in a good position for the exam. If you feel that you’re not doing well, make sure you review the areas of law that you’re missing.

Memorize Anything You Don’t Know

At this point in your study period, you probably know your weak areas. If you don’t comprehend something, try to memorize it. Use mnemonic devices or whatever tactics that help you memorize information the best.

Practice Under Test-Like Conditions

The room where you take the bar exam isn’t going to have a comfy couch or bed, and the exam isn’t going to happen at 11:00 PM. If you’ve been studying crazy hours, make sure you get your schedule right. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to be at the testing center early. It varies by jurisdiction, but you should make sure that you are able to wake up early enough to eat breakfast and not have to rush around. You’ll need to hit the hay early to be well-rested.

Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

At this point you might be panicking enough to scour the internet for advice. (Hi, there.) At some point, you’re probably going to come across a post about someone who only studied for two weeks and passed the exam. (Maybe that’s true or maybe it’s not.) Or maybe you’ll even see a post from a classmate on social media where they talk about how ready they are for the test. (They’re probably not either, but does it really matter either way?) The bottom line is that those people aren’t you. They’re not taking the test for you, and they don’t know the same things as you.

Believe in Yourself

There’s an insane amount of information covered on the bar exam. It’s not uncommon to panic at this point, but relax. If you’ve been putting in dedicated study time then you’ll be fine.

Do you have a question or issue that you would like for us to address on our blog? Send us an email at support@ameribar.com.

Advice for Repeat Bar Exam Takers

August 22, 2022December 22, 2015 by AmeriBar

If you are a repeat taker, you should be into the swing of preparing for the bar exam. (We recommend that repeat takers start studying 8-10 weeks before the bar exam.) It is possible that you have encountered issues in preparing in one of the following areas during previous exam attempts. You should develop and execute a plan to address each of these potential problem areas.

Knowledge of the Law

You can improve your knowledge of the law by refining your outlining process. AmeriBar has great lectures that address the importance of active outlining as well as the various approaches to be most effective while outlining.

Legal Analysis

You can improve your analytical skills by working through past exam issues from MBE and essay questions. AmeriBar has over 1400 National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) released MBE questions from past exams and 1300 AmeriBar-created MBE simulated questions in addition to essay questions from past bar exams.

Reading Comprehension

You can improve your reading comprehension skills by reading slowly and carefully and making notes on the question paper.

If you find yourself still struggling with your study approach, study-calendar creation, or any aspect of the preparation process, please give us a call. We have spaces available in our 6-week and 5-week tutoring programs for some jurisdictions. Please call us to check availability, enroll, or ask questions about any of our tutoring programs. Our number is 800-529-2651. Best of luck and happy holidays!

When Should You Start Studying for the February Bar Exam?

September 26, 2024December 15, 2015 by AmeriBar

The bar exam is just 10 short weeks away. If you’re signed up for the February exam, there is a good chance that you are already studying. However, since this study period lands over the holidays, there are some people who are waiting until January to start their studies.

So how do you determine when you should start studying? The short answer is that there is no predetermined amount of time. As each student is a unique individual, so is the length of study time. Most students can benefit from 6-8 weeks of full-time study for the exam. This is good news for you because we are quickly approaching that time frame. So how do you know if you should study longer than that generally prescribed period? You should consider these things.

Are you working during this time?

If the answer is yes, then you should probably start sooner. You will get burned out and extremely exhausted if you try to work full-time and study full-time concurrently. It is more doable if you are only working part-time. Students who work full-time can benefit from an extended study schedule. Full-time workers can benefit from our AmeriBar study calendars that exceed the typical 60-day calendar. That being said, if you are working full-time and haven’t started studying yet, it would probably behoove you to do so now. There are just at 10 weeks left until the bar exam. Chop-chop!

If the answer is no, then 6-8 weeks is probably ample time.

Do you have an extended vacation planned over the holidays or at any portion of January or February?

If the answer is yes, then you may want to start early so that you don’t have to spend a significant amount of time studying over your holiday. Plus, the likelihood of you committing a great amount of time to studying on your holiday is low, so if you don’t account for this in your study schedule, you’re probably putting yourself at a disadvantage. Again, building this time off into one of our AmeriBar sample study schedules will vastly improve your chances of staying on schedule.

If the answer is no, then 6-8 weeks is probably ample time.

Did you just graduate?

If the answer is no, then you may want to study earlier.

If the answer is yes but you’re working full-time, see the first question in this list.

If the answer is yes and you can study full-time, then you probably don’t need to spend more than 8 weeks studying. Of course, if you had any issues in law school or you feel that you need to study longer, then do so. If you haven’t already chosen your bar course provider, try out our AmeriBar no obligation free trial. We think you will enjoy our program.

Do you have significant obligations outside of studying? This would include family obligations, work, or anything else that takes up your time.

If the answer is yes, then you may want to study earlier.

If the answer is no, then 6-8 weeks is probably ample time.

How comfortable are you with your knowledge of the law?

If you are very comfortable with the law, then 6-8 weeks is plenty of time for you to study.

If you struggle with one or more areas of the law, then you may want to start studying earlier. You may also consider tutoring in addition to increasing your study time. If you’re interested in AmeriBar tutoring, be sure to let us know.

Again, you know your strengths and weaknesses better than anyone else. You should start studying when you feel comfortable, but keep in mind that we do not recommend studying any fewer than six weeks for the bar exam. If you have any questions for us, feel free to give us a call at 800-529-2651.

Free Bar Exam Score Report Analysis

September 10, 2018October 19, 2015 by AmeriBar

Free Bar Exam Score Analysis

If you’re a repeat taker, it’s always beneficial to conduct a score analysis before you start preparing for the next administration of the bar exam. By examining your past scores, you’ll be able to pinpoint your trouble areas and determine where to focus your studying efforts for the next exam. We would like to extend this courtesy to you for no charge. If you’d like to set up a free score report analysis with one of our experts, please email your score report to support@ameribar.com, or upload your score here.

We’ll reply and set up a telephone score analysis. Keep in mind that time will be limited as the exam draws nearer, but we will do our best to schedule your analysis promptly.