The Fear Factors: Fifteen Reasons Why Applicants Fail The Bar Examination.
1. I review hundreds of bar exam questions each year. Most of the answers fall short in one area. The answers are not decisive or definitive. The answers are informational. The answers, "argue," and do not "decide." Bar exam questions are not designed for arguments, they are written so the the examinee can make a decision about who will win or who will lose.
Hit the Question Hard.
A. Red State's statute is unconstitutional because it violates the Commerce clause, the Establishment Clause and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as incorporated under the 14th Amendment to the States.
B. John will sue Sally for negligence and he will win because she was the proximate cause of his injuries.
C. Francine has three rights: she will sue for breach of contract, file a motion for improper venue, and a motion to exclude the knife because it is Fruit of the poisonous tree under the Fourth Amendment. She will lose on the contract claim because Larry was excused from his condition because of impossibility, but she will win on the venue motion because the incident occurred in Essex County, not Fraidin County. She will win on the 4th Amendment claim because the police officer did not
have probable cause to arrest Natalie.
D. If you know from the facts and the law that the mother of Larry, Curly and Moe should get custody of the children, then you need to declare it. Lucille will obtain custody of L, C, and M because (add factors and facts that show it).
Don't wince, don't beg for an answer. Don't argue, either (informational). Yell it, scream it, shout it.
2. The second thing that I have noticed about many of the people taking the bar exam is that they still allow other situations to control their lives, and often allow the bar exam to be secondary to their work. People looking for jobs, inviting relatives to come to town, providing tours of the city, trying to work up through the last five or seven days of the exam, heading the family discussion on the family issue (I did not say involved, but the point person).
Let me remind you of something. You can be a bar examinee now, and a licensed attorney in a few months, or you can do all of the things that you think you need to do TODAY, and in November you can get prepared for the bar, and not Thanksgiving. You can get prepared to discuss the meaning behind the eight days of Chanukah, or you can burn time creating the study plan for the next 10 to 12 weeks. You can think about who you will spend time with on Xmas Eve, or you can prepare for the bar. You can open gifts on Xmas Day, or you can spend time pulling out your outlines for February. You can learn the seven days of Kwanzaa, or you can think about the seven hours you will have to study each day. You can waste New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and the three days after New Year's Day saying to yourself that you will get started studying on the first weekend in the New Year, or you can comfortably prepare for the New Year in the church of your choice, the party of your choice, the club of your choice, or the destination vacation of your choice. You can spend MLK's day reflecting or helping or doing something for your community or you can spend that time really working on the speech you will give your boss for the time you will need to take off from work. Finally, you can spend Valentine's day doing some fun stuff with a fun person for a really fun 24 hours, or you can spend it with some sucker card and wondering whether your really fun person is funning with someone else.
What are you going to do?
3. The test in this jurisdiction is hard. When the test is hard, you just need to get a harder skin. You need to investigate why California, New York, Texas, Virginia, etc., are considered hard bar exams. So what you have 12 essays to write and only 12 minutes per question. That means that you need to work harder quicker, and write more efficiently faster.
You should know the mechanics of the problem by now. If not, get up off your butt and find out what makes your jurisdiction tick.
4. Do not back down on a question or allow a question to follow you into the next question.
It is a question. If it is an MBE question and you have spent the necessary time trying to figure out what that answer is and you cannot, make a true, educated guess. Then move on. If you cannot determine what the essay question wants from you, look at all of the facts, gather them, and find an answer or series of answer where the conclusion is fair. Then return to the call of the question and ask yourself who the examiner wants to target and what the examiner wants answered.
If you blow a question (MBE, MEE, Essay, MPT, Short Answer, State Multiple Choice) don't take it with you to the next question. Do you hear me. Whatever happened in bad questionville, then let it stay there. You approach the next question like it is spanking brand new. Like you've never seen it. Like it is a stranger (that you'd like to get to know) on the street.
Don't get your head all caught up in making you think that you did something wrong. You handle that next question.
I am a Tupac Shakur fan, and maybe just a little more than most. These are two lines from a song I like. When I am having a hard time doing what I need to do, I think of people who are not where I am and may not ever have that chance.
"For those with ambition in their hearts."
"For those who want some, but don't take none."
Take This Exam.
Take Some.
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