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5 Tips For Studying For The Bar Exam While Working Full-Time

With a few tweaks and a lot of focus, you can work full-time and pass the bar exam.

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Let me start out by saying that it is not my recommendation for students to work full-time during bar prep if they can help it. However, many students, particularly repeat takers, do find themselves in this situation. If you can avoid working during this time, you absolutely should.  Adequately preparing for the bar exam is a huge undertaking and requires quite a bit of time and attention. However, if you do have to work, it is not the kiss of death. With a few tweaks and a lot of focus, you can work full-time and pass the bar exam. Here are some tips to get you started.

Start Early

This is actually two pieces of advice for the price of one. You’re welcome. First, you need to start studying early in bar exam season. Since you are short on time due to work, one way to get more time is to start studying earlier. But, you want to be careful not to start too early. Burnout is a real thing during bar prep, so you can’t possibly use all your free time for studying for 6-8 months straight. For students working full-time, I generally recommend starting to study in April for the July exam and November for the February exam.

Second, once you start bar prep, start studying early in the day. You probably already know this, but life is busy and you’ve heard that saying about the “best laid” plans. I highly recommend that you create a schedule that gets you up and studying 1-2 hours before work each day. This way, if your day gets busy or gets away from you, you’ve already completed your bar prep for that day. On the flip side, if your day goes according to plan, you may actually get some time to unwind and relax at the end of the day. Doesn’t that sound nice?  

Get Super Organized

If you are anything like me, it might take you a little bit to get into the zone of studying. You sit down, realize you forgot your book, go back to your car, realize you forgot your sandwich, run out to get food, sit down, scroll through Facebook…. And the list goes on.

This is all fine and good if you have all the time in the world to study. But, we already established that you’re on a tight schedule. I’ve found that the best way to avoid what I call the “I just can’t start studying procrastination loop” is to be really prepared before you get there. Make a checklist of everything that you need to have with you. Some suggestions: books, laptop, charger, food, ear plugs, headphones, and a sweet playlist of study tunes. You can’t overthink this enough. The good news is that while this takes some planning up front, you have it for every study session going forward.

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Skip The Videos

This piece of advice is specifically for repeat takers who have already gone through a full bar prep program. The video lectures in bar prep take up a ton of time, and most students do not get a huge return on that time investment in terms of points on the test.  When I am working with a repeat taker, the first thing I usually take off of their plate is watching the videos because there are more efficient ways to review the law. I encourage you to take a long, hard look at the role videos played in your preparation last time and consider whether it will be beneficial to incorporate them this time.

Prioritize Practice Questions

This is good advice for any bar exam candidate, but is absolutely crucial to your success if you are short on time. Practice questions are the most important part of bar prep and most students aren’t doing enough. Make sure that you are doing practice MBE questions every single day during bar prep and writing essays several times a week. On days or weeks when you find more things on your to-do list than you have time to do, make sure you get to the practice questions first.  

Maximize Your Lunch Break and Commute

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In case you haven’t caught the theme here yet, YOU DON’T HAVE A LOT OF TIME! A great way to pick up some time in your day is to maximize your lunch break and your commute. Lunch is the perfect time of day to squeeze in some extra practice questions or to write an essay. If you take public transportation, you can use your commute to read outlines or run through flashcards. If you drive, you can listen to audio recordings to reinforce law. Get creative and see if there are any other points in your day when you can add in some bar prep.

I hope these tips help you feel more confident about working full-time while studying for the bar exam. Remember to be patient with yourself and your progress. Things may start off slow, and you may feel frustrated that you don’t have more time. Make sure you maximize the time you do have and that you are, occasionally, taking some time to invest in your mental health and self-care.

Kerriann Stout is a millennial law school professor and founder of Vinco (a bar exam coaching company) who is generationally trapped between her students and colleagues. Kerriann has helped hundreds of students survive law school and the bar exam with less stress and more confidence. She lives, works, and writes in the northeast. You can reach her by email at info@vincoprep.com.

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