BARBRI Take the Wheel, ‘SeRiouS’ly

Phew, I passed. As I wrote in March here, I took the February 2018 UBE in Washington state. Thank you to those who reached out with feedback on that article, even the person who called my “amateur unjust ripping” of the bar exam, or what I thought were musings, “deplorable.” Ironically, I did the best on the MBE, the part that I found most challenging and least like the practice of law. Because my BARBRI instructors openly discussed the difficulty to narrow down between the final two answer choices, I thought I was in good company with the ideas in my March post. And I do remember the notion of free speech somewhere.

That said, I thought it might help others to discuss how I prepped for the exam seven years out of law school, while working, and well over the average test-taking age. In a few words, I would describe my approach as brute force immersion with complete rule following.

Do Not Go It Alone

I do not mean to imply that you should not study alone because I did study by myself for a variety of reasons. Instead, do not go without someone or a program to hold you accountable. I knew that I was facing a large re-learning process because of the number of years and the intervening changes in some areas of law such as constitutional law and criminal procedure.  Therefore, I needed a program that would bring me up to speed, and I thought that I would cherry pick my tasks based on my own understanding of my weaknesses.

Instead, the BARBRI Personalized Study Plan (PSP) provided a list of tasks along with options to study early in the process and do extra work before the official plan starter.  Although I am lover of structure and rules, initially I resisted the notion that I would blindly follow this PSP. I bought some other study aids, like flashcards and a book on MBE approach and questions. 

BARBRI Approach: Trust

Numerous BARBRI coaches talked about how if you do the work, you will pass. If you follow the program, you will pass. I wanted to believe them, particularly as I listened to the lectures on subjects that I never took in law school. However, despite being a rule-follower, throughout January, I resisted completely trusting the program. I watched the lectures and did the quizzes plus the practice questions but was worried that the PSP tasks would not be enough.

However, once I wrote the practice MBE at the end of January, the PSP became my boss for the duration. Along with SeRiouS on my phone to calm my nerves when I was away from my laptop where I accessed my PSP, I trusted that if I plodded my way through as much as possible, I would pass.

SeRiouS: New Twist on 80/20 Principle

When I told Gabe Teninbaum that I was studying for the bar, he kindly provided access to his new company, Spaced Repetition Systems or as it appears on my phone, SeRiouS (SRS).  Gabe has used adult learning theories, more precisely, spaced repetition theory, that replaces the idea of cramming with timed repetitive studying based on an algorithm.

I was able to review electronic flashcards that asked me how well I knew the answer after I tapped for the card to show the answer. Based on my responses, a custom set of cards was available for me every day and I could access this anywhere. The spacing of what knowledge is tested when is also based on science and if you wish to learn more, you can read about SRS here.

As I struggled thru the MBE, I could visualize those card answers, particular for lists just as well as I could remember my whiteboards.

Whiteboard It

As part of my extensive BARBRI package, I had access to a tutor. She was very helpful, particularly as I again struggled with hearsay. However, she provided the great idea to use whiteboards in the final weeks of study.

I would pick a topic from the eight main subjects and then try to make no more than two whiteboards from memory. For example, I listed all the crimes I could think of on the board marking whether they were specific or general, plus defenses. I used the acronyms from the course plus many colors (still remain that all specific were red).  A second board had all the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th Amendment highlights. I would do this from memory first and then check my notes and try again. When I had enough verified info, I took pictures of the whiteboards and would look at them on my phone as part of my review. I did make note cards in January but found that those were not as helpful as the whiteboards.

Buzzwords

Finally, it was a challenge to write in IRAC or CIRAC form. After so much time in business, I really have a hard time not recommending quickly, and therefore, leaving out steps in the analysis and losing points. And also, as I mentioned last time, remembering all the elements was a challenge for me. I took a page from my mid-1980s professional accountancy exam and created a document with all the words and phrases used in the essay questions. I started with one for the eight main MBE subjects and created a second one for the essay only subjects. These two documents were created on my computer as I was using it for the exam and hoped that muscle memory would assist me to remember the phrases to always include, for example, in family law: “best interest of the child” or “equitably is not necessarily the same as equally.”

A big thank you to both BARBRI and SRS for their products. #onwards

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Mary E. Juetten lives on the West Coast, holds a J.D., and is both an American and Canadian professional accountant. Mary is passionate about metrics that matter and access to justice. She founded Traklight and Evolve Law and consults as an Access Advocate for LegalShield. You can reach her by email at [email protected] or on Twitter: @maryjuetten.