So how do you tackle this exam? I feel that I've devised a method that works wonders. Unlike many of the methods supported by the big bar preparation programs, mine is cheap and efficient. It runs along the following premises:

• Don't study to acquire knowledge, study to beat the exam. A lot of the test prep courses make you sit for hours in a lecture hall, listening to a blizzard of concepts. I think my course wanted me to sit there for four hours a day. But this isn't law school anymore -- sitting around, listening to long lists of facts just isn't helpful. That's because sitting around and listening to lists of facts trains you in regurgitating long lists of facts or describing a certain field of law in general. But the exam doesn't test that. It tests your ability to spot issues, know a very limited number of legal rules, and apply them.
• The actual amount of knowledge you need is pretty limited. A lot of the bar exam courses make you listen to hours and hours of lectures or tapes, and read books that double as bedroom doors. But in preparing for my exam, I reduced my study materials to 15 roughly 10 page outlines. So why don't all the bar prep courses just give you the outlines that we inevitably are forced to create anyways to condense all that awful material? Well, then they couldn't justify a cost for their courses that range from $500-$2500, could they?
• Practice makes perfect. You don't want to study lists of law for too long. Outlines are a perfect starting point, they give you at least a basic framework to start with. Then the goal is to spend 90% of your time applying that knowledge. You'll do very badly at first, but that's alright. You'll do well by the end.