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Updated Feb. 7, 2002
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Study Schedule

I've included a study plan below. It's basically identical to the one I used to prepare for the California bar exam, reportedly the most difficult one (as judged by passage rates) of all the exams in the nation. To commit to this study plan, you need to stick to it two months in advance of the actual examination.

LEGEND
MS = Multistate
S = State-specific (S and a number refers to separate state-specific subject areas)

WEEK ONE

Day One. REVIEW MS CON LAW, DO 50 MS CON LAW QUESTIONS
Day Two. DO 100 MS CON LAW QUESTIONS
Day Three. REVIEW MS CONTRACTS, DO 50 MS CONTRACTS QUESTIONS
Day Four. DO 100 MS CONTRACTS QUESTIONS
Day Five. REVIEW MS CRIM, DO 50 MS CRIM QUESTIONS
Day Six. DO 100 MS CRIM QUESTIONS
Day Seven. REVIEW MS EVIDENCE, DO 50 MS EVIDENCE QUESTIONS

WEEK TWO

Day One. DO 100 MS EVIDENCE QUESTIONS
Day Two. REVIEW MS PROPERTY, DO 50 MS PROPERTY QUESTIONS
Day Three. DO 100 MS PROPERTY QUESTIONS
Day Four. REVIEW MS TORTS, DO 50 MS TORTS QUESTIONS
Day Five. DO 100 MS TORTS QUESTIONS
Day Six. DO 100 MS CON LAW QUESTIONS
Day Seven. DO 100 MS CON LAW QUESTIONS

WEEK THREE

Day One. DO 100 MS CONTRACTS QUESTIONS
Day Two. DO 100 MS CONTRACTS QUESTIONS
Day Three. DO 100 MS CRIM QUESTIONS
Day Four. DO 100 MS CRIM QUESTIONS
Day Five. DO 100 MS EVIDENCE QUESTIONS
Day Six. DO 100 MS EVIDENCE QUESTIONS
Day Seven. DO 100 MS PROPERTY QUESTIONS

WEEK FOUR

Day One. DO 100 MS PROPERTY QUESTIONS
Day Two. DO 100 MS TORTS QUESTIONS
Day Three. DO 100 MS TORTS QUESTIONS
Day Four. DO 100 QUESTIONS OF A WEAK MS TOPIC
Day Five. DO 100 QUESTIONS OF A WEAK MS TOPIC
Day Six. DO 100 QUESTIONS OF A WEAK MS TOPIC
Day Seven. TAKE A FULL PRACTICE EXAM

WEEK FIVE

Day One. TAKE A PERFORMANCE EXAM
Day Two. REVIEW S1 AND ANSWER S1 QUESTIONS
Day Three. REVIEW S2 AND ANSWER S2 QUESTIONS
Day Four. REVIEW S3 AND ANSWER S3 QUESTIONS
Day Five. REVIEW S4 AND ANSWER S4 QUESTIONS
Day Six. REVIEW S5 AND ANSWER S5 QUESTIONS
Day Seven. REVIEW S6 AND ANSWER S6 QUESTIONS

WEEK SIX

Day One. REVIEW S7 AND ANSWER S7 QUESTIONS
Day Two. REVIEW MS CON LAW AND ANSWER MS CON LAW QUESTIONS
Day Three. REVIEW MS CONTRACTS AND ANSWER MS CONTRACTS QUESTIONS
Day Four. REVIEW MS CRIM AND ANSWER MS CRIM QUESTIONS
Day Five. REVIEW MS EVIDENCE AND ANSWER MS EVIDENCE QUESTIONS
Day Six. REVIEW MS PROPERTY AND ANSWER MS PROPERTY QUESTIONS
Day Seven. REVIEW MS TORTS AND ANSWER MS TORTS QUESTIONS

WEEK SEVEN

Day One. ANSWER S1 AND S2 QUESTIONS
Day Two. ANSWER S3 AND S4 QUESTIONS
Day Three. ANSWER S5 AND S6 QUESTIONS
Day Four. ANSWER S7 AND CON LAW QUESTIONS
Day Five. ANSWER MS CONTRACTS AND MS CRIM QUESTIONS
Day Six. ANSWER MS EVIDENCE AND PROPERTY QUESTIONS
Day Seven. AMSWER MS TORTS QUESTIONS

WEEK EIGHT

Day One. ANSWER S1, S2, S3, S4 QUESTIONS
Day Two. ANSWER S5, S6, S7 AND MS CON LAW QUESTIONS
Day Three. ANSWER MS CONTRACTS, CRIM AND EVIDENCE QUESTIONS
Day Four. ANSWER MS PROPERTY, TORTS QUESTIONS
Day Five. REVIEW OUTLINES AND REENFORCE
Day Six. REVIEW OUTLINES AND REENFORCE
Day Seven. REVIEW OUTLINES AND REENFORCE

So what does all that goobley-gook mean?
Here's a quick rundown of what the sentences above refer to. Later, I'll flesh out in detail how to carry out each recommendation. A lot of the later pages will draw upon some study techniques that I have developed throughout my life, in addition to techniques I developed specifically for the bar exam.

WEEKS ONE TO FOUR: REVIEW MS [SUBJECT]
This means to review and absorb the contents of a decent outline on the subject, such as the ones sold at this site. I offer some techniques on how to do this later.

WEEKS ONE TO FOUR: DO # MS [SUBJECT] QUESTIONS
This means to take multiple-choice questions under test conditions, to grade your score, and take the lessons from your errors and reintegrate the into your outline. You can acquire the mutiple choice questions from BARBRI, PMBR, e-bay (where BARBRI AND PMBR materials are sold super-cheap) and the State Bar Associations.

WEEK FOUR: TAKE A FULL PRACTICE EXAM
This means to take a full-length 6 hour examination (2 sessions of 3 hours each), in which you tackle 200 questions total. You can get full-length multi-state tests from the above providers as well.

WEEK FIVE: TAKE A PERFORMANCE EXAM
This means to take a full-length Performance Exam, if such an exam exists in your state. Take it in real-time conditions so that you are acclimated to them. You won't need to prepare much more for this part of the exam.

WEEKS FIVE TO EIGHT: REVIEW [SUBJECT]
This means to carefully review the subject-specific outline (offered for California subjects on this site).

WEEKS FIVE TO EIGHT: ANSWER [SUBJECT] QUESTIONS
This means to test yourself against questions that can be acquired from the same providers listed above. Typically, you should have a stack of about 6-15 essay questions for every subject on the test. The idea is to take on the first question, try your best at writing up an outline, and then checking your answers against the answer key. I'll talk more about how to prepare on the following pages.

Next -- Preparing for the Multiple Choice

Advice Index

1. Introduction
2. Purpose
3. Content of the Bar Exam
4. Things to Do Before the Exam
5. Key Preparation Concepts
6. Study Schedule
7. Multiple Choice (MBE) Preparation
8. Essay Preparation
9. Performance Exam Preparation