Studying for the bar

[Sureaboutnotbeingsure]

Hey,

If exams finish in April and the Bar is in June. Is that enough time to study? If Articling starts in July, and they prefer us being done with the bar…how reasonable is it to write and pass both exams in June?

does anyone have experience purchasing tests and indices from a reliable seller? Any recommendations will be appreciated.

[boyo]

I don't know about resources beyond what the LSO provides, but I've been told that that timeline is definitely do-able and that most people do this (at least those at the larger firms).

[Apple]

52 minutes ago, Sureaboutnotbeingsure said:

Hey,

If exams finish in April and the Bar is in June. Is that enough time to study? If Articling starts in July, and they prefer us being done with the bar…how reasonable is it to write and pass both exams in June?

Perfectly reasonable and doable. Most students do this. 

 

[OntheVerge]

Yep, that's the standard practice. Most people treat it like a full-time job, going over materials from 9-5pm every day. That's not to say this system will work for you or that there's anything wrong if it doesn't and you decide to push back solicitor's to the next exam period. I know people who did that as well (so long as their articling placement didn't have an issue with it). At the end of the day, the most important thing is to pass the exams and only you know what works best for you.

[epeeist]

I'm a volunteer tutor through LSO for civil litigation subject for people who've failed the bar ads. So I tutor re current version of bar ads, though I didn't write the current type. Not sure if I've given a post this board, a few suggestions:

1. Almost everyone I tutor who has failed has been because of factors like stress and time management (including spending too much time looking up things they know to "make sure"). Rarer for it to be lack of subject-matter knowledge, though it does happen, sounds like you have plenty of time to study.

2. The available tests for purchase, from what I've seen when candidates have me review answers with them, are not great. They're better than nothing, so worth getting some I guess, they're useful for using to increase comfort level and to test how good your indices are, but I've seen many practice tests with poorly phrased questions and answers, some questions with multiple valid answers, and some questions with no valid answers. Caveat emptor.

3. Since have limited practice tests, maximize their value, use practice tests and your indexes under test-like conditions (phone off, if live with anyone including spouse make sure they know to leave you alone and uninterrupted unless there is literally a fire).

4. For writing, and this is where practice tests can help to see if works for you, I recommend a triage approach. First answer all questions that you're pretty sure you know the answer to without having to look up. Then go back and do the questions you're pretty sure you know exactly where to look up. Then, divide your remaining time for the remaining most difficult questions and for each one try to look up and if run out of your allotted time just guess and move on. The advantage of this is you answer the easier questions first, get them out of the way, faster because not looking up everything, so that at the end if you're guessing it's on the difficult ones you may have gotten wrong anyway. Don't be one of those people who answers every question in order, runs out of time and then guesses in a hurry the last 20 questions which might have been really easy (exception: some people really, really have a problem doing things out of order, part of why I recommend trying this technique with practice tests and your index).

5. Use your own index. If you buy one, which I'm skeptical about but whatever, try it, use it, adapt it, make it your own. Some subjects appear more than once in the materials, some topics are more efficiently dealt with in the Rules of Civil Procedure than the materials (e.g. I think simplified procedure is one of those things), some things you may want to create flowcharts (e.g. appeal routes, claims/crossclaims/counterclaims/third party claims), some things you may like the AGO materials and diagrams, whatever works to allow for more efficiency and speed in answering what you need to look up.

6. If you're pretty sure you know the answer to a question, answer and move on. It's multiple choice, you don't need to explain your answer, if you know all choices but one are wrong don't waste time figuring out why the only possible correct answer is correct.

7. The night before the exam, relax. See a movie, have a nice dinner, whatever. Do NOT socialize with family or friends unless they're capable of leaving you alone and not asking you questions like if you're prepared, are you ready, why aren't you still studying, do you think you'll do okay, etc.