Studying for both bar exams while articling

[grm85]

I had some unfortunate personal stuff come up this spring and ended up having to defer both my barrister and solicitor exams to the November sittings. I had managed to do some studying before deferring, but certainly need to prepare more. Due to the same issues that caused me to defer my exams, I likely won't have a ton of time to prepare throughout July. 

After July my personal matters should be resolved (I know this is vague but I don't want to provide too much identifying info), but I start my articling placement at the beginning of August. This means I'll have to study for my exams and work full-time simultaneously. I'm very concerned about how this will affect my chances of passing, as well as the time and effort I'm able to dedicate to my job during the first few months. 

I'd love to hear tips or advice from anyone who has studied and articled at the same time (or even just success stories to help ease my anxiety a bit). I know many other people have been in this position before so it's doable, but it feels extremely daunting right now. 

[luckycharm]

Doable but very difficult.

Two years, one of the student in my firm had to take 2 weeks off to study for the Nov Soli exam. She didn't write both in Jun.  

 

[Blurg]

I wrote both of mine for the first time in November during articling and passed both. I did as much reading/prep as I could before articling started, then I worked out a schedule of how many hours I needed to read each weekend to get through the material before the exam. I didn’t study during the week as I don’t do well learning in evenings. It’s definitely doable, although tiring and requires planning. 

[luckycharm]

On 6/25/2021 at 5:56 PM, luckycharm said:

Doable but very difficult.

Two years, one of the student in my firm had to take 2 weeks off to study for the Nov Soli exam. She didn't write both in Jun.  

 

Two year ago...

She was trying to study after work but it was difficult.