3L Post - How To Prepare for the Bar Exam (Now) Without Answering A Question.

Mental Focus: You should learn to be focused now in order to be ready to focus on 17 to 30 subjects starting May 2011. How can you start that process today? As our lives become busier, we learn how to multi-task. Multi-tasking, in its basic form, is the ability to do more than one thing at a time (and somehow do those two or three things on a level that is on par with doing each one at a time). Studying for the bar examination is not really a multi-tasking event – you have a lot of things to do in a short period of time, however, the studying/testing part of preparation is not a multi-tasking event. Not at all.

You have to work on a variety of subjects, issues and sub-issues over an eight to ten to twelve week period. You cannot study torts, wills & estates and tax all at the same time. Each substantive issue requires your undivided attention. Undivided. Your time becomes even tighter, especially when you are studying for a subject in the summer that you are not familiar with because you did not enroll in that course while in law school. You are now in a position where you must concentrate on a topic with a number of substantive issues and sub-issues, and now you must get a hold on the information the very first time you read it, outline it, and use it on an exam question.

Unnecessary Anxiety: I do not want you to become nervous or display too much anxiety because you are in a new place (learning material in a very short time with no reading period). I want you to take on the challenge of being focused for short periods of time. You can begin that challenge now, while you study for the first set of your last year of exams. How, you might ask, should you approach this mental preparation?

Study One-Hour; Non-Stop. No bathroom breaks. No cell phone. No food. No water. No hello’s or good-bye’s. No wait-a-minute’s – I’ve got something to tell you. No xeroxing, no texting, no google, Facebook or Twitter. No, “I’ll be back in a minute,” situations. No, and I repeat, no internet. I’m talking about peace and quiet for one hour. Some of you are reading this thinking, “she must be crazy.” How could she think that I cannot sit down for an hour and study? Okay, big shot. Do it.

I walk through the library, classrooms and clinics all of the time and it is rare that I can find a person (student or faculty) that is not engaged in some verbal exchange with another person about something. Please remember that if you hear someone else recommend that you start your focus with a one-hour study period that you tell them that you heard about it on this blog, first. Don’t let anyone steal my thunder.

It is harder than you think being alone with a book and absolutely nothing else for one hour. You need to try it because now is the time to find out the nature of all of your “study” habits and get a hold on them, so that you may do whatever you need to in order to correct the problem. You have about six months before it is time to dig into bar study and if you just try to recognize why you do what you do before graduation, you will be just a little (a little) ahead of the game.

Go on. Read, write, outline, or think for an hour. Find a corner on a floor in a building, the law school or public library, a living room, study, or den, your bedroom, or a desk, or just a table. It does not have to be a special place, or it can be a special place. The bottom line is that I want you to experience quiet and learn how difficult or easy it is for you to learn in an undisturbed environment for 60 minutes. Also take note of how much or how little you get done in a timeframe of only 60 minutes.

Once you determine how much time 60 minutes really means (in terms of how much you can accomplish during that time), you will view the hour with a new found respect. You may also learn how precious time is to the person studying for the bar exam and examine not only your relationships with other people, but your entire relationship (as it relates to studying) with law school. Hopefully, you will begin to incorporate the one-hour study period at least once a day. Yes, seven, one-hour study periods. Again, one hour means no nothing – no communication and no movement for an hour. It doesn’t require a lot of effort, but you will recognize that time moves quickly when you have a lot to learn or a lot of practice tests to manage.

The Next Three-L Post: How to prepare for the bar exam without lifting a pen. Sit Down/Stay Down.