What To Look For In Good Bar Exam Materials

What To Look For In Good Bar Exam Materials

When it comes to studying for the bar exam, there are so many choices for materials out there.  In order to be sure you are getting the most out of your prep, you need to be using good bar exam materials.  All resources are not created equal – there are plenty of advantages you can gain if you use good bar exam materials!  In this post, we discuss what makes certain study resources more optimal than others!

What To Look For In Good Bar Exam Materials

1. Labeling the frequency of each topic.

There is a massive amount of information that could show up on the bar exam.  However, it all doesn’t show up at the same frequency.  Some subjects, and topics within each subject, are tested far more heavily than others.  Thus, a feature of good bar exam materials is that it highlights how often a topic gets tested.  This lets you understand how much emphasis needs to be placed on understanding a rule.  You don’t want to be spending the same amount of time trying to grasp future interests and negligence.  Negligence questions are far more prevalent on the MBE than future interests ones.  If you have good bar exam materials, they would highlight these frequencies and help you manage your time properly.

2. Noting the years a topic turns up on an essay.

Another useful feature of good bar exam materials is noting what years specific topics have turned up on the relevant essay exam (MEE or state-specific essays).  Sometimes just reading a statement of the rules or a very brief example doesn’t quite help you understand it.  A helpful strategy is to then turn to an essay that tests that topic.  You can see how the Examiners test the rule, see what facts to be on the lookout for, and become aware of what other issues might be paired with it.  Reading the model answer might also help you understand the rule better than reading it in isolation in your outline.

Further, if your outlines list when a subject was tested, you can get an idea of whether the Examiners like the topic and are likely to test it again soon.  This is certainly not foolproof, but any insight into the minds of the Examiners can help!

3. Teach how a topic tends to be tested, not just the rule.

Good bar exam materials shouldn’t merely present you with pages and pages of black letter law.  You need to be able to understand the law in the context of examples.  You need to understand how to identify when a question is testing a certain topic.  Even if you have the rules memorized, it won’t matter if you don’t know when to apply them.  Thus, good bar exam materials will go beyond just listing the law.  They will teach you how to identify when the Examiners are testing it and teach you how to apply it properly.

4. Utilizing released MBE questions.

One of the most critical parts of your bar exam prep is to be practicing using NCBE released MBE questions.  Many commercial courses create their own multiple choice questions for their students to use in practice.  While these aren’t terrible, they aren’t always of the same style and difficulty you will see on exam day.  Accordingly, good bar exam materials will have you practice with MBE questions that have been released from the NCBE itself.  These questions have come from actual past bar exams and are the closest you will get to the questions on the real MBE.  Why not grab as many advantages as you can and practice with the real thing?!  You don’t want to be slowed down during the exam while you struggle to get used to the style of questions you are seeing.  Make sure you practice with released questions! We tell you where to get real MBE questions here.

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