Bar Exam

How accurate are Barbri essay graders?

Every administration, many students ask, “How accurate are Barbri essay graders?” or “How accurate are the Kaplan essay graders?”

Students wonder if the scores they receive from these essay graders are an accurate reflection of how they will do on the bar exam. The answer I always tell them is, “not necessarily.”

I had a student for a recent bar exam, who agreed to let me share her scores (although her name will remain confidential). This student received several scores of 4 (a passing grade was 10)from Barbri graders as well as quite low scores from Kaplan graders. She did not get a score above a 7 (a passing score) from Barbri or Kaplan graders. However, she did receive a passing score on her actual bar exam. Read more

Do I Have to Understand the Rule Against Perpetuities to Pass the Bar Exam?

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Many of our bar exam students worry about Rule Against Perpetuities problems on the bar exam. The Rule Against Perpetuities is by far one of the most confusing concepts that students are taught in law school. Further, many bar review courses use up several pages of their outlines to explain the Rule Against Perpetuities. But how important is it that you know the Rule Against Perpetuities for the bar exam?

Multistate Bar Exam:

Generally, to pass the multistate bar exam, you can get a super-high score without having any idea of what the Rule Against Perpetuities (RAP) is. It is usually just one question on the multistate bar exam (and could even be a Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities problem which is generally much easier to understand than the traditional common law RAP). I would suggest that you are vaguely familiar with the Rule Against Perpetuities but that you do not spend very long on it. Read more

How to Improve Your Timing on the Bar Exam

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How to Improve Your Timing on the Bar Exam

There are students each administration who fail the bar exam because they have to completely guess on the last ten or so multiple-choice questions or they run out of time and have to leave essay answers either incomplete or blank. You do not want to be one of these students! The last thing you want to do is fail the bar exam because you run out of time.

If you find yourself running out of time when you practice questions, don’t panic. The good news is that time management is a skill that you can perfect before you take the bar exam. There are a variety of techniques to try. If timing is a problem for you, I recommend you try all of them before the bar exam.

Read our National Jurist Articles on How to Pass the Bar Exam

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We have three articles published in the National Jurist in the most recent January 2015 edition. All three articles contain tips and tricks on how to pass the bar exam Click on the links below to read the articles in the free online version of the magazine.

Our Three National Jurist Articles published in the January 2015 Magazine:

1. Five Reasons Smart Students Fail the Bar Exam: There are so many reasons that smart students fail the bar exam. Every single bar exam administration, I tutor repeat takers who are extremely intelligent and who would make fantastic lawyers. This article details five common reasons that very smart students fail the bar exam. It also tells you how to overcome these reasons so that you can maximize your chance of a passing score on the next bar exam. Read more

Where Can I Find Past Michigan Bar Exam Essay Questions?

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Where Can I Find Past Michigan Bar Exam Essay Questions?

Are you beginning your preparation for the Michigan bar exam and wondering where you can find past Michigan bar exam essay questions?

If you are wondering where to find past Michigan bar exam essay questions and model answers, look no further than this post! We will tell you which resources you should consult to make the most of your bar exam essay preparation.

Updated on 5/18/22

Improve Your Bar Exam Multiple Choice Score on the Bar Exam

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Are you Looking to Improve Your Bar Exam Multiple Choice Score?

The bar exam is less than a month away and many students still find themselves looking for ways to improve their bar exam multiple-choice score. One way to improve your score on the multiple-choice portion of the bar exam is to use actual released bar exam questions.

There are many sources of actual released bar exam questions.

One source is the NCBE website: You can take the four 100-question exams found on the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) website. You will receive online access to the exams you purchase for one year after the purchase date. It is well worth your money to purchase all four exams because each exam is composed of actual released questions from past bar exams. Read more

Michigan Bar Exam Essay Tips – Last-Minute Tips to Improve your Bar Exam Score

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Think you can’t improve your essay exam score the day before the exam? Think again. Here are three useful last-minute Michigan bar exam essay tips that will help you improve your bar exam score. I estimate that these Michigan bar exam essay tips helped me to improve my score by at least five points on the February 2011 Michigan bar exam. Note that this is not a detailed post about how to write essay exam answers. These are merely some last-minute tips that you should keep in mind when you take the essay portion of the Michigan bar exam. Read more

Should I Start Bar Prep Early?

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Not everyone will be able to start bar prep early. For some, it is just not practical because final exams, work, and life will take up too much time. Others, however, have a little bit of time to get a head start on bar prep. Note that just because you can start bar prep early, doesn’t mean you need to. I recommend that the following students start preparing early (when possible): Read more

3 Steps to Improve your Bar Exam Essay Score

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Our post, “3 Steps to Improve your Bar Exam Essay Score” appeared on the National Jurist’s website here on January 17, 2014. A summary of what was stated is as follows:

The first step is: Make sure you have the Right Materials.

“If you are typing the bar exam, download the appropriate software onto your laptop ahead of time. If you are writing the bar exam, make sure to purchase pens that are easy to write with and easy to grip. Use these pens when you practice writing answers to exam questions. Getting comfortable with the materials that you will be using during the bar exam will likely ease your anxiety during your bar exam preparation. It will also make you more comfortable when you take your exam.” Read more

How to Use Visualization to Succeed on the Bar Exam

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How to Use Visualization to Succeed on the Bar Exam

The bar exam is rapidly approaching. In addition to reviewing multiple choice questions, essay questions, and topics that are not quite cemented in your brain, there is something else that you can do in the days preceding the bar exam: practice visualization.

Wondering what visualization is? Or how to use visualization to succeed on the bar exam? Read more

Tips for Writing Better Michigan Bar Exam Essay Answers

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Tips for Writing Better Michigan Bar Exam Essay Answers

The Michigan bar exam requires you to write in a much different style than law school exams. This is, in part, because Michigan bar exam essay questions usually focus on just one subject and two or three issues. Unlike law school exams, where you were expected to pick out 100 issues in an exam fact pattern (and you might even get points for creatively spotting issues that aren’t there), on the Michigan bar exam you are expected to respond directly to the issues presented. If you “find” issues that the writer didn’t intend to insert into the fact pattern, you will likely lose points for being unfocused. Further, unlike in law school, your answer to a Michigan bar exam essay question should not begin with a long, flowery, eloquently written two-paragraph-long overview of the law. Instead, it needs to be concise, on-point, and respond directly to the issues presented.

Because Michigan bar exam questions are so different from law school exam questions, many students struggle when they try to write answers to Michigan bar exam questions. If you are struggling to write satisfactory bar exam answers while you are practicing, here are some tips for writing better Michigan bar exam essay answers: Read more

Learn the Law Better by Figuring out Your Learning Style

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How to Use Your Learning Style to Study Better

If you are having trouble learning the law, it is helpful to try new strategies. The best way to revamp your study time may be to figure out what your learning style is and then use it to study in a way that suits you the best. There are plenty of good learning style quizzes out there, including this very good one. Read more

Improve Your Bar Exam Essay Score

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You can improve your bar exam essay score by learning to make the most of the model answers that come with your past bar exam questions.

How do you do this? Each time you draft an answer to an essay question, make sure to spend a good amount of time studying the model answer and comparing it to your answer. This is especially helpful if you grade your own answer with a different color pen using the model answer as your “key.” If you are on the computer, use a different color font. Read more

How should I Study for Multiple Choice questions on Law School Exams?

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How should I study for multiple-choice questions on law school exams?

Traditionally, law school exams did not contain multiple-choice questions. However, it has become more popular for law school exams to include a section of multiple-choice questions. Some professors even use exams entirely composed of multiple-choice questions. If multiple-choice makes up a component of your exam, how should you study for it? Read more

How to Make a Bar Exam Study Schedule

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How to Make a Bar Exam Study Schedule

Many students feel overwhelmed when they sit down to study for the bar exam. You, too, may find yourself wondering what to do, where to begin, and how to conquer this huge task.

In this post, we tell you a systematic way of making a bar review study schedule so that you can feel confident that you get everything done in a timely manner, and you will have time to review at the end. Read more