How many hours a day should I study for the bar exam?
How many hours a day should I study for the bar exam?
Here, we discuss how many hours a day you should study for the bar exam. We have a video that discusses this topic as well as the basic points below.
How many hours a day should I study for the bar exam?
In general, we recommend you treat studying for the bar exam as if it was a full-time job. So if you study 9-5, five days a week (assuming you are studying efficiently!), you should be on track to pass the bar exam! However, there are a few factors to take into account that may change this recommendation.
- For example, if you struggled in law school (especially your first of law school), you may need to put in more hours to catch up. We’ve had students that struggled in law school that study more hours per day and more days per week. If you did really well in law school, you can probably get away with studying less per week and still pass the bar exam (though we don’t recommend you take any chances!)
- As another example, if you work full time or have other obligations, obviously you will not be able to study eight hours a day. So, pick your best time of day (for example, the morning if you are a morning person), come up with a strategic and set to-do list, you can pass the bar exam even if you are studying fewer hours.
Yes, there is such a thing as over-studying!
Some students feel as though they need to go to the library seven days a week and study for twelve hours a day. However, if you try to do too much at once, you will not be productive (diminishing returns will set in!). And further, there is a higher risk of burnout. You will actually likely find that you are productive if you take more breaks during your study period and make time to take care of yourself (e.g., sleep an adequate amount, exercise, eat healthy meals). If you do this, you will find it easier to concentrate, retain information, and grasp difficult concepts.
Lastly, we recommend you take time off every week if you are studying full time (we recommend a full day, but at the very least, take a half-day or some dedicated period of time off every week!). This will help keep you motivated to keep going through bar prep.
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