How To Improve Your Bar Exam Essays

How To Improve Your Bar Exam Essays

Every point matters when taking the bar exam. One of the most efficient ways to maximize your points with minimal effort is to improve your bar exam essays. If you’re not sure how to begin, follow these five steps!

How To Improve Your Bar Exam Essays

1. Start With the Structure

When tackling bar exam essays, keep it simple and stick to the IRAC method. After all, you’re writing the essay for the exam grader. The grader wants to see that you understand the issue, the rules, the application of the rules to the facts, and your conclusion. If your essay does that, you’re in great shape.

2. Refine Your Writing

If you want to improve your bar exam essays, you need to be strategic with your writing. Your essays should be concise, organized, and get to the point without going down unnecessary tangents. To that end, we recommend using headings. Headings signal to the grader that you spotted a particular issue and help keep you focused on your response.

3. Check Your Facts

When writing your bar exam essays, your goal should be to walk the graders through each step of your analysis. If you think generic statements about the rules and their application will cut it, you’ll want to think twice. Instead, you should apply the law to the specific facts in the essay prompt. Always remember: the facts are there for a reason!

4. Double Check: Did You Answer the Question(s)?

When you think you’re finished with your essay, always double-check to make sure you fully answered the question. If there were multiple parts, did you address each of them? If the question asked for both causes of action and defenses, did you write about both? You may have forgotten a part of the question. Simply add a section to the end of your essay and address it there, as opposed to trying to go back through and add it to each section—it saves time!

5. Practice Using Model Answers

Unsurprisingly, the best way to improve your bar exam essays is to practice writing them. Then, compare your answer to the model answer. Pay careful attention to the issues you missed and unnecessary information you included. Self-grading your essays afterward puts you in the mindset of a test grader and can help you write an effective essay on test day.

When it comes to bar exam essays, make sure you’re not leaving any points on the table. These steps will help you improve your score!

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