Improve Your Bar Exam Essay Score

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.

Improve Your Bar Exam Essay Score: Ask yourself the following questions when you grade your answer:

• Did I spot the same issues that the model answer focused on or did I miss important issues? How will I make sure to spot all of the relevant issues in the future?
• Did I clearly lay out all of the rules and elements of law? If not, which rules do I need to review? (Don’t worry if you do not cite cases or exact rule numbers in your answer!)
• Did I apply the law to the facts?
• Was I concise in my analysis or did I spend too much time on issues that were not important?
• Did I arrive at the correct conclusion (or an arguably correct conclusion)?
• Overall, was my answer legible and well-organized?

If you are honest about your strengths and weaknesses, you will improve as you keep practicing!

Comparing your essay answers to the model answers has numerous benefits: First, you will naturally become better at issue spotting and stating the highly-tested rules of law in a clear manner.

Second, you will learn to think like an essay grader. You will learn to write in a clear and concise manner. You will naturally write what the graders want to hear because you will have practiced writing your essays with them in mind.

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