Last-minute tips for the bar exam

Brian Hahn

You've made it to the final week of bar prep.

You've spent months implementing, practicing, and doing. I hope you've made solid progress by doing these things consistently.

Maybe you still don't feel ready. The good news is that the more prepared you actually are, the less you feel prepared. The bad news is that the other way isn't necessarily true. You don't know what you don't know.

Not all hope is lost. Go in with a "might as well, even if I don't feel ready" or a "you never know until you try" attitude.

You'll be able to say, "I'm glad I tried."

You've worked hard and come this far. We don't want a "failure of the last mile" that undoes all we've done up until now. Here are some final tips for bar exam week.

There is always hope.

The cancer center I used to work at has a motto that I still remember: "There is always hope."

It's tempting to worry and even have nightmares about the bar exam. You're not alone!

But it's too late for regrets now because the bar is finally here and is actually happening.

It's also too early for regrets now because you'll have plenty of time to be left alone with your thoughts and anxiety as you wait for results.

Brooding about the bar at this point doesn't impact the past or the future—but takes away your energy in the present. Now's the time to conserve your emotional energy and focus.

If you've done your best to prepare, have no regrets as you go into the exam. If you put forth your best during the exam, you won't have to regret the result.

Your best now is enough, even if your future best will be better.

During the exam, I found it helpful to think in terms of "how much can I get correct here, because I've seen this before" (arrogance, trust in the preparation, and just having fun with it). Not "how many points did I just lose" (anxiety, paranoia).

Save the neurotic score estimations for after the exam.

At the very least, this will be a mock exam where you get real feedback.

A few practical things to remember:

The entire week is the bar exam.

Check your logistics. Scope out the venue the day before if you can. Make sure your laptop and exam software work.

Bring an analog watch to keep time. There may not be a clock in the test room. Set your watch to noon as each exam period begins to put yourself on track.

Don't gamble on subject predictions.

You know where I stand on this.

I don't recommend relying too much on them except for entertainment purposes. Personally, I'd focus more on weak subjects and areas where points are concentrated.

Predictions can be useful for giving you a sense of direction in the final stretch, as long as that means doing a little extra studying, not skipping subjects entirely because you talked yourself into believing they won't appear.

All I'm saying is that I've never heard of anyone being glad that they gambled on predictions.

Once you're in the test center, embrace the situation.

Bring all your excitement, anxiety, apprehension... and confidence born from preparation. It's finally time to give them a taste of their own medicine.

You're here to make this your last time. It just takes a moment of strength for the lifetime privilege of being called a lawyer.

You've been practicing as if it were the real thing. Now do the real thing as if it were practice.

Remind yourself that these few moments are everything. You could give up in the middle because you get tired, or you could reclaim your focus for these few hours that count and be done with it.

No time traveling to the past or the future. Don't let yourself waste your mental energy, at least until the exam is over.

Just be in the present, look ahead, and admire the buttcrack of the person sitting in front of you.

If worse comes to worst, remember your friends A & B: adrenaline and bullshit.

(Need a quick refresher on the key rules and how to set up the relevant issues? Take Magicsheets and Approsheets with you to your hotel.)

Check off one session at a time. And then it's over. Look forward to that.

Brian is the founder and chief strategist at Make This Your Last Time, a patent attorney, and second-time passer of the California Bar Exam after figuring out what works and what doesn't. He's been writing about actionable and effective bar prep since 2014, helping tens of thousands of bar takers across the country pass the exam.