So, it's bar exam season. And it's probably about the time (or maybe it's every time) that you start stressing out that you're not getting enough multiple choice answers right--and what did you learn in law school?
I know it's obvious, but I know a lot of people who don't use these: commercially-produced bar exam flash cards. You can buy a box of these cards covering the MBE for about $100 from Kaplan/PMBR (or $72 from Amazon) or even cheaper ($50) from Law Decks. Or buy them used online from eBay, Amazon, or Half.com.
I remember, during some MCs, I was getting like 8-10 out of 18, consistently, which wasn't good enough. But after a few days with the flash cards, I was up to about 14 out of 18 on average--which puts me well in the clear of passing the MBE portion.
There are many methods of using flash cards, but I used a simple Three Stack Method:
- I used three colors of rubber bands: green (I know this), blue (I know most of this), and red (I barely know this).
- I'd go through the entire stack and put each card into the appropriate pile. For green, I had to know the entire card cold--the definition and the common examples. For blue, I knew the general idea but not the details, or I couldn't recall an important example. For red, I just completely flubbed it.
- Then, when it came time to study with the cards, which would be whenever I had free time, I'd start with the blue stack. Any blue card that I knew cold, I'd still keep in the blue stack--but after some time, maybe once or twice more, I'd move it to the green stack.
- If I had time after going through the blues, I'd hit the reds.
This method works because (1) the commercial cards are comprehensive, whereas making your own might not be, (2) it trims down your study time by removing cards you know cold (green), and (3) there's no barrier to studying because you can just pull these out any time and just study away.
On top of it all, I *did* create my own cards, but I'll go into that technique in another post.
Good luck with the bar exam studying!
4 comments:
Hi there:
I see this blog post is pretty old. I don'tknow if you are still checking it. I am studying for the February bar and wondering if I should purchase california barinaflash cards or make my own, or both. I have some time but I am a slow learner and this writing an outline thing is taking me forever. I'll never get through everything at this pace. Thanks.
Naomi
it's bar exam season for me and I will so plan on using your commercial flashcards to try to remember heavy stuff that I have to memorize for the exams, thanks!
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It looks like there are a few different options for commercial flashcards now. It doesn't look like the "law in a flash" or "bar in a flash" cards are too helpful. Anyone use any of the other ones? I'm thinking about Dominate the Bar, or A Better Flashcard. Both of those look somewhat closer to the kind of flashcards I would make in law school.
In my experience, the law in a flash series is huge, but if you can dedicate a huge chunk of time every day to them, they'll help you learn. Just chekced out Dominate the Bar. Guy went to a fourth-tier law school... that would be enough for me to pass.
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