How I Conquered New Hampshire's Bar Examination

For all law students, the bar examination looms menacingly on the horizon from the moment that they set foot in the hallowed halls of their law school during orientation through the minutes it takes them to walk across the stage to accept their diplomas. And I was no different. It was worse for me than for many others - my job depended upon me successfully passing the bar on the first shot. I would be fired if I didn't because failure meant that I couldn't practice in any court in the State. Failure would make me an absolute pariah in the eyes of all the admitted folk in the State and perhaps even more so in front of the people that had been hired at the same time as me that had passed because they would know exactly how easy it had been to pass. They would have passed after all. And I would have not.

So I had to come up with some sort of plan. The plan would have to be a surefire way of surmounting the seemingly insurmountable. Everyone had their own opinions as to what would be successful. Some had not studied at all and had done fine. Some had religiously outlined every single subject and lecture, but had not done any practice problems. They also did fine. Some did flashcards. And everyone seemed to be lining up to tell me their method and how it had done wonders for them. They also lined up to say how absolutely hard the test was, the hardest in their lives for sure. Wonderful, none of this was helping me.

I quickly learned that I couldn't listen to what the people that had gone before me had done and I most certainly couldn't listen to what the people that I was studying with were doing. That would be a road to nowhere. Most of us in law school, studying to be lawyers, were Type A types - aggressive, egotistical and competitive. Those qualities were honed, or exploited, by the law school environment and were all engines go in the weeks following graduation. It was difficult to turn off, but I had to do it in order to study successfully. I tried to put what others said about practice exam questions and scores out of my head.

I signed up for a few bar review classes while I was in law school and those began the day after graduation. They were designed to scare the living bejesus out of the bar takers, and in that sense, they succeeded with me.

I quickly worked into a schedule. I would get up at 5:45 in the morning. It was summer, so it was light out. The early sunrise would help me to get out of bed. I arranged the bed so that the sunlight streaming through the window would hit me in the face, further hastening the wakening process. I would get up, go to the gym for an hour, come home and shower while my coffee (hazelnut, skim milk, two sugar substitutes, thank you very much) was brewing. I would fill up my mug, check my email one last time, blog a bit and then head to class. I would be in class all morning. I would then take an hour for lunch and errands. I would study from 1 until 5 in the evening by making flash cards and outlines. I would memorize the flashcards and outlines, reading them religiously. I would then take 90 minutes for dinner. My last bit of studying for the evening was doing practice problems until 7:30 or 8:00 in the evening. By then, I was so fried that I couldn't do too much more even if I wanted to. I would watch a movie, have a beer, then go to bed, only to do it all again the next day.

A few times that summer, I also took some road trips - to visit my family. I would pop CD's in the car and listen to them on the way to where I was going. Your family and close ones will hate you for that, but hey, what's it to them. It's your life and career - they'll get over it at some point (or maybe not, depending on the subject and how absolutely bored out of their mind they were).

When it came down to it, for three months of my life, studying was my job. I studied for twelve to thirteen hours a day. And I didn't think that I would make it through. Sometimes, I don't know how I did. But I did. And you will too. Make a schedule, stick to it, don't listen to others and do what works best for you! Best of luck!

DISCLAIMER: Although I did pass the bar exam, the plan and schedule that I used is not intended to be a substitute for you doing what works for you. I am not certifying that you will pass the bar exam by following what I did.