Here are excerpts from an email I wrote to some of my friends on how to prepare and review for the bar exam. I edited it to make it into a blogpost.
These are based on a number of Ateneo barops reading materials, the advice of my friends who passed the Bar, and several books, lectures and websites on passing the Bar. I hope these ideas help you as it did me.
Proper Nutrition
My wife says to make sure you get proper nutrition during the bar. She used to feed me what she called her brain gain food (nuts, grains and other healthy foods for the brain, you can find it online), and had me drinking vitamins and gingko biloba stuff from healthy options. Expensive but admittedly a big help, even if just for the psychological effect.
Readings and Schedules
I aimed for three readings of my materials and then a preweek reading, which made for a total of four readings. I suggest you aim for more than one reading in any case. In your first reading you are only just getting the ideas in your head. By the 2nd things make sense and by the third that’s when you feel like you know the subject, regardless of whether your third is the preweek reading already for you.
In light of this, the schedule is VERY important. Make sure you have a battleplan-schedule by the time you graduate from law school, so you know what it is you will do when you start reviewing. Assess yourself early and try to write down your schedule.
I suggest you get a calendar and write down on each day of the calendar what the subject is you will review for that day and so on. So that in one glance you get an idea what your schedule for the week/month will be etc.
But don’t make that schedule the gospel truth. Adjust it once in a while.
For example, my commercial law 1st reading was originally set for 7 days, but because I had to go to a couples discovery weekend seminar, which ate up two days, I had to adjust and make my commercial law reading only 5 days and a half instead, and then I made my criminal law 4 and a half days rather than the original 5 i had planned.
Just Adjust. You can always make up for it.
Take Breaks
As for breaks, I never had a rest day (i.e. one day where I never studied) but I had what I called slack days. Slack days are those days when I would only review for like 3-5 hours. This served three purposes: one, I wouldn’t burn out, and two, i wouldn’t psychologically be bothered that i didn’t study that day and feel guilty, and three i wouldn’t lose momentum and become lazy.
My slack days were usually my date days. I set aside one day a week to go out with my dreamgirl (and now wife). We’d catch a movie or just watch dvds at her place.
Btw I don’t suggest alcohol as stress release because by the next day, you may lose time trying to get up and recover from the hangover or whatever. So avoid alcohol for the bar. You will get a chance to get crazy ass drunk on the last Sunday of September when the Bar exams end.
I also took frequent breaks during the day. Just 5-10 minutes to rest my eyes, or have a cup of coffee, etc.
I also would set up schedule and adjust my time to watch a particular TV show once in a while. I would also try to catch the Fightquest TV Show on Monday night on the Discovery Channel. Or the Sopranos on HBO. Whatever rocks your boat.
Just try to unwind a little bit everyday or treat yourself a bit once in a while. Or have phone calls each night before you sleep (i talked to my dreamgirl every night on the phone after reviewing, for example) whatever fits your style. Just so you won’t go nuts from all that studying.
Study Time in a Day
Oh and with regard to time to study in a day, I got a stopwatch like a lot of other guys did (such as Bar topnotcher Atty. Diaz), and timed myself everyday and then recorded it in my calendar-schedule. It’s a good way to check your progress.
So if you did only say, 4 hours today, you know you should push yourself a little harder the next day and try to hit 7 or 8. (Make sure to time ONLY the actual time you hit the books. Not the time you are sitting down and chatting with your co-reviewees etc. )
Try to aim for around 7-8 hours of study in a day. But in the first few months the normal time you will be hitting is probably around 4-5 hours only or even less (according to several Atenean Bar Topnotchers, this is very normal). Heck the first week of my review I only did two or three hours a day despite sitting down the whole day. That’s normal. As time goes by, you’ll think nothing of 7-8 hours of review a day. At my peak and panic time around August I was already doing 9-11 hours a day, depending on my focus.
Handwriting and Past Bar Exam Questions
Oh and practice writing in print. My handwriting is horrible. So i would practice a lot by writing and doing mock bars (more on that below).
Furthermore, be sure to get copies of the past bar exams and their answers. Those allowed me to practice how to answer the Bar. So after every reading of each subject, I would try and test myself with a practice exam under similar Bar Exam times or circumstances. So it’s like a mock Bar for me already. This way, your mind will get used to not only taking in info by studying, but also how to release that info under a test setting or mock Bar.
Review Classes To Attend
As for what review classes to go to [in the Ateneo Bar Review Program], I cant tell you who you should and shouldn’t go to since I don’t know who are the ones giving classes this time, but I can tell you to PICK carefully. Discern which subjects you need a refresher course in.
If you are weak in say criminal, then by all means go to criminal review classes. Just make sure the prof is someone worth going to. I skipped almost all review classes myself since the time it would take me to go to school was too much for me. It takes me about thirty minutes to get ready to go to school (shower, get dressed etc) and then another hour to get to Ateneo just to attend the class. Sometimes all that time spent on just getting to school seemed like a waste to me. I was better off just reading my review materials at home.
But then again, this is a personal preference. A fellow Bar exam passer would study and then take breaks from studying by going to review classes. He said that instead of reading all the time, listening to lectures also allowed him to learn in a different way. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
But what you shouldn’t skip on are the classes on jurisprudence updates. They are very very useful. Attorney Candelaria’s political law updates, for example, discussed the topic of soft law in the Milk Code case. A question connected to soft law came out in my batch’s bar exam.
Take Notes
I also suggest that you have a notebook for each Bar subject. Then while you review, you take notes or write down what you feel are important points on the law, or even significant updates in jurisprudence. Taking notes helps you anchor the concepts in your head. Plus, by the end of your 1st or 2nd reading, you can review by simply reading your notebooks.
In my case, in the hour or two before the Bar Exam proper, I didn’t rely on those miscellaneous tips (bluetips, UP tips, etc.) that school or fraternity bar operations would distribute. Instead I focussed on reading my own notes.
And speaking of tips, try not to obsess over getting copies of those “killer” tips. Killer tips do not mean that you have the answers to the questions and will pass the Bar already. Those tips, such as the Ateneo Bluetips, are simply the educated guesses of Barops and Professors on what will come out in the Bar. Tips will never replace a good review. Just study well and you will pass, tips or no tips.
Have Faith
Also, and if you will allow me this chance to talk about God for a moment, let me tell you that I prayed a lot during review. It helped.
I also read the Bible once in a while, especially when it felt like the task was impossible. I also had a pastor-friend who i could text or talk to and ask that he pray for me. I suggest you do the same, and get someone spiritually mature (like a priest or pastor) to pray for you, or with you.
If you aren’t religious, then I suggest you go with whatever you are comfortable with, like meditation or yoga or whatever. But in my opinion, God is the one who gets us through trials like these. And praying never hurts.
I hope these tips on how to review for the Bar helps you. In my next post, I will list the books and materials I used for Bar Review.
