Suggestions for beginner BarBri bar exam taker who cannot attend live lectures?

May 29, 2010 4:26 PM

Suggestions for beginner BarBri bar exam taker who cannot attend live lectures?

I'm a 3L whose final exams have only just finished today (yes, a Saturday). Along with most of my classmates, I've been putting off even thinking about the bar exam until now. Additionally because I'm in Chicago this summer but am studying for the Texas state bar exam, there are no live lectures for me to attend anyway, I'll just be watching videos at home in my room. I looked at a schedule for in-state TX exam-takers and I'm apparently already six days worth of lectures behind. Does anyone have any tips on how to keep motivated in the face of no live classes? Any studying-for-the-bar tricks in general?

posted by anthropomorphic to Law & Government (10 answers total)

See how quickly you can get through the videos, and fill out the outline to go with it. Then use Adaptibar to get your MBE above 150.
posted by thesmophoron at 4:42 PM on May 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

You don't need live classes with BarBri at all - most people watch the lectures on DVD. Your motivation should be that you need to pass the bar to get/keep a job.

It is troubling that you're six days behind in lectures, but just make sure that you catch up by watching them on the weekends as well as during the week.
posted by amro at 4:43 PM on May 29, 2010

I studied on DVD. I fast forwarded subjects/areas I felt I was strong on, and rewatched areas I needed to. My best advice is to treat studying for the bar like a job -- do it from 9-4 every day (or how ever many hours it's going to actually take you to take the exam - it is about stamina) and then GO DO SOMETHING ELSE. Do not freak out because you are six days behind or whatever. Do not freak out at all. You'll gain points just by not freaking out. And by having stamina.

In some states, you can MBE out -- if Texas is one of those states, you might want to focus on those states.
posted by dpx.mfx at 5:29 PM on May 29, 2010

Best answer: I've taken the bar in 2 different states once with live lectures and once without. Don't worry about being behind on the lectures. As long as you catch up before the test you'll be fine. My trick for the lectures was to listen and then make an outline and then take that outline and reduce it to flash cards that I made myself. That may seem time consuming but I felt like I learned in the process of making the outline and glasshouse cards. To stay sane, I made a concerted effort to get out of my apartment on a regular basis. Se of my friends locked themselves in their apartments but I would have gone crazy. The second time I took the bar, there was a movie theater right byy house that showed movies starting @ 10 pm so I would study all day and night and then I would go see a movie with my roommate at 10. It was much needed break. The first time I took the bar I lived alone so to feel a little less lonely I would sometimes studied in the coffehouse or even the Mexican restaurant near my house. I actually had a friend quiz me on con law flash cards while drinking margaritas in said restaurant. So if you have a friend who is willing to have a beer and quiz you at the same time that can help stay same. Hope that helps.
posted by bananafish at 5:59 PM on May 29, 2010

Response by poster: Does anyone know of a way to increase the speed on the streaming videos? I would love to watch at 1.2 or 1.3x but I can't figure out how to do it. It looks like it streams through WMP.
posted by anthropomorphic at 6:25 PM on May 29, 2010

The importance of the lectures is not the lectures per se (except for perhaps as a learning aid) but to get the issues boiled down from the massive Barbri books. I did nothing much for the first 1.5 months, skipped about half of the lectures, and just studied from an outline of the lectures, the BarBri frequency chart, and lots of practice tests. I passed, but totally crammed the last three weeks. YMMV.
posted by yarly at 7:16 PM on May 29, 2010

In other words, find bananafish (or a bananafish-like member of the Texas bar) and get her outline!
posted by yarly at 7:17 PM on May 29, 2010

By the way, if you missed the first week of things (last week) don't fret. On the first day video, you learn it was considered optional. Those videos consisted of a review of answers from practice questions in the books. You likely missed nothing that won't be brought up again in the true review lectures. You also won't be missing anything out on the live lectures, as I was told at my Barbri lecture on Friday that questions aren't allowed. The only difference, supposedly, is that you can develop friends to help you with any missed answers in the workbooks. The workbooks apparently are just big fill in the blank setups designed to inspire "active listening." You should have received the PACER program or what not with your Barbri sign up. It somewhat lays out a studying plan to follow. (Which somewhat will require a 9 to 4 type of commitment).

Anyhoots, unless a live lecturer breaks the guidelines and takes questions, I don't think you'll be truly missing out on a lot by going through the videos. If you learn better by hearing in person, that's different, but the material will be exactly the same (so they say).
posted by Atreides at 8:07 PM on May 29, 2010

Do NOT waste your time/money with Adaptibar; I used them for bar study, and before I knew it they ran out of practice questions. Besides, the BarBri kit gives you far more MBE questions anyway.
posted by holterbarbour at 3:27 AM on May 30, 2010

previously
posted by desjardins at 11:44 AM on May 31, 2010