How Did I Self-Study For 3 Months And Pass The New York Bar?
Many people are surprised by how I cleared all the conditions for qualifying as a New York Attorney in just one year. In this article, I am going to provide you with the study schedule and methods I used to pass the July 2019 New York state bar examination. These techniques suit me as a test-taker, but it does not necessarily mean they suit everyone else.
1. Study Materials
Finding the right materials is probably the most difficult part to start with. As some of you may know, I essentially used Barbri materials to prepare for the bar exam. Here I am putting together a list of books and additional materials you should have on your shelf.
Regarding the MBE, the materials you should have include: (1) 2013 Strategies & Tactics for the MBE II, (2) Second Edition, 2016 Strategies and Tactics for the MBE and (3) Barbri MBE Practice Questions (July 2017 | February 2018). As for the MEE, you need to have SmartBarPrep Essay Priority Outline for the UBE/MEE because this book tells you the frequency with which a specific topic or concept was tested on past MEE.
Finally, regarding the MPT, there is no need for you to study anything technical. All you need is Barbri Multistate Performance Test Workbook (I used the July 2016 I February 2017 edition) as it provides you with practice tests and model answers.
2. Tailored Study Timetable
After you get all the materials you need, you have to plan your study carefully. Simply put, I divided my study time into four stages:
(i) Grasping a basic understanding of all seven core MBE subjects (the first month);
(ii) Repetitive revision and attempting past paper questions by subject (the second month);
(iii) practising more past paper questions, incorporating them into my notes and revisiting the difficult questions (the third month); and
(iv) doing mock exams (a week before the actual bar exam).
When it comes to the New York Bar Exam, one thing I am pretty sure of is that practice and repetition make perfect. In the following paragraphs, I will outline how I studied for the MBE, the MEE and the MPT respectively.
3. Tips For The Multistate Bar Examination (MBE)
For the MBE, since it accounts for fifty per cent of the exam score, it is something you must keep studying almost every day. The books I mentioned above should provide you with more than 1,000 practice questions, which are more than enough for you, as long as you attempt most of these questions and you understand why you get each answer right or wrong.
More importantly, a week before taking the MBE, you should try, at least once or twice, to answer 100 mixed-subject multiple-choice questions in three hours — because that is how the exam is going to be!
I remember the first time I tried to do that I had almost 10 questions left unanswered. Therefore, you need to sit for a mock exam before the actual exam, and the Second Edition, 2016 Strategies and Tactics for the MBE I mentioned before has a set of mock exam questions. Give it a try and see if you can complete them on time!
4. Tips For The Multistate Essay Examination (MEE)
I spent two weeks studying for the MEE. As I mentioned before, if you keep studying the seven core subjects in MBE (i.e. Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts & Sales, Criminal Law & Procedure, Evidence, Real Property and Torts) almost every day, I am pretty sure that you are already quite familiar with the MEE questions on these topics — so you should focus slightly more on the remaining MEE subjects during these two weeks.
Additionally, you should also go through the SmartBarPrep Essay Priority Outline for the UBE/MEE I mentioned before, and identify topics that are very important and frequently tested. I did at least 50 past paper questions before entering into the examination hall. You should focus more on key subjects like Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law and UCC Article 9. Yet, my advice is that you should have at least a fundamental grasp of the concept of each subject. In other words, you should not skip any subject merely because it is too complicated or you think it will not be on the test — it is a risk that you do not want to take!
On a separate note, if you are a great believer in luck, you can also check out a website called ‘JD Advising’ — it creates its predictions on the specific topics that will appear in the MBE and MEE based on the past trends, and they are surprisingly accurate.
5. Tips for the Multistate Performance Test (MPT)
To be honest, I spent less than a week studying for this part. There are two tips I will highly recommend when you study for the MPT. Firstly, you need to be familiar with the format of some of the most frequently-tested question types. Based on my research, they include (1) ‘objective memorandum, (2) ‘persuasive brief’ and (3) ‘opinion letters’. Ninety per cent of the time these topics will appear in the actual MPT. I remember a week before the MPT, I memorised the format of each question type, and it was worth the efforts!
Secondly, you need to practice answering these question types at least once before entering into the examination hall, because time management is a big issue facing many test-takers. I remember after the MPT, some candidates complained that they ended up spending a majority of time on one question and had only 30 minutes left to finish another question — that is a bad strategy and that is why practice is essential!
Another key thing for taking the MPT is organization and structure. It is very important to plan your answer before you start writing and to use headings and sub-headings to make your answers look more structural. I even highlighted the cases I used so that the examiners could easily spot them and give me points when marking my paper.
At the end of the day, how much you need to prepare for the MPT depends on how comfortable you are when it comes to legal writing. If you are already a legal practitioner or you have some experience in legal writing, you will find this section much easier.
6. Conclusion
I remember the day after I finished the bar exam, I thought I might not pass this time — I had many unsure answers! But later I came across a Reddit article discussing what is required to pass the New York Bar Exam. It suggested that ‘you will pass if you score in the 33rd percentile for both the MBE and essay (MEE+MPT) sections,’ and that reassured me a bit.
Three months afterwards, I received an email from the New York State Board of Law Examiners. The time was frozen when I checked that email — I ended up passing the bar exam with flying colours. All the efforts were worth it.
If I could do it, you could do it too!
