You are halfway through law school. The 1L jitters are gone, and the bar exam may seem far away. But the next few semesters will pass more quickly than you think. By taking a few strategic steps during your 2L year, you’ll set yourself up for success in your bar prep and beyond.
1. Get to Know Your Jurisdiction’s Bar Exam
If you haven’t already, decide which state you’d like to become licensed in, and learn about the bar exam that state administers. Learn which subjects are tested in your jurisdiction, and research the exam components. Most bar exams contain multiple-choice and essay questions. Some bar exams, including the legacy UBE and NextGen UBE, contain a performance test, which requires you to complete a practice-oriented drafting task.
Knowing the format now allows you to mentally prepare for the marathon ahead. Knowledge is power, and it will be the foundation of your passing score.
2. Confirm Your Law School Course Selections
Why make bar prep harder than it needs to be? The smartest way to tackle bar review is to align your current coursework with the exam itself. Taking bar-tested subjects while you are still in law school is a strategic advantage. It reduces the sheer volume of new material you have to learn from scratch during your dedicated study period.
Here is a quick checklist for your course selection:
- Target the Heavy Hitters: Prioritize upper-level courses on difficult MBE topics like Real Property or Constitutional Law.
- Sharpen Your Pen: The bar exam is a writing test as much as a knowledge test. Take writing-intensive courses to build the stamina and clarity you will need for essay day.
- Look for Credit-Bearing Prep: Does your school offer for-credit bar preparation courses? These are gold mines. You get graded credits, learn specific strategies for bar prep success, and often get practice tests under your belt before graduation.
3. Think Ahead for the Application Process
It’s no secret that studying for the bar exam takes time, but applying for a law license is also time-consuming. Gather information and documents you’ll need for the application process. Check with the state bar in your jurisdiction for details, but generally you will need to provide complete educational and employment histories, every address you have lived at for the past ten years, and detailed disclosures regarding any academic, civil, or criminal records.
Getting organized during your 2L year eliminates the need to panic later, leaving you free to focus entirely on the law when it matters most.
4. Start Saving
Becoming an attorney is an investment, and the final stretch is expensive. You need a financial plan starting today.
There are three major costs you should prepare for now:
- Registration Fees: Depending on your jurisdiction, simply registering for the exam can cost between $500 and $1,000. Many states offer “early bird” discounts, so watching deadlines can save you money.
- Commercial Bar Review: Do not gamble with your future by self-studying. The statistics are clear: a structured course is essential. Quality preparation guides you to the right concepts and keeps you on track. While costs vary, ensure you check if your future employer covers this or if your tuition includes it.
- Living Expenses: This is the silent budget killer. A full-time bar review course is a full-time job for about 10 weeks. Part-time bar review courses run for a longer time period but may allow you to work alongside the demands of bar prep.
If you plan for these costs, you won't be distracted by financial stress when you should be focused elsewhere.
5. Plan for the MPRE
For almost every lawyer, the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) is the gatekeeper to licensure. The MPRE is a two-hour, 60-question multiple-choice exam on legal ethics. It is offered in March, August, and November.
Do not leave this until after you graduate. The ideal time to knock this out is during your 2L or early 3L year. It gets one major requirement off your plate, so you have a clear runway for the actual bar exam. Remember, registration deadlines are months in advance—plan ahead to secure your seat.
6. Assess How You Learn Best
The bar exam requires you to master a mountain of material. Experiment with exam prep in law school and determine which methods work best for you. Is making your own outline a must? Do you hate linear outlines but love creating charts? Do you memorize best if you make your own flashcards?
Going into bar exam preparation with a clear picture of your cognitive strengths gives you a massive edge. You won't waste the first few weeks of bar prep figuring out how to study.
7. Embrace Feedback and Aim Higher
Both law school and bar prep are full of ups and downs. Some days everything clicks, and other days you’ll be faced with disappointing results. This is normal.
If you underperform on a law school exam or writing assignment, seek out feedback. Attend your professor’s office hours so you can retool your approach and aim higher next time. Students who actively seek out criticism and use it to improve are poised for success.
With BARBRI, you get detailed feedback during practice on multiple-choice questions, performance tests and essays. You can submit your written work for grading and receive detailed critiques from trained graders. This reinforces learning and helps you understand the patterns behind the questions to prepare you for the actual exam—when the time comes.
The gap between 2L year and the bar exam is smaller than it appears. Every step you take now is one less worry for the future. You have worked too hard to get to this point to leave the final hurdle to chance. Take control of your bar exam preparation today with BARBRI Bar Review, and walk into that bar exam with the confidence of a lawyer.
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