You put in the hours, complete the practice sets, and expect a steady upward climb on your scores. But what if, instead, your scores look more like a rollercoaster? It’s a common experience during bar exam prep, and we’re here to tell you not to panic.
Inconsistent results on practice tests do not mean you are destined to fail the bar exam. They simply mean you need to refine your approach. Here’s how to identify your weaknesses, adjust your study strategies, and ultimately conquer your prep (and the bar exam).
Identify the External Factors Impacting Your Scores
If your bar prep scores are up and down, start by considering whether the change is the result of something external. For example, are you studying in a different place or at a different time of day?
One of the most common reasons for a sudden score drop is a change in the type of practice sets you are completing. Did you go from single-subject practice sets to mixed practice sets where all Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) subjects are tested together? It’s completely normal to see a temporary dip in scores when you make this transition. Your brain has to work much harder to switch gears between torts, contracts, and constitutional law all within the span of a few minutes.
Keep practicing diligently. Your brain will adapt to the new format, and you should see your scores start to improve again. If your scores do not bounce back to your satisfaction, or you suspect the drop is the result of a bigger issue, a new study strategy is a good solution.
Fine-Tune Your Approach to Multiple Choice Questions
If your scores remain inconsistent after several weeks, it’s time to refine how you solve multiple-choice questions. A methodical approach should help you see real progress.
Track Your Mistakes—Diligently
When you get a question wrong, pinpoint the reason why and write it down. Did you not know the specifics of the law? Did you run out of time? Did you rush through the question without reading the call of the question carefully enough?
Keep a dedicated notebook or digital file just for this purpose. If you missed a property question because you forgot the rule for adverse possession, write that rule down. If you skimmed the facts too quickly and missed a key date, write down that specific misstep. This kind of tracking allows you to identify patterns in your performance.
Maximize Your Answer Explanations
It’s important to devote time to reviewing answer explanations right after you complete a question set, when the material is still fresh in your mind. Reviewing explanations is one of the most productive study strategies you can use.
Good answer explanations give you another chance to review substantive rules. They show you exactly how examiners commonly test those rules. They also explain how the rules apply to specific fact patterns.
Learning precisely why you got an answer right or wrong increases your likelihood of selecting the correct answer on the actual exam. Go beyond simply looking at the correct answer to understand why the other three choices are incorrect.
Work Through Questions—Slowly
Sometimes your score stalls because you just need to work through questions more slowly. While you may not get through as many questions doing this, the learning payoff will be massive.
After you read a question:
- Take a solid minute to identify the subject and the specific issue tested.
- Try to call up the rule from memory before looking at the choices.
- Once you identify the relevant rule, try to predict the answer.
- When you think you have it figured out, then find your predicted answer among the choices.
This method prevents you from falling into common traps or developing lackluster test-taking habits.
Boost Your Comprehension of Substantive Law
If you consistently struggle to recall the law, take a step back from answering questions and return to memorization. It could be that you need to improve your grasp of the material.
For best results on the bar exam, you need to move beyond passive reading to interact with the material in a way that forces your brain to produce and apply a rule on demand. Take a small section of your outline and try to re-write it entirely from memory. Have a friend or family member quiz you on the specific elements of a tricky rule.
Whatever method you choose, be sure to devote dedicated blocks of time exclusively to memorization. Once you solidify your foundational knowledge, your success rate with MBE questions will naturally stabilize and improve.
Don’t Forget the Essays: How to Improve Your Written Scores
While the MBE is critical, your essay scores are equally important for passing the bar exam. Here are several strategies to implement if your essay scores aren’t where they need to be:
- Get objective feedback on your essays. An experienced grader can evaluate your work, help you identify structural problems, and give you actionable ideas to fix them. BARBRI understands that you need constructive criticism to grow. That’s why we offer feedback from attorney legal writing experts as part of our BARBRI Bar Review courses.
- Create one-page attack plans for each testable subject. These skeletal outlines dramatically improve your issue-spotting and structural organization.
- Practice constantly. Writing out complete, timed answers is the best preparation. Even if you only have time to outline an answer and review the model essay, you are still building crucial analytical muscles.
Master Your Time Management on Practice Tests
It's quite normal to feel crunched for time on the bar exam. However, if you consistently fail to finish a significant portion of your practice exams, you’ll want to find a way to improve your test-taking speed.
Try completing a specific number of MBE questions within set intervals before you spend time checking the clock. For example, aim to finish 10 questions in 18 minutes. Then try 30 questions in 54 minutes. Build up to full sets slowly. By chunking your practice, you build confidence and master the pacing without getting overwhelmed.
Remember, also, that every MBE question is worth the same amount of points. Rather than sacrifice three easy questions because you spend five minutes on one convoluted property problem, train yourself to make your best guess, pick an answer, and move forward.
Take Control of Your Practice
Inconsistent practice scores don’t have to destroy your bar exam confidence. There’s still plenty of time to change your approach, raise those scores, and walk into the exam room fully prepared.
BARBRI has helped millions of students overcome bar prep hurdles. Several of our bar review course options offer live, interactive bar strategy sessions or 1:1 simulated exam coaching sessions to get you on the right study path. We know what it takes to succeed, and we know you have what it takes to pass.
Keep pushing forward and know that BARBRI is here to get you ready to conquer the bar exam.
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