Writing legal essays is hard, even in the most ideal circumstances. Writing them for the bar exam is not an ideal circumstance, where you are limited to 25-35 minutes (on average) and have to write many essays, on different topics, on the same day. So, how does one succeed in this task, where it feels like you are set up to fail? Practice. It’s cliché for a reason, but practice really DOES make perfect. Having said that, I can provide you with helpful tips.
1. Practice. Yes, I’ve said that already, but it really is the single most important thing you can do to increase your chances of passing the bar exam. And by practice, I mean practice writing out full essays, not mere outlines. It also helps to practice writing a few essays together, in test like conditions. The more essays you can fully write out between now and the bar, the better.
2. Use your notes. When you practice, always use your notes. Practice as if it’s an open book exam. While I fully realize that the bar exam is never going to be open book, the more you write something down, the higher your chance of remembering it. This means that if you “test yourself” and guess the law, that incorrect law you guessed is now competing for memory space with the correct law. On the other hand, if you are using your notes and copying that law in your practice essay, correctly, not only are you writing it down, which helps with memorization, but you are writing it down in CONTEXT, which is also going to help you remember the applicable law.
3. Outline. I realize you are pressed for time, but you really don’t have time NOT to outline. There is no one right way to outline, but you must think about what you are going to write, and plan, before putting pen to paper. Or, rather, for most of you, before typing. This ensures that you will not forget issues, and it will help you stay organized. As most of you are typing on the bar exam, type your outline as well. This means that you are not re-copying things, but rather, just turning your outline into complete sentences and paragraphs.
4. Issue Organization. Not all issues are created equal. This is also why outlining is so important. You may very well spot four issues on your fact pattern, leaving roughly five minutes per issue. (Taking into account the time it takes to read and outline). In addition, each issue may have sub issues, and most rules will have elements and exceptions. That’s a lot to get through in roughly half an hour. So, you need to plan. Which issues are most important? Which elements of the rule are most important? For example, in a battery claim, it might obvious that there was contact, and it might be obvious that such contact was intentional, therefore, you may only one to spend a sentence on each of those elements. But it might not be obvious as to whether the contact was offensive, which is then where you need to spend more of your time
