How I Prepared for (and passed) the 2021 Bar Exam Early

This article pertains to my methods of studying/preparing for the 2021 bar exam as a 3L. It does not include how/why I took the exam before graduating from law school. My hope is that it will aid friends and colleagues who are about to prepare for the bar.

I'll present this content in three sections. Feel free to skip ahead.

1. Personal background (e.g. what life looked like when I prepared for the exam)
2. What resources I relied on to prepare for the exam.
3. My modified Barbri approach.

(1) Personal Background

As 2020 was coming to a close, I made the decision to attempt the bar exam early. The winter break during my 3L year was extended by one week and I decided to utilize the break to prepare for the February 2021 exam. Studying was a major challenge since ..... well.... my life is insane! Here's a snapshot of what things looked like immediately before I began my preparation:

• My wife and I had a daughter in September 2020. She was 3 months old when I started my prep. I understand that not every person in law school has a child, so I'll sum it up like this: TAKING CARE OF A BABY IS WILD AND EXHAUSTING. It's also amazing, but I'll save that for a different article.
• I was still in school (3L) and would have to balance classwork during part of my bar prep.
• My wife took an extended maternity leave, so we were dependent on my income during my prep time (i.e. I was working).
• I was getting ready to launch a small medical writing service in January 2021.
• I still had NOT taken several of the subjects taken on the UBE (family law, corporations, secured transactions, conflict of laws, and trusts and estates).

As you can see, time was scarce. Several people told me that they studied between 8–10 hours per day for 8–10 weeks for the bar exam. That was not an option for me. I didn't really know what it would take to prepare for the bar exam, but I knew my approach would need to be modified.

Before we dive in, please keep two things in mind:

1. Every person has different strengths, different lives, different etc. etc. etc. I provide details on my approach below, but that doesn't mean it's right for you. I developed my plan based on my own life circumstances, my own strengths, and tips from others. You should do the same.
2. The bar exam is not like your law school finals. The bar examiners are not testing you on legal nuances. Rather, you will be tested on tried and true legal rules. Therefore, practice, repetition, and memorization are very valuable. The point is not to become the next scholar in secured transactions. Learn the rules. Practice spotting issues. Apply those rules on the bar exam.

The bar exam should not be taken lightly. Out of all the test takers that sat for Vermont's 2021 bar exam, only 57% passed. But you absolutely have what it takes. Two quotes stuck with me during the duration of my prep—each came from a Barbri lecturer:

(1) Do it once. Do it right.

(2) This is a get to moment.

(2) What materials I used to prepare for the bar exam:

I started preparing for the bar exam based on my own study "plan." I didn't think that a bar prep course was really necessary. After two weeks of prep, however, I felt like I was moving too slow. Given the intensity of my other responsibilities, I was opting to do things other than bar prep too frequently. Long story short: I needed someone to hold me accountable in this case. I ultimately ended up relying on two resources to study:

1. Barbri (modified approach detailed in Section 3 of this article)
2. Critical Pass Flashcards

(A) Critical Pass

Let's start with Critical Pass because it is brief. A friend of mine recommended the Critical Pass flashcards and I loved them. The cards are concise and easy to memorize. I would utilize the cards to review and synthesize content after getting a foundation from Barbri. The cards were easy to carry around the house and the free app enabled me to study when we were on the go (e.g. while I sat in the parking lot during Ella's appointments since only one parent was allowed in). My recommendation is to at least consider purchasing the MBE cards. I purchased the MBE and MEE cards, but relied on the MEE cards far less. I relied on Barbri lectures excessively for MEE prep (more in Section 3).

If you would like to purchase Critical Pass flashcards, here is a link that you can use to get 10% off: https://criticalpass.refr.cc/anthonyfanucci

Note: The links in the Critical Pass section above are affiliate links. By using them, you receive 10% off your order and I receive credit from Critical Pass. It's a win-win situation, but I wanted to make sure you were aware. This did not impact my review of their cards.

(B) BARBRI

Let's get this out of the way... which bar prep program is best?! Who knows! I was guilty of stressing over this question, but it's the wrong question to be asking. The two big names at my school are Barbri and Themis. I chose Barbri and ended up really liking it (and I passed). The key to your success will likely be consistency, not whether you chose Barbri or Themis.

This section will include general details and some personal notes on the materials that Barbri provides. Section 3 will cover my modified approach.

Here are the books that Barbri sent me (it's a delightfully heavy package):

• Outlines for Multistate (AKA massive book of outlines for MBE subjects)
• Outlines for MEE (thick book of outlines for MEE subjects)
• Conviser Mini Review outlines (thin book of abbreviated outlines for MBE and MEE subjects)
• Simulated MBE book (practice MBE that you take midway through course)
• Lecture Handouts (you fill these out as you watch MBE and MEE subject lectures)
• MEE Testing (practice essays and model responses)
• MPT book (practice MPTs and model responses)
• MBE Practice Questions (practice multiple choice questions)

Additional notes about Barbri's online program:

• You get a Personal Study Plan (PSP) that adapts to your progress and tells you what content you should be studying each day. It also provides a recommendation for the number of hours you should be studying each day to finish the course on time.
• My plan included the option to have essays and an MPT graded by Barbri instructors (Section 3 includes whether I used these offerings or not...).
• You get a simulated MBE exam midway through the prep course. Barbri compares your results to every other student using Barbri at that time. The results from this practice test are very valuable.
• Barbri provides a lecture for each MBE and MEE subject. Most of the lecturers are great (including the stellar Rich Freer, who you may have listened to when learning civ pro during 1L year).
• Barbri provides general lectures on things like: (1) how to structure an essay response, (2) how to structure an MPT response, etc. etc.
• There is an MBE-approach lecture for each MBE subject (Barbri's input on how to approach MBE questions for that subject).
• Barbri will also assign you daily MBE practice questions and MEE practice essays.
• Lastly, Barbri offers a ton of final quizzes/tests during your final week of prep. I did not do 100% of the course so I can't say how beneficial these are.

(3) My Modified Approach to Studying

I used—and enjoyed using—Barbri's prep course. I did not follow the plan as prescribed though. If you are set on following their plan exactly, I can't say whether it would be a good or bad thing. I can say that I simply did not have enough hours or interest in following the plan precisely. That does not mean an abbreviated approach is proper for you.

I believe that bar prep courses provide you with substantially more information than you need to pass the bar exam. The reason is likely twofold: (1) more material makes students feel like they are preparing properly, and (2) more material makes the substantial cost of a bar prep course more paletable. In regard to the former point, I couldn't disagree more. The point of this exam is NOT to memorize as much content as possible. The point is to memorize the most important content. If you are familiar with Pareto's Principle then you get where I'm coming from...

With this principle in mind, I thought it would be helpful to rank Barbri's materials into three categories:

(A) Materials that I set aside, never opened, and let my daughter use as a platform for her jumper (since she wasn't tall enough):

• Outlines for Multistate (these outlines are ridiculously huge... I actually laughed when I saw them)
• Outlines for MEE (I focused on the lecture handouts for MEE subjects... more details below)

(B) Materials that I opened less than five times:

• Conviser Mini Reviews (Many people like these outlines and find them helpful, but I still thought they were too long)
• MPT book (I did one practice MPT, had it graded, and never returned)

(C) Materials that I truly relied on:

• Barbri's online lectures
• Lecture handouts
• MEE book of essays (even though I only wrote 2-3 essays out... more details below)
• MBE practice questions (SO IMPORTANT. I did the questions online, but they are the same as the ones in the book. YOU MUST DO ALL THE MBE QUESTIONS THEY ASSIGN.)
• Simulated MBE

A closer look at my modified study flow

Barbri provides study recommendations each day in your PSP. They make these recommendations based on how much time you have before the exam and what content is most important to learn. Looking back on my prep for the bar, I would say that I focused heavily on three groups of content:

1. MBE Questions - I always did the MBE questions that Barbri recommended. Repetition is key for MBE questions.
2. MEE Questions - I reviewed somewhere between 50–70% of the essays that Barbri recommended, but I only wrote out 2–3 essays total. I didn't feel like I needed to work on my writing ability, but I did need to learn the law. Therefore, I would read the assigned essay, answer it in my head or in a few bullet points, and then review Barbri's model answer. If my answer was terrible then I would go back and review the rules. I did not waste time writing essays and I did not have any essays graded. Note: Barbri provides a short lecture on essay writing. Their format is strong and will get you more points. Follow it for any essay you write.
3. Lectures - I really liked the Barbri lectures, even though I expected to feel the opposite about them. Some of them are very lengthy (property law is something like 8 hours), but I found that most of the lecturers really emphasized the most important content. They extracted the content from the outlines that was essential to learn. Many of the lecturers even tell you the most tested areas. The bar exam is all about beating the odds, so you need to know the rules pertaining to these emphasized areas. For example, I did not know a thing about secured transactions, but I knew exactly what I was going to write if a secured transactions essay appeared (it did). Not every Barbri lecturer narrows things down to the most important areas, but many do. For lectures like Civ Pro—where there's simply too much content to select what is most important—lecturers will often provide scripts to follow for essays. I loved this approach. I'll describe how I made the most out of lectures in my example below.

Here's an example to illustrate how I approached my prep on most days:

On any given day, Barbri may recommend a lecture, practice essays, MBE practice questions, a practice MPT, or a conviser mini outline to review.

Here's out I would tackle each:

• MBE practice questions: Always do them. My approach varied. Some days I would start with MBE questions, other days I would conclude with them. Timing matters less than doing them and reviewing the questions you got wrong.
• MEE essays: As mentioned above, I only wrote out 2-3 essays total (much less than most people). But I did try to answer most essays in my head and review Barbri's model response.
• MPT questions: I watched Barbri's MPT overview lecture (important to know how to approach the MPT), submitted one MPT response for grading, and then skipped every other MPT suggestion. Knowing how to approach the MPT is most important (Barbri covers this).
• Outline review suggestions: At times, Barbri will recommend that you review a large outline or a conviser mini outline. I did not review any of Barbri's outlines... ever. Rather, I would spend time reviewing my Critical Pass flashcards and my own written outlines (next bullet point).
• **Lectures**: This may be the are where I improvised the most. If a lecture was recommended, I would watch it. But I felt that the key was to actively watch the lecture. Barbri enables you to watch lectures at faster speeds (e.g. 1.5x), but I would actually discourage it. Listening passively does NOTHING. Actively engaging with the lecturer was key to my success. As I watched a lecture, I would do various things. If the lecture was for an MBE subject, I would create my own handwritten outline. I'll be frank: these are terribly time consuming to make. But I cannot express how valuable these outlines were in the final week of prep. If the lecture was for an MEE subject, I would complete Barbri's lecture handout. Why approach these subjects differently? Most of the MBE subjects contained too much material for the lecturers to say what was most critical. The examiners test a wide range of areas for MBE subjects. I found the opposite to be true for MEE subjects. During MEE lectures, the lecturer was able to pinpoint the most critical testing areas. Most of the MEE lecture handouts were structured in a manner that provided you with precise essay templates. Therefore, I found the handouts more valuable for MEE subjects. Lastly, I did create some attack outlines (very 1-2 pages) for some subjects.

Concluding Thoughts

After posting that I passed the bar exam early, I received a massive number of comments and questions. I hope that this article provides succinct responses to most of them. If not, please do not hesitate to contact me. In most cases, standardized testing is a right of passage that maintains no correlation to your success as a professional. Therefore, if I can help someone conquer this antiquated manner of "testing" an individual's preparedness, then I am all for it.

Your friend,

Anthony Fanucci