Ontario Bar Exam Preparation Strategy

A few days ago, I got the result of the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) barrister and solicitor licensing exams. Like many others, I passed. Therefore, I am sharing my preparation strategy to assist those who take these exams in the future. Please understand that the preparation strategy stated below is based on my unique circumstances and might not work for everybody. It is neither a sure-shot recipe for success nor the only way to succeed. Please use this information for what it is - a guide to help prepare your preparation strategy.

General Overview of the Study Materials and the Licensing Exams

The LSO licensing exams are open-book, so the candidates do not have to memorize tons of information. Instead, these exams require the candidates to find the relevant information from the study materials in as little time as possible. The LSO provides the licensing candidates with the study materials for both licensing exams. Ideally, the final exam should not be the first time you read any part of the study material. Therefore, it is advisable to go through the study material at least once before attempting the bar exams.

For now, each exam requires the licensing candidates to answer one hundred and sixty (160) questions in four and a half hours, with no breaks in between. Therefore, for each question, every candidate has around a minute and a half to:

1. Read and comprehend the question;
2. Figure out where the relevant information is in the study materials (using the index or the detailed table of contents);
3. Find the information;?
4. Apply it to the facts in the question; and?
5. Mark the answer on the Scranton sheet.

Preparation Strategy

First, one must decide when to take these exams and in what sequence. You may take the barrister and solicitor exams in one sitting or different sittings. I decided to take both licensing exams in November 2022 and began preparing around mid-August.

My goal was to finish reading the study material by October 30. I had around two and a half months to read the barrister and solicitor study materials once. While preparing for the licensing exams, I worked full-time as an articling student. Therefore, I could devote only limited time to the bar exams preparation, four hours every day before work, to be precise.

I read around twenty pages daily, and my average reading speed was around five pages per hour, which was relatively slow. The slow reading was intentional because I knew my preparation strategy would not give me enough time to revise the material thoroughly. Therefore, I reduced my reading speed to maximize comprehension.?

I spiral-bound the licensing exams study materials subject-wise, meaning I had one spiral-bound book for professional responsibility, another for civil litigation, and so on. This helped me maneuver through the study materials easily during the exams. Further, I got the barrister indices spiral-bound together into one book and solicitor ones into another. I also tabbed the indices to save time during the exam.

While some people use highlighters to mark important information, I decided against it. Instead, I wrote a few words describing the main idea being conveyed in each paragraph in the margin next to it. This served two purposes. First, it ensured I spent adequate time comprehending and processing the information to summarize it to fit in those small margins. Second, it helped me save time during the exams, as I did not have to go through an entire page to find out which paragraph contained the relevant information.?

Study Schedule

As regards the study schedule, I started with business law and completed it in August. Next, I completed real estate law and estate planning in September. Finally, I spent the whole of October studying the barrister material and finished it on November 2. While preparing for the barrister exam, I read the professional responsibility part at the end. This is because I knew from my research that a significant portion of the licensing exams focuses on the professional responsibility part of the study materials. Therefore, I wanted it to be fresh in my mind when I took the exams. Also, I had earlier studied professional responsibility while preparing for the NCA exams, so I was confident about my understanding of the basic concepts. I knew going through the subject would not take long, so I saved it for last.

November was dedicated to revising, reviewing the charts, and doing practice exams. I spent five days revising the barrister study material and mentally noting the topics in each chapter. I adopted a similar approach while revising for the solicitor exam. Also, while preparing for the solicitor exam, I spent an extra day revising the professional responsibility part because of a bad practice exam.

Indices, Detailed Table of Contents, and Charts

I relied on University of Toronto (UofT) indices and charts for both the barrister and solicitor exams. It is crucial to figure out whether you are an "index" person or a "detailed table of contents" person as soon as possible. The best way to do so is by solving practice papers.

I took a massive risk by waiting till the end to solve the practice papers. Luckily, it took only a short time to figure out how to use the indices. However, things could have easily gone awry, and I could have panicked if I had to switch to the detailed table of contents at the last moment. Therefore, one should consider solving a practice paper early to figure out how to proceed.

Also, the UofT charts were a great help during the exams, especially for solving the jurisdiction and limitation period questions. I did not use the UofT summaries at all during the exams.

?Practice Exams

I solved three practice papers before each licensing exam – Emond, Ontario Law Exam, and Access Bar Prep. I won't go as far as suggesting that the questions in licensing exams were exactly like those in the practice exams. However, they were still close enough to give the candidates an idea about what kind of questions to expect in the licensing exams. For example, I found the solicitor exam to be easier than the practice exams. In contrast, the questions in the barrister exam were much more challenging than those in the practice papers.?

Additionally, the practice exams can help you familiarize yourself with your index or the detailed table of contents. Access Bar Prep provides free mini-exams with eighty questions for both the barrister and solicitor bar exams. One may use these free mini-exams to test their comfort level with the indices or detailed table of contents.?

While solving the practice papers, my target was to complete one hundred and sixty questions in four hours. The reason was that I wanted to measure my accuracy while answering questions in a limited time. I was consistently scoring around eighty percent on the timed practice exams. I scored sixty-eight percent on the Emond solicitor practice exam, but that is because I got overconfident with the professional responsibility part and did not confirm my answers before marking them. I corrected my approach in the following practice exam and scored around eighty percent again.

In addition to knowing your score, it is important to learn from your mistakes. Most practice exams carry a detailed explanation for every wrong answer. Going through these detailed explanations can help avoid certain mistakes in the exam.

Licensing Exams

In the licensing exams, time management is the key. Ideally, one should aim to answer at least forty questions in an hour. If you do not know the answer, it is better to mark your best guess rather than leave it for later. This is because you do not know if you will get time later to come back and confirm your answers. For instance, I finished the barrister exam around twenty minutes before time. However, it was a lot trickier than the solicitor one. I corrected a few doubtful answers during those twenty minutes. I do not know if I would have passed the barrister exam if I did not have the time to go back and correct those answers.?

In contrast, I did not have any time to revise during the solicitor exam. I did not follow the forty questions per hour rule for the solicitor exam, but I was not too far behind either. After a not-so-great barrister exam, I wanted to be sure before I marked an answer. Therefore, I erred on the side of caution and confirmed my answers if there was the slightest doubt. Consequently, I finished the solicitor exam with just three minutes remaining. However, after the solicitor exam, I was much more confident because I confirmed most of my answers from the study material and knew I would pass.?

Conclusion

The licensing exams have more to do with strategy than legal acumen. One can pass them with the right tools and a strategic approach. That being said, before the result, I was unsure if I would pass the barrister exam. The only consolation was a Reddit post where some other candidates had admitted to blind guessing quite a few answers. After reading about their experience, I consoled myself with the thought that at least I did not blindly guess any answer. Misery, indeed, does love company.?

Irrespective of what the result is, passing or not passing the licensing exams does not determine whether you have what it takes to become a good lawyer. These exams are just a step towards your goal of becoming a lawyer, and it would help if you treated them as such. A journey is a combination of various steps and missteps. One right step cannot guarantee success, nor can one mistake determine your future.

If you clear these exams in one go, congratulations, you do not have to study for the bar exams again. In contrast, if you do not manage to pass the exams in one attempt, it is not the end of the world. You have two more chances to get it right, and now you know what to expect, so you can use that knowledge to clear the exam in the next sitting.

All the best! You have got this!