Anyone have any tips for someone trying and struggling immensely to prepare for day 1 of the Florida bar exam this coming February? I only took the MBE last July thinking it would be easier to split (and thankfully passed) but I'm overwhelmed now trying to become minimally competent in 15 different areas of law in less than a month.

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Do a topic a day. You won’t get everything but you get a “feel” for each area of law. I took my second bar exam while working full time with a boatload of overtime. I somehow passed

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Okay so for secured transaction, I always pictured a paper check. So figure out what makes it valid and under what condition did it pass from one person to another, I feel that this is a super basic and vague understanding but I took the Florida bar in 2017, and secured transaction was a essay question.

If you read a topic and you start telling yourself that this is easy, speed through it and focus on the topics where you have to re-read the paragraph

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You still have good time. Dedicate a solid 6-8 hours a day; a topic or two a day. Practice MCs and essay writing. Issue spot as many past essays as you can (find them on the FBBE website. Also practice writing your own, too, from memory, so you can do it efficiently in the exam. As it comes to the MCs, carefully review your wrong answers (and the right answers, too, to ensure you got it right for the right reason). Make flash cards of the rules. Do as many as you can.

Listen to lectures as often as you can: while driving, cooking, shower, etc.

You got this. If you can tackle MBE, you can tackle Florida.

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I realized a lot of information stuck with me when I actually truly understood it. So, I spent a decent amount of time chasing these “AHA” moments. They helped conceptualize the material, so I would remember it better and be able to apply it better.

Some stuff is just boring and requires pure memorization; try to make acronyms or something that can help you remember elements/black letter law easier. Repetition is key. Write it over and over and over again until it’s imprinted in your brain. I remember a specific lecture (I believe Barbri?) for contracts really helped me memorize all the subtopics to cover in an essay; something like Love For Dogs Treat Every Roger Terrific = Law (UCC or CL), Formation, Defenses, Terms, Excuse, Remedies, Termination. You learn everything under the sun as it pertains to each of these, and use the pneumonic device as a tool to remember allllllllll possible subtopics/issues. Day of exam, you quickly jot this down in the corner of your scrap paper and that’s all you’ll need to trigger all you know about Formation, Defenses, Excuse, etc.

Also - Google and YouTube are decent resources too for other random materials/study aids/explanations for things you don’t understand.

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Remind yourself that you have 3 years of study behind you and this exam only lasts 2 days. If you have been doing any review work and practiced the exam questions, you’ll be fine.

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Passed on second attempt
For essays you need to condense and memorize a 2-3 paragraph block of pure rule statements for each topic. As soon as you know the essay even grazes that topic regurgitate your rule block. Even if 90% ends up not being applicable you can get points for some of it. Plus it gets your mind locked onto that topic.

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Whatever you do between now and test day, don’t think negatively abt what you have and/or haven’t done. Each day is a new day, and give it the best effort that you can! I’d outline/issue spot and/or draft/revise past essay prompts “open book” for a week or so to build confidence. You can do this!! I believe in you 🤗

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I took the MA bar last year and passed on the first attempt. I was really struggling with essays and someone told me that there are only so many essay questions they can ask and if you read enough you’ll see the same patterns appear. They suggested that I go through my barbri book and read the question then read the sample answer and then write the sample answer word for word. I spent the last three weeks leading up to the bar doing this and I swear it is the reason I passed. I remember getting to the essays and feeling so confident because I recognized the fact patterns. I was able to pick up on extra facts aka free points that I remembered seeing in the sample answers. Hopefully this helps! Good luck

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