Related Posts
Hi All
I have 18 years of experience , out of which 9 years I worked in Manufacturing industry in Quality and Planning area, then I shifted my career to SAP Functional in Manufacturing domain and in IT industry now for last 8+yrs. In between I have done executive MBA from IIM Kozhikode.Am I eligible to work in consulting in Bain India and Bain any other country?
More Posts
Visual Storyteller
Bowl Leader
Hows the WLB of AM at Deloitte USI?
Additional Posts in Big Law
Mentor
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Coach
For your sake, please spend more than 3 weeks studying for the California Bar.
I took four weeks off total (3 weeks to study before the bar and then the week of the bar). I would not have felt comfortable cutting it any shorter than that, but I guess I could have done it in 3.5 weeks if I didn't take Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off to recover.
I did the one day attorneys exam.
Mary Basicks + sample essays from the CA bar website + Adaptibar
I think that books is overrated, and didn’t use it more than a day. Just study the one sheets. Basicks had too much strategy, not enough facts. You have to remember the law for essays. All the strategies in the world aren’t going to help you if you don’t have that.
14hrs prep + 7 hrs sleep + 3hrs for everything else. Don’t do anything the day before the bar, so only count 20 days. This gives you total 280hr, which is plenty, assuming you are at a decent place to begin with.
I studied for 3 weeks (full-time) and passed, but I also had just passed NY with a decent score only the year before, so I had a really solid foundation and just needed to learn like, community law and ethics.
Recommend starting to study now. Don't worry too much about memorizing every little detail, but try to get familiar with how each area works so that when you come back to it again (and again) you will be primed.
If your firm is paying for time off, I'm also assuming they are paying for a course--so just go with what the course recommends for your 3 weeks of FT study. You can usually reach out to a rep or something to adjust the course timeline if you're doing structured classes.
As for actual study tips: Do more essays. Do essays until you're bleeding. Do timed practice sets from the very beginning. Hell, sit down and do a full test very early in the process. Get the sleep you need and eat well. For the sake of time, I liked using Brian Hahn's Magicsheets (outlines)--understand that you absolutely need to memorize those. Heard great things about Adaptibar, but I just ended up using Barbri question banks (my firm paid for the course) and browsing Reddit for discussion to get other Themis/Adaptibar/?? questions that people posted. The prior year, I used these books that had a mix of NCBE released MBE questions and author-written questions. You can watch lectures once, but don't waste your time on them. Generally if you google, you can find multiple lectures on a topic. It's better to just drill MBE questions than sit through a lecture. There are thousands of them out there, so don't worry about "spoiling" yourself.
I studied for 5 weeks, maybe 6. Not a day do I remember studying 8 hours. So, I feel like it’s possible, but mainly because I figured out my method with ~3 weeks left. Had I not figured that out with enough time left, I don’t know.
That said, if you’ve already taken the bar in a different state and passed and it was somewhat recent, then yes, three weeks is fine.
Mentor
I studied for 4 weeks for the atty's exam (essays only), and was 5 years out from NY and MA bars.
PR, Community Property, CA Evidence, CA Civ Pro are brand new subjects for essays if you're coming from another state. It's a lot to learn and distinguish from, say FRE or federal civpro, which you likely already know.
Plus the MBE.
Take more unpaid time, at least 2 weeks. Better than getting fired.
Mentor
Also cosign Mary Basick's essay book. Not the whole thing, but the sample essays and cheat sheets were def worth $35, even if you take a bar course.
Themis was great for CA exam--much more concise than BarBri. GL..
I passed NY and was in the same boat as you - 3 weeks paid leave. Start studying ASAP on your own time at night, during downtime during work, etc. I started on my own maybe 7 weeks out but I had a MSJ due so wasn’t able to balance that much.
I did Themis but Barbri is probably the same. Prioritize MBE subjects. Skip all lectures. Make flashcards of the course outlines and do a bunch of MBE practice questions. I didn’t bother with the MPT - if you are a litigator it’ll be easy. I did MBE essays my last two weeks and only did non-MBE essays the last week.
It was doable but only barely, and it will be a horrible 3 weeks.
The California bar has also a higher cut score, so those 3 weeks will feel like they are even less time compared to NY.
It’s doable if you keep your focus. I took the CA bar in secret while working and could not take any other time off except for the week before and week of. Not recommended but Adaptibar and essay practice got me through it.
It’s probably feasible if you’re insanely disciplined but it’s also going to come down to a ton of luck in terms of what essay topics you get and whether they’re your strengths
How long has it been since you last took a bar exam?
2020
Coach
I started studying 2 weeks before taking it and passed. Was 4 yrs out from passing the NY bar and had just joined a new firm so didn’t take bar leave. Flashcards and practice tests were my saving grace
^^ This is right.
I studied for like a week beforehand, granted I had taken the bar before in another jur. Firm gave me 5 weeks so basically I got a month vacation. I think the key for me was reading outlines over and over again and doing multiple choice q’s. Didn’t have time to prep essays but that should also help.
I passed the bar with three week study and scored high enough to pass in every jurisdiction. Didn’t do a single practice essay either. Studied about 10-12 hours a day, and didn’t follow barbri. Just reviewed books and did practice multiple choice. Also, I was dealing with an impending character and fitness hearing a week or two before the bar due to stupid decisions when I was a kid.. so it was hard to concentrate knowing 3 years of law school could all be for nothing. Most stressful month of my life. Ended up being admitted with a three year probationary period, any traffic tickets or arrests and I would have been disbarred.
So it’s def doable. Trying to take Florida bar soon, but need to convince my firm to give me some time off.