Proven guidance on session structure, error tracking, timing, materials, and the collaborative philosophy that raises the California Bar pass rate — from John B. Holtz, Esq.
Break up your daily MBE practice into three sessions. This regimen will better allow you to readily work your MBE exercise into your day-to-day bar prep routine. And it will make your practice more productive — you'll spend less time rereading stale fact patterns and you'll be able to maintain focus for the full duration of the training session.
The number of questions per session depends on how comfortable you feel on the MBE. Your LSAT score is a predictor for MBE aptitude — use it as guidance:
Don't do more than 25 questions per session — you become inefficient and less able to handle your mistakes. If work or other commitments are an issue, do at least 10-item sessions and equalize with larger workouts later (but still no more than 25 at a time).
If starting early, ramp up gradually: 10 items per session at three months out; 15 per session at two months out; 20 per session for all 3 daily sessions during the month of the exam.
For the first two weeks of substantive review, you'll necessarily be ready for only 2 or 3 subjects. As you cover new material, incorporate each new subject into a rotation — heavy on the latest subject to get it up to speed, while revisiting earlier subjects every third day.
This will eventually allow you to rotate through all seven subjects three times every week. This rotational pattern keeps the law fresh as you turn your focus forward to new subjects.
Every set of materials has an "editorial style" that you will subconsciously tune into for answer cues — giving you a false sense of security. Don't practice just one set at a time. Shift between two sets to break the spell.
Don't identify the correct pick in your printed materials. Mark your correct choice off-book. Ditto your rejected picks. Keep your materials clean and usable for a second pass of just your mistakes.
Work up the fact pattern as you've been taught, cross off the picks you reject — but record your answer on a separate answer sheet and also mark your pick in the book. The point is to ensure that the picks remain re-pickable for another day. And don't circle the trigger fact or logic tumbler you missed — keep the fact pattern reusable as well.
Look up the answers and make flashcards, recordings, or a missed-rule journal for the missed law. But beyond the band-aids, you need to confirm mastery of each item.
Tag the items to be revisited. Mark off those item numbers on a separate "Re-Do Sheet" — one sheet per MBE subject. When a sheet is filled with your choice of 10–15–20 items, start the next.
If, in review, you realize you got the correct pick for the wrong reason, mark it down as a miss and include it with the other misses for follow-up re-testing. Some online or computer programs allow for this — use that feature.
Give your short-term memory time to clear these fact and option patterns. Mark a future date and session — your most alert time of day is recommended — in your day planner, wall chart, or tablet.
Come two weeks, let's see if your MBE rehab program is working. For early July or February practice, cut the waiting period to one week.
Same process during re-testing: collect misses on a new sheet and leave the fact patterns, calls, and picks clean for another round. You'll probably collect 30–50 double-misses in each subject.
This is your "Hit List" — these are the tricksters that are the bane of your MBE existence. At least now you know exactly where you're weak. Software can often be set to do this tracking for you automatically.
The week to ten days before the bar, hunker down with your problem questions and finally master your problem areas in law, reading comprehension, and logic interplay — before they show up on the actual exam.
This is where the disciplined tracking from Tips 6–9 pays off. You won't be guessing at your weak spots — you'll know exactly which questions to drill.
Use a simple timer to keep yourself honest — pocket-size digitals with count-up and countdown timing cost $10–20 at any pharmacy or home goods store. Reduce your target time each week.
Some computer programs allow you to set average time per item — adjust accordingly.
Take off 1–2–3 sessions — one full day or some night/morning combination — each week. You need only 18 sessions per week, not 21. Two simulated exams during your prep will more than make up for any down time.
Rest is not a reward. It is a component of the regimen.
Record missed law for playback during your daily commute to bar class or your study site, or for double duty while exercising. Even a 30-minute daily fartlek (look it up) paired with audio rule review is a powerful combination.
This turns otherwise idle time into productive review — without adding hours to your day.
Use the NCBE's MBE-AP as a neutral diagnostic exam midway through your studies. There are four available tests — consider doing one each Saturday morning, on the two or three Saturdays following your course's simulated MBE (or in place of one if you're a DIY repeater).
Always revisit your misses from these diagnostic exams — they are neutral, NCBE-sourced, and the closest proxy to actual exam conditions available to you.
Like The Hunger Games, where you need someone to be your ally before you try to ultimately outlast each other — during the bar exam, on the MBE, you need everyone to do as well as possible. The applicant pool's collective performance sets the bar pass rate. It's the written section where you compete against each other.
So tell your friends — and even your frenemies — about these tips, because the better everyone does on the MBE, the more people pass. And that "more people" includes you.
It's really that simple. And what — no one told you that? Well, now go tell someone else… and so on.