"Critical Factors For Bar Exam Success"

By Ron Reich, Esq.

Archived Article MAY 2007....

The "critical success factors" concept is a business concept that has direct application to success on the Bar Exam. In business, a critical success factor is a factor that is necessary for an organization or individual to succeed. For example, if you just opened a restaurant, two critical success factors would be customer acquisition and customer satisfaction. Meaning that no matter how good the food is, the restaurant would fail if it did not get customers and keep them satisfied.

In a very broad sense, the Bar Exam has two main critical success factors: knowledge of the law and test-taking ability. In other words, you can know every element of every rule of law in existence, but if you lack the ability apply this knowledge effectively in a test format, you are not going to pass and vice versa.

Unfortunately, thinking of these two critical success factors in a very broad sense is not too helpful. However, if you break up these factors into smaller components your road to success on the Bar Exam will be much smoother.

Let's take the critical success factor of knowledge of the law. That can be broken up into knowledge of the fifteen different subjects on the exam. Sufficient knowledge of each of these areas is necessary for success on the Bar Exam.

We can break up test-taking ability into the ability to perform each of the three types of tests on the Bar (essay, performance, and multiple choice). In addition, success on the three types of tests depend on other sub-factors such as the ability to finish in time, successful application of the law, and correctly following the instructions to name a few. There are more factors, but hopefully, you get the idea.

Here's the most important thing to take from this article: your weakest area determines the height at which you can succeed on the Bar Exam. For example, let's say that, on a scale from one to ten, you would rate your essay writing ability a seven, your multiple choice ability an eight, and your performance test ability a four. If this were the case, your performance test ability would determine your success on the Bar exam, and you probably would not be a happy camper when the test results are released in November.

So how can you apply this information to help your chances of succeeding on the Bar Exam? I suggest you identify all of the critical success factors you can think of for success on the Bar Exam and honestly analyze how you score on a one-to-ten scale for each of those factors. Then make a focused effort to improve on the factors that are holding you back.

Let's use writing evidence essays as an example. Writing successful evidence essays depends on adequate knowledge of the different rules of evidence and successful essay writing ability. Let's pretend that you know your evidence law pretty well and would rate it an eight on a scale from one to ten. Let's also assume that your evidence test taking ability is good except for the fact that it always takes you around 70 minutes to finish an evidence essay rather than 60 minutes. Therefore, you would rate your evidence test taking ability a five (it would be an eight if you could only finish on time).

With this information, you know that "finishing on time" is the one critical success factor that is preventing you from writing winning evidence essays. Armed with this knowledge, you can adapt your studying accordingly and devote some extra time to improving this critical success factor. Before you know it, the factor will improve and you will be writing winning evidence essays.

Once you get into full-fledged "bar studying" mode, it will be easy to identify which areas you may need to devote some extra time to. For example, if you are constantly scoring high on essay and performance tests, but your MBE scores are lacking, you would be wise to devote some extra time to improving your MBEs. This same logic extends to "problem" subject areas, as explained in the example above.

When you are studying for the Bar, it will be very easy to spend time doing the things that you are good at, while ignoring the subjects or test-types that are giving you trouble. Do not make this mistake. Focus on improving your weak areas and by the time the test comes around you will be more prepared than you ever imagined.

Ron Reich, Esq. is the founder and creator of www.conquerthebar.com. He offers a course that fills in the blanks that most bar review courses leave out. In addition, he has created a complete system for law students to get better grades with less effort. For more information on that system, go to www.conquerlawschool.com. To get Mr. Reich's complete list of critical factors for success on the Bar Exam, send an E-mail to factors@conquerthebar.com

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The Challenged California Bar Exam Candidate: After-settlement Internet blogs blast BAR/BRI'S efficacy as a bar review course, but that is not the point of this article . . .

By Steve Liosi, Esq.

Archived Article MAY 2007......

Last week, I did a Google search of "bar/bri settlement" and found the following comments (see italicized text below). Too bad some law students (see below) aren't privy to such comments before they sign up for BAR/BRI. Maybe then, they'd at least investigate another way to go about preparing for the exam.

Sadly, though, there are too many law students who do not truly investigate which course to take: they get caught up in the hype, in the shiny books, in the herd mentality. Which is too bad, especially when it comes to California's bar exam. And especially if you're a challenged candidate (see below) taking that particular exam.

[NOTE: Candidates in other states are not the focus of this article. Other states, with New York being the obvious exception, have high-enough pass rates, and there is no state that has as many non-ABA and/or unaccredited law schools and low-LSAT law students as California.]

If you are a challenged California bar exam candidate with an LSAT-score of 155 or lower, or if you are graduating from a non-ABA law school or from an ABA school that typically performs poorly on the California bar exam (e.g., Western State University), or if you are graduating at the bottom third of your law school class, attending a mass-produced, one-size-fits-all bar review is a poor decision. But unfortunately, it isn't a decision at all. Many challenged candidates take BAR/BRI for no reason other than everybody takes BAR/BRI, which is a ludicrous reason.

To me, the math is simple. If everybody at your law school takes BAR/BRI, and your law school has a horrible pass rate, why would you want to jump off that same cliff? It just makes no sense.

I do not think BAR/BRI is a course without merit. In fact, ABA law schools, typically, have an overall pass rate of 65-70% on the California bar exam, depending on whether it is a February or July exam. BAR/BRI works just fine with students who already possess the thought-process and analytical-writing skills required to pass the California bar exam on their first attempt. (I must admit that had I taken BAR/BRI, I would have passed; it would have worked for me.)

But Stanford, UCLA and USC law grads (and formerly myself) are not the candidates I have in mind. These students, all of whom probably take BAR/BRI, will be served just fine by BAR/BRI. In fact, these students, with their high-LSAT minds, could undoubtedly save themselves some money and some drive time by signing up with a less-expensive online course and still pass. The herd mentality that is rampant among law students will likely keep them from doing so, but these students could pass with any course that has decent-enough materials and a schedule to follow.

But in California, there are plenty of law schools with low pass rates (take Trinity Law School, for example) and unskilled students (take American College of Law, for example), and it does matter which course these students take. In fact, non-ABA law schools have a combined first-timer pass rate of only 24%. Yet, bar after bar, these students undoubtedly flock to BAR/BRI. And these are the students who, for some reason, just don't do the math. And these are the students that I repeatedly chide and admonish in the pages of this journal -The Challenged California Bar Exam Candidate.

***

The graded essay portion of BAR/BRI is the biggest joke in the world. When I began to suspect that the graders were completely ineffective, I typed up and submitted the example given in the book as a "90 point" essay. It got a failing score from the BAR/BRI grader! I paid several thousand dollars for THAT?

[NOTE: In defense of BAR/BRI, it is not a remedial/tutorial course for the challenged candidate. Ultimately, BAR/BRI is in the business of selling seats in lecture halls - the more, the better. BAR/BRI is primarily a law-based review course - its infrastructure is simply not set up to thoroughly and properly grade each and every submitted essay or PT. From a sheer number's standpoint (40,000+ students per year!), this simply cannot be done - there simply isn't enough time or manpower. And if you're a challenged candidate, this is certainly something to think about.]
Comment by Barbri is worthless - February 22, 2007 at 11:10 am

Why should there be only one review course that controls the entrance to our proud and honorable profession? Law students would be better served by more viable choices, lower prices, and improved quality.
Comment by free-market fan - February 26, 2007 at 9:11 pm

I used XXXXXXX after failing with BAR/BRI. With XXXXXX, I finally understood the California bar exam. BAR/BRI is a mass-produced joke. I graduated law school with problems that needed to be remedied, and BAR/BRI didn’t do a damn thing for me.
Comment by Rahul - February 28, 2007 at 11:10 am

Just give me my $125. I passed the NY Bar and thought BarBri rocked. The real scumbag is the "nonprofit" Educational Testing Services (ETS), which charges outrageous fees for even making a photocopy of a score and which pays those at the top ridiculously high salaries.
Comment by BarBriFan - February 22, 2007 at 8:59 am

Steve Liosi, Esq., is the Program Director of Barperfect (www.barperfect.com), a course that specializes in helping law students and bar candidates who struggle with the process. Mr. Liosi can be reached by calling (714) 376-9825.

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Law school student loan debt can seriously impact your life-style. In many instances, some of you will graduate will monthly student loan payments that will equal a mortgage payment. Some of my lawyer colleagues pay in the neighborhood of $1,600 a month. In fact, my brother-in-law, a law professor, pays $1,725 a month. Two of my cousins who went to med school are paying $2,500.00 a month. All very large amounts that impact what you can and cannot buy.

Fortunately, student loan debt consolidation can help ease the burden; but where does one turn? There are numerous companies that want your business. In fact, until your student loan debt is paid in full, you will receive solicitations in the mail on almost a weekly basis. All of these letters promise savings and even try to entice you with gifts. My sister-in-law, who graduated from a top-tier law school in New York, was sent an envelope containing a $300 gift card, which she could use if she switched loan companies. Interested, she discovered after further investigation that she would be paying back several thousands of dollars more over the life of the loan had she activated the gift card.

Obviously, choosing to do business with the right company can lower your monthly payments and save you thousands of dollars during the life of your loan. And choosing the right company is now easy, thanks to Student Loan Doctors (www.studentloandoctors.com). This company has done all of the work for you! There is no need to conduct countless hours of research yourself.

The Student Loan Doctors have a free Web listing of all the student loan consolidation companies and rank them in order from best borrower benefits to worst. Like you, they were once recent graduates and know how busy you are at this time in your studies to consider all of the consolidation companies to choose from. The Student Loan Doctors have no contracts with any companies and pledge to only recommend the company most beneficial to graduates.

Thankfully, my law school student loan debt has been fully repaid, but I wish I had known about Student Loan Doctors back then. If I had stumbled upon such a company, I certainly would have saved thousands of dollars over the life of the loan. It would definitely be in your best interests to give Ed Loan Funding a call: 1 (800) 488-8441. Student Loan Doctors knows that this company has the best borrower benefits program known on the market!

Mark Skapik, Esq., is a graduate of Southwestern Law School and the founder of The Law Offices of Mark Skapik, an insurance defense firm located in Claremont, CA. Mr. Skapik was in no way compensated by Student Loan Doctors or Ed Loan Funding for the writing of this article.

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