The first is the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) which is a set of 200 multiple-choice questions administered on the second day of this three-day test. The second part involves responding to six essay questions, and two performance tests. After the essay portion, students have to do well in two performance tests, which evaluate how well they can analyze and address simulated legal problems.
As you can see, a great portion of the California Bar Exam is written; the essay portion alone makes up 39%. So in order to survive the intensive California Bar Exam, one essential skill to develop is writing clear, concise and intelligent legal essays.
Open Book Bar Prep recognizes the advantage of being able to compose compelling essays on the spot. In its California Bar Prep Classes and California Baby Bar Classes, it has incorporated courses on writing which will help students learn the following:
· Understanding the essay questions
· Coming up with logical and organized outlines
· Writing excellent responses to the test questions
Open Book Bar Prep is a great venue to prepare for either the California Bar Exam or the First-Year Law Students’ Examination (FYLSE), more popularly known as the California Baby Bar. And to help its many reviewers, Open Book Bar Prep lets students in on some of its essay writing techniques:
· Use the right level of language and tone in your essay. For the California Bar Exam essay portion, use a tone that is neither conversational nor excessively formal. Imagine speaking to an educated person who does not know the law as much as you do but who is intelligent enough to grasp its basic concepts.
· Follow the IRAC or any of its recognized variations. IRAC stands for issue, rule, application and conclusion, which means your essay has to cover the points in the same logical fashion. In answering an essay question, creativity comes second to organization and logic so resist the urge to alter this rigid structure. But if you feel it is required, you can modify this outline a little bit to include counter arguments and legal or factual premise. California Bar Prep Classes and California Baby Bar Classes can introduce you to some of the variations of IRAC and help you use them without risking a low essay score.
· Be comprehensive but concise. This is actually very challenging because it involves recognizing which points should and should not be belabored. Some students cut to the chase in an effort to be brief but end up breezing through important points that should have been more thoroughly explained. Some students, meanwhile, write very lengthy explanations even when they are no longer necessary. To get the right balance, be sure to get lots of practice during California Bar Prep Classes and California Baby Bar Classes. Open Book Bar Prep makes sure that its teachers pay individual attention to students’ essay writing skills. With the right guidance and sufficient practice, students can better identify critical points to highlight, reiterate and expound on without necessarily writing an unnecessarily long response.
Most important of these tips is to remember that your essays will be graded by distinguished members of the California State Bar. Their standards will be high but they are real people. As you practice writing during California Bar Prep Classes and California Baby Bar Classes, always remember that you are trying to get a message through to a human being.
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