Key Areas to Train While Preparing for the California Bar Exam

The July 2012 California Bar Exam is just around the corner. Sheer panic has driven many students into isolated self-studying and frantic memorization in the hopes that mad unsupervised studying (often without rest) will earn them a spot in the State of California Bar. They couldn’t be more wrong though.

If you are a law student about to take the California Bar Exam, know that preparing adequately begins with understanding what bar graders are looking for and this is something which specialized review centers like Bobby Doustkam’s Open Book Bar Prep in Los Angeles can help you with.

Bar member and experienced teacher, Bobby "Babak" Doustkam has identified three key areas to train during the California Bar Exam review. Let’s begin with time management.

Time-Management

You can’t earn points in questions you don’t even have the time to answer.  One good tip on improving speed is to pre-mark your answer sheet with “time targets.” Aim for question 18 by 9:30, question 35 by 10:00, and so on.  You may devise your own technique but the key here is knowing whether you are going slower than the ideal pace. Bobby Doustkam also warns students against dwelling on hard questions, suprisingly a very common mistake. At Open Book Bar Prep, many simulated tests are timed in order to train students in answering questions at the right pace and keep them away from time-wasting test-taking habits.

Application of the Law

Committing each letter of the law to memory is another practice Bobby "Babak" Doustkam strongly discourages. This is not only bordering on humanly impossible, it is simply a waste of time and energy. What bar graders need to see is your ability to apply the law.  At Open Book Bar Prep, Bobby Doustkam always stresses the value of legal analysis and practice.

Let’s take the performance test of the California Bar Exam for example. Meant to determine how well a student will do given real life legal task, a performance test includes instructions (which may involve writing a memorandum, an affidavit or an offer of settlement), a file stating the facts of the case, and a library containing the legal statutes needed to complete the task. Providing a library for test takers to refer to makes the California Bar Exam an open book test where memorization is not necessary.  What is essential here is using the legal authorities in the context of a real life task.

Enrolling in review centers like Bobby Doustkam’s Open Book Bar Prep in Los Angeles will give you access to more simulated performance tests to practice on.

Physical and Mental Endurance

Spanning 13 subjects and entailing 18 hours of examination, the California Bar Exam is a test of human endurance and spirit as much as it is a test of intelligence and competence. 

Keep yourself in top shape. Sleep right, eat right, clear your head of negativity and find ways to boost your confidence. Bobby "Babak" Doustkam does not at all promote prolonged self-isolation because a student will need the support of an instructor, family, friends and even fellow test-takers.

To know more about the strategies of Bobby "Babak" Doustkam and review center, Open Book Bar Prep, check out their website at http://www.openbookbarprep.com or get in touch with its seasoned instructors at (818) 400-4025. Review classes may be done at its Los Angeles location or via Skype.