What can aid you with:
Knowledge retention
Answer recall, and
Nerves?
Meditation! [Try my study preparation guided meditation here]
No one can complete the entire multiple choice section in the allotted time if they sit and deliberate over every multiple choice questions. But if you've been studying, the information is stored away inside you. (If you haven't been studying you'll find my guided meditation helpful).
You have to learn to trust your gut. But if you're like most people, far from trusting your gut, you can't even hear your intuition telling you which answer is right. Enter: the secret weapon--meditation.
Meditation is a tool that hones your ability to hear your inner voice. But first you have to peel away all the noise. Despite popular opinion that is much easier than you can imagine. Instead of shushing the voices, pretend you're in a chair watching imaginary figures be "the noisy voice". Question the voice, its logic, its reasons and practice being separate and apart from that voice.
This creates a way for easy knowledge retrieval
But how?
You can hear when your wise voice is giving you the answer, you're in tune enough with yourself to feel intuitively "this is the answer". But most importantly, you are NOT second-guessing yourself. Because you know what that voice sounds like--you've sat in meditation and questioned that voice numerous times (if you've been implementing my recorded meditation daily). So, when you hear that voice pipe up during your practice exams and on the actual exams, you are easily able to dismiss it and opt to go with your gut.
But what if my gut is wrong?
I strongly suggest you get familiar with the "two voices" in your head (through meditating) and then practice going with your intuition and ignoring the noisy voice during your practice answer sessions.
While you are doing this, it helps to envision a benevolent spirit over your life and your Bar Exam journey. When you're answering practice questions this benevolent spirit will do two things to help you over the Bar Exam hurdle.
Point you to what you (still) need to study
When you get an answer wrong you are being pointed to what you need to review. Period. It is doing you a favor and making sure you shore up the material that you may have zoned out on during previous study sessions. Say "Thank you".
Giving you the answer without strenuous mental effort
When you've done your studying, the answer is tucked away, usually in your subconscious mind. You don't have to drag the rationale forward to your conscious reasoning mind to answer each question. Your eyes will fall on the correct choice, it will almost signal you, and all you have to do is bubble it in and carry on.
Stop thinking so hard. That's when you mess up. And if you've done your meditations you will hear that voice that is thinking so hard. That is NOT the voice you want to listen to. By the time you finish arguing with it (and battling the fear and panic that it causes) your time has run out.
If you’ve studied, you know it; even if you can’t rationally explain how you know the answer. I know most people will say you need to be able to explain it to another human being. I won't pose counter-arguments. Just try a few practice runs ignoring the noisy voice and trusting your gut. The proof is in the pudding.
In sum:
Meditate to learn the difference between the voices in your head.
Trust the wise voice, your intuition, a.k.a. gut.
Practice now, answering without thinking so you can be comfortable with it on the exam.
Remember anything you answer wrong now leaves you with two subsequent tasks. First, ask yourself (1) did I trust my intuition and ignore "the noisy voice" and (2) say "thank you for showing me what I need to study"
Incorporate meditation into your study routine, carry on with the suggestions above, and you will breeze through multiple choice questions. Try it.
(Originally published on LinkedIn)
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