If you're wondering if memory and retention methods for all those Bar exam outlines are included in your course—no, they aren't. You may have googled tips like "review all your outlines once a week," but that leaves you directionless and without structure. (When exactly are you supposed to fit that in any way?)
You can finally end your search. Here, you'll find a solution for retaining information—over the long haul—about subjects that come up early in your Bar prep course. This solution makes information retention and Bar exam memorization happen in the natural course of your study (no extra review time needed). Let's get started.
You don't need memory techniques for the Bar exam. If mnemonics, jingles, acronyms, and memory palaces help you feel better, that’s great! I'm all about happy feelings. But if it feels time-consuming and onerous, you can happily dispense with them when you learn the method I teach for high memory retention and easy recall of information during the Bar exam.
Before you feel guilty for going behind your Bar prep's back to help yourself, let me assure you that your Bar prep hasn't built in a backstop for memory leaks. When you study evidence and torts early on you may never look at them again until it's time for practice tests or even your actual exam day. You’re bound to lose information that you thought you had down pat. Your Bar prep planners didn't think of everything. Even if they did, they aren't properly incentivized to actually fix things. You have to fend for yourself.
One of the biggest mistakes Bar takers make is NOT making strategic decisions to deviate from the study plan when it is not working for them. Forgetting what you studied two months ago when you've only got a few days before the exam is a classic "that Bar study plan didn't work for me" example.
Here, I outline the things you need to look out for when it comes to the generic Bar prep plan. These areas are the first you'll want to make adjustments in when you realize your Bar prep plan is failing you. Then, I detail the method you need to use to improve your memory of Bar exam material.
Find the holes in your Bar prep, and then fill in with the Bar exam strategies I will teach you.
Bar prep plans don't take into account the fact that there are different personalities roaming this earth. The 50% of people who are different from the course creator are left contorting themselves throughout the study season in order to study in the way set forth in their schedule. Do you really need that stress on top of all your Bar study?
Bar prep courses don't account for the different modes of learning that exist among humans. This means you can spend 3 hours studying a subject, but because the method of study was not conducive to your brain, you will retain very little—if anything (and that's IF you're able to sit through the whole 3 hours of studying in a way your brain hates).
Bar prep tends to leave out a crucial factor—memory. There is a widely available memory retention learning method. It is implemented in medical schools nationwide. But we lawyer types are slow to change and adapt. You’re currently missing out on a very simple solution to the dilemma of being 2 weeks before the exam and realizing you’ve forgotten everything you studied a few months ago. That's a terrible reason to fail the Bar, isn't it?
Here's the solution: implement this science-based, data-driven learning system into your Bar study calendar before it's too late (people have done this with only 30 days left on their study calendar and seen phenomenal improvement before exam day). This is the fastest way to retain large amounts of information.