Final Considerations On How to Study for the MBE
Quality over Quantity
It has a lot to do with the quality of your study, rather than the number of practice questions you do. If you’re just doing questions for the sake of doing them, and not taking the time to slow down and learn from the questions, then you are not effectively studying.
Track Your Progress
In order to increase your MBE score, you must track your progress and performance and target your weak areas. It is helpful to utilize an MBE tracker chart when studying for the bar exam (get an MBE tracking sheet here). It’s not only important to track which subjects or rules you do not know, but it is also critical to track WHY you are getting questions wrong, so that you can slowly increase your awareness and skills to strengthen your performance.
Practice Section By Section
When you are just beginning to work with multiple choice questions, it is helpful to practice them in sections. For example, say you just finished your evidence lecture when studying for the bar. First, practice relevancy multiple choice questions, then practice hearsay multiple choice questions, and so on. This will allow you to slowly become more accustomed to multiple choice questions within each topic in a subject.
Always Mix
Professor Brittany Raposa: Two Time Winner of Professor Of The Year
It’s important to practice multiple choice questions by subject, but it’s equally important to practice mixed subject questions. Taking an exam and answering questions testing multiple subjects is a different and unique skill set. You have to train yourself to be able to switch through different subjects every two minutes or so. For this reason, it’s always important to incorporate mixed practice into your studying.
Don’t Let Old Subjects Be Old Subjects
When you’re studying for the bar and practicing MBE questions, always incorporate what you’ve already study after you move on to new subjects. If you studied torts in week one, you still want to be reviewing and practicing it in week three, four, and so on. You want to practice spaced repetition in your bar study – always reviewing what you’ve already reviewed and always practicing what you’ve already practiced. Students who study this way are the most successful on the bar exam.
This is the final part of a four part series. Also read Part I, Part II, Part III