BLOG.NILAS.US

Be Encouraged!

2011-05-13T03:51:00Z

Half hearted efforts create half hearted results, so give yourself with full conviction to your efforts and your reward will be manifest. Choose to be the architect of your work, to assemble your industry based on a calculated cost that you are willing to pay, and then pay the price of your effort. The pain you encounter will no doubt arrange an introduction to your strengths. What will remain will be a legacy for future generations to marvel at, strive for, and admire, for you will have conquered the greatest enemy of the human heart, fear.

-Adapted by B.H. Wilson from several authors

Fourth Key to the Bar Exam:

2011-05-13T03:18:00Z

Understand the methodology behind the exam, don’t just memorize past exam answers – By Brian Herbert Wilson Jr., Esq

4. The Bar Exam is a standardized test. This means that the test writers must use a formula to uniformly test each class of applicants. You need to unlock the methodology.

Exams have one thing in common, they test some form of knowledge or skill. From the start, the Bar Exam has always been a “rite of passage” meaning that, it is not as much about knowing the law, as knowing how the Board of Bar Examiners is testing on the law. In the big scheme of things, the knowledge of how to take the exam is probably more important than the pure substantive knowledge. Proof of this can be found with every person who passed law school but failed the Bar Exam. NILAS believes that unlocking the mystery of the method can really be a make or break issue for both the study of law and the Bar Exam, in particular for those who may be at risk for failure.

What is a “Standardized” Test? Sometime in the 1980s education on the whole went toward “reform” in education trickled down to the Bar testing procedure by way of the Bar Exam. Prior to the early 1970’s there was no single standardized multiple choice test. Over the next two decades, the National Board of Bar Examiners would develop what is commonly known as the standardized Bar Exam.[1]

In an effort to standardize the educational process, test writers have sought to define the scope of the Bar Exam to be a more realistic set of testing indicators, meaning, tied to a more realistic set of skills needed to be practitioner of law. Accordingly, over the years, the Exam has undergone subtle changes in questions, typology and doctrine to help make the test more realistic.

First, standardized tests have several things in common, for example there are at least three components every standardized test will have.

The Clock
The Answer set (Fixed Component)
The Essay, (Variable Component)
The Clock

The clock is not your friend either in real life or on the Bar Exam. Many students have complained about simply running out of time on both the study for the Bar Exam and on the MBE[2]. Being able to manage your time will help you relax and focus on the test, rather than the lack of time. At NILAS, we use techniques to help our students learn time management. Here are some excellent tips that help:

Play to your strengths - If you have a weakness for something, you need to recognize it and avoid it if possible. If you are better at night, stay up late, better in the morning, get up early. On the exam, if you have a reading comprehension issue, then work on developing skills that help you focus on key words.
Set your own schedule and don’t let others barge in – Non law people don’t really understand the tremendous strain on your time, so don’t give them the chance to micro-manage it! Set clear boundaries for your loved ones and ask them to respect the time you have. We have learned at NILAS that study for the Bar Exam is about quality, not quantity in most situations. Remember, if you are studying for 8 hours for example, you probably got 3 good hours. The other hours were less then helpful.
Be realistic about how much time it will take – Studying for the Bar is a time consuming ordeal. Remember reading cases and briefing for law school, took time too. At first, when you are still at the beginning of your study, it will take longer, but take heart! You will get faster. In section 1 we talked about your study plan, create a schedule that makes sense, and then stick with it.

The Answer Set

Over the years, the staff at NILAS has invested hundreds of hours pursuing the art of the standardized test and what makes an answer set worthy of making it into the Bar Exam. As we said above, there are several things in common with all standardized tests; the answer set is one of those consistent items.

In your study program, be sure to devote a certain amount of time to the understanding of the answer set and the way the test writers develop the answers. For example, the LSAT (Law School Aptitude Test) has a series of free sample exams you can use to go over and test your knowledge of the material. One way you can improve your score is to unlock the previous exams and understand the methods the test writers used in the creation of the exam answers.

NILAS uses a similar process. Check out our class’s page, to learn more about workshops dedicated to understanding the Answer Set. You need to know how the answer set can impact your approach to any given problem.

The Essay

When you are weeks into the semester, burn out is not only possible, but probable. Often, the last thing students do in the first and second year of law school is to practice writing. You will see a recurring theme here. Essays are a variable component of any given standardized testing and for the most part, students don’t really practice the writing component. Rather, the typical student opts for understanding the legal principal and then “shooting” from the hip on the essay part, because let’s face it; they know how to spin yarn.

Good reason exists for this approach. For the most part, law students excelled in undergraduate in the writing category, finding it easy to scribe prose on the fly, with little or no advance warning, linguistically, Law students excel at the “making it up” part. Ironically, so do the test writers. As a result, they already know your game and have a trick or two up their sleeve. This includes the variable component specifically intended to beat those who think they can just wing it and be OK.

We at NILAS understand this dynamic and offer some real time tips on getting over this hurdle. At NILAS for example, we have created pedagogy to combat the propensity to just wing it by forcing the student into specific exercises designed to increase your variable writing skills. NILAS suggests, that in your specific learning program, there must be a component that not only teaches you how to write, but what to write for the greatest number of points.

In closing, remember working harder is good, but smarter is better. Find a program like NILAS that teaches you a methodology to passing the exam. Memorizing past essays or MBE questions won’t get you there, but a good method will. At NILAS we offer one method, there are others out there, but in any event make sure the one you go with is a fit for you.

[1] For more information and statistics on the Bar Exam, go to www.ncbex.org. The National Board keeps statistics on each year’s applicants and the performance in the jurisdiction.

[2] The MBE is the Multistate Bar Exam, a set of 200 multiple choice questions on 6 topics of law; Tort, Contract, Criminal law and Procedure, Constitutional law, Property and Federal Rules of Evidence.

Third Key to the Bar Exam: Be an Active rather than a Passive Learner.

2011-03-22T20:09:00Z

by Brian Herbert Wilson Jr., Esq.

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
– Benjamin Franklin

The Typical lecture style of education calls for a passive rather than an active approach. So whats the problem? Problem is....Most students don’t really engage the material and as a result have little or no application skills to put to the test. To excel on the Bar Exam, you have to be engaged!

We all have had the kind of class that bores you to tears. The professor stands at the front of the class and puts raw boring information on the board, or worse lectures from the podium for an hour and half. This author has been through some incredibly boring lifeless lectures and has been through vibrant interesting classes that are etched forever in the mind. Why are some classes engaging while other put us to sleep? In a word, active rather than passive teaching best describes the key difference. Typical Law Schools are ripe with this dichotomy. On the one hand, professors attempt to engage the students with a “modified” Socratic Method^{^[1]}, yet on the other hand they lecture with drab and boring material. When it comes to retention the experts agree, active teaching works. In the same way, you must learn to be an active learner because passive learning doesn’t work for the long term.

Historically, there have been two distinct paradigms at work in Law School. On the one hand, the student (first year for example) is expected to switch gears and learn in a highly competitive environment based on the Case Book Method. On the other hand, the student is typically been spoon fed information at the undergraduate level in a passive way where the typical undergraduate does not need to aggressively engage the material. Since the student has been raised on the more passive approach, that being lecture and absorb the material, once in the crucible of Law School, the approach must change.

Today, in the modern Law School, the passive approach will only go so far. To be an excellent student of law, the student must go beyond the typical passive approach. The problem develops however for first year law students because most typical students don’t understand the active vs. passive learning approach. NILAS instructs first year law students for example to engage the material by using the time tested briefing of the case material. In case you forgot, or never learned this technique, NILAS teaches first year law students to read the case material and create a brief of the case for class^{^[2]}. The Brief is a simple but effective tool that helps to unlock the case material for more understanding^{^[3]}. We learned in the last chapter, that NILAS teaches first years to master brief writing. Writing a brief of the case material stands as one of the single most effective tools in your war chest to understanding as a first year. Similarly, the active approach to Bar Prep works the same way. As a first year you must create an active approach on your own, the duty falls upon you individually, what better place to gain active understanding than your daily briefs. Sadly, most students give up on briefing early in the semester thinking it is a waste of time.

The illustration of briefing dovetails with the Bar Exam very well. In the same way briefing creates the mental pathways needed to transport the law from the abstract to the concrete, from the passive text to an active tool of understanding; you need some sort of pedagogy in your Bar Study plan that does the same thing. At NILAS, students learn how to use several very helpful writing techniques that help turn them into top notch active rather than passive “Bar” learners. Remember, legal writing must be practiced, but if you practice poor writing skills, from the start you will be at a disadvantage.

How does a student translate this into a real world example for the Bar Exam? One excellent way to learn how to be a great active learner stems from finding creative ways to learn the material. For the exam, the importance of practice writing cannot be over emphasized. When working with students in review sessions, NILAS professors realized that most students who did not have passing scores on the Essay portion of the Bar Exam needed more writing skills not just more knowledge of the law.

Becoming an active learner however will take practice. Old habits die hard. If you find yourself slipping back into passive learning, you need to shake out of it and move back into an active learning model. The most important part of active learning however develops from the learner themselves. The best way to explain active learning is that the learned takes the responsibility for the education by creating a plan (like we mentioned in the first article).

The following list highlights some of the things you can do to create your own
active rather than passive Bar Study Plan:

See if you can actually define exactly what that word or doctrine is in your own words, either by writing definitions down or explaining them out loud to others.
Find people that you can teach law to, for example friend, parents or children. The MAXIM, if you can explain it to others, then you are actively reinforcing your own learning.
Find ways to learn that really work for you. For example, NILAS teaches its students to write their own study cards, with examples and illustrations. By making your own study cards, it will reinforce the learning.
Determine what your strengths and weaknesses are. You will have the opportunity to take the LLI later, but for now, realize that if reading is your strength, don’t use audio tapes to learn by. If you find that you do best play to the strength actively.
Think in dualities. Often the law comes in pairs. So when you are working on active learning, make a game out of finding the logical or legal pair to a doctrine or area of law.
NILAS teaches in an “active” rather than passive way. Look for a Law School or Bar Prep Academic Support program that is active rather than passive in nature. (There are a few out there other than NILAS, but we like NILAS the best).

The Active vs. Passive debate may rage on, but in the end, NILAS Professors have learned that Active students perform better overall compared to passive learners.Take time to examine your learning method. In particular for the Bar Exam. If you find that your learning style tends to lean toward passive learning, call us at NILAS or talk to your academic support person to discuss how to be more active.

[1] The Socratic Method as employed in Law School will differ from professor to professor. Sometimes the typical Professor will not offer an answer at all, but rather options available merely contouring the law, leaving open to the student what the law actually is.

[2] There is an active debate regarding the need or usefulness of briefs for first year students. The debate however is misguided in the opinion of NILAS. The question should be what is the best technique for active learning.

[3] For more on the case briefing method, go to www.NILAS.US . NILAS instructs a method known as the Speed Brief Method, plus you will find several articles that help the first year student understand this technique.

Funny look at Math

2011-03-14T19:20:00Z

Its A Lot Like Math...

2011-03-14T18:52:00Z

by Brian Herbert Wilson Jr., Esq.

Over the decade, NILAS has learned that the study of law is a lot like Math. Sorry to break the news to all of you who either are going to law school or want to go to law school because you are not really great at Math.

Law school professors on the whole, use a specific kind of approach to teaching law, known as the Socratic Method^{^[1]}. Derived from the ancient world, this method uses a simple question and answer type pedagogy to illicit certain responses from the student, expand their thought process and “actively” engage the mind. The ancient setting, “sought to increase understanding through inquiry” where a student of philosophy may be asked a series of questions that would lead the student down a path of inductive reasoning.

In the modern law school professors apply the Socratic Method much like it was in the ancient world, however in all fairness; the professor has a great deal of latitude in the teaching in his or her classroom. Often, the true Socratic Method will be blended with other methods based on that professor’s teaching style that may include; straight lecture, group discussions and other assignments. Still, the number of core classes that employ the Socratic Style leads this writer to examine the effect on students and learning.

Every student of the law must be able to analyze legal problems from a critical thinking point of view^{^[2]}. The student must be able to take abstract concepts and put them into a cognitive order that makes sense to them. This ability is the same thing we do in solving math problems, whether inductive, deductive, analytical or analogical the Law Student must solve what amounts to word based “equations”.

What does this mean for Law Student or Bar Applicant? Simple, because a lot of legal education revolves around critical thinking skills, one must to be trained in critical thinking; NILAS has learned that math ability tends to be a great indicator of cognitive skills needed to excel at law. Based on this inquiry, NILAS offers the following observations:

1. If you had trouble with Math in high school or undergraduate college, consider taking a critical thinking skills test to determine if you may need some help in this area. Contact the Staff at NILAS to take this sort of test.

2. Learn to work lateral thinking puzzles and problems. Often, the mind can learn critical thinking skills or revive older skills by exercising them.

3. Contact the Staff at NILAS to discuss your learning history and see if you may have areas you can improve.

In closing, we offer this anecdotal look at Math…..

Used as a teaching aid under 17 U.S.C. § 107

[1] A quick search on the web, you will find an abundance of information regarding the Socratic Method. This Blog does not seek to expound on the virtues of this style of instruction, but rather to inform the reader this method has taken hold in law schools.

[2] Go to for more information: http://www.criticalthinking.org/aboutct/define_critical_thinking.cfm

Second Key to the Bar Exam; Master the Language

2011-03-11T01:59:00Z

The Second Key to the Bar Exam:

2. Master the Language; you need to know the law[1]. - There is no “secret” to the Bar Exam, you need to know some law, but it’s not just any law, it’s the law they are testing on.

Master the Language; you need to know the Law.

This statement may seem too obvious for you; the intent is to draw attention to an area that many Bar Examinees simply miss. Sure you need to know law! But what NILAS explains is the “language” of the law. Law School has changed only a little over the years. True we now have computers and electronic data but the time-proven methods are still largely the same. Since the Bar Exam is based mostly on the common law, the body of law tested on stays the same over the years. Rely on this fact, but don’t be fooled into thinking you need to simply memorize “Black”.

One of the biggest concerns NILAS has for Bar Examinees is the lack of basic knowledge of the law, the common law. This concern rests on the fact that while many students may be able to “explain” certain concepts or ideas, solid evidence exists that demonstrates students don’t really understand the language. NILAS has theories regarding the cause of this, but the reality is that many students just don’t know much common law based on the language of the era. Often we hear statements from students like, “I never knew that about Tort Law, or my professor did not go over that in class”. In some cases, students are learning information regarding a variety of subjects and common law doctrines for the very first time, during their Bar Review Class. The problem grows out of a simple fact, the material tested by the Board of Bar Examiners is not taught in first and second year law school. (While much of the material is instructed, to first and second year law students, some of the material tested by the Law Examiners is omitted from curriculums).

The reason for this disconnect is simple. In an effort to remain true to the American Bar Associations Accreditation practices, each law school must meet a set of rigid criteria that includes core material and contact time. The Accreditation process as defined at their website includes a variety of academic endeavors, contact time, limitations of instruction, faculty and the like. Taken as a whole, law schools must create a curriculum that meets the basis ABA requirements and at the same time keep a minimum of 75% bar passage rates. [2] In meeting the requirements, some Law Schools have trimmed otherwise robust curriculum in favor of a more brief and theoretical platform in lieu of the traditional black letter law Socratic Method.

Another point builds on the theme we mentioned in the previous section, many Law Schools rely on the Bar Prep organizations to fill in the gaps. In other words, professors and departments actually rely upon the Bar Prep companies to instruct in the blind areas or areas of law that don’t make the curriculum cut. One example is the Statute of Frauds found in common law of contracts. Some law professors have simply omitted this area from their syllabus due in part time crunch and contact time restrictions. In other words, in a typical 16 week semester with class meeting twice a week, 32 one hour lecture times must be divided into some type of curriculum. This creates a difficult task at best for the law professor to “cram” everything tested on the Bar Exam into the semester. In short, something has to go.

The problem is not really about not learning in first year law model, but rather about the material not being instructed in first year law at all. For some students, this really does not pose a problem, they just stick with the basics of reading, writing and the practice of analysis and this works fine because once they get into the Bar Prep class, they fill in the gaps and move on. However, what happens to the student who may have struggled with the first or second year? For example, what if you found yourself in the middle of the pack, your grades were not really strong, but you did well enough to pass. In your case, you need to have more.

At this point we think it important to stress that merely remembering “Black Letter Law” does not equate to mastery of the common law because much of the common law evolved from a core language common to all legal practitioners. In order to really have an understanding of the common law, a student must also understand the corollary concepts that each area of the law imposes. For example, understanding contracts requires the student to comprehend a global perspective of the deal. Merely knowing an offer rule will only help you if the question calls for an offer rule definition. The confusion builds on a simple idea; the Board of Bar Examiners generally won’t test on the core law alone, but on the other legal issues that the core law raises. NILAS calls this the sub issues raised by the law.

To further illustrate this point, the Law Examiners will test on several doctrines and concepts at the same time. Often these doctrines will have similarities that can confuse the reader. Somehow though, there will be a difference, subtle but important to the application of the real law. As a learner, you need to be able to identify what the difference is and make your choice accordingly.

Master readers only- First day of classes in Law School you probably realized that legal case books are not your typical text. There are no pictures usually, and the answers don’t appear clearly and concisely, you really have to dig for the answers. Rarely outside of supplemental books, study aids or flash cards, does a legal textbook actually tell you what the law says.

To Master the language of the law, be a master reader– The legal profession is founded on the ability to read and understand case law.

To be a master reader, you have to have “legal” fluency. Just like learning a foreign language, you must have input, internalization, output of the subject material and feedback to verify accuracy or some form of correction. During law school, this form of feedback will be self-regulated with the exception of a single final exam. To increase fluency you must read often, speak it often and write it often. When in doubt look up the meaning and remember that you may think you know the meaning.

To a better understanding, you have to engage the material. NILAS instructs first year students to brief the cases for example as a way to digest the volumes of information. While there are many methods, it is the process of briefing that is the real benefit not just the reading of the text.

In the same way, Bar Examinees must go beyond just reading the text of the Bar Prep company or do some fill in the blank sheet in front of a tape recorded lecture. NILAS recommends the use of some type of method to learn what the laws that are or can be tested on and then a method to reinforce the laws you just learned.

Try this: The Legal vocabulary test:

Choose an area of law, for example Tort Law.
Write down key words from that area of law on a sheet of paper. (you can get this from a glossary on Torts, like from a treatise)
See if you can actually define exactly what that word or doctrine is in your own words.
Check your Facts against the common law definition of the word or doctrine.
Identify doctrines or words that you don’t understand and make notes regarding them.

To really understand the common law, you must place the law into some sort of real life example where a practical and illustration can gain traction in your mind. Merely trying to memorize without application won’t work. "Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in."
— Leonardo da Vinci

[1] For more information regarding the language and the law, see the authors paper, An Introduction to Legal Education and the Correlation to Childhood Cognitive Development Theory, available through NILAS Press.

[2] For more information go to: http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/legaled/standards/2010-2011_standards/2010-2011abastandards_pdf_files/chapter3.authcheckdam.pdf

MAXIM for Legal Learning-

Briefing creates the mental pathways needed to transport the law from the abstract to the concrete, from the passive text to an active tool of understanding.

Working your Plan

2011-03-05T00:47:00Z

Quote- "Amateurs train until they get it right....the "Rock Star" trains until he can't get it wrong" Author- Lucious Maximous Nilas

Making a plan on how you are going to tackle the Bar Exam was our topic last post. Remember it is not too late to talk to a professional here at NILAS regarding a Bar Exam study plan tailor made for your learning style.

Speaking of learning Style, Remember that NILAS has designed the Legal Learning Inventory (LLI) to help you understand what kind of legal learner you are. Best of All it is FREE.

To take the LLI, Contact the staff here at NILAS .

DID YOU KNOW?

Statistically your are disadvantaged if you are a repeat bar taker? Its true. If you are taking the Bar Exam in any given state for a second or third time, you stand a significantly lower chance of succeeding. For example, look at California in 2009. If you took the Bar Exam as a repeat taker, your passing % was only 24% compared to a 66% pass rate for the First Time group. (Data collected from: http://www.ncbex.org/bar-admissions/stats/ ).

What this means is that you need to do something different than before. In order for you to succeed and beat the odds, you must do something that you did not do before.

If you do what you have done in the past, you will get what you have gotten before.

Make a NEW PLAN.

Seven Keys to Bar Exam Success

2011-03-03T19:09:00Z

Seven Keys to Bar Exam Success

By - Brian Hebert Wilson Jr.- M.A., J.D.

O one knows the future, and if anyone tells you what you “have to do” in order to pass the bar exam, check their credentials[1]. Not even NILAS can tell you exactly what is on the next Bar Exam, because we don’t know. What we do know is some basic things that will help you; one of the biggest is to conquer your fear.

In order to conquer your fear, it helps to know just exactly what you are doing, or at least what you are going to do. What follows is as a brief article on some things that we have learned over the years while instructing both law students and Bar applicants. This article is a chapter from the author’s book, the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Law School” by NILAS PRESS.

NILAS SEVEN KEYS TO BAR EXAM SUCCESS:

1. Stick with the basics… You need a plan on both how to study and how to take the exam and need to follow that plan.

2. Master the Language; you need to know the Law.

3. Be an “active” rather than a passive learner.

4. Understand the methodology behind the exam, don’t just memorize past exam answers.

5. Practice makes perfect. So you need to be doing some Writing, then practice some more.

6. Manage your time, instead of being managed.

7. Be true to whom you are, because in the end, you have to live with yourself, you need to know your weakness and what to do about it.

: go to- www.nilas.us – Want to know more? Take an online legal learning inventory. It is free, plus explanations of archetypical learning styles.

1. Stick with the Basics; you need a plan on both how to study for the Bar and how to take the Bar exam and you need to follow that plan. “You can adapt your learning style to the method of instruction, but, you need to know how”.

The First Key to Bar Exam Success – Make a Plan.

How does someone really study for success on the Bar Exam? Over the years, this question has been asked by thousands of Bar Applicants. Some figure it all out on their own, we call them lawyers, but for thousands of others, who have failed, perhaps many times, this question nags at them. NILAS has specialized in helping the repeat bar taker for many years. Starting out with just a few students here and there, the Professors at NILAS began to recognize some patterns amongst Bar Examinees that led us to begin with creating a simple but profound entry tool for our students. A study and test taking plan to help guide them through the maze and stop wasting time. Simply, many of the Bar Examinees would explain to us that they knew a lot of law, even felt comfortable about taking essays, but really did not have a formulated plan on just what to do over the time they had to study.

Knowing law is a great entry point, but simply knowing a lot of law on a standardized exam won’t generally do it. Let’s face it, there are hundreds of thousands of lawyers in the world, and each one learned some sort of law before taking the big exam, but not everyone passes. We explain in the next section that you do need to know the law to pass the Bar Exam, but just knowing the law alone won’t cut it because standardized testing also tests, how to take a standardized test. This may sound absurd, but we assure you, it is not.

To be a great Bar Exam taker, you are going to need some skills beyond the mere wrote knowledge of the law. In our Article, “The Seven Keys to Law School Success” we discussed some basic abilities you will need to succeed these include; the ability to process analytical, analogical and deductive reasoning. The skills set you use the most during law school; will also be the same set of skills you will use on the Bar Exam.

It makes sense then that many of the students who excel at law school also do well on the Bar Exam. It seems somewhat unfair, but if you did well on the LSAT for example, (which is a standard aptitude test) then you will excel on the Bar Exam. The reason is simple. At an early age, many of the students who had parents and teachers who helped to develop your analytical skills, analogical reasoning and the ability to deductively come to a conclusion, are also the same students who
“historically” do well on other standardized tests. So that is the good news. If you are in the special camp of historically doing well on standardized tests, well then you may be able to SWAG your way through the Bar Exam. For those who may have struggled with the LSAT you may need help. What if you found yourself in the middle of pack at graduation or just barely graduated from Law School. Perhaps it has been a long time since Law School; you will need more help. NILAS, would like to point out a not so obvious observation. Many of the Law Schools, which consider themselves, “top” tier also, have a higher threshold in regards to the standard aptitude indicators. In other words have a higher standard for admissions. For example, if you to go to U.S. New and World Report’s annual rankings of Law Schools, the higher tier schools also have very high average LSAT and GPA scores when compared to lower ranked schools. It makes sense then, that the top tier schools also have a very high Bar Pass rate, because the standard aptitude indicators are the same ones that point toward high Bar Passage.

So what does this mean for the rest of the world? Well, NILAS has learned that you need to go into the exam armed with all the tools and skills you need to pass the test. A complete package, so to speak. One way that NILAS has helped students stems from the Legal Learning Inventory (LLI). (You can read more about this in § 7 below, but for now, the LLI was developed to help the legal learner identify some of the weaknesses you may have and work toward solving potential problems in your legal learning pedagogy). In the meantime, each student with NILAS is given a Bar Exam learning plan, to remove the doubts and create a baseline for improvement. To begin with, each student needs some sort of baseline to begin because without some basic measurable starting point, it is difficult to identify improvement. This can take the form of reviewing past exams or performance in Law School, or it can be in the form of interview to review core concepts of the law and how to apply facts. Still, each student must have some sort of elemental starting point with which to gauge their progress. To illustrate, repeat test takers can learn a great deal from their past performance(s). By reviewing answer choices, essays and MPT responses, the staff at NILAS can create a core set of strengths and weaknesses.

N What should your “plan” look like? Over the years, NILAS has learned that there is no one size fits all plan for taking the Bar Exam. Other Bar Exam Tutors or Bar Prep companies really bootstrap off the previous idea or concept, that since a certain percentage of students already have the success indicators with their previous standard aptitude skills a brief review of subject matter or material is all that is needed. This is the core reason behind many of the Bar Prep organization simply cramming vast amounts of information into a short period of time. Skills such as reading, briefing, note-taking and writing are either nonexistent or are ignored altogether. This approach works for those students who have a certain amount of success indicators for standard aptitude tests, but really don’t work at all for those who need more. Your Bar Exam plan should include both your strengths and weaknesses along with a plan regarding each. You should also have a clear cut approach on how to use your time and how you are going increase your knowledge and application of the law. At NILAS we provide study plans and guides that help the student focus on areas of concern and reinforce the areas you excel in as well as a day to day “what to do”. Of course, any plan out of necessity must be subject to change, so we suggest you build in correction tools as needed. This means that you need to have the ability to make constant real time assessments and make changes accordingly. Sort of like a ship on the sea, by taking soundings and readings, a ship constantly must make course corrections otherwise; the ship will simply drift off course.

N - You have to pass the bar exam, NOT just graduate from Law School to practice Law, BUT, You have to learn how to take the Bar Exam in order to use what you learned in Law School...keep this in mind.

In closing, your study plan should be unique to you. There may be some similarities between your study and exam plan and the next person, but NILAS reject the idea that one size fits all. This approach simply will not work in every situation. Take control of your future, make a plan and stick to it. In the end, you will control the exam, instead of being controlled by it.

Highlights of a Good Exam Plan:

A. Know your strengths and weaknesses by identifying them in clear language

B. Create a road map of study based on your strengths and weaknesses

C. Build in some sort of real time assessment to gauge your performance and adjust to your needs

D. Use your time wisely by a weekly what to do and stick to the plan

[1] The National Board of Bar Examiners in conjunction with the American Bar Association publishes a guide to Bar Admission Requirements. To download a copy of this guide for free, go to: http://www.ncbex.org/fileadmin/mediafiles/downloads/Comp_Guide/2011_CompGuide.pdf

NOTE: The second ARTICLE will appear next week.

Welcome

2010-03-30T09:47:11Z

Welcome to the NILAS Blog!

Over the decades we have learned a lot about being a law student and what it means in the real world. The Faculty here at NILAS will post items from time to time of interest. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Here is a great quote, " It is a capitol mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

Stop back for more information!