Matt Racine - Bar Exam Mind: A Strategy Guide to an Anxiety-Free Bar Exam

Bar Exam Mind

A Strategy Guide for an Anxiety-Free Bar Exam

Second edition

Matt Racine

Editor, BarExamMind.com

Other books by Matt Racine:

• Bar Exam Basics: A Roadmap for Bar Exam Success
• The Bar Exam Mind Bar Exam Journal
• How to Write Bar Exam Essays: Strategies and Tactics to Help You Pass the Bar Exam

O ther bar exam products from BarExamMind.com:

• MBE Outlines
• California Bar Outlines
• 101 Bar Exam Affirmations
• Bar Exam Visualization Audio Program

S top by barexammind.com/newsletter to sign up for the Bar Exam Mind newsletter.

Copyright 2014 Matt Racine and Lake George Press

ISBN-13: 978-0615999005

ISBN-10: 061599900X

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying without the written permission of the publisher.

This book is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of physicians, therapists, or other healthcare professionals. The reader should regularly consult a physician, therapist, or other healthcare professional in matters relating to his/her health and particularly with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention.

For permission requests or bulk orders, write to the publisher at the address below.

Lake George Press

P.O. Box 235094

Encinitas, CA 92023-5094

or

barexammind.com/contact

This book is dedicated to the next generation of lawyers.

Preface to the second edition

T he first edition of this book has been more successful than I could have imagined. I have received lots of positive feedback from many readers. At least one reader even made a YouTube video about it! I am grateful for the positive reception.

It now has been three years since the first edition of this book was published, and during that time, I have spoken with many students about their particular bar exam performance problems and have done additional research about how to reduce bar exam stress and anxiety even more. So, it was time for an update.

I hope you enjoy the new book.

Introduction

T he bar examination is a feared obstacle for many who want to be lawyers.

The bar exam strikes terror into the hearts of third-year law students and has laid low takers who graduated first in their law school class, who graduated from top-tier law schools, and even those who have been practicing law for many years and must take the examination again when they move to another state.

During administrations of the exam, test takers have been known to faint, suffer panic attacks, or vomit. The stress level is intense; the psychic and financial price of failure is high.

It does not have to be that way.

I have passed two bar examinations: Oregon and California. Pass rates for the Oregon exam are usually between 70 percent and 80 percent, while the pass rate for the California exam hovers around 50 percent, and is often lower. In fact, the examination that I passed had an overall pass rate of just under 40 percent. Yuk!

What was my secret for passing the bar exam? Did I enroll in some magical test-preparation course that creates 100 percent pass-rates? No. Do I have a photographic memory? No. Did I cheat? Of course not.

There is a single fundamental building block upon which all bar exam success rests:

You must have a Bar Exam Mind.

What is a Bar Exam Mind anyway?

It is a mind which is self-aware and calm. It is a mind well-practiced in letting go of stress and worry. It is a mind that believes it will pass the bar exam because it has already seen itself pass the bar exam.

A Bar Exam Mind removes as much of the fear of failure and exam anxiety as possible, in order to allow it to spend its energy and focus on learning the law and practicing for a peak performance on the bar exam. A Bar Exam Mind does not waste its energy on the fatiguing and distracting mental states arising from worry.

The goal of this book it to get you to the point where preparation and practice, not distracting psychic preoccupations, are the only things that matter. If you cannot move past fear, anxiety, worry, and stress, your bar exam preparations will be handicapped because some part of your mind will always be focusing on negative outcomes.

When most people (and I was no exception) first begin studying for the bar exam, the magnitude of the information to be learned is so overwhelming that it is easy to become highly stressed. In fact, it is understandable that some form of panic initially sets in.

The important thing to realize in the midst of this panic is that hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people have passed the bar exam. Most of them are just like you and me: You can do this.

As you work through the exercises in this book and begin developing and strengthening your Bar Exam Mind, your stress level will decrease the closer you get to the bar exam. Research confirms when we learn in a state of calm, we are more focused and can learn and retain information more quickly and more thoroughly than if we are learning while trapped in a state of anxiety.

Peak performance and peak learning occur during periods of extreme focus and pure acceptance of what you are experiencing. I am not saying that you need to get into some New Age trance in order to pass the bar exam. But, I am saying that you cannot fight against the hours and hours of practice, review, and memorization necessary to pass the bar exam.

Do not look at bar exam study as drudgery or a form of punishment. It is simply the needed means to achieve a goal you have set for yourself .

Own your choices.

The benefits of an ownership mindset are, at least, three-fold. First, the learning process is much easier when you are enjoying yourself (or at least not constantly whispering to yourself, this sucks). Second, it is much easier to recall information learned while in a positive, focused mental state. Third, when learning is easier, you can complete your studies in less time and have more time for friends and family, thus decreasing the feeling of drudgery weeks of study can induce in the mind and soul.

* * *

S uccess on the bar exam boils down to three things: diligence; anticipation of conditions; and stress reduction.

Diligence is simply the requirement that you prepare continuously and systematically for the bar examination without interruption or distraction. (This is something to be done in discrete, highly-focused, and limited periods, not 24/7 for ten solid weeks.)