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September 1, 2025 13 mins

Welcome back to the Bar Exam Toolbox podcast! In this episode we provide practical advice for creating a personalized bar exam study schedule, taking into account accommodations, past scores, available study time, and life events. We emphasize the importance of scheduling breaks, managing unplanned interruptions, and being realistic about your commitments to ensure effective and sustainable preparation.  

In this episode, we discuss:

  • Bar exam accommodations
  • Analyzing past scores
  • Estimating your study time
  • Incorporating breaks into your study routine
  • Handling unplanned interruptions

Resources:

Download the Transcript
(https://barexamtoolbox.com/episode-323-quick-tips-building-your-bar-exam-study-schedule/)

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Thanks for listening!

Alison & Lee

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lee Burgess (00:02):
Welcome to the Bar Exam Toolbox podcast.
Today we are talking about tips forwhat to consider before establishing
your bar study schedule, aspart of our "Quick Tips" series.
Your Bar Exam toolbox hosts are AlisonMonahan and Lee Burgess, that's me.
We're here to demystify the barexam experience so you can study
effectively, stay sane, and hopefullypass and move on with your life.

(00:23):
We're the co-creators of the Law SchoolToolbox, the Bar Exam Toolbox, and the
career-related website CareerDicta.
Alison also runs TheGirl's Guide to Law School.
If you enjoy the show, please leavea review or rating on your favorite
listening app, and check out our sisterpodcast, the Law School Toolbox podcast.
If you have any questions, don'thesitate to reach out to us.
You can reach us via the contactform on BarExamToolbox.com,

(00:45):
and we'd love to hear from you.
And with that, let's get started.
Welcome back!
Today we will be talking about what youneed to consider in order to create,
customize, or select your study schedule.
Whether you're choosing a preset barcourse, modifying an existing study

(01:08):
schedule, or diving into creating yourown self-guided study plan, you need to
make sure your schedule works for you.
We're going to talk about the impactof accommodations and past scores,
how much time you will be studyingeach week, how life events come
into play, scheduling breaks andcatchup time, and giving yourself a
cushion for unexpected occurrences.

(01:31):
First up, let's talk about accommodations.
If you don't get accommodations, thiswon't apply to you, and if you get them
but your accommodation is somethinglike special permission to wear
headphones, to drink water, or to sitin a particular type of chair, then they
won't impact your study schedule at all.
If, however, you have extended timein some way, you need to make sure

(01:51):
that you are factoring that intoyour study schedule, or that the
study schedule you purchased can bemodified to take that into account.
Extra time accommodations impact howmany practice essays, performance
tests, or MBE questions you cancomplete in a given study session.
This is generally reasonably easy toadjust, but what really catches people

(02:12):
off guard is the full practice test.
Full practice tests are absolutelycrucial to bar success, and
practicing with your exam day timingis what makes them so valuable.
You learn things about your staminaand needs that you just don't
get in individual essay practice.
If you have an extra 15 minutes or soto accommodate an extra break, then you

(02:34):
should practice accordingly, but thisprobably won't make a huge difference
to the schedule itself, as long asyou are able to plan for a couple of
days to accommodate the practice test.
If, however, you have enough extratime that you will have one or two
extra days to take the exam, then yourschedule needs to leave room for you to
have that extra day or two to practice.

(02:57):
Continuing with things that onlyapply to some listeners, if you're
a repeat taker, then you need totake a look at your score report.
We've talked about this onour blog and are also happy to
take a look if you'd like to.
We've linked to that in the show notes.
To the extent that your jurisdictiongives you information, did you ace

(03:18):
one part of the exam, but anotherone lagged significantly behind?
Were you generally pretty even,but within a few points of passing?
Or generally pretty even, but alsohave a lot of ground to make up?
Note that how close you aredepends heavily on how your
jurisdiction scales its scores.
A 30-point gap is prettyclose in California, but a

(03:40):
bigger stretch in a UBE state.
That information can be super usefulfor planning your bar studies.
If you have one definite strength,then you should still spend
time on that part of the exam.
But your focus should be on maintainingyour scores and maybe building on
that strength to get even more points.
Don't ignore it completely, but moretime should be spent on your weaker

(04:03):
area, figuring out what went wrongand doing dedicated, thoughtful
practice to help you make adjustments.
If you were close to passing, thenyou should continue the work you
did before, but maybe with a heavieremphasis on memorization and practice.
You likely already have the backgroundknowledge and a general understanding
of what you need to do on exam day,so you can probably bridge the gap

(04:26):
with memorization, practice, andthoughtful assessment of that practice.
If you have more ground to make up andyou don't have a no-longer- relevant
reason that would account for it, thenyou need to take a hard look at what
you did last time and do somethingdifferent, but in a thoughtful way.
For most people, this meansmore time spent practicing.
For some people though, they alsoneed more time developing a baseline

(04:49):
understanding of the material, whichalso means that they need more total
study time than they devoted previously.
Once you have a sense for whatyour accommodations and past scores
mean for how you will need toadjust your time, you can get into
the stuff that impacts everyone.
How much time do you reallyhave for your studies?
For this exercise, we recommend either adigital calendar or a dry erase calendar.

(05:13):
The digital calendar should be one thatyou find easy to manipulate and that
won't impact your actual calendar, atleast while you're in the planning phase.
A dry erase calendar can beeasier for some people to look at.
Both have the benefit of beingeasy to make changes in, and that's
what's really important here.
So, you should use whateveris easiest for you to review.

(05:34):
As you're doing this, keep inmind that our general rule of
thumb is 400 hours of study time.
This goes up if you have accommodationsthat impact your timing, if you have
a lot of ground to make up based onprior exam scores, or you have a shaky
background in the tested law; and cango down if you are taking a one-day
attorney's exam in California, or ifyou are within a few points of passing

(05:55):
and really know the law, but need tojust throw yourself into practice.
First, take a look at howmuch time you are going to be
studying in an average week.
We talk about studying full-timeversus part-time, and that's a useful
way to sort through schedule options.
But at the end of the day, oneperson's full-time studying might
be the same number of hours asanother person's part-time studying.

(06:18):
So, really think about this.
What other day-to-dayobligations do you have?
How much time do they take and howmuch energy do they leave you with?
Are there any that you can drop orreduce during the bar study period?
Keep in mind that meals and restare not items that you should drop
from your daily obligation list.
Once you do that, how manyhours of solid study time will

(06:39):
you have each day of the week?
We suggest actually looking at thespecific times of day when you can study
and scheduling tentative appointmentswith yourself to study, just to
see what that makes your week looklike, especially if you can include
your daily obligations on there.
Also, look at the last few weeks beforethe bar exam and consider if, when,

(07:00):
and how you might be able to ramp upyour studies to make a final push.
Once you get your standard weekfigured out, take a look at
holidays or other live events.
Is someone important to yougraduating or getting married?
Are you planning on the Februaryexam, but your family is absolutely
obsessed with the winter holidays?
Do you have one or more trips plannedfor the middle of your bar study period?

(07:22):
List all of these things andassess them one at a time.
What can you reschedule?
What can you skip?
Of the things that are set in stone foryou, how much time will they ideally cut
from your schedule, and how much time willthey realistically cut from your schedule?
We work with a lot of people who tell usthat they'll study during their family

(07:42):
holiday gathering or while travelingto and from an out-of-state wedding.
But when it comes down to it,there's too much going on for
that study time to be useful.
Just be honest with yourself about whatyou can do, so you can plan effectively.
Get all of this information onto yourcalendar along with your standard week.
Whew!

(08:03):
That was already a lot to think about,and we haven't even gotten to the
really squishy considerations yet.
First up, breaks.
Most bar studiers who strugglewith this seem to fall into one
of two camps on taking breaks.
Some bar studiers are absolutely convincedthat they will never need breaks.
They will study 12 hours perday, every day, from law school

(08:25):
graduation until the bar exam.
Or they're working a standard9 to 5 job, but will study for
eight hours in the mornings andevenings and 12 on the weekends.
For these people, reality sets in quickly,and if their study schedule relied on 60
or more hours of study time per week, itwill fall apart and leave them frantic.
The other camp is the studiers whoplan for more breaks than study time.

(08:49):
They either overcorrect so hard againstoverstudying that they don't have enough
dedicated time to pull together a cohesiveschedule, even though they actually have
time available day-to-day, or they planso many trips throughout the study period
that they can never build momentum.
As usual, there's no one "right"answer, but optimal break planning

(09:11):
falls somewhere in the middle.
At minimum, as mentioned above, you wantto make sure that your study plan allows
for a sufficient time to sleep and eat.
If you aren't taking care of thosebasic needs, you won't be able to
retain information in an effective way.
If possible, we also recommend tryingto come up with at least one activity
per day that will recharge you.

(09:32):
This does not have to be somethingexpensive, and it shouldn't
be anything that is lengthy.
Think about a phone call with a friendwho is willing to chat with you about
anything but the bar exam, a regularworkout routine, a daily meditation
practice, a walk around the neighborhood,or an episode of a favorite show.
Note that some of these types ofactivities might also be able to

(09:53):
serve as a reward for finishingyour daily or weekly study tasks.
We also encourage you to incorporatebreaks within your study time.
This might not appear on your studyschedule itself, but it will impact
how much time you give yourself foreach activity and could seriously
impact how you feel at the end of it.
Look up the Pomodoro technique andconsider adapting it to your bar study.

(10:16):
During substantive review, most peoplewill hit a wall at some point where
they are reading without thinking.
Set a timer for 20 or 30 minutes,or whatever works for you,
each time you start to review.
When the timer goes off, setanother timer for five minutes.
Use that time to stretch or get some waterand do a mini reset before diving back in.
When you are doing a practice essay ora PT, you should be setting a timer for

(10:38):
the amount of time you'll have to writeduring the bar exam, but you can arrange
for yourself to have a five-minutebreak between writing the essay and
reviewing it, and another between yourreview and diving into the next task.
When it comes to taking days offfrom study time, our recommendation
depends heavily on how muchand how long you are studying.
Again, we have a flexible rule of thumbwith 400 hours as the target study time.

(11:01):
If you are studying long enough thatyou can hit that target with five study
days per week, then you can probablyleave two days a week off or for catchup.
If your studies are more condensed, thenyou might want to plan on one short day
per week - performance test practice canbe great for a short day, since it doesn't
require any outside law - and leave therest of that day open for breathing room.

(11:24):
So, these are your planned breaks.
But what about unplanned ones?
Illness is really the biggest one.
It can knock days or weeks outof your bar study time, and
you can't really predict it.
But there are also major life eventsand changes, both good and bad,
that can pop up without warningand really throw off your studies.
As you make or select your study schedule,before you get frazzled and exhausted,

(11:47):
take some time to figure out whereyou'll make up time if something happens.
Is there a second or third review of thesubjects that you could reduce or remove?
Or maybe you can pare thesubstantive review back from study
development of understanding to quick
memorization of heavily tested law.
Basically,
take a look at your schedule before you start and figure out what you
can do to go from an "ideal" scheduleto a "good enough" schedule, and write

(12:11):
down that plan just in case you need it.
Also, make a decision about whatchanges to your study schedule would
lead you to make the shift frompreparing for the immediate bar exam to
preparing long-term for the next one.
No one wants to think about thesecontingencies, but taking the time to
plan for them will leave you feelingmore anchored if something happens.

(12:31):
Once you have all this information- and I get it, it's a lot - you
can plan your bar studies.
This might mean filling your calendarwith your own agenda of substantive
review and practice, or figuring out whichpurchased study schedule and prep course
will best fit into your available time.
Either way, it's always bestto have enough information to
make the right decision for you.

(12:53):
And with that, we are out of time!
If you enjoyed this episode of theBar Exam Toolbox podcast, please
take a second to leave a review andrating on your favorite listening app.
We'd really appreciate it.
And be sure to subscribeso you don't miss anything.
If you have any questions or comments,please don't hesitate to reach out to
myself or Alison at lee@barexamtoolbox.comor alison@barexamtoolbox.com.

(13:15):
Or you can always contactus via our website contact
form at BarExamToolbox.com.
Thanks for listening, and we'll talk soon!
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