Vacation during bar study Forum

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Sep 19, 2017 1:29 pm

Op here. Thanks for the responses everyone, it's great to hear so many different opinions and perspectives. The vacation will be in a pretty relaxed environment, so I should have no problem finding time to study. At this point, I'm planning on going mainly because I want my spouse and kids to get to go (and they can entertain themselves while I study somewhere all day). I guess it doesn't make a difference if I study in a library or in an empty hotel room.

dixiecupdrinking

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by dixiecupdrinking » Tue Sep 19, 2017 1:47 pm

People's opinions on this will vary widely because people's experiences with the bar vary widely. If you're good at memorization and standardized tests, you could start studying for the bar in July and be fine. If not, you might need to maximize every day you have.

IMO if you have generally performed well relative to your effort level on the LSAT and law school exams, you can pass the bar with much less time and energy than Barbri will suggest.

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SmokeytheBear

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by SmokeytheBear » Tue Sep 19, 2017 1:49 pm

deleted! My bad.
Last edited by SmokeytheBear on Tue Sep 19, 2017 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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cron1834

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by cron1834 » Tue Sep 19, 2017 2:00 pm

SmokeytheBear wrote:
dixiecupdrinking wrote: IMO if you have generally performed well relative to your effort level on the LSAT . . . you can pass the bar with much less time and energy than Barbri will suggest.


Yeah except that empirical studies have found that not to be true.
Source? I'm not declaring that you're wrong, but it seems pretty clear that LSAT and bar pass are correlated, i.e. TTT schools generally have worse bar pass rates and T14s are better. What are you citing to here?

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SmokeytheBear

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by SmokeytheBear » Tue Sep 19, 2017 2:06 pm

cron1834 wrote:
SmokeytheBear wrote:
dixiecupdrinking wrote: IMO if you have generally performed well relative to your effort level on the LSAT . . . you can pass the bar with much less time and energy than Barbri will suggest.


Yeah except that empirical studies have found that not to be true.
Source? I'm not declaring that you're wrong, but it seems pretty clear that LSAT and bar pass are correlated, i.e. TTT schools generally have worse bar pass rates and T14s are better. What are you citing to here?
Wait yeah my bad. LSAT is a predictor; university grades are not. Apologies for the confusion!

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dixiecupdrinking

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by dixiecupdrinking » Tue Sep 19, 2017 2:17 pm

SmokeytheBear wrote:
cron1834 wrote:
SmokeytheBear wrote:
dixiecupdrinking wrote: IMO if you have generally performed well relative to your effort level on the LSAT . . . you can pass the bar with much less time and energy than Barbri will suggest.


Yeah except that empirical studies have found that not to be true.
Source? I'm not declaring that you're wrong, but it seems pretty clear that LSAT and bar pass are correlated, i.e. TTT schools generally have worse bar pass rates and T14s are better. What are you citing to here?
Wait yeah my bad. LSAT is a predictor; university grades are not. Apologies for the confusion!
I mean, it's also just common sense that if you're good at taking standardized tests, you'll be good at taking the bar, which is largely a multiple choice standardized test. A good portion of it is just test-taking strategy.

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pancakes3

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by pancakes3 » Tue Sep 19, 2017 3:43 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Op here. Thanks for the responses everyone, it's great to hear so many different opinions and perspectives. The vacation will be in a pretty relaxed environment, so I should have no problem finding time to study. At this point, I'm planning on going mainly because I want my spouse and kids to get to go (and they can entertain themselves while I study somewhere all day). I guess it doesn't make a difference if I study in a library or in an empty hotel room.
if it means your wife and kids spending quality time with the rest of your family, that tips my response to "yeah, just go on the vacation."

also, laypeople are a good audience to talk crim and domestic relation law with.

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by albanach » Tue Sep 19, 2017 5:40 pm

pancakes3 wrote:
if it means your wife and kids spending quality time with the rest of your family, that tips my response to "yeah, just go on the vacation."

also, laypeople are a good audience to talk crim and domestic relation law with.
Can't your wife and kids go without you? Then you get a week of uninterrupted study time and they get out of the pressure cooker environment that exists around most folk studying for the bar.

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cron1834

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by cron1834 » Tue Sep 19, 2017 7:47 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Op here. Thanks for the responses everyone, it's great to hear so many different opinions and perspectives. The vacation will be in a pretty relaxed environment, so I should have no problem finding time to study. At this point, I'm planning on going mainly because I want my spouse and kids to get to go (and they can entertain themselves while I study somewhere all day). I guess it doesn't make a difference if I study in a library or in an empty hotel room.
I think this is right. I'm still awaiting bar results, so take this with a grain of salt, but I see no problem with studying a couple hours a day and vacationing the rest of the time, for a week. Study a little more the few days preceding, and study a little more the few days following, and you should have no problem staying on-pace. The study programs build in a couple off-days anyway. In July I wouldn't mess around, but I see no problem with this.

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First Offense

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by First Offense » Tue Sep 19, 2017 7:49 pm

Take the vacation.

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RedGiant

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by RedGiant » Tue Sep 19, 2017 8:09 pm

Take the vacation. You can get ahead before you go. You can listen to lectures anywhere. You're still just getting in the groove at that point. Also, honestly, a little change of scenery is good because bar study gets monotonous. If you're already married with kids and in law school, that gives me a good indication of where your head is at. You can do this. A lot of my friends went away during the bar. I even went to another city for 4th of July just to get away from my tiny apartment/library routine. Take the bar seriously and you're going to succeed. GL!

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by lavarman84 » Tue Sep 19, 2017 8:38 pm

Go on vacation. Don't study (unless you really feel like you have to study). You'll be fine. Just start in May. I didn't start studying until June, I took a three-day trip in early-June, and I still passed the bar this year. You can easily make that week up if you start studying in May.

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JenDarby

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by JenDarby » Wed Sep 20, 2017 8:57 am

Go on the vacation. Plenty of people don't start studying until mid late June and pass with no problem. As others have said, the most important thing is really your comfort level and knowledge of your own standardized test taking ability.

I worked 3 days a week until the week before the bar exam and took 2 or 3 mini vacations during bar prep. I watched all (well not all, maybe 75% at most) the videos at 2x speed, skipped most essay prep (didn't do any practice essays or watch videos), and focused on nailing the MBE. Bar prep really isn't a full time job, or at least it doesn't need to be.

Also get Lean Sheets. I always plug these because they are awesome and I truly believe a good test taker could pass the bar with just Lean Sheets, tons of practice MBE, and knowing the structure expected for essays (they only have a minute or so to read each essay so putting it in the simple/suggested format and using legal words is just about sufficient).
Last edited by JenDarby on Mon Jan 29, 2018 11:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Sep 20, 2017 3:21 pm

Prefacing this with the consensus advice so far--you are in the best position to judge how well you test, how likely your law school experience makes you to pass the exam, and how hard you are willing to work to make up for the missed time. Be realistic with yourself.

I went camping for 3 weeks starting at the beginning of June the summer I took the Bar. I had spotty internet access and didn't bring any books. When I returned, I studied at least 12 hours per day, with a few days "off" (4-5 hours studying) in mid-July for a family reunion. Closer to the exam, I put in longer hours. I passed with a high score. I took BarBri, and quickly caught up on all the materials I missed in my time off.

If you can commit to making up for the time you'll miss, take the trip.

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Re: Vacation during bar study

Post by turbotong » Fri Sep 22, 2017 4:52 pm

I passed the CA bar in 2014. I did not take a vacation, but I studied at a resort-like apartment by the beach all summer. I took a 4th of july weekend to beat all of XCOM enemy unknown. I studied 0 hours that one weekend but studied hard the rest of the summer.

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