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Bar Review FAQ: When Should I Start Studying for the Bar Exam?

When to Start Preparing for the Bar Exam
Full-time study isn’t for everyone. If you plan on balancing work or family responsibilities alongside bar review, part-time study might be the best option. A typical part-time bar prep schedule spreads your preparation across several months. Quimbee Bar Review’s part-time schedule runs 6 months. For July examinees, the schedule begins in January, and for February examinees, the schedule begins in September.
Ultimately, these are general recommendations. It’s a powerful thing to know yourself and plan your studies accordingly. If you struggled during law school, it’s wise to plan additional preparation time. Many law students participate in early bar prep before beginning their core review with a bar prep course.
Should I Start Bar Prep Early?
But starting early comes at a cost. Bar preparation is intense, and burnout is a common experience. Plus, to the extent that you focus on learning substantive law during early bar prep, retention can be an issue.
If you go ahead with early bar prep, dedicate yourself to a specific goal. For example, plan to take 3 performance tests before the bar course calendar begins or review the outline for a subject you’ve never studied before. Make yourself accountable for completing the goal in a specified time frame. Keeping early prep goal-oriented will give you the results you want and stave off burnout.
Early Bar Prep Methods
Start with the Performance Test
If your bar exam includes a performance test, consider starting your study with practice questions. Mastering the performance test doesn’t require any substantive knowledge, and early practice helps you develop the speed you need.
Where can you access performance-test questions? Check with your bar course provider. Quimbee Bar Review offers a full library of performance tests on the course-materials tab.
Start with Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) subjects
Start mastering the MBE subjects with your bar course’s video lessons, outlines, and single-subject MBE quizzes. If you’re taking Quimbee Bar Review, try beginning with the warm-up videos, which introduce the most important subjects on the MBE and are paired with 5-question quizzes.
Start with unfamiliar subjects
Quimbee has your back in law school and beyond. Expert-written case briefs, outlines, and a practice-oriented bar review course give you the edge you’ll need to ace law school finals and conquer the bar exam. Want to learn more about the unique features Quimbee Bar Review+ uses to help prepare you for the bar exam? Book a free, 30-minute consultation and course tour.
Make your first attempt at the bar exam your last with Quimbee
- 91% bar exam pass rate*
- 100% money-back guarantee
- 1,600+ real questions from past bar exams