1L Prep

chess4life

Has anyone ever heard of anyone who began studying for the bar before 1L year? I know it seems like a bit much but I am looking to prepare for 1L year, have lots of time, and am taking out so much debt I need to absolutely kill it 1L year, at least in my head. It seems like the bar focuses on 1L material anyway.

I have already studied most of 7sage Law School and am hungry for more. I would pay for the bar prep courses but I am wondering if those who have been through school and the exam think this is senseless.

Finally, when do students usually sit for bar? Do they generally take it in July and then subsequently begin work, or does work begin earlier?

Thanks for the help.

studyingandrestudying

The bar is its own special project. With very few exceptions, someone needs to be a law graduate to take this exam. You might find the website Law to Fact helpful for law school and bar information.

10000019

If you're attending a school that has a good bar passage rate, then your 1L classes won't prepare you for the bar at all. And studying for the bar won't help you with your 1L classes.

If you're bored, there are plenty of books you can read on preparing for 1L. I don't think they are worth the time because professors make classes.

The one universal skill to have before you start is mad typing skills.

BinghamtonDave

@10000019 I have always wondered about your 4th sentence. I mean this respectfully, as you know I follow and love your posts: how could this be true? I mean if an individual decides to invest some time into learning the basics of a subject: say contracts, even if the professor makes the class and therefore the exam, doesn't a general understanding of the basics as long as it isn't so specific actually put the student in a better position come 1L? I am of course assuming here that the student in question did not major in some sort of law and/or lacks legal work experience etc.*

I'm curious how you would weigh the following scenario: is a student in a better position not knowing anything about the First Amendment or that a contract could be governed by the UCC or the Common Law come 1L? Wouldn't this put the student in the position where they must learn the basics of law and the specific application/interpretation the professor teaches at the same time in 1L? Couldn't we mitigate this workload by pre-studying the law?

I think I understand a drawback of this approach: that an individual might learn something too specific or put the wrong emphasis on something etc, but wouldn't an emphasis on general aspects of the law benefit the student come 1L? If your 4th sentence is to be believed then it would follow that a student would be better off as a 1L blank slate because professors make the class rather than someone who has studied enough that they can hopefully engage with the complexity of the material and hopefully grasp where the professor is going with their analysis. It just seems counter-intuitive to me because it seems you are endorsing an approach that the less an individual knows going into 1L, the better off they will be. I look forward to a discussion on this. I mean, this advice wouldn't necessarily apply to any other domain I can think of, please feel free to correct me:
1.The summer before med school, it doesn't help to know what the major functions of the liver are
2.The weeks before auto mechanic school, it is a waste of time to know what the major components of a car's fuel injection system are.

I will add that I recently asked a very well known American law professor about this. I asked them about pre studying the law and they took a laissez faire position and nonchalantly said: "you could take a stroll through a commercial outline over summer to get vaguely familiar with the subject matter, but that isn't necessary."

I do mean the above as respectfully as possible, all caveats in place: I am a 0L, I have only taken a few practice exams, I lack the experience disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer.

Would love to hear others weigh in here on 0L prep? Worth it to know the basics?

10000019

@BinghamtonDave said:

Compared to watching paint dry, studying any subject is going to have some positive result on your 1L grades. But before you go read a hornbook, you should wonder whether the time is worth the gain.

“the less an individual knows going into 1L, the better off they will be”: I don’t think having background is counterproductive. Having familiarity with a topic might be a small boost, but I don’t think it’s worth investing your time into. You can do amazing on exam without having any idea what is going on.

Law school is nothing like med school (I won’t talk about your auto analogy because I don’t know that field). Med school you are objectively tested on the material. Law exams are so subjective that I don’t think you gain much from independent study.

I do not recommend studying doctrinal classes. If you’re eager to do something, learn about effective legal writing.

Law and Yoda

During undergrad my university offered students the opportunity to take an independent study and enroll in graduate/PhD/law programs to see if the path they are interested in taking is really what they would like to do. With that said...I took an international law course at the law school and the professor teaching it (also the dean of admission) told me a few things that stuck with me.

1) Deciding to take this course as an undergraduate puts me at an advantage when I sit in a classroom with future students because I will have already gotten an idea of; a) the course load to come, b) a (very) basic understanding case briefings, and c) comfort-ability with basic law terms.

2) You're discovering what some of your weaknesses are when it comes to learning this material and you can take the time to build them into strengths.

3) Knowledge is power, no matter who teaches it.

I say this to share that @chess4life can start building foundational skills such as learning basic phrases like jus cogens (thanks undergrad). You don't have to do a deep dive to prepare for what is to come...but it never hurts to just learn

P.S- Everyone learns differently...so maybe "studying" for the bar will help this person in 1L and vice versa...