After years of experience working with law students and Bar candidates, Bar Made Easy is proud to present our:

How To Take A Law School And Bar Essay Exam©

1. Timing
Write down your predetermined time allocation on your scratch or outline paper. For a one hour hand written exam, we recommend you outline for 20 minutes and write your answer for 40 minutes.

If you are a laptop student (which is our preferred choice), we recommend you outline for 30 minutes and type your answer for 30 minutes. The 10 minutes lap toppers will save should be used to further develop your outline as outlining is the most important part of the entire exam process.

You may need to slightly adjust your actual time according to the results from your practice tests. Remember to adhere to your allotted times.

2. READ THE CALL OF THE QUESTION FIRST
Read the call of the question first, which is usually the last sentence or two located at the end of an exam. From reading the call, you may be able to determine what subject or subjects the exam is testing (which will be most helpful at the bar).

The call may also specifically state what issues you are to analyze. If you can determine the subject or subjects being tested from the call, immediately write, in an abbreviated form, your memorized issue spotting checklist(s).

Reading the call may also allow you to determine whether the exam is a racehorse (which tests many issues) or a thinkum (which tests your analysis of the stated issues being tested). With a minority of exams, you may have to read through the exam once in order to determine the type of question being asked or to determine what issues the examiner is looking for.

3. READ THE EXAM, SENTENCE BY SENTENCE
Read each sentence of the exam word by word. Be sure to take note of all punctuations, including commas and quotations, as they usually trigger new issues.

You may have to read the facts more than once in order to gain a better understanding of them; thus, you will not miss any issues or arguments. During this process, when you identify an issue make a notation on the exam of the issue in pencil beside the corresponding fact(s).

4. CREATE YOUR OUTLINE WITH “IEFC” FOR ISSUE, ELEMENT, FACT AND CONCLUSION
After you fully issue spot and mark up the exam, write your spotted issues onto your outlining paper which should be divided into four columns implementing Bar Made Easy’s IEFC system.

Write each issue separately in the Issue column (your first column). If you have memorized a writing approach for any identified issue include it here in the Issue column.

5. BREAK APART EACH ELEMENT OF EACH RULE
For each identified issue, you will need to boil down your memorized rule into concise abbreviated individual elements. Then write each element one below the other in the Element column (your second column).

A good answer will include the analysis of each and every element of the rule. This method will guarantee that you will address each element separately when writing your answer.

6. WRITE DOWN SEPARATE FACTS TO SUPPORT EACH ELEMENT OF YOUR RULE AND THEN CONCLUDE
In the Fact column (your third column), copy the supporting facts from the exam and write them here. Each supporting fact should be written next to its corresponding stacked element in the Element column (your second column). Try to have at least one fact next to each element.

Draw an arrow from the fact in the third column to the element in the second column as this is how you will be writing your answer in the “fact to element” style. Depending upon the number of facts raised and whether they support the elements of the rules, draw a concise conclusion and place it in the Conclusion column.

7. LOOK FOR ADDITIONAL ISSUES USING YOUR ISSUE SPOTTING CHECKLISTS(S)
With the facts in mind, review your issue spotting checklist(s) written down in step 2 to determine if there are any other issues being tested in your exam. Should you identify another issue write it on your IEFC outline in the Issue column.

Again, if there is an inner issue spotting checklist for that issue, also write it down in the Issue column. Continue the process of stacking the concise elements of the rule for each new issue in the Element column; add the supporting facts to each element in the Fact column and conclude in the Conclusion column.

8. READ THE EXAM ONE LAST TIME
Read the exam one last time sentence by sentence to be sure you used all the exam facts. All facts must be considered and used (especially at the bar).

Facts can raise either a new issue or can be included in the Fact column next to a corresponding element to either support or defeat an element of an already discovered issue in the Issue column. Therefore, missing facts can negatively affect your grade. Be sure to IEFC all newly spotted issues directly onto your outline. Remember, the better your outline, the better your answer.

9. LAST MINUTE DETAILS
In the final moments of the outlining process (20 minutes for hand writers and 30 minutes for lap toppers), review your outline one last time for completeness.

Does your outline follow the call of the question? Did you use all the facts in the exam? Did you break apart each issue into individual elements? Are there enough facts supporting each of your elements of your rules? Did you raise any non-issues that need to be removed from the outline? Is there enough information on your outline that you can write your answer without having to refer again to the exam itself?

10. WRITE YOUR ANSWER AND FINISH ON TIME
Write your answer using your IEFC outline as your guide while always keeping in mind your time allocation (40 minutes for hand writers and 30 minutes for lap toppers).

Begin by writing your first Issue as a bold and underlined headnote. Unless your professor directs you otherwise, it is not necessary to write a rule statement, especially at the bar. There are no points allocated for rule statements and you are using time that could be better used writing your answer.

Next, skip a line and begin writing your analysis of this issue by addressing each fact from the Fact column in the third column to the corresponding element from the Element column in the second column. Strive to have the fact and the element incorporated into one sentence and always begin with the facts first. If the element is debatable, you may need to include another sentence or two raising those facts to develop your counter arguments. Be sure to skip a line between each fact to element sentence. After you have written on each element, skip a line and write a concise conclusion.

Following your outline, begin writing your next issue as a bold and underlined headnote and repeat the above process for each issue on your outline. If time is running short, be sure to include remaining issues on your outline in your answer even if your analysis is brief.

Make copies of this well tested approach and keep it handy for your reference when taking practice exams. The benefits of applying our approach to actual exams are numerous. Your issue spotting skills will develop because you will become fact sensitive, your fact to element analysis writing style will continue to develop, your timing will improve and you will be able to finish on time. With practice, you will be able to apply these important steps automatically to any exam and truly write a superior answer with confidence! Good luck!