Staying Motivated
No matter when you’re studying for the Ontario bar exam — summer, spring, or fall — chances are, you’re going to find it difficult to stay motivated. Summer sucks because, well, it’s summer. Fall sucks because you’re going to be balancing studying with articling (work + bar exam prep = misery). And spring sucks because after a long Ontario winter, there’s literally thousands of other things you’d probably rather be doing.
Nevertheless, the reality is that you ARE going to need to write the bar exam at some point. So, in this post, let’s talk about some strategies you can draw on the keep yourself motivated.
First, start studying early! It’s much easier to stay motivated when you know that you have lots of time to study and, as a result, only need to work through a few pages of material each day (especially if you’re balancing studying with articling!). In a previous blog post, we’ve talked about the importance of creating a study calendar. You can find that post here. In a nutshell, though, we recommend studying a few hours per day on Mondays-Fridays in the month leading up to your bar exam date. This should give you plenty of time to prepare yourself. And, because you’ll only need to study for a few hours per day, you should be able to study at a pace that prevents burnout. For another blog post on the “when to start studying” topic, click here.
Second, take breaks! In the previous paragraph, you’ll notice that we suggested studying Monday-Friday NOT 24/7. The reason for this is simple: If you study day in and day out for weeks on end, you ARE going to lose motivation. Ontario’s bar exam study materials are not exactly interesting (even for self-proclaimed “law nerds”). And so, rather than trying to tackle them in one big bite, it makes more sense to break them down into manageable components. Munch a little bit down each weekday, and then allow yourself to forget about them altogether on weekends. That way, when Monday rolls around and it’s time to start studying again, you’ll open the books feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.
Finally, don’t put too much stake on your practice test results — particularly early ones! As we’ve mentioned numerous times before (see, e.g., here, here, and here), doing multiple practice tests from a number of different test providers should be a central component of your bar exam prep. BUT, one poor practice test result does NOT mean you’re destined to fail the real one come test day. In other words, don’t beat yourself up over one lousy practice test score! Instead, use it as a learning opportunity. Review the questions you got wrong, and then seek to understand why the answer you chose was incorrect. If you do this after each practice test, you’ll be more than prepared for the real deal when test day finally rolls around.
TL;DR: (1) start your studying early; (2) avoid studying everyday unless you want to catch burnout; and (3) don’t worry too much about your early practice test scores.
To help keep you motivated, use promo code PASS at checkout to take 20% off ANY of our practice tests. And stay tuned to this newsletter (and our blog) for tons of other FREE pieces of advice and practice questions.
