10 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Bar Exam Tutor

By Paulina Bandy, Esq.

I will do my part, You do yours. It sounds simple, to the untrained ear. However, as a repeater, placing your trust in a stranger, again, is not without hesitation. Even after making your decision and investing in your tutor, some candidates let obstacles from past preparation stand in their way of success. Here are some ways you can create a productive relationship with your bar exam tutor.

1. The Trust Factor

Your trust has been shaken. You have paid, and relied upon, law school, bar review, tutors, how-to materials, and promises of panaceas, without progress. After interviewing, and paying for a tutor’s help, you need to trust them and let them do their job. This is no time for a power struggle or undermining the integrity of their program. You have tried it your way, now try it theirs. Trust that you saw something in this individual that will help you.

2. Follow the Leader

Repeaters get into a comfortable groove. Bar exam preparation has been your job for a while now and you may be hesitant to let someone else take the leadership position. If you are not finishing the assignments, you are not following your tutor’s lead. If you are not following their schedule, you are not following their lead. If you are sneaking off to someone else’s lectures on the weekends, you are not following your tutor’s lead. If you are questioning them, instead of talking to them, you are usurping their leadership. You chose them for a reason. Embrace the necessary changes and realize the value it holds to passing the bar exam. Follow their direction.

3. Take Personal Responsibility

Take Personal Responsibility for your past failure and play your part in your Success. Your tutor is just part of the equation. You must take personal responsibility for your part in order for the tutorial to be effective. A me vs. them attitude is not productive. Blaming past tutors for your present predicament does not benefit the relationship with your new tutor. Blaming gives other people control over your destiny. Don’t give bad experiences power over your success.

4. Strike Balance

When you are struggling to figure out what the bar examiners want from you, studying demands more attention than it should. Now that your tutor has supplied a plan for you, and a schedule, strike a proper balance again. Bring the physical and spiritual back into your life to balance out the intellectual.

5. Communicate

If you don’t understand something, ask them. If you are worried about your progress, tell them. Your tutor can not help you make proper adjustments if you do not communicate with them. If you have schedule changes, let your tutor know. If something hinders your studies, tell your tutor. Realize, that you know yourself better than anyone. You need to share your feelings, changes, challenges, and concerns with your tutor.

6. Re-Focus on your goal

When others throw in the towel, you need to be focused on your task at hand. Reflect on the changes you are making that will make the difference. Commit.

7. Think Positively

Are you rehearsing your success, or re-playing your failure? Visualize and participate in your plan for success. Complaining puts you in a negative, unproductive state. Complainers are spectators, not the movers and shakers.

Don’t hang around negative people.
Don’t listen to negative people.
Don’t entertain the thoughts of negative people.
Don’t self-sabotage. Don’t talk negatively to yourself or about yourself.

Successful people think successfully. Rehearse your success.

Caveat: Positive thinking needs to be in conjunction with proper preparation to achieve the goal of passing the bar exam.
For help controlling negative thoughts, click on Bar Exam Mind Set CD^TM link below:
Mind Set CD Series

8. Do the Time

Take the time to make this investment a priority. Unfortunately, you do not get credit for taking time off work for the last bar exam. If possible, make bar exam preparation your full-time job, for less than a season, to break bad habits and establish good ones. It is understandable that after taking time off work, many repeaters can not continue to take time off. However, you can not fully participate if you are not able to take the time to do the work. If you are working full-time, then you need nights and weekends to study.

9. Safeguard your Studies

Take a calculated risk. Step out of your comfort zone to face the challenge and allow yourself to improve. Old habits die hard. Don’t allow yourself to fall back into your old bar exam prep ways out of comfort. You must understand the value of working through changes which will lead to improvement.

10. Maximize your potential

Do more than requested. If you are assigned a practice exam, do two.

Another way to maximize your potential is to implement successful study habits from law school or your undergraduate education. If flashcards worked before, ask your tutor how you can effectively introduce them into your present program.

In summary, don’t let your past preparation hurt your future. Think of your new tutor as the avenue to your success.



The above advice is based upon the assumption that you choose a qualified, ethical tutor (that your tutor does their part). If you need help choosing a tutor, click on link below to see Guidelines to Selecting Bar Exam Preparation:
Guidelines to Selecting Bar Exam Preparation

If you are a multi-repeater in need of help, here is the link to the Let's Do This Thing tutorial:
Let's Do This Thing, The Repeaters' Tutorial




About the Author: Paulina Bandy is an expert in bar exam preparation for repeaters. Her skills as a tutor, author, public speaker, and in study aid development, for repeat takers of the bar exam are in demand across the U.S.


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