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Major OCI missteps to avoid

By Samuel Farkas, BARBRI Legal Education Advisor

At some point in every law student’s career, he or she will attempt to dazzle potential employers as the perfect candidate. Below are few common missteps that will get your resume tossed quickly after you exit – and how to avoid them.

“Surely you’ve heard of ME.”

You may have a stellar resume, grades and smile, but no one – most of all future employers – like cockiness. They do, however, want to see confidence. Deliver in the middle with cautious confidence. Remain humble and ready to soak up precious legal knowledge. Present a firm handshake, make eye contact, sit up straight and be assertive in your responses and questions. Showing gratitude for your achievements and accolades while underscoring how receptive you are to learning and growing professionally will help you make the right impression.

“I want to work for you because I need a job and money!”

During OCIs, you’re going to get asked over and over again: Why do you want to work for us? Why would you like to be in [insert city name]? Unless you have had your eye on a firm for a while, you are probably looking for any good employment opportunity. Do you really want to live in the office’s location permanently? If not, do not waste your time interviewing. Sure, you can make up stories of relatives who’ve relocated there. But you’ll do yourself and the employer a disservice. If the actual office where you are interviewing does not practice what you are interested in, keep looking. Pick firms where you would actually like to live, and then narrow out the firms you would actually like to work for.

“My apologies … I was actually raised in a barn.”

If you’re lucky, you may have the opportunity to interview with potential employers over a meal or call-back interview. Even though these may feel informal, maintain your etiquette skills. Most think they have good manners, even if they don’t – because it’s in bad taste to point out bad manners, you’ve probably never been told you chew with your mouth open or hold your fork incorrectly. Do yourself a favor and read an etiquette book or take a friend to dinner for a critique of your manners.

“You know like cellophane … ”

The worst thing you can do in a job interview is to leave no impression at all. Many students try to morph into some expected version of the ideal candidate. This is not a good strategy. Try to stand out in some way. Wear a unique accessory, work in an interesting story or discuss a special hobby. Don’t veer into the bizarre, yet communicate something memorable. Simply allow your true self to shine through, keeping in mind that you need to filter it through a professional lens.

“What firm are you with again?”

The surest way to ruin your chances with a firm is to come unprepared. Knowing the firm name, office locations and practice areas are necessary but not sufficient. Do additional research on your interviewers and read any press the firm has recently received. Talk to former summer associates or clerks to get their experiences. Look at LinkedIn, Martindale-Hubble and other online resources to gather some data.

Be sure to reach out to your BARBRI Legal Education Advisor for additional help and advice on how to perfect your interviewing skills.

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Make law school easier and a little less expensive. Without the trial and error.

By Amber Chambers, Esq., BARBRI Manager of Legal Education

When entering law school, many students don’t know what to expect. They haven’t been able to attain relevant advice and aren’t sure of the ways, if any, law school varies from undergraduate. Most students plan to dive in (and hopefully succeed) using trial-and-error. Now that I have completed law school, passed the bar exam and started my career, I can see several ways I could have made my law school life much easier.

STARTING FAST AND GETTING AHEAD.

First year law school grades are by far the most crucial. A high GPA is a requisite for big firm jobs and many law reviews and journals. If you fail to do well your first year or even just your first semester, it is incredibly difficult to bring up your GPA.

Law Preview shows students what to expect and how to succeed. In just a week, it teaches proven academic strategies and how to take law school exams. It also gives an overview of many 1L classes and offers personal service and support throughout law school. Essentially, to use a metaphor, students who use Law Preview are the first out of the gate, while the other students are still learning to run.

SAVING MONEY ON SUPPLEMENTS.

Many students (including myself) waited until the last minute to enroll in or think about a bar review course. Looking back, I wish I had known about all the resources BARBRI offers for law students. I spent an extraordinary amount of money on supplements. If I had simply enrolled in BARBRI as a 1L student, I would have not only received all the supplements I needed for a fraction of the cost but also received more effective study tools: outlines for all first year classes, on-demand online video lectures for all 1L subjects, practice questions and the BARBRI mobile app.

MAKING SURE YOU GRASP THE MATERIAL.

In school, there are always a few professors with whom you might not mesh well. In those situations, you’ll often feel that you don’t fully comprehend the material after lecture and must teach yourself the information. BARBRI professors delivering online video lectures offer a third alternative. Chances are that if a professor at your school does not fit your learning style for a particular subject, a BARBRI professor will.

STAYING ON TRACK EVERY YEAR.

BARBRI doesn’t just offer material for your 1L year. We also have all the same resources for many of your 2L and 3L classes, such as Evidence, Constitutional Law, and Criminal Procedure. Additionally, BARBRI has a free MPRE review course to help students pass the professional responsibility exam required by almost every state. Getting a head start on law school by using Law Preview and then using BARBRI’s materials can help you lower your stress and financial expense, get you on the right track immediately and help you stay ahead of the curve throughout your law school career.

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7 things I wish I’d know when I took the bar exam

By Chris Nikitas, Esq., BARBRI Director of Legal Education

1) HOW TO GET TO THE LOCATION

I got turned around on exam morning. I didn’t know the city that well. Thankfully, I gave myself a large window to get there and made it on time. You’ll want to make a dry run. Drive to the city where you’ll take the bar exam. Start at the place you plan to spend the night before the exam at the approximate time you plan on leaving. See how long it takes. See where best to park, what traffic is like at that hour and how long it will take you to get to the exam room.

2) WHAT TO BRING

You can get away with bringing a lot of stuff into the exam room, provided it is in a plastic bag and off your desk. The person next to me had eye drops. The person in front of me had about 15 after dinner mints. But here are the essentials: black pen, ID, extension cord for your laptop (in case you’re far from an outlet), jacket, earplugs and analog watch.

3) WHAT THE BAR EXAM ROOM IS LIKE

It’s mostly bare aside from a timer, which may be situated pretty far from your spot in the room (hence the analog watch). Some rooms have water fountains or water coolers. Some have bathrooms inside the testing room. The room will be divided between the hand-writers and the laptop writers. It’s going to be cold (hence the jacket). Dress in layers. There’s also a good chance other conferences will be going on near the bar exam (hence the earplugs). When I took the exam, people outside our room started mowing the lawn.

4) HOW OFTEN TO CHECK THE CLOCK

Look up at the clock every 10-15 minutes. Process how much you have left in a section and get back to work. Be conscious of the time but not obsessed with it. There’s a timer in the corner of the room, counting down from three hours. An analog watch may be necessary, depending on your eyesight.

5) HOW TO AVOID “THE SNOWBALL EFFECT”

Emory University School of Law Associate Dean and long-time BARBRI lecturer Richard Freer once described to me what he called “the Snowball Effect.” Let’s say you have four essay questions, each with a suggested time of 45 minutes. You’re working on the first one. Not quite done at the 45-minute mark, you keep going an extra five minutes. On the second one, you go over again – closer to 10 minutes. Third one, another five minutes over. Now, you’re staring down at the last essay question with only 25 minutes remaining. Yikes.

Tell yourself that you’ll stop writing with five minutes to go to the suggested limit. Stop, look over your answer and make a few changes if you have to. At the suggested limit, move on.

6) HOW LUNCH WORKS

You’re let out after the first half of the exam and have usually around an hour until the next part. The proctors will tell you when you need to return. You’re not allowed to bring any food to the exam, but hopefully there’s some decent dining in the area. Things to consider though: What if you get bad/slow service? What if it’s busy? What if the only menu options will leave you feeling sluggish? My advice is to throw a PB&J, some chips, a banana and a Capri Sun in a bag and leave it in your car or hotel room. Yeah, it might get hot, but none of those things are going to spoil and will provide a rapid power lunch that won’t make you sleepy.

7) HOW TO AVOID PANIC

During the bar exam, I hit a wall. There was an essay question I had no idea how to answer. It was at that moment that every ounce of stress I’d endured for the past two months crushed me like an ant holding an elephant. I am going to fail. Who was I kidding? Ah, jeez, I have to find a whole new career. Are the Ghostbusters hiring?

In all likelihood, that moment will happen to you too. Just take a deep breath and look around that huge room. Everyone else is in there with you and they’re just as scared.Shake it off and do the very best you can.

As you may recall from law school, mulling over the exam after turning it in helps no one. You won’t remember the questions you nailed, just the questions where you know you were wrong. It’s easy to do after the bar exam, but there’s no sense in beating yourself up. Focus on what you still have in front of you and how to tackle it.

The fact of the matter is, most people pass the exam, and you’ll (probably) be just fine.

BONUS: WHERE TO FIND THE BEST BARS

Okay, that was a joke. Good luck!

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Help! I’m only in the 30th percentile. Should I be worried?

By Mike Sims, BARBRI President

Some of the most common inquiries I get this time of year are: “How many MBE questions should I be getting correct?” or “I only answered 54 percent of the torts questions correctly last night. Am I okay?” While these are both good questions, they are not the most important one to have.

The most important question in terms of your MBE prep is: “What is my percentile ranking?”

PERCENTAGE CORRECT IS NOT PERCENTILE RANK

The distinction between percentage correct and percentile ranking is one of the most important, as well as most confusing, aspects of bar preparation.

Percentage correct is the ratio of correct-to-incorrect answers in a particular set of questions. Percentile rank is a measure of how you are doing in comparison to everyone else – the same thing as class rank in law school.

LET’S DO SOME QUICK CALCULATIONS

To better understand this, imagine completing a set of 100 MBE practice questions and correctly answering 58 of them. Is that a good or bad score? You have to calculate percentile rank to figure that out.

Imagine there were 99 other students who worked that same set of MBE questions for a total group of 100 exam takers. Seventy answered more than 58 out of the 100 questions correctly. You answered 58 correctly. And 29 students got less than 58 correct. Translation: 70 percent of the higher-scoring test takers did better than you and you performed better than the other 29 percent. In other words, you were in the 30th percentile – better than the bottom 29 percent but lower than the top 70 percent.

THEN CONSIDER NATIONAL FIRST-TIME PASSING RATES

So is being in the 30th percentile good or bad? Pass rates do vary from state to state. According to the National Conference of Bar Examiners, the average pass rate for first time bar takers from ABA accredited schools is 77 percent. This means the failure rate is 23 percent. Putting this in terms of percentile rankings, students who are in the bottom 23 percent – the 23rd percentile and below – do not pass the bar exam. Students in the top 77 percent – the 24th percentile and higher – pass the bar exam. With this national average measurement established, being in the 30th percentile is solidly in the passing zone.

WITH BARRBI, YOU KNOW WHERE YOU SIT ON THE CURVE

As a BARBRI student, you have a significant edge when it comes to calculating your percentile ranking. Your score on the BARBRI simulated MBE compares your performance by MBE topic and subtopic to tens of thousands of bar takers nationwide – the group you’ll be competing against on the bar exam. And our StudySmart MBE software gives you regularly updated percentile rankings each day. As a BARBRI student you really will know where you sit on the bar exam’s curve before you take it.

Over the next few weeks, you’ll work many more MBE practice questions and you’ll have a lot of chances to improve your MBE score. Between now and then, keep your eye on the right number – the percentile ranking.

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Too much on your mind? Here’s how to keep the “lixard brain” at bay

By Christy Cassisa, Esq., BARBRI Director, Professional Effectiveness

Congratulations, law school is done. Time to relax, right? Not when there is one last hurdle to becoming a licensed lawyer.

IT’S CALLED “LIZARD BRAIN.”

Every exam, study group and dollar spent on law school comes down to the next few months during your stressful bar exam studies. Stressful because of the major deadline looming, fear of failure and continuous depletion of physical resources that are your daily reality. All this causes chronic sympathetic nervous system arousal – in other words, “lizard brain.” A fight-flight-freeze survival mode that dates back to our prehistoric days as Paleolithic humans.

YOU KNOW THE SYMPTOMS.

You may have already experienced chronic stress during law school. According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms include: headaches, muscle aches, fatigue, increased illness, upset stomach, chest pain, sleep disturbances, anxiety, lack of motivation or focus, irritability, restlessness, depression, angry outbursts and social withdrawal.

AND IT WANTS TO DRIVE YOUR BUS.

Your body is expending all its energy to stay alive. There’s not much left over for anything else, including memorizing black letter law, taking practice tests and remaining upright in your BARRBI classes. The lizard is driving your bus. And, as you might imagine, a frazzled lizard driving a bus can be detrimental to everyone and everything nearby, including the bus itself (that’s you).

HOW TO TAKE CONTROL WHEN IT TRIES TO TAKE OVER.

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Be Grateful. Every day, take a few minutes to think of 3-5 things for which to be grateful. Lawyers tend to be world-class pessimists, but research shows that this may not be good for our health. Remembering things that really matter can shift your focus to the positive, improving physical health and energy levels.

Make time for family and friends. Connect with the important people in your life. Your support system will help you feel less alone and improve your outlook.

Smile. Research has shown that the simple act of smiling can slow your heart and reduce stress, and may even help alleviate depression.

Meditate. Take a few minutes a day to be still and focus on your breathing. Recent research has shown that meditation can help prevent mind-wandering, increase focus, reduce stress, improve sleep and strengthen the immune system.candy3

Plan the day. Map out time for studying, eating, sleeping, fun activities and exercise, for example. You’ll feel in greater control and get the most important things completed.

Eat, sleep, play. Healthy foods, enough sleep (seven hours minimum) and exercises that you enjoy (a groovy walk or dancing in the kitchen) are critical to your health.

Be your own cheerleader. We are often quite critical of ourselves. Become aware of your self-talk, challenge it and replace it with a positive mantra. Research shows that people with a positive outlook can fight off colds, can handle stress better and even live longer.

candy2Laugh. Laughter has been shown to lower cortisol in your bloodstream, relax your muscles and improve your overall well-being.

Eat 1.4 oz of chocolate: Doing this every day for two weeks can actually lower your stress hormones.

 

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