You might think that after so many years of writing law school examinations, I would be well-prepared in advance, knowing how to approach these papers and, most importantly, how to keep myself healthy or, rather, maintain a good examination routine to avoid exhaustion and overwhelm. However, just like my undergraduate examinations, most of these papers found me stuck in the same old routines: sleeping fewer hours than I should, consuming too much caffeine, experiencing a little panic here and there upon discovering something completely new the day before the examination, and questioning my preparedness to take on the bar exam. To make matters worse, I had exactly one week to prepare for all nine units. This is how I ended up preparing for all nine units within a week of the exams.
In Trouble
I had trouble registering for the examination. In March, when I deferred all the units, I had to re-register them before the 20th of September. I attempted this many times, but my school portal had a problem. I raised the issue with the Council of Legal Education, but they were on strike, and my issue was not resolved before the 20th. Once they returned from the strike, I was informed that I was out of time and would have to wait for the March 2024 exams instead. I gave up and began my pupillage at the Court of Appeal.
Saving Grace
Two weeks before the examinations—examinations I was already locked out of—began, the Council of Legal Education issued a late notice allowing people to register for the November exams. This left exactly 10 days before the beginning of the exams. I either had to elect to register for the exams and prepare within one week or forgo them and wait for the March exams, where, hopefully, I would be better prepared. I elected the former.
The Prep
With one week to prepare for the exams, my strategy was to go over the course outline for each of the nine units, gauge my ability to answer particular questions within the subtopics, and, if I felt confident, skip reading that topic to save time. My second strategy was to revise using old past paper questions to identify examinable topics and ensure I could answer them comfortably; if I could, I ruled out those topics from my revision.
Eventually, I was left with several topics that, based on my knowledge, I found difficult to understand. These required a considerable amount of time to read and comprehend. Of course, one size does not fit all; these units have varying levels of difficulty. For some units, I did not give much attention, while others demanded a significant amount of time. Conveyancing, Commercial Law, Civil Litigation, and Legal Practice Management (the accounting section) took up most of my time. Probate and Administration, Legal Writing and Drafting, Trial Advocacy, and Professional Ethics & Practice were units I did not pay much attention to.
Day Before the Exam
You can never truly be prepared enough for any law school exam. Every night before the exam, I found myself in the same situation—feeling slightly unsure about how the next day would go. The saving grace was that my friend and I met every evening for two hours to go over questions randomly, testing ourselves on how we could answer them. Where I struggled and where she struggled, we made notes so that the next morning, before the exam at 4:00 a.m., we could convene and review the answers.
Exam Day
The day began with breakfast at home and tea at the KSL cafeteria while, of course, brushing through some topics to calm my anxiety before entering the exam room and writing the paper.
The difficulty level of the papers varied greatly. There was a lot of anticipation that Criminal Law, Civil Litigation, Conveyancing, and Commercial Transactions would rank high on the difficulty scale, and indeed, they did according to majority opinion. To me, Criminal Law was mid-level in difficulty, and, as my results showed, I performed rather well in it. Conveyancing, however, is a beast of its own and deserves a blog of its own.
Like with every examination, there is always that one paper that drains any hope of passing the exams in one sitting. For me, and for everyone who sat for the November 2023 exams, we can all agree that Legal Writing and Drafting was the most difficult paper. The first question was so challenging that by the time I finished writing my answer, my brain completely froze on the second question, and I forgot how to draft a deed—a topic I had reviewed right before the exam. I did not attempt to answer the question and chose to work on something else instead.
Legal Writing and Drafting
This was the only paper where I almost did not answer all the questions. My aim for all the exams was to answer all required questions, even if I did not know the answer, to ensure I could score at least 3/10 rather than a complete zero. However, with this paper, I had only 15 minutes left and had not attempted the last question. I rushed through it, and by the time I handed in my paper, I almost cried.
Wrap Up
To wrap up, writing the bar exam was the most difficult part of my entire law school journey because it is the ultimate determinant of whether you can be admitted to the bar or have to retake it. While I had only one week to prepare, I was not preparing from scratch. Much of what I was revising was material I had previously learnt and read; I was simply refreshing my memory.
My best tip for anyone preparing for the bar exam is to use past papers extensively. Many questions are repeated or, at the very least, slightly altered, but the main examinable topics remain the same. Past papers are immensely helpful. Try to remain calm while writing the papers, and do not underestimate the difficulty level of any unit, as we did with Legal Writing and Drafting.