Written by Salem Desir, Esq.
In my last semester of law school I found out I was having a baby, got married, got into a tax LLM program requiring me to move to Boston, my mother was getting married and was having her second full knee replacement surgery, all before I started studying for the bar. Here’s my journey.
New Life
On a random morning in March, my girlfriend woke me up and showed me a positive pregnancy test. I looked at it for a second, said something like “iight, bet,” then went back to sleep. I wasn’t trying to be dismissive or nonchalant; my reaction was my normal response to things that apply pressure to my life. It allows me to keep a clear head and attack things from a Zen mindset.
Married Life
I had this great idea of how I would propose and get married. I’ll spare you the details. However, none of that happened. At the age of 34, I had an old-fashioned mindset. I didn’t want to have what Con Law would describe as an illegitimate child. Thus, off to the courthouse on April 5th to officially be married. Of course this was after asking my now father-in-law’s permission for his daughter’s hands in marriage over the phone. We were in Georgia and my wife’s parents are domiciled in Charleston, SC. I wouldn’t do it without his blessing.
Boston University
Throughout my law school matriculation, I took all the internship opportunities within reach. The first was an unpaid internship with the Fulton County DA’s office. The experience was unmatched. I was able to see a case being handled from beginning to end, the passion that prosecutors have for trying to keep the community safe and putting away bad actors, and, of course, meeting Madam Fani Willis.
The next was a paid internship with the Georgia Public Defender Council. On that side, I learned how corrupt the system can be as many inmates are in jail for years prior to any indictments. However, I pictured my legal career going in a different direction.
My law school offered one tax law class, and I loved it. I learned how tax law influences society and economics. If I could learn how to help individuals and entities save on their taxes, I would be able to provide a valuable service to customers in a niche space. I applied to several tax LLM programs across the US; however, the program that has the most attractive course list was Boston University. After an interview with the Dean of the Taxation LLM program, Christina Rice, I got an acceptance letter within the weeks that followed. My biggest obstacle at this point was passing the bar so I wouldn’t be embarrassed after the huge party my family decided to throw me after graduation.
Studying for the Georgia Bar
My law school, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law, had a partnership with Kaplan that allowed students to get Kaplan bar prep for “free”. However, when studying for the LSAT, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Kaplan, so for bar study, I paid for Themis. Still, will say several of my classmates who passed the bar on one try used Kaplan for bar prep. Graduation was on the 16th of May, I didn’t start studying until June.
Strategy 1
My first day of studying was June 1st. Themis suggested that I read the entire section before I watch the videos. On day 1, I read and watched videos for about 12 straight hours. I was burned out. I didn’t even want to read a street sign for the next three days. I realized…that was not a sustainable strategy. I had to find another way.
Next, I deleted all my social media except TikTok. I kept TikTok because the algorithm was feeding me videos with different people giving tips on how they passed the bar, and I needed that. Yes, some strategies conflicted with others, however, I just morphed pieces of all of them to fit my personality and study style.
Strategy 2
I was an index card student in law school and thought that was a good way to study for the bar. NOPE. There’s simply too much information to try and memorize it all. As much as I hated hearing it, I can now accept that it is a reality in hindsight, you must just LEARN the information.
What I Did
What I found most effective was all the things I’m about to mention.
First, get the Grossman audio to study for the MBE. John Grossman is an MBE guru. The tips and strategies he gives you in the audio/video recordings are priceless. He hits all the major MBE topics. It’s literally a playbook on how to answer the questions. Next, I completed about 800-900 MBE questions. Most of them were completed while watching television, and passive studying. The questions were past MBE questions which I believe are most effective. If you have a program that doesn’t use old questions, get a program that does to supplement. Two great programs to supplement with are Adaptibar and UWorld. Complete as many questions as you can in addition to what your program has you doing. Me personally, I focused on the UWorld questions, as UWorld bought Themis and came with the program.
Writing
My law School has a mandatory course that prepares students for the MPT portion of the exam, so I was already familiar with that part of the exam. The most common MPTs are the persuasive brief and objective memo. It’s been a while, but I think I had one of each on the exam. Still, practice all of them. You don’t want to be caught off guard. The trick is, make it look like a finished product. Yes, there will be structural errors and grammatical errors, but make it look finished and use the facts. The way I was taught to approach MPTs was to read the instructions first and then go straight to the rules. Following this, read the facts. You should spend a total of:
1. 5 minutes on instructions
2. Skim the facts (like literally just looking and seeing what’s there)
3. 20 minutes on the rules
4. 20 minutes on rereading the instructions and reading the facts.
5. The next 45 minutes should be spent writing the MPT.
6. Once that last 45 minutes is up, MOVE ON.
I’ll say this in all caps so it sticks.
“DO NOT SPEND ALL OR MOST OF YOUR TIME ON ONE MPT THINKING YOU WILL GET ALL OF THE POINTS IT HAS TO OFFER. YOU WON’T, AND YOU WILL LIKELY NOT PASS THE BAR.”
Do an MPT at least once a week.
Now, GA has its own essays that are different from the UBE essays. I looked at the frequency of the different essay topics and studied for the top 6. I looked at the others but focused on the top 6. I completed at least one full essay a week (sometimes I’d skip a week or two). I would write outlines for several essay questions once or twice a week. I focused on the topic that I was studying that week.
On the actual exam, of course I didn’t remember everything. My advice to you if this happens is, MAKE THAT SHIT UP! Follow the IRAC method. If you make up a rule, just make sure to weave in the facts through your analysis to make them fit and end with the inevitable conclusion.
JD Advisor does free webinars on test taking strategies I participated in all of them. Full disclaimer, the webinars have an advertising quality to them, however, I still used some of their tips. One I used was how to state the Issue. I literally just restated the question and underlined it. (E.g. Can John Open The Default?). I would avoid the CREAC or CRAC method because if your conclusion is wrong from the beginning, I feel like the grader is already judging your essay in that light.
Conclusion
Take it easy. Breathe. Take days off if necessary. Just don’t get lazy. I would go an entire week without looking at a single question or topic. I think I did that two or three times. However, I also pulled a 12hr day 2-3 times. I do not recommend.
John Grossman also has free webinars, sign up for those. I found them to be mentally helpful. One thing he said that stuck with me the whole time was “It’s two and a half months of hell for a life of pleasure and fulfillment.” When I would get tired or felt like giving up I would think of that quote. Because lord knows, ain’t no way ya boy was ever taking that exam again. Be consistent, stay positive, do something that has nothing to do with law at least once a week to free your mind. You got this, good luck!
