A good rule of thumb is to do a minimum of 1,200 practice MBEs by the time you sit for the bar. 2,000 MBEs should be a sufficient number for anyone who is putting forth good effort and using good habits while practicing. More than 2,000 MBEs will reap diminishing returns, and more than 2,500 MBEs is wholly unnecessary in my opinion, unless you are doing them simply because the volume adds to your confidence.
Ultimately, proficiency (scores and timing) is a better gauge of your progress and preparedness than is the number of MBEs you've practiced.
Once you have decided on how many MBEs you will practice by exam day,, you need to plan out how you will get them done. I am a die hard proponent of doing a set number of MBEs each and every day. [One "exception" being if you don't do any MBEs on a certain day each week as part of your study plan; e.g., if you set aside each Sunday to do a full PT and review, and the rest of the day is your free time for the week.] I find that the people who have a hard time sticking to a certain number of MBEs each and every day are those who hate the MBE. If you find that you are one of those people who struggle with the MBE more than the other bar tasks, this rule is especially important for you.
Let's say you start studying for the exam 12 weeks out. If you want to do 2,000 MBEs, the first thing you want to do is subtract 400 from that number. 400 is the number of MBEs you will complete in your scheduled practice exams (as I will discuss in future posts, you will want to do at least 1 full length practice MBE (200 questions), as well as 2 half length practice MBEs (100 questions x 2)). Thus, you will want to divide 2,000 by the number of days you have to study. Let's say you are going to do MBEs 6 days per week, leaving 1 day each week for a PT and free time. That's 6 days x 12 weeks, or 72 days for MBE practice. Now subtract 4 days for those full length and half length practice MBE exams that you are going to schedule in (the full length exam will take 2 days: 1 for the exam, 1 for review; the 2 half length exams will take one day each: 1/2 day exam, 1/2 day review). That leaves you with exactly 68 days to do 1,600 questions.
For good measure, you might even want to take a few more days out to be safe. Those are the days that you are too burned out or depressed to study, or you have a family wedding to attend. There will be a number of these kinds of days that pop up unexpectedly. So let's shave off another 5 days for good measure, and turn it into 63 days. 1,600 questions over 63 days means you need to do 25 MBEs per day to stay on track.
Don't be deceived into thinking that since you need only do a relatively small number of MBEs each day that you don't need to be disciplined about making yourself do them each and every day. Remember how I said this rule was very important, especially for those of you who hate MBEs? If you skip a day, thinking it's not a big deal and you will catch up later that week, it's harder than it seems. Say you *only* skip 1 day, that adds another 5 questions the rest of the week just to stay on pace. Now you're facing 30 questions each day. 30 questions that you dread doing in the first place. 30 questions is not fun, and can be hard to push through, especially if you hate MBEs! If you skip 2 days (which is what tends to happen if you hate MBEs and already skipped a day....remember, poor discipline choices tend to have a snowball effect!), that means you have to do 38 questions for the remainder of the week! You will find out that that is a lot of questions, even for someone who likes the MBE!
So figure out what your pace is going to be. When are you starting? Are you going to do MBEs 6 or 7 days each week? How many do you want to have practiced before the exam? How much wiggle room are you going to give yourself? Get your number, and then stick to the plan.
Ultimately, proficiency (scores and timing) is a better gauge of your progress and preparedness than is the number of MBEs you've practiced.
Once you have decided on how many MBEs you will practice by exam day,, you need to plan out how you will get them done. I am a die hard proponent of doing a set number of MBEs each and every day. [One "exception" being if you don't do any MBEs on a certain day each week as part of your study plan; e.g., if you set aside each Sunday to do a full PT and review, and the rest of the day is your free time for the week.] I find that the people who have a hard time sticking to a certain number of MBEs each and every day are those who hate the MBE. If you find that you are one of those people who struggle with the MBE more than the other bar tasks, this rule is especially important for you.
Let's say you start studying for the exam 12 weeks out. If you want to do 2,000 MBEs, the first thing you want to do is subtract 400 from that number. 400 is the number of MBEs you will complete in your scheduled practice exams (as I will discuss in future posts, you will want to do at least 1 full length practice MBE (200 questions), as well as 2 half length practice MBEs (100 questions x 2)). Thus, you will want to divide 2,000 by the number of days you have to study. Let's say you are going to do MBEs 6 days per week, leaving 1 day each week for a PT and free time. That's 6 days x 12 weeks, or 72 days for MBE practice. Now subtract 4 days for those full length and half length practice MBE exams that you are going to schedule in (the full length exam will take 2 days: 1 for the exam, 1 for review; the 2 half length exams will take one day each: 1/2 day exam, 1/2 day review). That leaves you with exactly 68 days to do 1,600 questions.
For good measure, you might even want to take a few more days out to be safe. Those are the days that you are too burned out or depressed to study, or you have a family wedding to attend. There will be a number of these kinds of days that pop up unexpectedly. So let's shave off another 5 days for good measure, and turn it into 63 days. 1,600 questions over 63 days means you need to do 25 MBEs per day to stay on track.
Don't be deceived into thinking that since you need only do a relatively small number of MBEs each day that you don't need to be disciplined about making yourself do them each and every day. Remember how I said this rule was very important, especially for those of you who hate MBEs? If you skip a day, thinking it's not a big deal and you will catch up later that week, it's harder than it seems. Say you *only* skip 1 day, that adds another 5 questions the rest of the week just to stay on pace. Now you're facing 30 questions each day. 30 questions that you dread doing in the first place. 30 questions is not fun, and can be hard to push through, especially if you hate MBEs! If you skip 2 days (which is what tends to happen if you hate MBEs and already skipped a day....remember, poor discipline choices tend to have a snowball effect!), that means you have to do 38 questions for the remainder of the week! You will find out that that is a lot of questions, even for someone who likes the MBE!
So figure out what your pace is going to be. When are you starting? Are you going to do MBEs 6 or 7 days each week? How many do you want to have practiced before the exam? How much wiggle room are you going to give yourself? Get your number, and then stick to the plan.
