When You Hit The Wall

As you progress in your bar prep, you are bound to hit the proverbial wall. Usually, it happens around T-3 weeks. That's when the big freak out happens. You feel as though there isn't enough time left before the exam.  You're convinced you've done nothing productive this whole time.  You won't learn everything before the exam (spoiler alert: you WON'T learn everything).  And of course, there's always an assurance that you WILL FAIL THE EXAM, and there's nothing you can do at this point to change it, so you might as well give up.

Try not to think of the wall as a prediction of your future.  Really, all it is is a rash of symptoms that can tell you what your underlying problem is if you pay attention closely enough.  You are overwhelmed, exhausted, anxious and stressed.  You are burned out!

The problem with being burned out while also having such an enormous amount of pressure and stress is that the cure is hard to swallow.  What you really need is to do something that could send you into greater panic if you're not careful.  You need a break.  It doesn't have to be huge, but it does need to be a break.  It could be anything: watching a game, getting a mani/pedi, going to a movie, take a nap, whatever!  But the catch is this:  whatever you choose to do, you must do it without thinking about the bar exam.  You cannot feel guilty that you are watching the game and not studying.  You can't convince yourself that you will fail the exam if you take off 2 hours but will pass if you study instead.

I have a friend who absolutely loves the show The Golden Girls.  She would feel so guilty about watching the show and not studying for the bar exam that she convinced herself if she failed the exam it would be because she watched a 30 minute episode.  She passed.

Having a reasonable break from study and the stress of the exam will never cause you to fail.  What would add to your chances of failing is if you are so burned out and stressed that you can't find a way to recuperate.  If you are not able to discipline your mind to refuse thinking or worrying about the exam when you're not studying, then you are in real danger of doing worse on the exam.  Why?  Because you have gotten into such a worked-up state that you will not be able to do any type of meaningful study.  And your performance on the actual exam will be affected poorly, as well.

We all know this to be true intrinsically.  We know that if we're stressed we don't absorb information.  We don't perform well.  We don't sleep or rest well, which further exasperates the problem.  So give yourself a break and stop thinking that a break is harmful.  If you start to think of breaks as an important study strategy, then you will find that the guilt associated with them dwindles.

And for the guilt that remains, take control mentally.  Whether you know it or not, you have the ability to choose what you think.  As you exercise that power, you will find that your emotions fall into step.  When you hear yourself beating yourself down because you're watching Glee after studying for 8 hours, stop that thought right away.  Replace that lie with the truth.  Remind yourself that you have put in a good day's work, that you are mentally exhausted and can't do any more productive work today anyway.  Remind yourself that watching the show is good for your mental and emotional health, which in turn is good for passing the bar exam.

We all know that there is a law of diminishing returns when it comes to anything.  We know that once we've hit our limit at the library that no matter what else we do we will not be jamming any more data into our brain.  So why make yourself sit there for a couple more hours trying?  Get out of there, do something else.  You might be surprised to find that you can find another hour or so of good study time before bed that night.  Those are hours you would never have gotten if you didn't take a break.