College of Law

Ohio Bar Exam Information

General Information on Preparing for and Taking the Ohio Bar Exam

The information below is designed to assist you in preparing for the Bar Examination. It includes general information on the exam and some hints on coping with the stress of preparing for and taking such an exam.

The key to bar exam success is preparation.

You must take one of the available commercial bar review courses to help you recall material you may have learned up to three or more years ago. Remember that the multi-state subjects are tested in the essay portion as well, so studying multi-state subjects does double duty.

After you have signed up for your review course(s), do the practice essay and multiple choice questions over and over again. Time and test yourself, pick out the questions you have missed, read the explanations and see what you misunderstood; then test yourself again.

Bar review courses are designed as review material, not as original course material. It is less likely that you will be able to understand a subject sufficiently to pass the bar examination if you have not had a course in that subject and only rely on the bar review course.

The most important matter at this stage is to ensure that you allow adequate time for preparation. We strongly recommend that you devote at least ten weeks to study and, if at all possible, that you study full time for at least the last 6-8 weeks before the examination. Working eight or more hours a day at a job and then attending a bar review lecture at night is surely working hard. It is not, however, the same thing as working hard on preparing for the bar examination. If your review is to be productive, you must free up large blocks of time for study. You should prepare a detailed study schedule and stick to it.  Most bar review courses provide a suggested schedule of study.  

During the weeks of the bar review course, you should read ahead each day on material that will be covered the following day in the review course, and review material already covered. Although this study schedule may mean using up vacation time, not attending important social events, or other hardship, you want to do your best.  You do not want to have to do this again.

TESTING TECHNIQUES

Multiple Choice Testing Technique

The Multistate questions may range from a simple definition question to a long fact pattern on which several questions are based.

Past Multistate questions are available through the National Conference of Bar Examiners, on reserve in the library, and are supplied through the bar review courses. It is very strongly suggested that you work through many of these sets, working under the same time constraints that you will encounter in the actual examination.

One advantage of review is that there are just so many ways to frame certain issues; therefore, there will be questions which are familiar to you on the exam if you have practiced sufficiently.

The instructions say to choose the BEST ANSWER. More than one may be correct, so choose the best. You can usually eliminate two answers quickly and then choose between two close choices.

Try to answer EVERY QUESTION. There is NO PENALTY FOR GUESSING and choosing a wrong answer.

If you SKIP A QUESTION, make sure you also SKIP AN ANSWER SPACE. Each time you mark an answer space check to make sure it corresponds with the number of the question.

If you are not finished and TIME IS RUNNING OUT, go down the rest of the sheet and MARK AN ANSWER FOR EACH QUESTION. Making a guess or marking an answer at random is better than leaving answers blank.

Essay Testing Technique

You have approximately one-half hour for each essay. 

Use the first few minutes preparing your answer. Read the question through completely. Make sure you know what the question is asking. Many times a bar examiner will have to give a long fact pattern that seems to be leading up to a question in a substantive area (e.g., Torts or Constitutional Law) in order to ask an Evidence or Civil Procedure question.

After reading the question through completely, read it again carefully. Spot the key words. Jot down the key concepts in the margin.

Analyze the question. Identify the legal concepts and relate them to the facts. Reason to a conclusion. Outline your answer in the margin on the question sheet. Make sure your answer is entirely clear in your mind and in your outline. (BE WELL ORGANIZED). Then start to write.

ANSWER THE QUESTION! Start your answer with a short answer to the question asked in the last sentence of the question. Then go on to state the law, relate it to the facts, and reason to a conclusion. Make sure you really write down what you mean to say. You will not get credit for something that was very clear in your mind but did not end up on the paper. Use paragraphs and complete sentences.

DON'T PSYCH YOURSELF OUT. Don't look at the question, say "I don't know anything about tax!"…and turn in a blank page. You do know something. Write down what you do know. Every point counts. Don't fall into the opposite trap. Don't be so relieved that you do know the subject that you forget to write the answer. After you have finished, reread your answer and look for obvious errors such as misplaced punctuation, wrong spelling, wrong words, key words left out.

GIVE BLACK LETTER LAW. Don't just discuss the facts or rewrite them. Don't sprinkle legal terms through your answer without defining and relating them to the facts. Tell how terms relate to the facts, how concepts relate to the facts.

WRITE LEGIBLY! A bar examiner cannot grade what cannot be read. If your handwriting is poor, practice to make it more clear or learn to print legibly. Read, think, analyze and organize carefully before you write your answer. Use sound English prose and complete sentences. Bar Examiners may ignore incomplete, fragmented sentences. Check your spelling and punctuation.

Multistate Performance Essay Testing Technique

You have 90 minutes for each MPT question. The techniques for answering a MPT question are similar to essay techniques. Carefully read the "file" and the "library" and make sure that you answer the question using the proper form for the assigned task.

COPING WITH STRESS

Preparing for the Bar Examination can be a stressful situation for some people. Among the solutions are thorough preparation and believing in yourself.

Preparation, organization and execution are the necessary ingredients for success. Concentrate on what you can do now; not on the fear of failing. Do what you can do even if it's not everything you planned to do. The more you prepare and the earlier you start, the more your confidence will grow and your ultimate performance will improve.

To prepare well, you need to start early and study full time. Starting late and studying to exhaustion each day will not work. Be sure to schedule time during this preparation period for mental and physical relaxation, whether it's twice around the jogging track or an (very) occasional night out with friends after an evening review session. This will keep you fresh and alert.

When you are at the exam, remember to relax. Sleep, if possible, the night before. Studying all night won't help if you're too tired to think when you see the question. Try to join friends for a relaxing dinner, free from all discussion of law.

As you enter the bar examination room, relax. Remember that you have had a lot of successes getting to this point. Remember, too, that you have worked very hard reviewing for the bar examination and are prepared.

IV. COLLEGE OF LAW ASSISTANCE

The College of Law wants to help you study for the bar. If you have questions about the process or substantive areas of law, faculty or staff are happy to help.  We are also available to buoy your spirits, calm you down, or just talk. Please call or email any of us if you think we might be of assistance.

GOOD LUCK