Mission Accomplished: Completing the Bar Exam Marathon

In this show, recent bar exam takers Anderson Duff, John DiGiacomo, and Hope May, all graduates of Michigan State University College of Law, discuss their recent experience taking the Bar Exam. Anderson took the NY bar, and John and Hope took the Michigan bar. Virtually every state’s bar exam is an academic marathon -- a two day long exam. In Michigan, the first “event” is a five hour day devoted to essays (Michigan’s exam has 15); whereas in NY the first event is a 6.5 hour long exam that includes 5 essays and 50 NY specific multiple choice questions. In both MI and NY, the second day or “event” is devoted to the “Multistate” or MBE exam -- a 6 hour long 200 question multiple choice exam. Each day contains two sessions and one 90 minute break. Accordingly, we divide the bar exam into four “performance quadrants” that correspond to the 4 different “performance segments” this two day long marathon, and we discuss the psychological and physiological peaks and troughs that one can expect before, during and after these segments. Our objective is enable the listener to be mindful of these peaks and troughs so that he/she knows what to expect and how to maximize his/her performance taking the exam. The show will incorporate recent research on ultradian rhythms and the basic rest-activity cycle (BRAC) that is a staple of performance psychology.