This 2-part episode features a conversation on how taking practice tests in preparation for the bar exam is an essential tool for bar applicants to prepare to take and pass the bar exam. Guests include Sara Berman, Director of Academic & Bar Success Programs for the nonprofit Access Lex Institute’s Center for Legal Education Excellence and Ben Madison, Professor, Director of Bar Pass Initiatives and Co-Director of the Center for Ethical Formation and Legal Education Reform at Regent University Law School. Judith Rush, member of CoLAP's Law School Committee and Director of the Mentor Externship Program at the University of St. Thomas School of Law moderates the discussion.
Both guests bring significant expertise on the topic. Professor Berman is a nationally recognized bar exam expert and author of Pass the Bar Exam: A Practical Guide to Achieving Academic and Professional Goals and Bar Exam MPT Preparation & Experiential Learning for Law Students: Interactive Performance Test Training, both published by the ABA. Professor Madison is a fellow of the Institute for the Advancement of American Legal Education's Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers and is nationally known for his scholarship on, and efforts in, bringing pedagogical reforms to legal education. Regent has recorded its highest ever bar pass rates since Professor Madison under undertook leadership of its "Bar Initiatives" program.
Part 1: focuses on how making practice tests a regular component of bar exam preparation from the beginning can increase confidence of bar takers and reduce the stress and anxiety of preparing for and taking the bar exam.
Part 2: provides additional anxiety reducing tips for bar takers.