ProfessorTommy.Tips

When you think about preparing for the bar exam, what comes to mind? Probably things like memorizing blackletter law, completing thousands of multiple-choice questions, practicing essays and performance tests, and reviewing outlines until you can recite the elements of adverse possession or the hearsay exceptions from memory. All of those things are essential. But there's another part of bar exam preparation that almost nobody talks about. The chair. Yes, the chair. Over two

If you've followed sports headlines this week, you've probably seen the discussion surrounding Alyssa Thomas' foul on Caitlin Clark and the WNBA's subsequent one-game suspension. This post isn't about whether the officials got the call right, whether the suspension was appropriate, or who was at fault. I'll leave those debates to sports analysts. Instead, the play provides a timely opportunity to revisit one of the classic cases many first-year law students encounter in Torts

One of my former students recently asked a great question that I suspect many Legacy UBE examinees have been wondering: I know that Choice of Law is no longer tested on the Legacy UBE beginning with the July 2026 exam. Does that also mean Erie doctrine is gone? The NCBE outline lists Erie under Conflict of Laws, but [my bar review course] still teaches it in Civil Procedure. Should I keep studying it? My answer is an emphatic "YES." I would absolutely continue studying Erie d

If you've been watching the FIFA World Cup over the past couple of weeks, you've probably noticed something unusual: Mandatory hydration breaks. Traditionally, soccer (or football, depending on where you are) is a sport with very few interruptions. The clock keeps running, and players are expected to continue competing through long stretches of play. Yet FIFA recently decided that player health and performance justify stopping even the world's biggest sporting event so athlet

Lionel Messi added another accomplishment to an already legendary career by breaking the World Cup scoring record yesterday. For more than two decades, Messi has dazzled fans with his vision, precision, and ability to make difficult things look effortless. He sees opportunities before others do and consistently puts himself in position to succeed. But while Messi may be brilliant, a messy bar exam essay response is not. Photo source: www.messi.com Yes, it's a groan-worthy pla

One of the most common concerns I hear from bar examinees is some variation of the following: "I'm struggling with the essays. I keep running out of time, and I really want to improve my scores." The good news is that essay performance is often one of the most improvable portions of the bar exam. While there is no magic solution, there are several practical steps that can help you become more efficient and earn additional points on the essay portion of the bar exam, like the

One of the more common frustrations I hear from bar examinees is this: "I know the law, but when I sit down to write an essay, I can't remember the rule statement." If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. Many students believe that success on the essay portion of the bar exam requires memorizing hundreds of rule statements word-for-word. They spend hours rereading outlines, highlighting commercial course materials, and reviewing flashcards, only to discover that when they

Every bar exam season, I hear some version of the same line: “I just don’t have a spare 90 minutes during the week to complete a full MPT” or, as I'm beginning to hear from people taking the NextGen UBE: "I just don't have the time to do a 60-minute Performance Task." Let’s be honest. That’s rarely true. Photo by Maximalfocus on Unsplash Most of the time, it’s not that students don’t have the time. It’s that they don’t want to spend that time doing something they find overwhe

Happy National Donut Day! Before anyone emails me: Yes, I realize that a "donut" and a "do not" are two completely different things. But if you've spent any amount of time reading ProfessorTommy.tips, you know there was no chance I was letting a perfectly good pun go to waste. Today, people across the country will celebrate with glazed donuts, chocolate donuts, powdered donuts, jelly-filled donuts, and perhaps even a dozen donuts. Since donuts are traditionally sold by the do

One of the most overlooked aspects of bar preparation is learning how to take the exam in the format in which it will actually be administered. Many students spend hundreds of hours learning substantive law and completing practice questions, but very little time becoming comfortable with the testing environment itself. Yet familiarity with the testing platform and testing procedures can reduce anxiety, prevent avoidable mistakes, and improve efficiency on exam day. The specif