National Ice Cream Day: What To Do When Brain Freeze on the Bar Exam Happens?

It’s National Ice Cream Day. Go enjoy a cone (or two).

But since we’re in bar prep mode, this got me thinking about brain freeze. Not the ice cream kind—though that’s painful enough—but the bar exam kind. You know, when you open your essay packet during the exam, read the first fact pattern … and your mind just freezes.

Blank. Panic. Maybe even a little existential dread.

It happens. Even to the most prepared. The key is having a recovery strategy so that momentary freeze doesn’t snowball into a disastrous essay.

Here are three steps you consider when you experience brain freeze on a bar exam essay.

Photo by Courtney Cook on Unsplash

1️⃣ Breathe

Close your eyes, take two slow breaths, and reset. Your brain needs oxygen, not panic. Taking these breaths helps short-circuit the stress response, calming your body and clearing your mind. This is the quickest way to interrupt that "fight or flight" panic mode and remind yourself that you have tools to manage the moment. Resetting with a few deep breaths creates just enough space to start transitioning from overwhelm back into action, setting yourself up for the next step of regaining control over your essay response.

2️⃣ Force Movement

One trick I always recommend is to force yourself to write a rule. Even if you don’t know exactly where to go yet, this simple rule-writing gets your fingers moving and your brain back in the game.

But what if you feel like you don’t know the rule? That’s completely normal—especially under stress.

Here’s what to do: Start writing a general rule or principle based on what you remember, even if it feels incomplete or fuzzy. You can even phrase it broadly (e.g., "Courts generally consider several factors when determining...") to get yourself going. The simple act of writing can trigger memory recall and start bringing key elements back to the surface.

But here’s the key: Write a rule that gives you the opportunity to work in the facts.

Why? Because in every essay, the facts are your lifeline. When you connect the rule to the facts, you often "unlock" the legal issues buried in the question. Writing a rule that allows you to work in the facts helps you avoid drifting into vague generalities and forces your brain to engage with the specific problem presented. This is especially useful when you feel stuck—using the facts grounds your response in the unique scenario at hand. The more you engage with the facts, the easier it becomes to organize your answer, identify the key issues, and build meaningful legal analysis. You’re not just writing to show you know the rule—you’re writing to get yourself moving, to engage with the facts, and to generate points through analysis, even if the rule isn’t perfect or fully formed. You’re writing to show how the rule applies in this specific scenario, using the facts as anchors to keep your answer structured and focused.

And here’s something important to remember: Essay questions are designed to be read, analyzed, and answered in about 30 minutes. That means there usually isn’t a lot of "fluff" or irrelevant detail in the test question. Every fact is placed there for a reason, and using those facts can help you both structure your answer and guide your thinking about what legal rules are at play.

Think of the facts as breadcrumbs leading you through the essay. Start pulling them into your rule application. This process builds momentum, and soon you’ll feel yourself moving from frozen to focused.

As you write, you’ll naturally start recalling how the facts relate to each element. One sentence leads to another, your confidence rebuilds, and before you know it, you’re back in motion and back in control of your essay.

3️⃣ Trust the Process

Bar exam essays are grind-it-out exercises. You don’t need perfection. You need issue spotting, fact application, and a structured answer. Your goal is to avoid the lowest scores on the raw 1-to-6 scale that's used in the majority of Uniform Bar Examination jurisdictions. You don’t need a perfect 6, or even a 5. You just don’t want to get a 0 or a 1. A score of 2 is survivable and won’t sink your chances of passing. Often, simply starting to write—even clumsily—gets you back on track and helps you accumulate enough points to stay safely in passing range. Remember, it’s about progress, not perfection.