Tips for Preparing for the Ontario Bar Exams

Time Management

I wrote the barrister and solicitor bar exams in June, after finishing my third (and last) year of law school at the end of April. I’d certainly recommend taking some time to recharge after finishing your final exams. Personally, I started studying for the bar exams roughly four weeks before the first (barrister) one.

In planning out your studying, I recommend aiming to read no more than 70 pages of material a day, as the content can be dense. I also recommend planning to finish your first review of the material around a week before each exam, to allow you to complete practice exams and any further review during that week and have some time to rest before the exam days.

Reviewing the Content

Studying strategies seem to differ. Much of the advice I received pertained to methods of highlighting the material (e.g., using a colour-coded scheme covering much of the text). Looking back, I would have pared down my highlighting, as it made the materials more difficult to read later on. I would focus on highlighting dates, timelines, cases, and keywords.

I completed two reviews of the materials. On my first review, I aimed to read and understand all (or the majority) of the content. On my second review, during the week before each exam, I focused on learning how to find the content (by reviewing the detailed table of contents and skimming through each section to become familiar with its organization).

I would recommend thoroughly reading the professional responsibility materials, as this subject shows up on both the barrister and solicitor exams.

Megan Peters is an articling student at Lerners LLP