Familiarity Breeds a Successful Attempt

12/13/11. As promised, this posting is about becoming familiar with the Pennsylvania essay format. Essays are graded according to a formula that you may or may not learn in law school. If you don't learn it in law school, it'll be hammered into your brain by whatever bar essay review you take. I was fortunate to take BarBri twice before I took the bar exam, once in the summer of 2002, before I finished my law-school coursework, and then as an audit just before the February 2003 exam, which I took and passed. (I've learned that you can't do that anymore--the only way you can repeat BarBri now is by flunking the first time.)

     It wasn't till I took BarBri that I learned - finally! - to write a good law-school essay. Either they didn't teach it at law school or I was too thick to get it. Briefly, you have to organize your essays according to an outline that the graders (let's call them second graders!) can follow easily. Write simply, clearly and with authority. Use a separate paragraph for each section: issue, rule, facts and conclusion. Some geniuses will figure it all out before they start writing; the rest of us should leave a couple of blank lines at the top to restate the conclusion as the opening sentence after having completed the analysis. Let's deal with each part of the essay.

     Paragraph 1 - Conclusion: Leave blank for now.

     Paragraph 2 - Issue: State the issue simply, e.g. "Is there a valid contract between A and B?"

     Paragraph 3 - Rule: State all the elements of the rule, e.g. "A valid contract requires 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5."

     Paragraph 4 - Application/Analysis: Apply the elements to the facts. Use all the elements and all the relevant facts, e.g. "A and B did ..., which satisfies ... (an element)."

     Paragraph 5 - Conclusion: "A and B do (not) have a valid contract because ...." Repeat or summarize this in Paragraph 1.

     Don't think that you can get away with combining Paragraphs 3 and 4. Remember, THE GRADERS ARE SECOND GRADERS!!! They need it simple, just like your nephew, niece or neighbor kid who's in first or second grade. So explain in simple sentences and WRITE SEPARATE PARAGRAPHS FOR THE RULES AND THEIR APPLICATION. Assume that the simple-minded graders will only give you one paragraph's worth of credit if you don't make it clear to them that you've written two paragraph's worth of answer. BTW, don't repeat unnecessarily and, if you must, it's probably best to paraphrase, lest the spiteful second graders dock you because you made them read the same thing twice.

     We'll review format issues again, but I'll close this posting on the note that you can't get too much practice writing bar exam essays--the more you write, the more familiar you'll become with the process; the more familiar you become with the writing process, the more likely you'll pass, whether you're taking it for the first time or the fifth. I recommend BarBri for general bar prep and PaBarCoach.com for personal, in-depth coaching. I look forward to your comments and questions.