I have written elsewhere about the importance of visualization to help you pass the bar exam. I believe that visualization can be used both to remove fear and to envision successful outcomes.
Visualization can also be used to train yourself to recover from unexpected situations that you may encounter while taking the bar exam. When every second counts, you can’t let yourself get sidetracked by something unexpected.
What do I mean by unexpected situations?
I will give you two examples.
During the July 2008 administration of the California bar exam, an earthquake hit. The examination was stopped for a brief amount of time and, once it was determined that the testing facility was safe, examination continued. Anyone who was rattled by the earthquake probably had a slightly lower scores than they would have had in the absence of the earthquake.
The California bar actually adjusted up scores of people who experienced the earthquake, meaning that if you could get through the event without a mental let down, you would get bonus points!
During the July 2011 bar exam, there are two separate incidents. At the Santa Clara location, a fire alarm sounded toward the end of the morning MBE session. At the Sacramento location, there were intermittent loud noises, caused by a youth group, coming from a room next to the examination room. This happened on Tuesday and Wednesday of the exam.
According to a press release, the California bar may adjust scores because of these two events as well.
Dealing with the Unexpected
If you have not practiced for taking the exam in less than ideal conditions and have not visualized performing well on the exam in such conditions, your resulting bar exam performance could be less than hoped for.
Therefore, let me suggest the following visualization. First, prepare yourself for visualizing by going to a quiet location and taking a few minutes to relax. Once you are relaxed, recite the following visualization script [NB: italicized words suggest modifications to the script]:
I am doing well on the bar exam. I am two hours into the morning session with an hour to go until the lunch break. I am performing just as I had hoped.
Suddenly, there is a loud BOOM I can hear and feel. Everyone stops writing and looks around. I look up at the proctor who looks shocked.
Someone rushes in from outside the examination room and runs up to the proctor. The proctor nods his head. The proctor walks to a microphone and announces that a semi-truck has crashed into the side of the building. [insert any event you want – e.g., if you are in California, you may want to visualize an earthquake]
Everyone seems shocked. The proctor continues speaking and announces that there is no danger to us in the examination room, and the test will continue with an additional 5 minutes of time in this session.
I pause to gather myself and get myself back into my bar exam mindset. I take a few deep breaths to calm and center myself, I reread the last paragraph I wrote [or review the last MBE question I answered], and then I put the crash out of my mind and proceed with the test as planned.
The distraction is over. It does not affect my performance.
If you found this visualization useful, you may want to check out my book, Bar Exam Mind: A Strategy Guide for an Anxiety-Free Bar Exam, which contains two chapters on visualization and seven visualization scripts to help you with your bar exam performance.
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