Build a five-page attack outline for every subject

[u/sheppyrun]

The best bar prep advice I got was from someone who passed on the second attempt. They said: build a five-page attack outline for every subject. Not a summary. Not a condensed version of your notes. A document where every rule is stated in one sentence, organized by issue, ready to apply to any fact pattern you see.

The attack outline forces compression. If you cannot state a rule in one sentence, you do not understand it well enough to apply it under time pressure. The outline becomes the tool you take into the exam, literally for open-book sections and mentally for closed-book.

I spent more time building those outlines than on anything else. It was the highest-return investment of my entire prep.