How to Prep the Week of the Florida Bar Exam
In this article
Not everyone should be studying the same way right now.
With one week left, the right strategy depends on what you did — or didn’t do — over the last two months. The mistake I see every cycle is people copying someone else’s final-week plan without diagnosing their own situation first.
Below are the most common scenarios I see one week out — and how to allocate your time in each one.
Pick your lane.
Person 1: You skipped (or barely touched) 1–2 MBE subjects.
Each MBE subject accounts for roughly 25 questions. If you skipped one subject, that’s 25 questions where you’re operating on instinct instead of foundation. If you skipped two, that’s about 50 questions exposed.
Skipping a subject doesn’t just cost you points. It creates volatility. And volatility is what sinks otherwise passing scores.
It gets worse – don’t assume skipping that subject will only impact your MBE performance. As you’re probably aware, we analyzed ten years of FL essay data and there is a ton of overlap with those MBE subjects – specifically, Con Law, Crim Law and Procedure, Real Property, and Contracts. If you ignored Real Property because it felt dense or time-consuming, that gap can show up twice – once on the MBE and again on a FL essay.
What do you do with seven days left?
You stop pretending you have eight weeks.
You do not try to learn everything.
You do not compare yourself to others.
You build a working framework quickly and allocate your time where it actually matters. Ideally, you pick up a structured guide on the subject (yes, we have them), read it once so your brain sees the architecture of the subject, and then you open the NCBE Subject Matter Outline. That outline is not filler. It tells you how questions are distributed.
For example, in Torts, roughly half the exam is Negligence. In Civil Procedure, approximately two-thirds of the questions come from Jurisdiction & Venue, Pretrial Procedures, and Motions. That means if you are spending your limited final-week hours obsessing over niche Civ Pro appellate review doctrines instead of personal jurisdiction and summary judgment, you are misallocating energy.
This week is not about perfection. It’s about not bleeding points in predictable places. If you only have four hours to learn a subject, you do not divide that time evenly across every topic. Prioritize the sub-areas that statistically represent more of the questions on that section. Get competent in the heavy hitters. Then you move straight into mixed practice questions so recognition under time pressure starts to click. So to sum this up: if you skipped a subject, fix it intelligently. Cover it once to understand the structure, then prioritize based on how the NCBE allocates questions. Layer in Florida’s historical weight. This week is about disciplined allocation, not panic or overcorrection.
Studying for both the Florida essays and the MBE?
It’s not too late to build a foundation in any subject. Check out Ultimate Florida + MBE Bundle if you need last minute help getting organized and prioritizing what matters.
Person 2: You Focused on the MBE and Skipped (or Barely Covered) Florida Subjects
Part A has six scoring segments — three essays and three Florida multiple-choice groupings — and that structure matters because the subjects are not random.
Every administration, procedural rules are tested. Florida Rules of Civil Procedure. Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure. Rules of Judicial Administration. These are not rotation subjects. They are built into the exam.
And everyone in that room knows that.
Which means when those segments are scored, the mean raw score reflects the fact that most examinees intentionally allocated time to those rules. If you walk in without ever having looked at those subjects, you are not just risking missing a few questions. You’re putting yourself below a scoring baseline that most of your peers intentionally prepared to meet.
Don’t walk out saying you were unlucky. This isn’t about drawing the wrong subject. These rules are built into the exam every cycle. If you didn’t allocate time to them, that’s a preparation decision — not misfortune.
Now here’s where the balancing game starts.
On essays, yes — you can sometimes lean on your MBE foundation. If Contracts appears and you’ve drilled formation, breach, and remedies, you’re not starting from zero. If Torts shows up, you probably have duty, breach, causation, and damages wired into your brain.
But Florida is not awarding points for generic law alone.
They are grading you on whether you know the Florida version of that law. And that’s where distinctions quietly separate examinees.
Homestead nuances. Florida evidence distinctions. State-specific procedural triggers. Ethics overlays that sneak into otherwise straightforward fact patterns. Those distinctions are not decorative — they are how you rack up points.
If you walk in with only MBE knowledge, you can survive.
If you walk in with MBE knowledge layered with Florida distinctions, you compete.
So this week is not about panicking. It’s about sequencing.
First, stabilize the guaranteed procedural subjects so you are not below the baseline in segments where preparation is assumed.
Second, read through our Florida distinctions articles deliberately. Write them out. Map them. Overlay them onto the MBE subjects you already know so that when you see Contracts, Torts, Criminal Procedure, or Evidence, your brain automatically asks, “What’s different here in Florida?”
Third, give yourself a light but intentional pass through Family Law and Florida Evidence, and at least introduce yourself to UCC Articles 3 and 9, Trusts/Wills, and Business Entities so nothing feels completely foreign if it appears. You’re not chasing mastery. You’re building controlled familiarity.
If I had three days and a strong MBE base, I’d probably allocate them like this:
- Day 1: Florida Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, and Judicial Administration
- Day 2: Florida distinctions layered onto MBE subjects + Ethics + Family Law
- Day 3: UCC 3 & 9, Trusts/Wills, Business Entities
Will that guarantee a pass? No. Nothing guarantees a pass.
But it protects you from avoidable losses in guaranteed subjects and gives you enough Florida-specific leverage to separate yourself from someone who is just repeating generic rules.
With a week left, that’s what intelligent control looks like.
Not rebuilding everything.
Not pretending you have unlimited time.
Allocate your brain based on what Florida actually tests and how Florida actually scores — not what feels urgent, and not what your group chat is spiraling about.
Person 3: You know the law, but you’re inconsistent under time pressure.
You didn’t skip anything. You covered the subjects. When you read a question, the rule usually looks familiar. But your scores fluctuate. One day you’re solid. The next day you’re below where you thought you were. On essays, you see the issues — but timing collapses or your analysis thins out under pressure.
That’s not a knowledge problem. It’s an execution problem. And a week out, execution is the only thing that matters.
At this stage, you do not fix inconsistency by rereading outlines. You fix it by training under conditions that actually expose the weakness. That means mixed, timed sets — not subject-by-subject comfort drills.
If you’re tight on funds, start with the free NCBE sample questions. There are 21 of them. They’re short, but they’re licensed and real. Time yourself. Review them carefully. Don’t just ask whether you got the question wrong — ask why. Was it a misread? Did you change an answer you shouldn’t have? Did you overcomplicate something simple? Was the rule fuzzy at the margins?
If you have funds, purchase one official MBE practice exam from NCBE (about $100). One full, licensed exam taken under timed conditions will reveal more about your readiness than stacking multiple overlapping question banks.
And if your scores are hovering in the same frustrating band — not terrible, not strong — you need to diagnose the pattern. Is it timing? Is it rule recall at the margins? Is it changing answers? Is it fatigue? That’s exactly why we built the Fix Low MBE tool. It’s a self-assessment that helps you identify what’s actually dragging your score so you stop guessing and start adjusting strategically.
For essays, inconsistency usually shows up as pacing problems. Spending too long on the first issue. Writing polished rule statements but thin application. Rushing the final essay entirely. This week, you need at least one full timed three-hour block. Not to learn new law — but to stabilize how you move through it.
Right now, you are not trying to raise your ceiling. You are trying to stabilize your floor.
You already know the law. What you need now is controlled execution under time pressure.
What This Week Actually Looks Like
So here’s the real breakdown.
If you’re Person 1 — you skipped 1–2 MBE subjects — the first 48–72 hours are triage. You stabilize the subject once so you understand its architecture. Then you immediately prioritize the heavy-tested subareas using the NCBE outline percentages. You are not dividing time evenly across every doctrine. You are covering the areas that statistically generate more questions. Once you’ve done that, you move into mixed sets so it holds under pressure. Structure first. Then stress test it.
If you’re Person 2 — you drilled the MBE but largely ignored Florida — your first move is the guaranteed segment subjects. Florida Civil Procedure. Florida Criminal Procedure. Judicial Administration. These are built into the exam every single cycle. If you haven’t touched them, that gets fixed first. Then you layer Florida distinctions onto the MBE subjects you already know. You are not relearning Contracts. You are overlaying Florida nuances onto Contracts. You are not rebuilding Torts. You are asking what’s different here that earns points. After that, you deliberately introduce yourself to the remaining Florida subjects so nothing feels completely foreign if it appears. At this stage you are not chasing mastery. You are building a stable baseline so you’re operating with the room instead of below it.
If you’re Person 3 — you know the law but your timing is unstable — you stop reading and start performing. Mixed 33-question sets. Timed essays. Post-set review where you actually analyze why you missed something: misread? rule gap? second-guessing? fatigue? You do not fix inconsistency by rereading outlines. You fix it by replicating exam conditions until your floor stabilizes.
Now here’s the part most people won’t say:
You are not getting through everything this week. Congratulations on being human.
What you can do is make disciplined decisions based on what Florida and NCBE actually test and how they actually score. Protect yourself from avoidable losses. Pick up points through distinctions and nuance where others stay generic.
The examinee who allocates their time based on what Florida actually tests beats the examinee who tries to “cover everything” one more time.
That’s the edge.
Closing Thoughts
Here’s the truth. This might sting a lil.
You are not going to master new subjects at this point. You are going to make smart adjustments based on where you’re exposed.
If you skipped an MBE subject, reduce the size of the gap. Understand the structure. Know the heavy hitters. That way you’re not guessing on all 25 questions.
If you ignored Florida law, fix the guaranteed segment first. Florida Civil Procedure. Criminal Procedure. Judicial Administration. Those are built into the exam. Then layer distinctions onto the MBE subjects you already know. You are not relearning your MBE subjects – you’re adding on Florida nuances.
If timing is your issue, stop reading and start doing. Mixed sets. Timed essays. Review. Repeat.
Now — about our books.
Use them the way they’re meant to be used. You do not have to read every page. You do not have to “complete” anything. Pick the subjects where you feel exposed and use the guides to stabilize them quickly. They’re written in plain English so you can actually see how the rules fit together without wasting time decoding dense language.
I spent over a year building our MBE books. They are structured intentionally. They are not bloated outlines. They are not recycled commercial material. They are built so you can move through a subject and actually understand it — even if it’s one you’ve hated the entire prep cycle.
If you’ve ever felt like bar prep forces you into someone else’s system and overwhelms you with material that doesn’t stick, that’s exactly who these were written for.
And as for Florida — tell me who else is in these subjects day and night analyzing trends, distinctions, rotations, and scoring patterns the way we do.
This week is not about doing more.
It’s about not walking into avoidable gaps.
Use the tools to close those gaps. Then walk in steady.
PS: If none of these profiles fit you, tell us.
Email us at support@ameribrights.com and tell us what you did differently. We don’t write theory — we write from patterns we’ve seen over years of data, score reports, and real conversations. Yes, the School of Hard Knocks. If there’s another lane we’re not naming, we’ll add it.
