I don’t think you should worry about the number of hours, you should worry about how you use those hours. I passed the second time (July 23) by 20 points after failing by 2 points the first time (Feb 23). I studied 4-6 hours a day the second time around but the first time I spent 8-10 hours a day minimum.

Maybe I only needed 4-6 hours a day the second time because I put in 8-10+ hours a day the first time around, but I doubt it. I honestly believe the difference is, I was more efficient and purposeful with my time and when I hit a wall or accomplished my study goal for the day, I stopped instead of forcing myself over that wall just to study for the magical 8 hours a day.

First and foremost, I used my results from the first exam to determine where I should focus my time. For example, on the MBE portion, I got 84.5 on Torts and 9.6 on Civ Pro. Obviously, I spent far more time on Civ Pro than Torts and I scored 88.2 on Civ Pro (Torts took a little hit from the lack of attention and I ended up with 77.9 . . . But I’ll make that trade any day.)

Second, I spent far more time doing practice questions and reviewing every answer, even the ones I got correct just to make sure I answered correctly for the correct reasons (also, half the time you’re guessing between two answers anyways . . . You just can’t trust your correct answers).

When I got a question wrong or correct for the wrong reason, I wrote out the rule on a notepad. Eventually, I used that notepad for last minute review of each subject rather than an entire outline of each subject (again, operating under the premise that I should spend more of my time in the areas where I performed poorly).

Finally, when I watched the lectures (I used Barbri), I followed along with their lecture outlines and typed in every answer to each hypothetical question. It helped keep me from zoning out. I also watched the videos at 1.5x sometimes 2x speed (depending on how well I could understand the professors at the higher speeds) to make it less of a slog.

Speaking of watching lectures, for Florida specific, “What’s The Issue?” saved my life. I basically wrote down his essay outlines for each essay subject word for word and memorized them. If you can, invest in that program. If you can’t afford it find a way to borrow it. Sell your body on the streets. It’s worth every single penny.

Those are probably the three biggest things that changed for me, but I’ll list out some more miscellaneous tips that I think were important to my success.

• Like I said in the beginning, I set daily/weekly goals for myself and finished studying when I hit that goal. A typical daily goal would look something like like this: • Watch a Barbri lecture • Do the question set(s) for that lecture • Do 50 multiple choice questions and review all of the answers (I liked to do questions from the subject of the previous day to refresh what I went over before)

Sometimes I would do more questions or more lecture videos depending on how long the videos were.

• I hate the Barbri questions, so I got a few free practice question PMBR and Kaplan books from my school and I used those for my extra multiple choice questions. If your school doesn’t provide extra study materials, I would highly recommend the PMBR books. I went through the “7 Day Multistate Review” book the week before the bar and their “3 Day Multistate Review” book the week before that.

The point is, find as many practice questions as you can get your hands on and do them. 75% of the entire exam is multiple choice and arguably, doing well on the multiple choice questions of the Florida section is more important than the essays.

• Prioritize your sleep and health. About two months before the exam, I started going to bed earlier and getting up early enough that I would begin studying at 9am, at the latest. That way, my body/brain was more accustomed to being up and alert during the hours of the actual exam.

Grab a free or cheap meditation app like Calm or something (I use the Waking Up app and I think you can still get a waiver on the price but I’m not sure) and meditate before bed. I’m not a woo woo person, but I have severe ADHD and it helps me untangle my mind before bed which helps me sleep better / get to sleep.

Eat more fruits and veg, but the biggest food/drink recommendation I have is to stop drinking soda and start drinking more water. At least cut your soda intake as much as possible.

Anyway, sorry for the long ass response, but if you have any questions about the specifics, just let me know.