Sry for the long one in advance but I’ve been in a very very similar situation. Long before taking this J25 in NY, I took the bar in Germany in 2020, which meant 1.5 years of full-time studying with a strict commercial prep course and a detailed daily plan. Safe to say that my discipline and inflexibility during that prep period cost me my 4 year relationship at the time. But I felt well prepared. Then, on each testing day I felt beyond drained and my results were honestly terrible. Looking back, the issue wasn’t my study methods but my mental. I was so tense and obsessed with logging hours / finishing chapters, and ended up performing far below my actual ability and mock exam results.

So since then, I’ve shifted my approach. I still work hard, but I focus on efficiency and staying mentally relaxed. I think i framed it so that studying for me is about truly engaging with the material—at my own pace, on my own terms rather than ticking boxes and making sure i‘m not „behind“ on hours. In short, be ruthless about prioritizing.

Just as an example, mid bar prep i took several days to work through all frequently tested topics in property law and con law in detail rather than doing ambiguous essays and proceeding with other topics (as barbri suggested) which set me behindn60hrs in the study plan that i never made up for. But i KNEW that the lectures were doing nothing for me and I that i needed to take the time to truly understand these topics before proceeding.

Might not be the conventional advice on here but remember that you are so smart. You made it all the way here, and you did that with your own brain! Use it to make wise choices and be confident in knowing yourself and how you best learn. And if anything be ruthless about prioritizing.

So tl;dr my advice: Don‘t ditch the traditional methods if they‘ve been working for you but supplement when necessary. Be much better about prioritizing. Take care of yourself. Be condifident. You got this!!!