Your unfair advantage in the bar exam
The bar exam asks for rule statements recalled cold: the elements of a claim, the exception to the exception, the majority rule versus the minority one. You have to produce them under time, then apply them to facts you have never seen.
The advantage isn't a shortcut. It's a study method: pulling answers from memory and reviewing them just before they fade, instead of rereading, highlighting and cramming.
5 programs · 5,691 cards · organised by public exam outlines
What your memory has to carry for the bar exam
Different exams, the same problem: a lot to hold, for a long time, recalled on demand.
Black-letter rules, word for word
Elements, defenses and exceptions across a long list of subjects, written out from memory in essay answers.
Fine distinctions
The detail that separates two nearly identical multiple-choice answers.
All subjects at once
Contracts, torts, property, evidence and the rest, recalled in whatever order the questions come.
Why the old way fails for the bar exam
Rereading, highlighting and cramming are the most common ways to study, and they feel productive. The research says they're the weakest.
Rereading
Rereading outlines is the classic bar-prep trap: by the third read every rule looks familiar, and familiarity is what makes it feel ready.
Retrieve it
Tested students recalled 61% of a passage a week later; students who reread it four times recalled 40%.
Roediger & Karpicke (2006), Psychological Science
Highlighting
A highlighted outline shows where the rules are. The essays need you to write them without the outline in front of you.
Test yourself
A review of ten techniques rated highlighting and rereading low utility, and practice testing high.
Dunlosky et al. (2013), Psychological Science in the Public Interest
Cramming
Subjects studied in the first weeks of bar prep are the ones most likely to have faded by exam day unless they come back on a schedule.
Space it
Word pairs reviewed across four days were recalled 54% of the time; the stack crammed the day before the test, 34%.
Kornell (2009), Applied Cognitive Psychology
The numbers behind the method
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results. Each one is shown with the conditions it was measured under.
recalled a week later: tested vs reread
Stating a rule from memory beat reading it again, a week later.
Undergraduates studied a prose passage. Those who read it once and recalled it three times remembered 61% of it one week later; those who read it four times remembered 40%. At five minutes the rereaders were ahead (83% vs 71%). Experiment 2, 180 students, no feedback.
Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
recalled a week later: kept testing vs only restudied
Getting a rule right once is not enough. Continuing to retrieve it is what held.
College students learned 40 Swahili–English word pairs. Pairs that kept being tested after first recall were recalled about 80% of the time a week later; pairs dropped from testing but restudied, 36%.
Karpicke, J. D., & Roediger, H. L. (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning. Science, 319(5865), 966–968.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
assessments of spaced vs massed practice, reviewed together
Hundreds of studies agree: spread the reviews, and spread them further the longer you need to remember.
A quantitative review of 839 assessments in 317 experiments (184 articles) on verbal recall. Spaced learning beat massed, and the gap between sessions that produced the best retention grew as the retention interval grew.
Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
See the research
Three short loops. Two chart published results exactly as reported; the forgetting curve is an illustrative model and is labelled as one.
Testing yourself beats rereading, a week later
Bar charts from Roediger & Karpicke (2006), Experiment 2. Five minutes after studying, students who read a passage four times recalled 83%, read three times and tested once 78%, read once and tested three times 71%. One week later the order reversed: 40%, 56% and 61%.
Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
The forgetting curve, with and without reviews
An illustrative model, not measured data: after one exposure, memory decays quickly toward zero over 30 days. With reviews on days 1, 3, 7 and 14, each review restores it and it decays more slowly each time, staying high at day 30.
Ebbinghaus, H. (1885). Über das Gedächtnis. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig.
Illustrative model, not measured data.
Spacing beats cramming
From Kornell (2009), Experiment 2: over four days, one stack of 20 word pairs reviewed every day versus four stacks of five each crammed on one day. On day 5, spaced pairs were recalled 54% of the time, massed 21%, and the stack crammed the day before 34%. Across three experiments spacing beat massing for 90% of participants, yet after the first session 72% believed massing worked better.
Kornell, N. (2009). Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more effective than cramming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(9), 1297–1317.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
Law & bar programs
Ready-made decks, organised by each exam's public outline. Open any program to try its free sample cards.
UBE Bar Exam
11 decks · 1,191 cards
NextGen Bar Exam
9 decks · 1,886 cards
MBE — Multistate Bar Examination
7 decks · 993 cards
MPRE — Professional Responsibility
12 decks · 951 cards
LSAT
2 decks · 670 cards
| Exam | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| UBE200 MBE multiple-choice items, 6 MEE essays, 2 MPT tasks · About 12 hours of testing across two days | 200 MBE multiple-choice items, 6 MEE essays, 2 MPT tasks | About 12 hours of testing across two days |
| NextGen Bar Exam120 standalone MCQs (select-one-of-four and select-two-of-six; 20 unscored pretest), 6 integrated question sets (1 pretest), 3 performance tasks (standard PT and legal research PT) · 9 hours: two 3-hour sessions on day one, one 3-hour session on day two | 120 standalone MCQs (select-one-of-four and select-two-of-six; 20 unscored pretest), 6 integrated question sets (1 pretest), 3 performance tasks (standard PT and legal research PT) | 9 hours: two 3-hour sessions on day one, one 3-hour session on day two |
| MBE200 items total; 175 scored, 25 unscored pretest items · Six hours (two three-hour sessions) | 200 items total; 175 scored, 25 unscored pretest items | Six hours (two three-hour sessions) |
| MPRE60 items total; 50 scored, 10 unscored pretest items · Two hours | 60 items total; 50 scored, 10 unscored pretest items | Two hours |
| LSATAbout 75 scored multiple-choice items (roughly 25–27 per scored section) · About 3 hours including a 10-minute intermission (four 35-minute sections); LSAT Argumentative Writing taken separately | About 75 scored multiple-choice items (roughly 25–27 per scored section) | About 3 hours including a 10-minute intermission (four 35-minute sections); LSAT Argumentative Writing taken separately |
How NoReread puts it to work
1. Cards from public exam outlines
Each program is organised by its exam's publicly available outline, so the decks follow the structure you will be tested on.
2. Recall first, then flip
Every card asks before it tells. That moment of pulling the answer from memory is the retrieval practice the research measures.
3. Reviews scheduled before you forget
An SM-2 schedule brings each card back just as it starts to fade: sooner if you missed it, later if you knew it.
Each card asks for one rule or element. You state it before you flip, which is the same act the essays demand, and the schedule returns early subjects before they fade while you work on later ones.
What capacity is required to be a principal or agent?
The principal must have contractual capacity, but the agent needs only minimal capacity and may even be one who lacks contractual capacity (e.g., a minor).
Learn first, then retain.
Flashcards are a memory tool. Learn the material first, then use NoReread to retain it and refresh what you already know. It doesn't replace studying the subject.
Cards are created from publicly available sources and may contain errors. Check anything you rely on against your official materials.
Straight answers
Is NoReread enough to prepare for the bar exam?
No, and we won't pretend otherwise. Flashcards are a memory tool. Learn the material first, then use NoReread to retain it and refresh what you already know. It doesn't replace studying the subject.
What does “unfair advantage” mean here?
The advantage is the study method: retrieval practice and spaced review, instead of rereading, highlighting and cramming. It is not a promise of a pass or a score. The numbers on this page are published findings about the method from the studies cited, not NoReread results.
Is NoReread a bar review course?
No. It does not teach the law or grade essays. It is for memorising the rule statements you have learned from your course and keeping them fresh until exam day.
Does it cover my jurisdiction's local law?
The programs follow the multistate subjects and majority rules from NCBE's public outlines. Check local-law components against your jurisdiction's materials.
Can I rely on the cards being accurate?
Cards are created from publicly available sources and may contain errors. Check anything you rely on against your official materials. We're not experts in every field we cover, and NoReread does not guarantee exam results.
Is NoReread affiliated with the organizations behind these exams?
No. NoReread is not affiliated with or endorsed by the organizations whose exams and outlines it references, and exam names are trademarks of their respective owners.
How can I try it?
Every program page shows 6 free sample cards per deck. The All-Access annual plan starts with 7 days free, then $119.99/year, or you can buy a single program for life from $5.99.
Exam names are trademarks of their respective owners. Content disclaimer · All the research
Study the bar exam the way memory works
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