Hands-Free Bar Exam Prep

Hands-Free Bar Exam Prep rests on a simple trade: lose the flashcard screen, keep the flashcards. The show comes from Brainscape. Its episodes read that company's Multistate Bar Exam cards aloud, one numbered question at a time, with the answer right after. The focus stays on the rules themselves. Episodes are organized by subject. The evidence cards start with presentation of evidence: which proceedings the Federal Rules of Evidence govern, whether common law evidence rules apply on the MBE, and the seven situations where the federal rules do not apply. From there they reach the Rule 403 balancing test, which lists the dangers that can outweigh probative value, from unfair prejudice and misleading the jury to undue delay and cumulative evidence. One card isolates the exception that skips balancing entirely: a witness's conviction for a crime involving dishonesty that is less than ten years old. Direct and circumstantial evidence come next. Criminal procedure opens with arrests, searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment, sometimes as fill-in-the-blank prompts. Its identification cards get more specific. They cover when a suspect has a right to counsel at a lineup or show-up, why photo arrays and fingerprinting fall outside that right, and what remedy follows when a post-charge lineup goes ahead without counsel. Real property works through present possessory estates, including the fee simple absolute, the life estate and the leasehold. The easement cards separate easements attached to a dominant estate from those that benefit a person or entity, such as a billboard or power lines. The recording calls that distinction really important. A second set on zoning and land rights starts with lateral support. The register is plain and instructional. Partway through a set, a quick study break urges the listener to keep playing these recordings whenever their hands are free, since every little bit counts. Episodes end with a pitch for Brainscape's web and mobile app and its spaced repetition. They also suggest the rest of the playlist for times spent driving, cooking or exercising. That closing presents the audio as the option for when the app is out of reach. Each card is a testable statement of law, which makes the show useful for checking recall. Episodes are titled by subject, as in 'Criminal Procedure- Bar Exam Prep Show', so the shakiest subject is easy to find.