How to Prepare for the
Ontario Bar Exam

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR MATERIALS FOR THE ONTARIO BAR EXAM
 

This is the most common way, and often suggested by Bar Exam prep course and tutoring agencies to arrange your materials and indicies.  

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Materials

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1. Print the materials 2 sided.  Whether you print with Print Bar Prep by The Ink Shop, or on your own, the materials are designed to be printed 2 sided, in one command.  This will ensure your title pages for each section are separate and on the correct side.  It will also reduce the number of pages you have to carry into the exam.

2. Separate the material by subject.  Each subjects will be then gathered into separate booklets.  For example you should have 17 different sections for the barrister and solicitor materials combined.  The exception being your Rules of Professional Conduct, By-Laws, and Table of Authorities can all go in the same booklet, divided by either colour sheets as we do, or by tabs you add. This will give you the most common arrangement 13 booklets.

   • Barrister Table of Contents

   • Professional Responsibility

   • Criminal Law

   • Civil Law

   • Family Law

   • Public Law

   • Rules, By-Laws, Authorities

   • Solicitor Table of Contents

   • Professional Responsibilities

   • Business Law

   • Estate Law

   • Real Estate Law

   • Rules, By-Laws, Authorities

3. Tab the materials by chapter number.  You will need 2 groups of tabs numbered 1-75.  They are sold in sets of 1-25, 26-50, 51-75.  We have tabs sets available and will insert them for you should you choose to tab these materials.

4. Bind into 13 separate booklets.  Most find the easiest to work with, carry, flip through, and work with on the table are spiral bound books.  But if cost is a concern some will opt to simply hole punch and place in binders.  This can be cumbersome to work with but some find it just fine.

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Indicies

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Indicies are often included with the purchase of practice exams from companies like Ontario Law Exam or LexPD.  You can also work in groups to prepare your own set of indicies of the material as the University of Toronto does, or acquire the permission to access to link to their indicies, as well as charts and summaries.  You really need to talk with others to see which you think will perform best for you as they will not be identical.  Below is a short summary on how to arrange your indicies.

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1. Print the materials 1 sided in most cases.  Whether you print with Print Bar Prep by The Ink Shop, or on your own, most indicies are best printed single sided.  This is for two reasons.  First, often proper page breaks per section are not set up as they are in the materials.  This means you can end up with a table of contents, or first page, on the back of the last section.  This would leave you to reprint the first page separately so that it may be placed with the next section.  Second, the indicies are arranged alphabetically and it's not uncommon to have two letters start on the same page.  If printed two-sided this can mean you'll have four tabs separating 2 pages.  You minimize this, and increase ease of searching by printing single sided.  The space savings by going two-sided is often minimal.  If by chance your indicies are properly paginated then this becomes less of an issue.  You will have to look at them to determine.  We will advise you the most effective arrangement for the indicies you submit if printing through Print Bar Prep by The Ink Shop.

2. Separate the material by subject.  As with the materials each subjects will be then gathered into separate booklets, as in the example above for the materials.  Some do opt to place their indicies in front of the corresponding materials but space should be considered as larger sections such as Business Law and Real Estate will may fit in a single spiral binding, especially if you are using tabs.

3. b the indicies alphabetically.  Like the materials each section is sorted, however it is indexed alphabetically.  If tabbing all sections you will need 13 sets of A-Z tabs, though some By-Law indicies, depending on who created them may only be 6 pages and not require tabbing, or perhaps even binding.  A staple may suffice. 

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Charts & Summaries

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Some companies such as Bar Exam Crackers, or groups like the University of Toronto volunteers prepare additional charts and summaries.  You'll have to determine if you believe these will be of use to you.  During the last seating 50% of our customers did print the charts, and print and bind the summaries.  It's best to check them over and see if these are supplements you believe will be helpful both in studying and during the exam. 

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