NC Bar study plan

NC Bar · Give each week a clear focus.

8 weeks · About 8 hours per week

Week 1

Civil Procedure & Criminal Law and Procedure

Outline Civil Procedure from scratch, covering personal and subject-matter jurisdiction, venue, removal, Erie, pleading, joinder, discovery, summary judgment, and preclusion, in your own words
Draft a one-page flowchart mapping when a federal court applies state law under Erie and when it applies the Federal Rules
Work 40 Civil Procedure multiple-choice questions and log every miss by sub-topic in an error tracker
Outline Criminal Procedure's Fourth Amendment sequence: seizure, arrest, search warrants, exceptions, and exclusionary rule
Write a 10-line plain-English summary of Terry stops versus full arrests, including the reasonable-suspicion standard

A complete Civil Procedure outline plus a 40-question error log with each miss tagged to a rule statement

Week 2

Complete your Criminal Procedure outline through the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, covering custody plus interrogation, right to counsel, lineups, and plea bargaining
Build a two-column chart distinguishing the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment triggers and remedies
Answer 30 Criminal Procedure questions under timed conditions of 1.8 minutes each and review every explanation
Outline Evidence's relevance rules, including 403 balancing, character evidence, habit, and subsequent remedial measures
Memorize and self-quiz the hearsay definition plus the main exemptions and exceptions until you can recite them without notes

A Criminal Procedure and Evidence outline pair plus a timed 30-question set scored at 65% or better

Week 3

Finish the Evidence outline covering impeachment, privileges, expert and lay opinion, authentication, and the best evidence rule
Draft a one-page hearsay decision tree that routes a statement from 'is it hearsay?' to the applicable exception
Work 50 mixed Evidence questions and re-do every missed question until you get it right twice
Write out the confrontation-clause rule and apply it to three hypothetical testimonial statements
Teach one Evidence sub-topic aloud for 10 minutes using only your outline as a prompt

A one-page hearsay decision tree plus a 50-question Evidence set with a written rule statement for each miss

Week 4

Outline Contracts from formation through consideration, promissory estoppel, Statute of Frauds, and third-party beneficiaries
Outline UCC Article 2 gaps, including firm offers, battle of the forms, perfect tender, and the implied duty of good faith
Build a remedies worksheet comparing expectation, reliance, restitution, and specific performance with one example each
Outline Constitutional Law's judicial review, standing, ripeness, mootness, and political-question doctrines
Answer 40 mixed Contracts and Con Law questions and record your accuracy by domain

A Contracts remedies worksheet plus a 40-question mixed set with domain-level accuracy percentages

Week 5

Complete the Constitutional Law outline through due process, equal protection tiers, and the incorporation doctrine
Summarize the Commerce Clause evolution from Gibbons through Lopez and the modern test in under 300 words
Chart the First Amendment speech rules, including content neutrality, time-place-manner, and commercial speech
Answer 35 Constitutional Law questions and write the holding you missed for each wrong answer
Self-quiz equal protection tiers until you can classify a new fact pattern in under 60 seconds

A completed Constitutional Law outline plus a 35-question set with a written holding for every miss

Week 6

Outline Real Property's estates, future interests, concurrent ownership, and landlord-tenant rules
Build a future-interests chart mapping each estate to its remainders and reversions
Outline recording acts, adverse possession, easements, covenants, and the mortgage priority rules
Outline Torts' intentional torts, negligence elements, duty rules, causation, and comparative fault
Answer 40 mixed Real Property and Torts questions and log each miss by sub-topic

A future-interests chart plus a 40-question mixed set with a sub-topic error log

Week 7

Complete the Torts outline through strict liability, products liability, defamation, privacy, and nuisance
Draft a one-page negligence checklist that walks from duty through damages
Complete two full Multistate Performance Test tasks under a 90-minute timer each, using the library and file only
Write a self-graded memo comparing your MPT output to a model answer's structure, not its content
Memorize a repeatable MPT approach: read the task memo, skim the file, outline, then write

Two timed MPT essays with self-graded scorecards rating organization, rule use, and analysis

Week 8

Take one full 200-question simulated MBE split into two timed sessions and score it by domain
Re-drill your 30 weakest questions from the error tracker until you get each one right twice
Review condensed one-page summaries for all seven MBE domains and flag any rule you cannot restate
Complete one timed MPT and one timed essay set to rehearse pacing under fatigue
Write a final one-page rule sheet of the 20 rules you missed most often across all eight weeks

A scored full-length simulated MBE with a domain breakdown plus a final one-page high-frequency rule sheet

Week 2: Civil Procedure and Criminal Procedure outlines are complete, and your timed accuracy on those two domains is at or above 60%

Week 4: Half of the MBE domains are outlined, your error tracker holds at least 100 logged misses, and mixed-set accuracy is at or above 62%

Week 6: All seven MBE domains are outlined, and mixed-set accuracy is at or above 65% with no domain below 55%

Week 8: Full simulated MBE score is at or above 65% overall, both timed MPTs are complete, and the final rule sheet is written