Preparing for the Solicitor Exam After the Barrister Sitting

You just finished the Barrister exam. It is a demanding 4.5 hour exam that requires sustained focus under intense time pressure. Regardless of how you feel about your performance, it is mentally and physically taxing.

The first thing you should do is take the rest of the day off, and possibly the next day as well. The race is not over and the Solicitor exam is coming up, but you need to reset properly before moving forward. You have just completed an intensive exam. Give yourself a short, intentional break.

When you return to preparation mode, the most important thing at this stage is simply to start. You will likely feel tired or burnt out. That is normal. You will have roughly two weeks before the Solicitor exam, and that time needs to be used deliberately.

You are not starting from zero. You have written the exam under real conditions. You know what the time pressure feels like. You understand how quickly the hours pass and how fatigue sets in. You also understand the structure of the materials. You know how to navigate them, and you already have foundational knowledge. Professional Responsibility does not need to be relearned from scratch.

That said, the Solicitor materials are generally more dense. Business Law and Real Estate involve structured transactions and layered rules. Many candidates respond by reverting to heavy reading. That is usually not the most effective approach.

The exam itself has not changed. It still tests your ability to identify issues, locate the relevant section efficiently, and make a reasonable decision under strict time constraints. The density of the materials increases the importance of navigation. It does not change what is being assessed.

In this two-week window, practice matters more than passive reading. Reading builds familiarity. Practice builds execution. Start incorporating timed questions early. Identify where you are losing time. Refine how you move through the materials under pressure rather than trying to re-learn everything.

Between sittings, structure becomes even more important. You do not have the luxury of experimenting. Your preparation needs to be intentional. If you need a clear framework for how to allocate your time and prioritize practice, our Ontario Bar Exam course is built specifically to give you a practical system for preparing and executing effectively.

The period between exams is short, but it is also an advantage. You are no longer walking into the unknown. You understand the format and the pacing.

Take the short break. Reset properly. Then begin again with a focused plan. The objective is not to study longer. It is to prepare deliberately, using the experience you just gained.