Every review season produces the same advice, repeated with confidence and without a source. Some of it is harmless. Some of it costs marks.
Here are the ones worth correcting, with the documents that settle them.
"You can fail one subject and still pass"
Partly true, and mostly misunderstood. The result is a weighted general average of 75%, so a weak subject can be compensated — but by no fixed amount, and the compensation depends on the weights. A collapse in the 25% sitting is a quarter of the average; two strong 10% sittings do not offset it. See playing the weights.
What the bulletin does not say is that a subject can be failed safely. Plan on passing all six.
"They announce the topics, so study only those"
Nobody announces what will be asked. The examiners' identities are confidential until results are released, and the coverage says what is examinable, not what is on the paper. Two adjacent topics in the same block can both be examinable and one examined five years running. See the 2027 FAQ.
"Read the dissents — they may ask about them"
The bulletin settles this: only the doctrines and dispositions set out in the main opinion are examinable. Dissents and separate concurrences are outside the paper. Reading them for interest is fine; memorising them is waste.
"You need to compute penalties in Criminal Law"
The bulletin says the opposite: examinees are not required to perform numerical computations to determine the specific periods of penalties expressed in years, months or days. Learn what determines the penalty — the circumstances, their direction, and the penalty's name — not the arithmetic.
"Memorise the suggested answers"
The fastest route to a brittle paper. Suggested answers are one writing of an answer, often longer than twelve minutes allows; memorising them substitutes recognition for retrieval. Classify the questions instead — how to use past bar questions.
"Type faster and you will finish"
Pace is a composition problem before it is a keystroke problem. A candidate at 45 words a minute with a structured answer finishes comfortably; one at 80 words a minute with no structure writes three good answers and leaves two blank. See typing for the Bar.
"The pre-week is for catching up"
The pre-week is for stabilising: no new material, one timed answer a day, logistics two days early. A candidate who tries to cover a missed subject in the last fortnight arrives at Day 1 tired and unpractised — the pre-week.
"A high mock score means you will pass"
A mock is a sample of questions, marked by you, on one day. It measures whether you can produce answers under time; it does not predict the result, and treating it as a forecast produces either complacency or despair. Use it as a diagnostic — how to use mock bars.
"One subject at a time — finish before you start the next"
Finishing six subjects in sequence leaves the first four decayed by September. Interleaving feels worse and retains better — interleaving versus blocking.
"Hours are the measure"
The most popular myth and the most expensive. An hour of retrieval and an hour of highlighting are both an hour; only one produces something you can produce on the day. Measure timed answers and closed-book rebuilds — measuring a week.
Why myths persist
Because they are repeated by people who passed, and passing is memorable. A candidate who read one outline, slept eight hours and passed will credit the outline and the sleep; a candidate who did neither and failed will blame the examiner. Neither is a controlled experiment.
The corrective is the same in every case: find the document. The bulletin, the syllabus, the rules on conduct, the decision's main opinion. Five minutes of the primary text beats an hour of confident advice, including this article's.
For where the documents are published, see where the Bar bulletins are published.