Sticking to a Strategy

I recently discovered Wordle, the free viral word game that’s probably filling up your news feed on Facebook. More than 2 million people play the game each day.

The browser-based game (there’s no app for the game … yet) can be played on a smartphone. The game gives players six tries to guess a five-letter word. After each guess, letters turn green, yellow, or grey. Green means that letter is used in the word of the day and is in the correction position. Yellow means the letter appears somewhere in the word but not in this spot. Gray means the letter isn’t found in the word at all. Everyone gets the same word and a new word is released at midnight.

There are lots of strategies here and here to minimize the number of attempts to guess the five-letter word.

Some internet sources suggest using vowel-heavy words like “adieu” as the first guess. Mathematicians have also developed strategies for increasing a player’s odds of success, like using the first two guesses with words that have commonly used letters that do not repeat. For instance, “tripe” followed by “coals.” (Spoiler alert: For this morning’s word, I used “slump” and “sunny” as my first two words and guessed the word on the fourth try.)

It’s a good idea to develop a consistent strategy that you can use Wordle game after Wordle game. I started playing Wordle just six days ago, and so far, I’m on a six-day winning streak.

It’s also a good idea to develop (and use) a consistent strategy that you can use on the bar exam. And the more you practice and incorporate that strategy into your bar preparation so that you see successes from that strategy in practice, the more likely you’ll be able to incorporate that strategy on the day of the bar exam.

Too many times, however, I have heard from unsuccessful examinees that they “freaked out” on the day of the exam and just abandoned their strategy—that same strategy that worked so well during their practice. Just know that, if you’ve worked on that strategy during your practice with successful results, that strategy will most likely work on the bar exam, too. Don’t let the circumstances or stress of bar exam day cause you to forget what brought you to that point. Trust the process—and have confidence in your preparation!