What should I include in a "studying survival kit" as a gift for friends studying for the Bar exam and/or med school boards?

Bouncy Balls!

Marbles!

Squishy stress squeeze thingy!

A couple “airplane” bottles of booze!

On the utilitarian, no-fun side, give her/him tools to pass the exam on the first try!

Mnemonics reference material, like this one: http://home.comcast.net/~extraggaccount/Mnemonics.doc

Flash cards (For California Bar exam, http://www.barinaflash.com/
For Medicine et al, http://www.flashcardexchange.com

Other study reference material: http://www.lawstudent.tv/category/bar-exam/

Let’s see. When I studied for the USMLE Step I exam (the only “difficult” one), I really liked chocolate covered espresso beans. Chocolate + caffeine—> burst of energy. Another snack I always liked are those Pull & Peel Twizzlers, hmmm. You could also burn them a CD with some upbeat music (or load it on their iPOD).

I like the airplane bottles of booze and the squishy stress thingies. Where do I buy those squooshy stress things to squeeze?

all kinds of junk food. coffee. gift card to starbucks? A card addressing them as “Dr. ___” to help motivate them to reach the goal. you can buy the stress things at the health section of walmart i believe. you can also get them free at a doctor’s office.

High-end bottled water (got to have something in between caffeine), jasmine tea (include a card with this on it [from meditation and more] “Jasmine has been shown to cause a high level of beta waves in the brain, which revs-up alertness.], nuts, which offer good sustained energy and are tasty, whatever their favorite form of sugar is (for the quick bursts).

a massage

i used to treat myself to a bag of sour patch kids during finals….mouth is watering! another nice thing might be some natural stress relief. i LOVE the Bach essence stuff. they sell them in pastilles at natural food stores for about $6