Ashley passed the 2024 February New York Bar Exam on her third try.
💬 “I first took the NY bar in February 2017 and failed by 11 points. I tried again in July 2017 using the same strategy and was unsuccessful again. I felt incredibly defeated.”
Yes, her first two attempts were 7 years ago!
How did she redeem herself and overcome her feeling of defeat?
💬 “Don’t be afraid to ditch or avoid altogether commercial bar prep courses if they don’t work for you, because it’s not you – it’s them.”
Simple resources used to pass the New York Bar Exam
What if you have concerns about using a bar prep course?
Like many bar takers, Ashley started with a big box prep course. In fact, she used it at least twice.
💬 “I was an evening student in law school in NY while working full time and graduated in 2016. I purchased a Themis course as that was the gold standard for prep at the time and used it when I could, but did not have a lot of time to study with work.”
💬 “Six years later, I found myself at an introspective point in determining what my next career step would be, and decided to give the bar another shot, deciding to study earlier to give myself more time with work. I again purchased Themis, thinking it was me and my lack of time that caused me to fail previously, but after 2 months of studying 3 hours at night after work and 8-10 hours each day on the weekends, my multiple choice scores and ability to retain the lecture information concerned me. In January, I started to panic.”
What do you notice about this?
Ashley was working at the same time and only had 3 hours per night. That’s just enough time for lectures but not much time to test yourself on what you learned.
Courses are not flexible about your situation, unless you treat them as a template and a suggestion and mold them to your learning needs. They will ask you to follow the same schedule as someone who studies full time.
No wonder she felt like she didn’t have enough time!
Themis made her feel like she had to do a lot of things that may be doable for the full-time student—but less so for someone who’s tired from working and has to come back to essentially a second job.
While courses can be helpful to bar takers who need a structured container for all the information (especially someone like Ashley who is practically a first timer), it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that courses are not ideal for bar takers who are working at the same time.
Ashley wasn’t seeing improvements or able to retain the information from lectures.
This was concerning. She panicked! This sinking lost feeling does NOT feel good.
Something had to change. So how did she correct course?
Correcting course if something is not working
She looked toward others taking the exam.
Even if bar prep feels isolating, you’re not alone! There’s always someone going through something similar to you.
💬 “I found Magicsheets after scrolling Reddit to find crowdsourced study tips as I could not be the only one who felt how I did. I found test takers in a few threads that were in the same position as me, and said that Magicsheets and Brian’s tips for success were what finally helped them to pass after failing previously.”
Trusting yourself > trusting the system
Instead of wasting time listening to lectures that she couldn’t retain information from, she shifted to a new plan.
💬 “I took the leap, abandoned Themis, and began a new plan.
My new plan was as follows: select 1-2 subjects per day; read the Magicsheets for a subject; complete 25-75 UWorld questions (and review/retake each incorrect one until I got it right); and write at least one practice essay for that topic; repeat for the next subject. I spent weekends focusing on non-MBE topics/subjects during the week I didn’t get to or where I needed additional review.”
It’s tempting even for fresh law school graduates to blindly follow The Program, even if it’s not helping them!
It must have been even more tempting for someone who studied for the bar exam again after YEARS of hiatus.
Going on her own path must have taken a lot of trust in herself. But, at the least, it seems a lot simpler to go without a bloated program.
This paid off for Ashley…
Overcoming a 7-year feeling of defeat
Anyone would forget the elements of battery after 7 years (but never the urge to correct normies who call everything an “assault”).
Ashley basically started over from scratch after her last attempt and began truly preparing 6 weeks from the exam.
💬 “I ended prep feeling that I retained more in those last 6 weeks than in over 2 months of using Themis.”
She used her time more productively compared to “receiving information” but not doing anything with it.
She passed the NY Bar Exam and overcame a “feeling of defeat” that lasted seven years!
💬 “I got my results last week from NY, and found I passed with a 274. If you are working full time and feel lost in your study plan, I can tell you that Magicsheets and Brian’s study tips were what helped me get over a seven year feeling of defeat.”
Would this have happened if she had stuck to Themis the whole way through? Was Themis actually helpful up until the point she pivoted? Maybe to both!
I don’t have advice. Advice is autobiography. Advice can come with an agenda attached. It’s up to you to try what you find interesting and leave the rest.
As for Ashley, she’s going to do what finally worked for her to conquer another bar exam.
💬 “Don’t be afraid to ditch or avoid altogether commercial bar prep courses if they don’t work for you, because it’s not you – it’s them.”
💬 “Abandoning Themis and using a combination of Magicsheets, UWorld questions, and practicing prior essays made all the difference. I’ll now be using Magicsheets again to attempt FL in July and feel confident that I’ve got this.”
Great job, Ashley!
What did you learn from her story? Are you reviewing your current approach to check that it’s working for you?
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