Lalo graduated from an online law school graduate.
💬 “I went to a fully online law school . . . and though it was a 4 year program I completed it in 5 years, all while working a full time job.”
This shows it’s not about pedigree or how you did in school. Consider the bar exam a separate skill from law school. You start from a clean slate and develop the right strategies for you.
That’s how I made it out with a law school GPA of 2.833, though it took me two tries to figure it out.
This is how Lalo made it out in one attempt.
💬 “My mantra during bar prep was: One time only, never again. And I know all the prep, my coach, and having access to your materials all played a part in my passing.”
Resources Lalo used to pass the California Bar Exam
▶ Bar prep coach
▶ AdaptiBar (use promo code here to get 10% off your entire cart)
▶ Past essay questions and performance tests (CA and UBE questions included)
▶ Barbri (partially)
1. Have awareness of what is needed in preparation
What is bar prep? It’s right in the name: preparation.
Knowing what your preparation process could look like up front can help you avoid traps and plan ahead.
Lalo went through a good bar prep program in school. Despite that—or because of that—Lalo braced for the trek ahead.
💬 “My school offered a robust bar prep capstone program that provided a review of all bar-tested subjects, practice essays, and a good amount of practice performance tests. All of this was good training for bar prep for sure. But bar prep was still hard. And I knew I needed to plan, review, and practice like I’ve never done before.”
Being aware includes knowing your weak areas.
💬 “I struggle with multiple choice so the MCQ early practice was a huge advantage to figure out my problem subjects (Civ Pro, Con Law, and Real Property). I did a deep dive into the nuanced areas of all subjects I struggled with and this was a game changer as I progressed to through the early prep program.”
(Passer’s Playbook hits both points above. The Systematic Study Blueprint gives you a simplified overview the prep process. The sample study schedules emphasize returning to your weak areas.)
Contrast with this person, for instance:
(Why am I even censoring their username? It’s literally public)
I wouldn’t have a good answer for this person. I would instead have questions.
Who’s to say being “21% done” is on track for you? Who’s to say how along you “should” be?
21% of what? A bar review course? Which one?
What did the 21% involve?
Are you a repeater? Are you going through lectures again?
How are you faring with practice questions?
Have you identified any weak areas?
That’s the problem with a “stamp card” approach. The “just follow the number and you’re set” mentality tempts you to focus on the LEAST important thing. It tells you what you’ve done but not what you’ve gotten out of it.
The number that matters most is the score you get on the exam.
If you’ve consciously decided to let the program prescribe your studies, by all means, go ahead and keep track of the completion meter. Have it be the goal of your studies. Filling in the meter, doing all the default assignments, checking off boxes. It can work (seriously).
But one common trap is blindly relying on bloated programs (which sound structured and good and useful (and they could be)) before ultimately leaving them behind in frustration.
What did Lalo do instead?
2. Personalize a study approach
Everyone has unique strengths and weaknesses. For example, some people are going to do better on essays, while some will do better on the MBE.
So it follows that a one-size-fits-all approach may not (or may) work for you.
The key is to be intentional. Successful passers adopt personalized strategies.
This could include being deliberate about the resources you use. This could include using a course to your advantage (instead of letting it dictate your studies like the person above), getting personal coaching, and focused practice on difficult subjects.
For Lalo, though, Barbri was a supplement than the “main” resource.
💬 “I used Barbri more as a supplement so I listened to the lectures and utilized all of their canned outlines when I needed a deep dive into an area.”
💬 “I used Barbri to help on days I had to write an essay… this helped me solidify my understanding of the law.”
💬 “I did not use Barbri’s essay feedback, and I stopped taking their multiple-choice test because I did not think they were helping me. AdaptiBar all the way!”
If you were looking for plane tickets, would you sort by the highest price? A bar review course is a white-glove luxury option. It doesn’t have to be the default. You don’t have to go through it 100% either.
What Lalo chose to do was seek out personal help by hiring a coach.
💬 “I enrolled in Barbri but right away I knew it was not personal enough, so I hired a California-based coach.”
Tutors and coaches are there to help, if you’d like one. But a tutor is not required to pass. It is just one way to look toward others for ideas on what worked, taking what you like and leaving the rest. You are the dean of your own studies.
Lalo also used a portable whiteboard and even brought it to the hotel. No one “needs” a whiteboard, but this is part of “doing what works for you.”
💬 “I also used a medium portable whiteboard to write out the essay approaches for each MBE subject and this came in handy the closer I got to taking the bar. I brought it with me to my hotel (I live in LA but took the bar in Ontario) and the last few days before the bar I wrote out each subject on that white board and had your outlines in my hands, pockets, bags, and on my computer always.”
Nowadays there are many resources you could use. They can all work depending on how you use them.
So it’s paramount to hone in on the ones that you trust and scrape all the meat off the bone. Leave the FOMO (fear of missing out) behind, and experience the JOMO (joy of missing out).
3. Get feedback and assess progress regularly
Bar review courses dump information on you. They don’t teach how to gain a bar intuition.
The way you learn how to answer questions correctly isn’t JUST by reading, watching, and consuming.
You can’t say you know how to ride a bike by watching a bike-riding tutorial. You need to fall and let your body figure out the right way to balance.
It’s important to get a baseline knowledge but also use that raw material (what you think you know) to build experience.
Lalo gained insights through lectures, outlines, and regular practice tests and written feedback, which helped identify places to improve.
💬 “I would go for a 3 – 5 mile walk and listen to sped up lectures, repeat the law, and re-listen if necessary. I also used your concise outlines to supplement memorization and they were perfect for this. Once I had the law down to a point I could talk it out, I would use your outlines to finetune and cement the law in my brain so I could say one word per element and do the quick analysis for an essay or MCQ.”
💬 “I was writing essays from the first week and received graded feedback that gave me detailed insight into how I could raise my scores.”
But you don’t need a tutor or a bar program to get feedback. Self-critiquing is also a valid (possibly better) way to assess your performance. Use model answers and explanations to check how you did (focusing on issues and rules for essays, and rules and facts for PTs).
This is the Practice + Feedback Loop:
Not only does repetition help with knowledge accrual but it also helps you stay on time.
💬 “Practice helped me stay organized and maximize the materials and finish on time.”
💬 “Leading up to the exam I still struggled with the PT, I was at 3 hours 4 weeks prior, but my coach had me practicing the PT at least 1-2 per week for the entire month of July and this majorly impacted my timing on the day of the bar for sure.”
4. Cultivate mental fortitude and resilience
Managing your mind is also part of the “preparation” we talked about above.
“The mind is 50% of the exam.”
Mental management and emotional organization help you handle the stress of bar prep and the exam itself. Not “freaking out” is also one of the common traits of bar passers (Mental Engines can help with this).
Lalo had a mantra that kept his motivation up:
💬 “My mantra during bar prep was: One time only, never again.”
Lalo kept focused on the exam. The exam is the whole week, not only the hours you spend with a proctor. And afterward, there was no point in reliving it over and over.
💬 “I assume everyone feels anxious afterwards; I did. But I did my best to put it out of my mind and I did not discuss it with anyone at the bar during lunch or after the exam.”
💬 “And I made sure to stay away from the internet about it, especially YouTube videos that break down the essays.”
Ultimately, the best way to prepare is to prepare.
💬 “The exam was grueling, and I was surprised at the essay subjects but always felt competent to write for each question.”
Confidence comes from competence. Competence comes from preparation. No amount of “tips and tricks” help you make up for a lack of basics.
But the reward for your resilience and preparation is sweeter than anything.
💬 “The night before the bar I used your outlines to hammer home every subject and the concise, organized structure and ease gave me that last little push I needed to go in with a WILL DO attitude. Thank you for being a champion for everyone who passes and does not pass, we need you.”
💬 “I passed the July 2024 bar exam and could not be happier.”
