California Bar Exam | Page 4 of 11 | Make This Your Last Time

May 17, 2024May 20, 2024 - 2 Comments

Passing the California Bar Exam with a “STEM Brain” on Her Second Try

“R” passed the 2024 February California Bar Exam on her second try. She had some obstacles on her first attempt…

💬 “J23 bar exam, I wasn’t able to study because of personal reasons.”

💬 “That was something I felt in J23, I was not physically prepared to take the bar exam.”

💬 “I have an engineering background, so law school was a whole different beast for me! I was very near the bottom of my class in law school. My STEM brain found it hard to grasp the way of thinking like a lawyer!”

R had a similar background as mine. Coming from a STEM background, law school was a struggle for me as well.

But once it clicks, it clicks. And it only needs to click once before you can go out there and start your career.

In my case, failing the exam was a huge shock that finally unlocked the part of my brain to figure out this bar thing. That must have been some trauma to keep me on this crusade 10 years later.

Here’s what R (and I) did on our second attempts so you don’t have to traumatize yourself…

February 16, 2024February 16, 2024 - No Comments

24-year-old Foreign LLM Student Passes CA Bar Exam on Second Try

Camille passed the California Bar Exam on her second try as a foreign-trained LLM student.

Like the other passers, she did it her way, despite being foreign-trained, having no idea how the U.S. legal system worked, and studying from scratch with a full-time job on the line.

There are many ways you can pass the exam. You are the dean of your own studies, and pass rates have no bearing on your own chance of success.

February 9, 2024February 9, 2024 - 2 Comments

Repeater Passes CA Bar Exam After She Ditched Barbri and Stopped “Trusting the Process”

“S” (who wanted her name private) passed the 2023 February California Bar Exam.

What else is new? No, I’m not tired of seeing my readers pass tough exams yet.

This featured passer:

Passed an exam with a 32.5% pass rate
(Makes for a good headline but do pass rates really matter? See point 5 below)
Not a fan of her big bar prep company
Studied while working
Was an MTYLT reader (of course)

(Like this other 2023 Feb passer)

I love her story because it has several parallels to my own experience as a second-time passer. Both of us made the same classic mistakes that first-timers make.

Do you recognize them in your own preparation?

February 2, 2024December 4, 2024 - 1 Comment

Turkish Attorney Passes California Bar Exam as a Retaker

Ceren passed the 2023 July California Bar Exam on her second try after giving up midway on her first try.

But to her surprise, she got very close to passing on that first try!

Here’s how she approached bar prep as a foreign-trained lawyer from Turkey on her first try and on her second successful try.

January 19, 2024January 23, 2024 - 1 Comment

Pass the Bar Exam Using the Right Tools and Approach for You

John passed the 2023 July California Bar Exam on his first try after deciding that his bar review course wasn’t working for him.

I know. Yet another success story about someone who ditched the traditional route. Might as well pack up and go home.

But leaving the bar course behind isn’t just for repeaters. And messages like this often take multiple repeats to click in your head. Kind of like memorizing the law.

Well, let’s see how John did it. I’ve parsed out 5 teaching points from studying his success story and the multiple updates he sent me before and after the exam.