Bar Exam Preparation
Stephanie was a classic repeater of the California Bar Exam, who followed a big box course on her first try and then switched to better (more efficient and effective) learning strategies on her second, successful try.
It’s a familiar story you see all the time. Too many stories of repeaters regretting using Barbri and other cookie-cutter programs.
Here’s how she did it and the tools she used to do it:
Continue reading “Classic Repeater Story of Passing the CA Bar Exam on Her Second Try”Surprise, surprise… Barbri doesn’t work for everyone. As a foreign-trained Australian attorney, James needed a way to get a handle on the sheer volume of material and become skilled at USING it.
To do that, he also needed to understand the bar exam in the first place because there were differences in legal practice in Australia and in the U.S.
He then passed the 2022 July California Bar Exam and put together a thorough write-up in collaboration with me, linked below.
This is a rare opportunity to dive DEEP into the mind of a recent bar taker. He drops many gems on what worked for him, with commentary by me such as:
One of my readers put it this way: ‘Make the bar exam process work with your learning style, not the other way around.’“
But enough about me. This is about celebrating and empowering bar takers like you to overcome this hurdle.
My breakdown and James’s full story below:
Continue reading “How an Australian Lawyer Passed the California Bar Exam Despite the Sheer Overwhelm”To pass the California Bar Exam, you need an overall scaled score of 1390.
That could look like a scaled score of 1390 for the written portion and 1390 for the MBE. These are generally referred to as “passing scores” since they put you on track to pass.
But how do the raw scores on your essays and PT convert to scaled scores? What do you need for a “passing score” for an essay or PT?
In answering those questions, it turns out there’s quite a sensitive correlation between the written raw scores and the written scaled score.
That is to say, EACH 5-point uptick gets you MUCH closer to passing the California Bar Exam. In fact, if your written score is in the low/mid 1300s, you’re MUCH closer to passing than you might think.
Here’s how…
Continue reading “This Formula Shows the Importance of Each 5-Point Increment on the California Bar Exam”Worried about passing the California Baby Bar Exam and moving on with your law school career? Feeling overwhelmed by all the information needed to pass this test?
Also known as the First-Year Law Students’ Exam (FYLSX or FYLSE) to stuffy law students, the baby bar can feel like a roadblock on your way to graduating from law school. You might even be wondering, “Why am I facing this much resistance this early into my law career?!”
Worry no more. Breathe a sigh of relief. There’s a way out to put this behind you.
The baby bar (and indeed the full bar exam) is also about knowing the exam, not just the covered material.
You can strategize for the exam once you discover how the baby bar works and how to effectively prepare for multiple-choice questions.
Continue reading “Ultimate Guide to Preparing for the California “Baby Bar” Exam (FYLSX)”A question about what to do in the final month of bar prep after sitting through Barbri:
“I have fallen in the trap of relying on what Barbri tells me to do. I am 200 hours in and have watched all the videos for the 7 main MBE sections. I know basics, but I feel vastly unprepared to tackle this exam and kind of hopeless. Now that I have your materials, do you have any advice on what I can do to master all this material will four weeks left? Sitting through hours of lectures did nothing for me. Thank you so much for preparing all these materials.”
Sound familiar?
The Plan isn’t working. Panic sets in, and cold sweat oozes down your unkempt hair.
First off, this understandable and common. Still, in years past, many people have made it out in the final month and even in the final two weeks.
So right off the bat, know that you can do this (as cliché as it sounds). You are capable. And you will make it out, even if you don’t believe so right now. You have to make it out, to be exact.
No pressure, right? The thing to do right now to regain your sanity is to take stock of what you need to do and have at least a rough idea of what to do from here. Create a plan of attack if you don’t have one yet.
Here are some areas to prioritize and some pointers on how to spend the remaining few weeks (and when to stop relying on notes for closed-book practice):
Continue reading “What to Do in the Final Month of Bar Prep (“I’ve fallen into the trap of relying on what Barbri tells me to do”)”