8 Steps to Getting Better at the Bar Exam

Listen, the bar exam is not going to be easy no matter how you slice it.

Not to mention all the preparation that goes into it, day in and day out. Not everyone is going to make it out either.

It’s brutal out there. You can’t rely on your fancy degree and emergency photo of your loved ones.

The good thing is that you have the power to differentiate yourself with your skills. You learn not just what to study—but how to study for the bar exam.

Of course, there are many ways to go about it. You have the innate talent. I only try to empower you to head in the right direction so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

This is a primer on how to use your innate talent to prepare for and get good at the bar exam.

1) How do you get good at anything (such as bar exam preparation)? By doing it and practicing every day.

This will lower your anxiety and increase your confidence.

Your confidence will come from becoming able to solve problems through repetition.

“Easy for you to say! I’m like this because I’m not confident about this in the first place!” You say as you sob grossly.

Ah yes, the classic catch-22. Can’t get job without experience, can’t get experience without job.

Of course you won’t feel confident the first few times. But don’t let that stop you from trying anyway.

If you don’t try, you’ll never taste failure, but you’ll never taste success either.

Doing makes sense of nonsense. Doing is less exhausting than wondering what will happen if you don’t memorize abstract ideas.

You have control over yourself. So you can do it.

Figure out what works for you. Listen to yourself. Trust yourself. Choose yourself. If you can’t, how is anyone else supposed to make you feel confident?

2) That said, confidence is not the end result you’re looking for. Complacency is what made me fail the first time.

Instead, we want competence. We’re all capable of minimum competence at least.

Just remember that minimum competence doesn’t mean the bare minimum. Rather, it’s the minimum required to pass this licensing exam.

At some point, you don’t need any more tips and strategies, like identifying issues, memorizing rules, approaching the MBE…

Those are table stakes, a cost of entry, just the basics. I talk about these things elsewhere.

I want to move beyond fundamentals and toward things that affect your day to day: dealing with uncertainty, embracing the mentality of embarrassment, reframing your expectations, etc.

Now the folly of “confidence.”

The actual exam experience will be different from the simulations. The questions will be similar, sure. The weight of your actions won’t be similar. Your heart will shake uncontrollably. Your body will summon adrenaline and bullshit to try to rescue you.

Confidence goes out the window under actual conditions. Seeking confidence is a trap. A band-aid for the moment to cover up the real issue.

Rather, competence and preparation give you a confident exam experience.

“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training.”

When you’re actually on the hotseat, you’re 30 to 50% less good at the things you’re normally good at on a day-to-day basis.

Dig the well before you’re thirsty instead of confidently assuming you won’t be thirsty later. Fall to the level of your training.

3) How to deal with having to be chosen by gatekeepers (bar exam graders, employers, clients, etc.).

I’ve done some dumb shit. And I always found myself doing things the hard way.

• Ate sliced bread for lunch to save up for law school. I didn’t know you got free grants if you’ve already spent your money.

• Manually briefed each case and endnote for class instead of doing things that would get the grades.

• Met and networked with a bunch of people I don’t talk to anymore.

• Turned down a paid offer from my summer internship to work on a law review article I put too much effort into.

• The shock of failing the bar exam. The hubris in thinking I must have passed. I’d fallen into the TRAP of SAFETY and CONFIDENCE and didn’t know what I didn’t know (why I keep warning you about relying solely on theory).

• Almost got fired because I sucked so much as a junior patent attorney and my supervisor hated me (but things got better immediately after she left).

• Got two interviews and got rejected for both. Asked for and received brutal feedback from my interviewers, and then…

• Got interviews again at three law firms… Turned down at the final stage of one because Baker Botts had a GPA cutoff of top 10%. Got an offer from Knobbe Martens, negotiated it, accepted it, and then LOST it because of a conflict they found a month after I withdrew from another interview process and moved to another apartment that cost me more than double my old rent (and was refused reimbursements for moving expenses to top it all off). They’re lucky I haven’t tipped off Above the Law about their disorganized interviewing process.

Basically I’m stupid and tired of having to be CHOSEN by someone else. This is the position you’re in, too.

Your bar authority will shake the sieve and deem a certain % to be qualified. They tell you: Solve these riddles, and you may pass.

Granted, something good came out of all this because there was one thing I did right…

The art of progression. Now they pursue me even after I decline them.

Your degree can’t save you. But making mistakes means you’ll eventually taste success. Keep going.

Take away the crutch, hit the bottom, and you have little choice but to figure things out.

More important, what does this mean for you?

4) What are you supposed to do if the first thing you think when you wake up is “shit, I’m so behind. I don’t know anything at all”?

“What can I do now?” is more relevant than “what do I know now?”

You’ll never feel fully ready for the exam. If you do, you probably aren’t.

It’s always a work in progress.

You might still spin your wheels and get stuck even after you’ve put in the work. Effort does not necessarily lead to results. But your effort is not wasted.

It’s about the process.

One question at a time. Steal something away from each one you try to solve. You either learn or succeed.

Each question is an opportunity to validate or learn something new and get better. Each step you take is a step toward competence. Be willing to stumble over your feet now so that you won’t on the real thing.

5) People have gone through this. History will repeat itself.

What you’re feeling is not special. That’s good because your problems have already been solved by others.

• Like these stories of struggle and success

• Like Steph who was in prison for 32 years and passed (who told me that checking for bar results was more stressful than checking on parole status)

• Like Naoki who never even went to an American law school

Like everyone else who ditched the path of fear and instead built something for them… you have it inside of you to make this your last time, too.

Even if you fail the bar, it’s not going anywhere. It’s going to stay in the same spot, while you keep getting closer and closer like a predator moving in on a prey. That’s the scariest thing about humans.

Passing is inevitable.

6) It’s easier said than done.

Just remember when the end of the world comes, it’s not credentials that will save you.

It’s your willingness to get into the weeds, your determination, your focus when you’re preparing to face the beast.

The bar exam doesn’t measure many of these flowery traits. It’s not the real world.

That doesn’t make the bar exam an invalid test. I don’t agree that the bar exam doesn’t test your ability to be a lawyer.

The bar exam does measure relevant abilities, among other things:

• Concentration
• Task switching
• Juggling a large amount of abstract information
• Analyzing situations to identify potential legal issues
• Handling high-stakes pressure
• Preparing ahead of time
• Attention to detail
• Ability to learn
• Making logical arguments

All skills involved in lawyering. Ever notice that people who argue illogically tend to be stuck complaining and not passing the bar?

Regardless of what you believe, it’s a licensing exam that you must pass to practice law. It’s not supposed to be easy.

But you can prepare for exams. Exams are just simulations that test certain skills. And skills can be learned through repeated exposure.

For example, Magicsheets and Approsheets can help you learn the material more efficiently and effectively, when combined with repeated practice and feedback and other strategies I talk about.

7) You are capable.

I won’t say that “you’re going to dominate the bar!”

Rather, if you can graduate from law school, you are capable of passing the bar.

We all start at different places, but we can also climb up using our own strengths. You have your unique strengths. You have the potential.

What’s the WORST that could happen anyway?

The worst thing that could happen is that you never take the bar again. This could be the best thing to happen because you can leave this hellscape.

But I also encourage you to do your best. At least you won’t have regrets that way. I know it’s exhausting when the world is on fire.

If you’re struggling, I feel you. I know firsthand how sickening it is to fail and have raw reality shove itself in your face. It can seem like you’re the only one falling behind, especially when you’re working so hard.

But I assure you that many thousands have gone through and are going through the same thing. Fortunately, you are not special (see point 5).

And you actually don’t want to be special. Get in, get the points, and get out.

8) Study your failures. Understand and remember the correct answer. Don’t go for the wrong answer.

Now go get after it. The easiest hard part is going to be over soon.