Make This Your Last Time | Page 18 of 39

June 10, 2022March 23, 2023 - 2 Comments

How They Passed the First Remote California Bar Exam: Keep Your Bar Prep SIMPLE!

2020 was an unprecedented time for bar exam takers.

They were given extra time to study (until October for the California exam). Everything went remote/online, including the exam itself. There were only 100 MBE questions, making each one count that much more.

We all had to adapt and push through the fog and uncertainty.

I got a couple of success stories from readers who passed the 2020 October California Bar Exam and cut through the uncertainty using a simple, minimalist approach…

Jeff emailed me to let me know how he passed on his FIRST try, despite his initial unrest and reservations about the preparation process.

💬 “This whole experience has been a total mindfuck.”—Jeff

Stephen let me know that he had been out of law school for 10 years… and how he passed on his FIRST attempt since then (three attempts total).

💬 “It’s damn hard to be a decade out from school and take the bar.”—Stephen

Preparing for the bar exam isn’t EASY, but it is SIMPLE. Ignore the noise, and focus on what moves the needle!

Below, you’ll see how they approached their quest to pass the (first-ever remote/online) bar exam — getting it one and done as simply as possible.

June 9, 2022March 28, 2023 - No Comments

What to Do in the Weeks Leading up to the Bar Exam

Not really sure what’s working in the weeks leading up to the bar exam? Or what you should be doing?

If you’re taking a bar review course like Barbri, Themis, or Kaplan, then first make sure that you’ve been using it correctly (and that it hasn’t been using you to fill up its completion meter). Sometimes they don’t make clear what you should be doing to be prepared by the end of it all, other than the endless lectures and review sessions they make you sit through.

It’s like you aren’t feeling as confident or ready as you feel you should be after all that time spent. Studying for the bar exam can be a grueling process, so it’s important to have strategies in place to help you stay focused and motivated — and most important — make progress.

What should you be doing to make sure you’re really preparing enough for the big day? Here’s a framework to help you in the weeks leading up to the test:

June 1, 2022July 1, 2022 - No Comments

How to Study for the Bar Exam While Working Full Time

Studying for the bar exam is no easy feat. It takes a lot of time, energy, and focus to make it happen. But if you’re juggling work on top of all that studying, it can feel even more overwhelming.

Preparing for the bar exam is costly not just in time but also financially (and mentally, and emotionally, and…). If no one else is supporting you or your family, then you’re probably working and cramming your studies, if you even have the energy left. Yikes, even the thought of that is dreadful.

But other bar takers have done it. And they were able to blow the exam out of the water. How did they balance a job and studying for the bar exam? It’s not impossible to do both at the same time, but it does require some creativity and discipline.

The first thing to keep in mind is that constraints force you to get creative and focus on what moves the needle. You’re not going to have much time or attention to waste on stuff like sitting still like a statue while the lecturer rambles for 4 hours. So you gotta make the most of your time.

This can be a blessing in disguise because you won’t be wasting time. Let me share some tactics for studying efficiently while working full time, with examples from past bar passers.

May 27, 2022July 12, 2023 - 1 Comment

How Doreen Passed One of the HARDEST California Bar Exams (33.9% Pass Rate)

The 2022 February California Bar Exam was a tough one.

The typical average raw written score needed to be on track to pass hovered around 60-62 points in past California exams that required a 1390 scaled score.

The raw written score needed to be on track to pass in 2022 February was an average of 62.78 points!

But Doreen managed to pass the 2022 February California Bar Exam…

Unexpected to her (“I don’t think I passed this bar … just [being] realistic” “I will probably take it again in July, and I will be using your methods and materials again” “I was completely prepared to treat it like a practice exam, learn from my mistakes, etc.”)
Even though essays were the bane of her existence, and
Even though she only had 6 weeks of preparation.

How did she do it? Her full story and takeaways below…

May 24, 2022November 9, 2024 - No Comments

How to Study for the Bar Exam as a First Timer

So you’ve decided to take the bar exam. What exactly is it, and what have you gotten yourself into?

The bar exam is a rite of passage to becoming an attorney-at-law (or simply an attorney).

BTW, Black’s Law Dictionary defines a “lawyer” as a “person learned in the law,” and an “attorney” as “one who is appointed and authorized to act in the place or stead of another.”

So if you’ve gone to law school or graduated, you’re technically a lawyer already! For many law students, though, the bar exam is their final hurdle before becoming an attorney. Your journey through law school and passing the bar exam is so you can call yourself an attorney.

But the bar exam is a grueling test that takes days to complete, months (sometimes years) to prepare for, and covers a variety of topics. The pass rate for the bar exam can be less than 50% in some states like California. It’s not uncommon for someone to repeat the exam at least once. Often, bar takers make common mistakes and come back to me, and the real work begins.

Some states have their own jurisdiction-drafted bar exam, like California, Nevada, Louisiana, and Florida.

Most states administer the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), which includes the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE), the Multistate Essay Exam (MEE), and the Multistate Performance Test (MPT). This map shows which states have adopted the UBE:

Which states have adopted the UBE states, UBE jurisdictions

Despite the differences in format and passing scores, the concept of the bar exam and how to study for it are similar across states.

Let’s go over the basics of what the bar exam is about.