Nat passed the 2024 February UBE on her second try while working full time. There are a lot of people working and studying at the same time these days. Times are tough!
💬 “I took the UBE bar in July of 2023. . . . Today [April of 2024], I learned that I passed the February 2024 Bar. I have been studying, waiting, or taking the bar since May of 2023. When I sat down for the bar this time, I felt calm.”
It doesn’t seem like much to take the bar exam twice, but that was almost a full year of her life.
One thing to realize is that each non-pass is costly. You have to wait 6 more months to check results again.
If you retake the exam in February, you’ll be finding out whether you passed in April or May next year. That’s a haunting length of time to stay in limbo.
That’s just one reason it’s imperative to Make This Your Last Time. whether you’re a first timer or a repeater, you can learn from the wisdom of your predecessors. Especially while the exam hasn’t changed.
Like many repeaters, she realized the folly of the approaches she used the first time.
💬 “I thought I was supposed to do that as I had done it last time.”
So she tightened up her approach and did what was helping her learn. She was always pivoting and correcting course instead of being stuck along one path (like many Passer’s Playbook users).
💬 “I would find myself saying things like ‘this is passive learning, why are you doing this?’ and I would change how I was doing it.”
Her motivation? Not taking the bar exam a third time (aka making this her last time).
💬 “My drive for passing? I didn’t think I could take it a third time, I didn’t want to tell people I hadn’t passed AGAIN, and I wanted to keep my job.”
Nat shares a lot of strategies in her story. I’ll break down the key ones. See if you want to try using them.
💬 “I think the ability to learn about the process, look critically at how I was approaching the process, and then apply it was what changed. For example, I had planned to take a full practice exam at the beginning of studying. I thought I was supposed to do that as I had done it last time. But I watched a video you did, and I realized that I didn’t need to do it and a modified version would be better for me.”
Resources Nat used to pass the UBE
💬 “I used Magicsheets while reviewing subjects and answers. I think generally they helped me get a bigger picture of the subject matter. For example, the Approsheets were good at giving me a roadmap of how to answer a question when I wasn’t sure where to start.”
▶ Passer’s Playbook (tools and techniques for effective bar prep)
▶ AdaptiBar MBE Simulator & Writing Guide
- Use the code here to get 10% off whatever you have in your cart at AdaptiBar.
▶ Smart Bar Prep flashcards through Brainscape
▶ MTYLT emails (get them here)
💬 “Also, the emails were great. You’d have answers and suggestions for things as they were coming up during the studying process.”
Her first attempt at the UBE
It’s easy to rely on the trusted bar review program, at least on the first attempt at bar prep. But Nat didn’t feel too good about the process. It’s a classic story.
💬 “I used Themis and AdaptiBar, but I tried to rely on the process that Themis offered. I felt behind, unsure, and overwhelmed during the process. Before the results came out, I didn’t think I had passed. I didn’t feel good about it.”
That’s not to say a big course isn’t going to work. Nat’s friends (who probably took similar programs) did well and passed.
💬 “I had spent too much time watching lectures and taking notes. I felt like my law school friends were excelling and understanding how to take the bar while I was falling behind. When the results came out, all of my friends passed, and I did not.”
So what’s the takeaway here?
My only concern is with doing something that isn’t working for you. If you feel like something is off, don’t just stick it out unless you have a specific reason.
You are the dean of your own studies. You can deviate from what everyone else is doing. Like Cara and Jared (and others) did.
Whether you like it or not, there is a lot at stake with the bar exam—time, career, relationships. Would you rather look back and kick yourself for not staying true to your needs?
💬 “I had found employment while waiting for results and I had to tell my employer that I was unsuccessful. Then I had to start again.”
💬 “The only thing I knew was that I could not do what I did last time again.”
Of course, if you go at things blindly and do random things, you might continue to spin your wheels. Fortunately, Nat’s here to share what she did.
Doing things differently for success on the UBE
To learn, AI tries things and adjusts its parameters based on the output. To evolve, we need to adapt.
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”—Charles Darwin
It’s not uncommon for second timers to try something new. Nat’s experience is your crystal ball.
💬 “I did a lot of research. And that’s how I found you. I bought resources based on recommendations I had found, and I went through them all so I could have a plan. I made a schedule, I read your emails, and I kept figuring out how I could pass based on my learning style.”
You adjust your sails as you go. We enter the future backward, like rowing a boat. All we can do is look to scenes of the past and learn from them.
💬 “I think it helped that I had the foundation from July, so I used that to focus much more on practice.”
If you’re a repeater, the advantage is that you’re not starting from scratch.
If you’re a first timer, the advantage is that you have your predecessors (and stories like this) and your soul is still intact.
But whether you’re a first timer or a repeater, it doesn’t hurt to have a bit of guidance and reminders to look at your study process more critically.
💬 “Sometimes, I needed to re-set and re-evaluate my studying process, so I would review a section of the playbook related to the problem I was having. I think this helped with my overall approach. I would find myself saying things like ‘this is passive learning, why are you doing this?’ and I would change how I was doing it. I think the ability to learn about the process, look critically at how I was approaching the process, and then apply it was what changed.”
A more flexible study schedule
It can be a little scary going your own way, but you don’t even have to be perfect.
💬 “Was I perfect the whole time? Absolutely not. I had to re-do my schedule multiple times.”
In Passer’s Playbook, I mention that your study schedule is a flexible, living document. It’s not set in stone. It can (and should) be updated as you get new information. That’s why there are buffer days in the sample study schedules and scheduling guidelines. I encourage you to lean into the uncertainty a little more. You can’t predict what will happen.
💬 “I got burned out. I was working full time and trying to learn my new job while studying. I had a health scare and had to re-focus on my own physical and mental wellbeing. Things felt exhausting and pointless a lot, but I also made time to enjoy the actual work. I made it into a game.”
The bar exam is serious, but you don’t have to take it too seriously
Does this contradict what I said above about stakes? Contradictions are where interesting things happen. Figure out where things intersect to find a powerful insight.
🤔 You get so invested in perfect preparation that you forget to enjoy the process.
🤔 You get so obsessed with finding the “best” resource that it no longer becomes the fastest or the best as time passes by.
🤔 You get so fixated on trying to increase that completion meter that you forget to stop and ask if you’re actually learning.
🤔 You get so invested in trying to get it all down that you scramble to do enough practice—the fun part once you get into it.
🤔 You get so fixated on the end result that you daydream instead of doing the things that improve your bar skills and intuitions along the way. The goal is to pass the bar, not to think about passing the bar.
EVERY single time I scheme and grasp at something, hoping and praying for a specific outcome, it NEVER happens. Because I’m too focused on the outcome. I’m just fantasizing about and fetishizing the outcome. I’m too impatient.
Changes to her mental state
When you’re overwhelmed and only see one way through, you end up fixating on things like the above. It’s natural!
But when you take off the blinders and start to see other paths, you go from frazzled to methodical. You feel less “behind” or “unsure” like Nat was her first time.
💬 “When I sat down for the bar this time, I felt calm. I had done the work and I had prepared as best as I could. It’s cliche, but it felt a bit like the time I ran a marathon (although I would rather run a marathon again than re-take the bar).”
Bar prep is indeed a marathon. You serve yourself best when you’re doing consistent and constant review, when you’re invested in the process.
(Side effects include getting attached to the struggle and feeling empty when you’re done taking the exam.)
💬 “I remember being unable to stop running at one point, because if I stopped, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to start again. . . . I knew the whole time that I had the mental fortitude to do it. I just had to remember that and apply it.”
Strategies from her second attempt at the UBE
1️) Prioritize practice.
Find tools that will streamline your practice and feedback.
💬 “I didn’t watch any videos or take new notes. I used AdaptiBar for the MBE and MPT/MEE. The writing guide is not advertised very well but I found it really helpful. You can self-grade your essays and I found it easy to use. I also used the passer’s playbook and the magicsheets/approsheets. These were fantastic. The last thing I used was Smart Bar Prep flashcards through Brainscape.”
You can use anything as long as it helps you tackle past exam questions.
💬 “I set up my schedule so I would review a subject, work on some MBE questions, and work through an essay or two. That was what most of my study time would look like. I did a couple hours in the evening during the week and then longer sessions on the weekends to accommodate my work schedule. I also took time off. Overall, I wanted to be familiar with the style and pattern of questions.”
Isn’t that the purpose of practice and preparation? Nat spent her limited time concentrating on applied learning to achieve that familiarity and intuition she wanted.
I had a consult call the other day with another person with full-time job and a young one to take care of. How did we reconcile the seeming need to study a lot with limited time?
👉🏻 When you don’t have time, get creative with constraints. Do what moves the needle.
👉🏻 Someone with 8 hours (or more) per day will end up filling in the time with fluff and end up doing the same amount of work as someone with much less time (Parkinson’s Law). And eventually burned out.
👉🏻 Someone who spends their little time on needle movers often end up doing better than someone with all the time in the world.
It’s about how you spend your time.
Nat shares her specific MBE, MEE and MPT regimen in her full story below.
2) Try different ways of learning.
Nat switched variables. For some people, group studying helps. Nat tried it the first time but wanted to try something different the second time.
💬 “Last time I did group studying and this time I did not. I found that working on my own was better for me. I also explained topics to my family, but I made sure I relied less on notes.”
Are you a visual learner who benefits from diagrams and flowcharts?
Do you retain information better through auditory means, like listening to lectures or discussing topics with a study buddy?
Teaching others is also a great way to reinforce your own understanding.
If you’re wondering what helps you learn, reflect on what learning techniques have worked for you in the past, for example as a law student.
Remember, if something isn’t working, stop doing it. Ultimately, do what helps you learn and avoid what doesn’t help you learn.
3) Focus on active learning.
It’s generally better to focus on activities that help you retain.
💬 “I tried to stay away from studying activities that were mindless and didn’t require me to actually engage.”
On the other hand, just reading outlines or watching lectures are passive learning activities. They’re certainly valid ways to start a foundation for you to use. You still want to attempt to use them.
Focusing on active learning is especially helpful if you’re low on study time (say, you’re working too). It helps keep your time focused on high-value activities (see #1).
💬 “I tried not to waste my time, especially when I was working during the day learning new things for my job and coming home to study at night.”
Again, it’s also more fun to do this!
💬 “Generally, I tried to set aside about as much time as I spent answering a question to go through the answers. This was particularly hard for me because I always had more fun answering than reviewing and I only had about 3 hours in the evening during weekdays to study. But I would make myself go through every part and turned that into a game.”
YES! Most of the learning happens as you evaluate your work.
Doing practice questions is mostly a way to measure yourself, not to mention fun (to the extent bar prep can be).
So when you’re forming your plan, consider how much time you’ll need to review your work (all explained in Passer’s Playbook too).
The way Nat arranged the subjects was perfect (or it followed the guidance I gave, at least):
💬 “I read the Passer’s Playbook to get an idea of how I wanted to approach studying. I used example study schedules to build my own. I made sure to rotate subjects in cycles, so I was re-reviewing material and focusing on weak subjects.”
Wondering if you’ll be able to retain everything by exam time? There’s your answer to how to increase your chances of that.
Amazing work, Nat!
Check Nat’s full story below for more specifics on how she prepared for the MBE, the MEE, and the MPT.
What’s your top takeaway for you in terms of study strategy?
Full story
