suz-dz

I hear people failing CA bar and NY bar all the time, but I failed Ohio bar exam!!!! what should I do?

rakhi

no, you are not

here is a nice failing story I read online by an anonymous

i would like to let everyone know whose failed the bar exam by more than 40 points that it's still possible to pass. let me explain.

i failed the july '06 ohio bar exam by just more than 40 points (see my post, OH! in ohio, on 10/30/06). having failed by so much, and knowing that i would only have 6 weeks to study the second time around, i figured i was doomed. i realized that i had to make dramatic changes to my study approach before tackling the bar again.

i started by telling my employer that i absolutely needed 6 weeks to study. my employer understood, and i then purchased the barbri home-study course along with thousands of blank notecards.

i formed and stuck by a very regimented study plan for those 6 weeks. i would from 7:30-11:30, take a 1.5 hour break for working out and lunch, study from 1-6, take and hour dinner, and then study from 7 to 9. i kept this routine every day (no kidding!) for the entire 6 weeks.

as for the nitty gritty details of studying, i started by making outlines for every subject tested. i only watched dvd lectures for those subjects which i hadn't taken in law school (5 of them) or had bombed royally on the july exam.

after about 1.5 weeks of making outlines, i would do 100 mbe questions each morning and then thoroughly review the ones i missed. in the afternoon, i would make flashcards based off of my outlines and then memorize the law the rest of the day. i repeated this cycle until there were about 2.5 weeks until the exam.

with about 2.5 weeks remaining, i continued with 100 mbe questions in the mornings. in the afternoons, i would do about 6-10 practice essays. in the evening, i would review my flashcards.

i continued this cycle until the weekend prior to the bar, when i then spent 3 days practicing MPTs.

i actually ended up getting sick the night before the bar exam and for the duration of the test. i just powered through the exam, though, motivated by fear, anxiety, whatever.

when the exam was finished, i felt much better than i did in july, but still no certain that i passed. well, just three days ago, i learned that i passed by a whopping 3.5 points! it turns out that i bombed the mbe (a 131) but did well on the written portions.

in hindsight, i feel the most helpful component of my studying was the flashcards. when i was writing the essays, i had the black letter at the tip of fingers and scribbled out everything i knew, even if i didn't know the exact rule the answer was looking for. i just tried to show the examiners that i knew the buzz words, the general concepts, etc.

so, i really want to first say how grateful i am for this blog. i've read it regularly since taking the bar in february, and have found much comfort and reassurance in doing so.

i really think the key to passing the bar is simply putting in the time, staying focused, and keeping a positive attitude. i don't think i need to tell everyone what a giant relief it is to finally have passed this hurdle. know that if you stay focused, persistent, and optimistic, you will pass the bar.

best to everyone!!

cglaw

Of course you are not an idiot. The bar exam is difficult everywhere. I believe CA is thought of as the “hardest” because it’s 3 days, but truthfully, the bar exam is a grueling experience for all it’s “victims.” Give yourself some time to mourn, review where you went wrong (was it MBE? Essays? Did you not study enough? Did you not practice enough? Did you not write the way the bar examiners wanted?). These questions are important to know, b/c you have to address them the second time. Also, realize that the bar exam is as much a mental test as it is an academic one. It’s really important to realize that this just DELAYS your career, it does not destroy it. Really, you will become an attorney 6 month after your friends. In the grand scheme of things, this is a very short period of time. But it’s important to deal with this now, b/c it will be emotionally harder to take it a 3rd or 4th time (although I know people who took it that many or more times before they passed). I would start studying around mid December or early (as in the first week of) January for the February exam if that’s the one you are going to take! PM me if you want materials (I didn’t sit for Ohio, but these are study tips that can be applied anywhere). Also, I am attaching links to the National Conference of Bar Examiners website. This breaks down for the MBE how many questions will come from different topics within each subject (ex: 60% of Torts MBE questions will be negligence, 20% will be Intentional Torts, 10% Strict Liability, 10% Nuisance, etc). This will help you have what I call “concentrated study.”

suz-dz

I want to thank all of you who took time to help someone like me. I am so thankful for the quality users we have on this site, and the answers I get here are far better than those paid seminars. I will take your advice into consideration and do it again. Thank you guys again for being so helpful.

mgill

I would like to add that I work with a LOT of repeat takers, in various states. NONE of the are idiots, not at all. The reason they didn't pass the first time around is because they didn't know how to effectively study! Because of this, I would suggest reasessing your study techniques from last time, and do something different; take a different bar review course (they are all different, and we all study differently, so you might need to find one that fits your personality), find a private tutor, study in a different location - but most of call, change something, since what you did last time didn't work. Remember, it's not a test of your intelligence, but of your test taking abilities - so you don't need to study MORE, you need to study differently.

Good Luck!

malicea4thought

As a partner in my firm told me (I got a job because of other experience before law school) take a moment of silence and mourn. Then start studying. Put it behind you.

When you are in practice 10 years from now (that's the plan, right?) no client, attorney, or judge is going to ask you if you passed the first time. In fact, I work with plenty of people who took it twice, some of them 3 times.

I am taking it again in February.

pink_pedicure9

You're definitely not an idiot. I think that the thing that worked best for me was really getting my time organized. The first thing I did was take a calendar and write one multi-state subject on each day from the beginning of the study period to the end. That way no matter what I was studying for the day, I started the morning off with 50 PMBR questions in that particular subject. After I did the questions I would write the percentage that I got correct on the calendar for that day so that later I when I got back around to that subject again I could check on the progress that I made.

Try to come up with a strict schedule for yourself and track your progress. Be realistic and schedule some "me time" too because you dont want to go crazy.

What do you think you did wrong the first time around? Maybe identifying that can help you in the future. Don't look down on yourself because as with anything else, it's best to approach the test confidently. Good luck!

Rangi

I failed the july 07 Utah bar. Then a friend told me to get a tutor and practice the MPT's. I kept studying black letter law to keep my MBE and essays topics up, but I did many more MPT's then I had done the first time. I hired an attorney tutor who I met with once a week. We would go over my PT's from the previous week. She would focus on the tone of the PT (e.g. objective, subjective) and helped me work on organization. Plus she told me to use every FACT I could. That is where the points are! In UTah we get 4 essays and 1 PT in the morning and the same amount in the afternoon. There is no particular order and I choose to start with the PT's. I spent about 7 more minutes than I should have, on the PT's but I believe it was well worth it. I increased my essay's/PT score by 8 points and passed the bar! Practice MPT's! It is well worth it. I believe many people overlook them, but there are a lot of points to pick up in that section of the test. Good LUCK