The results for the bar exam for my state will be released today. Luckily, I don't have to worry--I passed a couple of years ago. But I know the stress and worry about the list appearing online at a magic hour, and seeing if your name is there. If it is not there, you did not pass. You did not pass Go. You go back home and start studying again. I know--that happened to me the first time. And the whole world, or at least the whole bar exam world in your state, knows it the same time you do.
I hope for the best for all of the test takers. That one score can change your life dramatically. A passing score can put you on track for a new career and prestige, or a failing score can put you into stall mode for a while.
But if your name is not on the list, do not despair. Just vow to understand why you did not pass and make changes. Maybe you need more quiet time. Or more rest. Or more support. Or a better way to study. Or a better place to study. Or a group to study with. Or to study by yourself, if you studied with others the last time, and that did not work. Or to memorize more elements or rules. Only you can figure out how to increase your chances next time. But remember--if you graduated from law school, you can pass the bar. You just have to hunker down and do it.
3 comments:
I did not appear on the list.
And have no idea what to do.
I took Barbri the first time. Did 90% of what they said. But I feel like, toward the end, I was so overwhelmed that I was going through the motions but not retaining a single thing. Can I ask what your strategy was? And can you assure me that this won't hang over me for the rest of my career?
Hi Tree Hugging (Almost) Attorney--
Thanks for leaving a comment. First, let me give you a virtual ((hug)). I know you must feel pretty low right now. I did when I did not pass the bar the first time. You asked my strategy for the second time. Here is what happened to me in a nutshell. I am leaving it in two comments, because it is so long.
1) I was totally exhausted at the end of my final year of school. My last take home test had to be turned in one week before graduation, and Barbri had already started! I am a good studier, but by June 1, I was out of steam.
2) For the next two months, I was going through the motions of studying, but not really getting down to the nitty gritty of studying. Kind of like what you said you were doing. It worried me. I was also going through some personal things at the time that were distracting me. Not a good sign.
3)A few of my friends were feeling the same way and pulled their exam applications and just decided to take it in Feb. instead. I thought about doing that too, but decided against it. Bad mistake.
4) I never felt good about where I stood with studying the first time. I walked in the door that day, not even having coffee, and that was a HUGE mistake. But I had passed tests before where I wasn't exactly prepared, and thought just maybe I could do it again. Wrong.
5) Basically, the first time out, it was a perfect storm of things going badly.
What did I do differently the second time?
1)For a short while, I was a basket case and doubted myself. I had never failed a test before, but was convinced that I would never pass this one. (Bad thinking)
2) But I gave myself a deadline of November to start studying again, and to ramp up more in December, and to go whole hog in Jan and Feb.
3) An administrator at my school offered to meet with everyone who had not passed, so I took her up on it. She said she was suprised I hadn't passed. That was nice. Me too! She said the biggest thing people need to do is to fix what they did wrong. She said that many of the multiple bar exam takers never change their strategy, thinking it is just a fluke they did not pass, and they never do pass.
4) I knew my problem was not knowing the material well enough, and that was because I just did surface studying. A woman I studied with said she thought I knew the material well enough, but I really didn't.
5)In November, I started studying slowly and turned up the heat in Dec. After Christmas, I was back to my old self and drilling down and really learning the material.
6) I did not attend the Barbri lectures a second time, but used their material. I almost think that was better, as it was hard for me to attend the lectures and study the material and learn it, all at the same time. Without attending the lectures, you have more time to concentrate on the material itself.
7)If you can make an outline of the essay material. This to me was gold. If you start now, you will have time. And memorize the essay material rules. People say the essay questions don't involve memorization, but I say BS. You have to know the rules by heart so you can write them down. It is an analysis test, but also a memorization test to some degree. This what the biggest thing I did that made the difference.
8)Also, Nov, I was not exhausted anymore, and my personal issues were not at the front of my head, so I could concentrate a lot better.
9) Regarding MBE, try to study the questions enough that you can recognize the answers off the bat. The administrator also told me this, but I did not believe her, but when I walked into the test the second time, the answwers to the MBE questions were jumping off the page at me, almost scaring me it seemed so easy. You get to this point by just doing MBE questions over and over until you are going to scream.
10) You might want to buy some flashcards. I bought flashdecks cards. I always carried some in my purse, and at moments here and there when I had time, I would pull out some cards and answer them.
11) Another important strategy I did the second time was gold. I realized that I kept getting the same kinds of MBE questions right all the time and the same kind wrong all of the time. The flashcards were good for this. I separated the ones I got wrong and kept going over those again and again, until I finally realized why I was getting them wrong. Can't tell you how helpful this was.
12) You asked me to assure you that this would not hang over your head the rest of your life. I passed for the second time two years ago, and I can tell you it is already not making a diffrence in my life. I haven't tried to go with BigLaw, but am doing some legal work on my own part time. (I still have my old non-law job.)But I have heard it said and believe it, that there is no shame in failing it the first time.
Chin up, get some rest, and just tell yourself you will do it the next time. I know you will.
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