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Nov
25
How Do I Recover From Failing My Bar Exam?
Filed Under • Counsel
OBABL,
I’ll make this quick. I failed my bar exam. I have no money and no “real” job but don’t feel I can quit the gig I’ve got to study for the next exam. I want your advice, but I’m very fragile right now, so please handle me with kid gloves.
Stupefied and defeated
Dear SAD,
First, some good news, failing the bar exam puts you in the company of some very accomplished individuals. WSJ This year’s most popular public failure belongs to Elizabeth Wurtzel who was outed by everyone from Gawker to The New York Observer.
We can only feel so bad for Wurtz. The best-selling author attended Yale Law School then after shooting off an email to a partner was offered an associate position at a prestigious NY law firm. (Don’t try this at home, boys and girls.)
Anyhow, Wurtzel’s press paled in comparison to that of the deceased heartthrob, John F. Kennedy, Jr., who woke to the headline, “THE HUNK FLUNKS,” after his second attempt. While it has been suggested that these two lacked focus, this cannot be said of Hillary Clinton (she failed the D.C. bar but passed in Arkansas), former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and Florida Governor Charlie Crist. The latter two failed twice.
Advice for future bar victors after the jump:
A study of 23,086 bar examinees published in 1998 by the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) found that blacks were more likely than any other group to fail the bar exam on the first try. The eventual bar passage rate for black examinees was 77.6% or 1,062 of 1,368. This was nearly 20% lower than that of whites whose eventual passage rate was 96.7% or 18,664 of 19,285. You can read the full report here, but below we highlight some of the study’s points to provide some perspective and advice going forward.
1. Quitters never win pass, so get your butts back in those chairs as soon as possible!
While only 2% of white and Asian American examinees and 5% of Hispanics examinees who failed the first attempt at the bar, did not attempt it again, a whopping 11% of blacks chucked it. (That alone accounts for a huge chunk of the disparity between the eventual passage rate for blacks and whites). The issue of how long it took you to pass the exam will probably never come up. By contrast, if you give up on the exam, no matter what you eventually accomplish in life, you’ll always be dogged with questions and insults about the bar. For evidence, see former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford Jr., who while running for the U.S. Senate was reminded that attending law school doesn’t make one a lawyer. FreeRepublic
2. Financial distractions are the enemy.
The LSAC, in an effort to discern what, if any, additional distractions existed for those who failed the bar exam, looked at random factors like marital status, country region, age and whether one worked as an undergraduate. These proved an insignificant relationship to bar pass status. What the study didn’t consider were some of the key financial issues that to us appear more likely to have an impact on exam outcome: Did the examinee work while studying for the bar? Is examinee still looking for a legal job? How significant is examinee’s law school debt? Are any family members able to provide financial assistance to examinee during study period? OBABL’s observations are purely anecdotal, but we know of many who find it difficult to study for the bar when they a) are trying to keep the lights on; b) have started receiving those threatening law student loan letters; and c) are panicked because they can’t find a job and are wondering what all this suffering was for.
What examinees must do is go into a zone. If it is at all possible, don’t work, and just as importantly, don’t worry about not working. It’s winter, so it’s unlikely your utilities will get cut off. Behind on your rent? Please. You’ll be done with the exam by the time a date is set in Landlord and Tenant Court. Have a $5-a-day meal allowance. Fill up on potatoes, beans, hot dogs, and Wendy’s $1.29 meals. DO NOT DWELL ON YOUR BLEAK FINANCIAL FUTURE. Believe us, you’ve got the rest of your life to do that.
3. If after all this, you STILL can’t pass the bar exam, find out if you have ADHD.
Many states provide accommodations (extra time) for examinees diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. In states that don’t, students with the disability are now suing for these provisions. The diagnosis doesn’t come cheap. If you don’t have health insurance, try to find a free clinic.
African Americans are hesitant to seek such psychological evaluations even though many of us suffer from such disabilities. People of other racial and ethnic backgrounds are exercising this right, and so should you.
4. For those of you who have yet to choose a law school…
You can avoid the bar exam altogether by attending one of the two state law schools in Wisconsin or the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire.
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17 Responses to “How Do I Recover From Failing My Bar Exam?”
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Thanks for this post. I am a 3 time bar taker and have not passed…. I had a very hard weekend and blew a gasket. I’m a little better now,not so much homicidal and I’ve gotten some mh assistance. The thing of it is, when it comes down to being a woman of color and a bad test taker, i.e. mbe’s, what is one to do? over and over again I’ve been battling my enemy–the standardized test demon. Any advice?
On the real, if any of my 4 children grew up to be Bar Examiners, I would feel that I failed as a mother. The examination is a means of restraining upward mobility for those who don’t pass. It has nothing to do with your ability to practice law.
Just keep taking practice exams, and visualize yourself having already passed. Place a spiritual claim on your success.
Here are some excellent strategies for passing the bar exam:
1. Print off your state’s essay exams from the past three years and read through the questions noting the recurring themes. Read the model answers along with any selected “top written” exams that are available.
2. Purchase the MEE Study Guides and READ through all of the questions and answers. Note that the more you practice reading the model answers, the more you will become familiar with what the examiners are looking for. Practice reading the question along with the model answer. Do this over an over again. You can always go back and time yourself under test conditions. But first and foremost, spend time reading through the questions and making note of how the problems are broken down in the Model answers.
http://www.ncbex.org/multistate-tests/mee/
3. Purchase the MBE Study Guides at: http://www.ncbex.org/multistate-tests/mbe/
Next, try this strategy: For one of your practice booklets, go through and mark the correct anwers for each question using the provided answer key. Yes, I said open the practice test and go through it marking the correct answers. (smile)
You will then need to review the exam questions along with the answers at the same time. Relax and look for the distinctive testing patterns that appear. Give yourself the opportunity to read the question and answer without having to get confused about choosing the other options. Once you have read the questions and the correct answers, review the incorrect answers and the explanation given in the answer key.
This will help you to identify the question patterns and the best answers.
4. Put yourself on a study schedule. If you are planning on taking the bar exam in January, you should be studying now. Calendar out each subject and schedule in your study time.
Keep the faith. We are cheering and praying for you!!
This blog is so helpful,
As a foreigner with an LL.M I have tried and failed the VA Bar Exam twice,I’d almost given up hope as I felt like I was the only one going through this.
I am going to give it another shot.
How can I go about looking for a job though,any ideas?
You have my sympathies. I am also a 2 time test taker. Although I was quite disheartened and discouraged knowing I had to re-do the nightmare of studying for the bar, I had a slightly different life circumstances.
In my state, as a law school graduate, I was allowed to be a clerk for a state court judge. In interviewing for the position, I explained my Bar Exam circumstances, but my judge told me that it does not harm my chances of working for him. My state only requires that judicial clerks are actively working towards being licensed, if not licensed at the time they are awarded the clerkship. Our state clerks receive a salary and benefits (although certainly nothing close to law firm pay — but enough to keep the bills paid until you can pass the bar and move on to another position).
After I got the clerkship, I was able to work with real cases that allowed my brain to practice logic and legal reasoning issues — all which were excellent prep for retaking the bar. I waited about 1 year in between taking exams (I needed the mental and spiritual break) and benefited greatly by working for the Court. I would check to see if your Bar State has that type of rule for state court clerkships — a real paycheck, an excellent forum for learning more about the law and your work should accord you a flexible schedule to enable you to study for the re-take of the bar.
I failed the bar exam, but my thinking is different from the average person who does.
First off, I knew I was going to fail. I’m not saying I had a defeatist attitude. It’s just that, first of all, at some point not long before the exam it became obvious I hadn’t made enough progress in my studying to pass (and I’ll touch on that a bit more below when I give my advice). Then after the exam was over, I could sense I hadn’t performed well enough. So I had months to come to terms with that, and when I finally got my score it wasn’t a big deal for me.
Second, I don’t have a job, either. I can’t stand hearing from people things along the lines of “don’t worry about finances.” That’s not a luxury, especially if you basically paid for all of your schooling through loans. I saw on the Facebook group that someone gave the typical “a law degree opens doors” statement. This, unfortunately, is incorrect. The more work experience you have in law, the more it helps–including when looking for alternative career paths. But straight out of law school, it’s actually more harmful. Combine this with the economy right now, and not having a job is a huge problem that I don’t think people who DO have jobs can begin to comprehend or give you advice on.
Third, I don’t view not retaking the bar exam as a tragedy or taking the bar exam again as a must. It depends on what you want to do. Personally, I hated law school and feel it was a mistake. I don’t care what others say about my not ever getting licensed or not being a real lawyer. I don’t belong a lawyer, and I’m not saying that because I failed the bar. My summer work experiences have shown me I could cut it as a lawyer. Plus, I got admitted to several top ten law schools, graduated from one of them. It was simply the incorrect career decision for me, and it might have been for other blacks who fail/don’t pass the bar as well. For this reason, I’m leaning towards not re-taking the bar and if I do re-take it, that will be more because I can’t find job opportunities otherwise. Personally, it doesn’t make sense for me to invest MORE time/money/energy in something that makes me miserable, and I believe this is part of why I failed in the first place. I believe I could pass the bar the second try, but I don’t believe it’s worth it for me to do so.
My advice, or my aptly what I’ve learned from failing:
I think it’s best not to take other people’s advice. You have to sit and reflect on what you did wrong when you were studying that led to your failing. Also reflect on whether or not you’re anything at all like me, i.e. law is not right for you. But if it is and you plan to re-take the bar, you need to figure out what will help you succeed. I think I tried to do too many things the way other people suggested, and I realized too late in my studying that those things weren’t right for me. Just because study tips/approaches work for others doesn’t mean they will work for you. Before you even sign up for another bar exam, you should really figure out what your strengths/weaknesses were on the bar exam you failed, how best to correct those, your learning/studying style, whether you want to put the effort in, whether you’d be better off taking another state’s bar exam instead of the one you already took, etc.
In short, do what’s best for you and don’t let others tell you that you must take the bar again, something’s wrong with not passing/getting licensed, that you must study this or that way, etc.
And to clarify on what I mean by a law degree being harmful straight out of law school, I mean how 1) even legal employers most of the time prefer someone who has work experience over a recent grad, and 2) how when you pursue alternative career paths right out of law school, the people you send resumes to and/or do job interviews with don’t understand why you’re “throwing away a law degree” or why you would give up “all that money” to work in their field. Basically, alternative employers tend to buy the incorrect but popular stereotypes about the legal field. They think jobs in law are plentiful and that all lawyers make a lot of money. Overcoming these people thinking you’re crazy is very difficult. Personal experience.
I passed after a few tries as well. I think it is most important to take a moment to reflect on what you did correctly and the areas you struggled when you studied for an took the exam. I opted to listen to myself and not to what other’s thought was best for me to do. Everyone has an opinion but it is you who knows the solution that is right for You. I knew I did not need another bar review course but instead I needed to work on the fundamentals and create my own study guide or outline or whatever worked for me in the past. I also suggest getting a tutor - which are/were provided by Barbri. Sometime having someone in the know review your essays can help give you a different perspective as the exam is about having a strategy and sticking with it. Because if you were to go back to the essays that scored the highest you will note that they follow the same format and don’t always have a correct interpretation of the law.
It’s not easy for me to write this, but it took me 6 attempts to pass the Illinois Bar Exam. I am a black male, married with one child. I attended law school at age 33, 7 years after graduating from college. I worked full-time as medical technologist while attending law school part-time at night. Also, I continued to work full-time while studying for the bar. I am not making excuses, however I am just sharing my experience. Like most people I would have preferred to attend school and studying full-time without working a job. I am living proof that you can pass the bar exam if you remain focused and determined. Below I am going to outline how I finally passed, assuming you have already enrolled in a bar review course and have passed the MPRE. Do the following EVERYDAY up to the day of the exam - DO NOT TIME YOURSELF:
(1)MBE- do 5 questions each from con law, criminal, contracts, property, evidence, and torts. Then review all of your answers both correct and incorrect. Create an outline from all of your wrong answers, explaining how to get the answer right.
(2)MEE- do 1 essay from any tested subject area relevant to your state using the IRAC method. Review this answer. If you got it wrong then add this explanation to your outline you created in STEP 1.
(3)MPT- do 1 complete MPT and review the answer. If wrong add to your outline from STEP 1.
(4)REVIEW OUTLINE FROM STEP1 & DO STEPS 1-3 EVERYDAY UP TO THE DAY OF EXAM !!!
By the way, I am still working full-time as a medical technologist. The job market stinks.
There are more lawyers than jobs available (supply and demand, econ 101), but that’s another story.
GOOD LUCK!!!
I failed the NY bar and passed it on the second go round. I had a job (found out I flunked as a first year at a large law firm here in NY) and was even given a paid month off to study when I took it the second time. In some ways, this was even worse.
I ended up lateralling out of the firm because I feel like my failing the bar was “reason” for a lot of the people I worked with to assume I was stupid and treat me accordingly. Plus, it totally re-enforced point 1 (see infra).
I actually think a lot of my issues with passing were in my head. I basically suffered from a perfect storm of crap.
(1) I am not worthy syndrome.
I feel like black students get so fucked up by law school. I especially had a lot of weird stuff go down (I went to Northwestern) from professors and fellow students that felt like “really, you aren’t deserving to be here, you are only an affirmative action child.”
I graduated, but I didn’t own my intelligence.
(2) I don’t deserve this success.
I think after so many years of being told this, then once you are finally faced with your accomplishment, you have to actually get to this head space of believe you are entitled.
Black folks rarely feel entitled to anything. So we give up, but Wurtzel, on the other hand? Just ASKS for an associate position. It wouldn’t even OCCUR to black folks to do this!
Please know this:
(1) This is a test, its not an indicator of what kind of lawyer you will be. I am now a happy, successful, highly regarded senior associate at another large law firm in NYC.
(2) Don’t give up. Get a tutor who you can feel safe asking “stupid questions” with. Find other POC to study with.
(3) You aren’t alone, and you are worthy of this profession. Don’t let despair take hold. Just hold your head up and do it again.
Good luck!
Co-sign to everything said so far. Especially Anon (Nov 26). His/her analysis is spot on regarding both the bar exam and the legal profession. You definitely have to know what works for YOU.
As most black students, I have always had a difficult time with standardized test. I took the LSAT twice. I took the MPRE 3 times before I finally passed that stupid thing. Because I knew I have historically sucked at standardized tests, when the bar exam came around I knew I had to go into full attack mode. I took both the New York and New Jersey bar exams simultaneously and passed them both on the first try.
First order of business was to pair up with a study partner; somebody who I knew would also get down to business.
Second order of business, made a calendar and stuck to it.
Third order of business, and most important in my opinion, was to sit back and systematically look at EXACTLY what is tested on the bar. In other words, I looked at previous bar exams, noticed which subjects and which topics within each subject were repeated every year, and I made sure I knew them. Which also means I didn’t waste time studying sh*t that only appeared on one bar exam way back in 1992.
There is WAAAAAY too much information on the bar exam for you to think that you can learn it all, and I think students of color fall into that trap of thinking that they must learn everything in order to pass. (A) there’s no way humanly possible to cover everything and (B) you don’t need to in order to pass.
I’d also reiterate that for students of color, this thing is 90% mental. One of the minority students in the class ahead of mine told us something that kinda stuck with me through hte whole bar exam study process: “whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, either way you’re right.”
All that to say, if you can get past the mind game that is “The Bar Exam,” there is a method to the madness for each state. There’s no magic to it. Most people don’t pass the exam because of the MBE. Therefore, practice as many MBE questions as you can get your hands on. By the time I took the NY and NJ bar exams, my study partner and I had each taken (and reviewed) approximately 3,000 MBE questions. Yes I said THREE THOUSAND. It is not a game. You gotta attack this thing accordingly.
Now get to work.
Charlie is on the money!!! I failed no no no I was unsucessful the first time I took the bar exam and thought my world ended because I did NOT want to take the bar exam again!!1 I could have cared less about black acre and a flying fortune cookie about grey acre. i mean till this day i have nightmares about RAP!!! Arggggh. But I think failing was probably the best thing that ever happened to me because I had to get hungry, matter of fact, i had to starve myself to get extra hungry. I assessed my first time and had to change somethings because the bar is mostly mental i needed to surround myself with positives. positive people, positive quotes, postive bible verses, oh and ask my parents for a positive bank account balance.. look I even rented “legally blond” because I was positive that if she can pass the bar exam I know I can. I worked hard. Thats it!!! no special equations or forumlas I worked really really hard. I did 3,000 multiple choices and figured out there was a pattern in my practicing. I studied the essay book and I actually did MPT questions this time.. for real!!! I never worked so hard for anything in my life and it was worth it. Not only did I take it to the bar examiners, who failed me by 5 the first time OUCH!!! but I passed by 20 the next time with the ability to waive into DC. Man I put my foot in it. But most of all, I really learned what I can do when I put my mind to it. Now I could transfer this same zeal into my career for my clients. Do not be discouraged, take this as a sign to get your tail in gear. SO start getting your multiple choices together, dust off the outline book, prepare to destroy your essay book and bust out some MPTs and pass your BAR EXAM!!!!
anon: i couldn’t have said it better…everything that you stated has been exactly my experience, down to the issue of me not wanting to even have a traditional legal career (and i came to this decision way before i graduated). however, i felt both societal and familial pressure to continue on and when it came time to take the bar exam, of course i didn’t pass on the first try. like you, anon, i knew after i took the exam that i didn’t pass. i ended up passing after the third time (three times the charm, i suppose?). since then, trying to find a non-legal job has been a nightmare. i did get lucky and got a position (a low-paying one, mind you) at a publishing company, and i was there for a couple of years until very recently when i got laid off. so now, it’s back to square one for me. i, too, have experienced going on job interviews for non-legal positions where i got those questions about why i wouldn’t want to practice law “and make a lot of money.” i’ll stop blabbing and just say that you shouldn’t get down on not passing the bar. instead, i think you should re-assess your study habits and like others have mentioned identify your strengths/weaknesses (e.g., my weaknesses were the essays, so i decided to spend a lot more time trying to improve my exam essay writing skills). also maintaining a strict, yet balanced study schedule (e.g., i for one, did not study 12 hrs a day; i studied 8 hrs a day, and took several breaks in between). if you are working full time, you are most likely not going to be able to study 8 hrs a day, and this is fine. if you can get 4 hrs a day during the week and make up study hours during the weekend, this will be o.k. it’s not about how many hours you put in, but about the type and amount of progress you’re making.
GOOD LUCK!
THANK YOU OBABL for this blog and THANK YOU commenters for this discussion! I share many of the sentiments expressed by others here and I often thought I was alone. Truth is, we are never alone.
I just found out that I was unsuccessful on the MD bar (I took the NY bar before and was unsuccessful there). I feel pressure to take it again and since I have spent so long trying to find gainful employment, what is another three months anyways? This time around I am really going to “put my foot in it.” I am not even sure that I want to practice law, but there are at least a few areas that really interest me, fortunately.
I have often struggled with the feelings of inadequacy, defeatism and negative thoughts of others that I inadvertently accepted for myself. Right now, I am focusing on success. I am orienting myself to overcoming this challenge. I know I can make it, and we can all make it! So let us make it happen! Again, thank you all for the advice, and for sharing your experiences. May you all be blessed with good fortune and SUCCESS!
I am licensed in two different states (I have never failed a bar exam). On of my associates is licensed in four states (having passed four different bar exams).
The one thing we have in common is our approach to taking bar exams. We both approached the exam as if it were a job. We studied for about eight to nine hours a day for at least two months prior to the exam. In addition, we both worked numerous practice questions under exam conditions (under time constraints). We both took BarBri.
The best advice I could give is to keep trying and learn from your mistakes from the past. I see many lawyers who are not super intelligent. If they can pass the bar, I know just about anyone can once they apply themselves.
What surprises me about the bar examination is the low passage rate for very smart sisters and brothers. I noticed one issue that sticks out with people who have not passed the bae exam. They are nervous, scared, and defeated before they start. I USED TO BELEIVE THAT I COULDN’T PASS just becasue I had heard Blacks don’t pass. What a croak of poop? If you read your state’s essay examinations and Mbe questions you will see a pattern to the issues and how they are tested. It requires lots of work and long hours.
I know this sounds simple, but it works.
People who learned English as a 2nd language are also highly likely to fail the first time around. That is where I fit in. Your suggestions are on point. I would just add a couple more things. Look around for resources. In Illinois, we have a program that focuses on helping minority lawyers pass the bar. Also, one-on-one help never hurts and it does not mean that you are less capable. Much of the bar exam is strategy. There is strategy involved in how to study, what to study, and how to answer the essay questions. The bar exam strategy is markedly different from law school exam strategy, and so a renewed focus on strategy is required!