Failing the bar exam
Brian December 27th, 2005
This article says that “[e]ach year, almost half of the country’s bar examinees will fail their state’s bar exam.”
If you have joined the ranks of those who must retake the exam, be reminded that you are in good company. Throughout history, many governors, members of Congress, mayors, attorneys general, military generals, law school professors, and judges have failed the bar exam as first-time test takers.
Hillary Clinton and the late John F. Kennedy, Jr., were two of the more famous politicos who were exposed as having failed their first bar exams–JFK, Jr., failed his second time around, as well–and Kathleen Sullivan, Stanford Law School’s former dean and a renowned attorney in her own right, was one of more than 4,000 examinees who did not pass the California Bar Exam.
I ended up doing the BarBri home study course (highly recommend), the MicroMash course (save your money), and the PMBR course (essential).
The BarBri is obviously the superior product for reviewing for the essay questions. Any one who takes the MBE without preparing with PMBR is basically rolling the dice, in my opinion.
The MicroMash bar review offered some nice features, but the materials were poor and the course as a whole was not that helpful.
Ugh!
I’m a member of the California bar already. I’m sitting for Virginia in February 2006.
Good Luck, J.C.
After passing CA, you will probably not have any problems with VA.
Do you have to know the old rules (Motion for Judgment/Bill of Complaint) or the new rules (Complaint) for the Feburary exam?
I think they have to know the new rules for February.
I used BarBri more than anything when I studied. I did have the PMBR books which I used at home to do a lot of questions. I think both are completely essential if you want to pass. I have heard mixed reviews on MicroMash.
Hey! Sorry to be AWOL for so long. I’ve been working about 60-70 hrs. per week plus 2 hours worth of commuting. That shall change soon.
I did BarBri and Dean Kinsler’s course in Southwestern Virginia
http://www.guaranteedmultistatebarreview.com
A little personal tip I will give out. For essay topics, I made up three hypotheticals from my condensed Barbri notes for the subject and wrote sample answers to the questions. For the multistate, I ordered the old practice exams and did them. Then, when I was studying for the multistate, I copied the questions word for word onto my personal notes (of course, after condensing notes on the particular subject).
Good luck J.C. (and anyone else who may be viewing this and studying for the bar).
Oh yeah, one more thing. DON’T DRONE ON! Keep your answers brief. I did not fill more than 1/2 the pages front and back on my exam booklets (2 questions per booklet). The graders like brief answers.
I am a California and Colorado attorney. But, I have to take the VA bar in February 06, and I am terrified! The language seems so different.
I don’t understand the “scoring”. Can anyone explain it to me? Kim
I just took the VA Bar in July and now have to take it again this Feb. A trusted prof. & former bar grader/ question drafter shared that he thinks its highly unlikely we will be tested on the “new” procedure labels (i.e., complaint v. bill of complaint/ mtn for judgment, etc.). The langauge is different and the examiners want you to use VA language in your answers. Essays are worth 60% & MBE 40%.
Good luck, DC and Kimberley.
Hey all,
Well, the Feb 2006 bar is over. What did everyone think? I found the morning part of the MBE to be much tougher than the afternoon. The essays, which are always hardest for me, who knows? I know I blew a few of the subparts. Hopefully I still gathered enough points.
What did anyone else think?
I think they flip different portions of the MBE to different people/places. (I know they do it in FL with the LSAT - a law student working in my office had a different version than her friend.) For the MBE, some books were labelled 26 & some 15. I found the 2/2006 MBE morning portion fair — not that I didn’t make a couple of dumb mistakes - & the afternoon brutal. It’s not so much the fact patterns - it’s trying to divine the subjective intent of the unintelligible answers.