A nice little bombshell today from the NCBE, the organization who administers the MBE for bar exam jurisdictions.
Evidently the NCBE and Examsoft aren’t getting along. The NCBE just announced that if a jurisdiction switches from an in-person to a remote bar exam format, “remote testing using NCBE exam materials is no longer an option for the February exam dates.”
So… a few options present themselves:
Hold your exam in person (come what may), and paper materials and status quo start date of February 22.
Pull a Nevada: hold the exam remotely, hold it at the status quo start date of February 22, and NO MBE.
Use the Examsoft equivalent program of ILG Exam360, have the NCBE use that service for its MBE administration, and hold the exam on the same dates – status quo
OR… as the NCBE states below, force a bar exam jurisdiction to postpone its exam to late March and provide MBEs then.
No, I’m not making this up. See below.
From the NCBE:
Update on Status of February 2022 Bar Exam
MADISON, WISCONSIN, January 10, 2022—NCBE is actively supporting bar admission agencies and courts as they prepare to administer the February bar exam consistent with their local health restrictions and requirements. As of this date, we anticipate that most jurisdictions will be administering the bar exam in person on February 22 and 23.
In the event that a jurisdiction’s February bar exam administration is prohibited due to public health restrictions, testing materials will be available for makeup dates in late March. Examinees are encouraged to watch for email and website announcements from the jurisdiction in which they plan to test, including announcements about specific COVID-19 protocols in place for the exam. Further information about administration of the bar exam in either February or March will come from the individual jurisdictions.
Due to firm deadlines set by ExamSoft, remote testing using NCBE exam materials is no longer an option for the February exam dates.
The Cal Bar’s latest FAQ (published January 10) seems to be a bit of a sea-change in tone. Yes, each iteration of the FAQ has indicated, in #1, in person, paper paper paper, party like it’s 2017. BUT the escalation of the FAQ for the COVID testing section (#5) about full vaccination, negative PCR test, antigen test deadlines, no sufficient proof of vaccination, no entry into the exam, and of course all of the reports of schools going remote or extending remote, Grammys being cancelled, etc. all seemed towards an inevitable transfer to a remote exam.
But this week’s FAQ (1/10) has more of a feel that the exam’s going in person. Their tone now seems to be: we’re doing this in-person (see #1, in person, paper paper paper), but if you’re feeling squeamish about doing this in-person thing, you can always ring the bell and opt out, and if you get COVID and can’t show up, you can get a 95% refund. That sounds a LOT like the Super Bowl in LA rationale: we’re just going to push forward and it’s going to happen, no matter what’s going on around us.
But as with all lawyers, we have ONE little disclaimer: if a public health authority “relevant to the testing center locations issues different mandates for in-person gatherings” then we’ll get back to you.
What I interpret that to mean is that if LA County says you can’t hold an in-person bar exam at the LA County sites, the exam will be administered remotely for everyone in the state. I believe that the Bar is tone deaf about its question 13, a new question altered from #7 a week ago (“What if there is a winter COVID-19 surge? What if there is a new variant?)
Guess what, folks? It’s not a new variant. It’s Omicron, and it’s been here for months! Call it winter, call it Omicron. It ain’t new, and it’s GOTTEN A LOT WORSE. LA County case counts are doubling every two days. Criminal trials have been suspended two weeks. Eight UC’s have gone remote and five have doubled (for now) it’s remote calendar. And just yesterday, Nevada became the first state to announce a remote, non-MBE exam. So it’s not a new surge, and we don’t need a new variant to go remote, because the current one continues to get worse.
Questions #11-14 are listed below.
11. In light of the recent surge in COVID cases, I don’t want to travel to take this test in person. Can I withdraw from the exam at this point due to my concerns about COVID?
Yes. The Office of Admissions is seeking to provide in-person testing conditions that are safe for all test takers, proctors, and staff. But we understand that some people might nonetheless have concerns about the in person environment. If you would like to opt out of this exam due to concerns you might have with an in-person exam, you may do so. You will be given a full refund if you withdraw by January 18, 2022, by 11:59 p.m. PST.
To make a refund request, please submit a General Request in your Applicant Portal with the subject “Withdrawal for COVID concerns,” and request your refund in the body of the request. If you ask to withdraw from the exam for this reason after January 18, 2022, you will not receive any refund.
12. I withdrew before you put this information out about allowing an additional reason to withdraw with a full refund. How can I get more of my application money back?
All those who withdrew before this information was published will be contacted, and their additional fees will be refunded.
13. What if there is a new variant or another serious surge?
If public health conditions change and a public health authority relevant to the testing center locations issues different mandates for in-person gatherings, we will update all applicants for the February 2022 bar exam accordingly.
14. What happens if I test positive for COVID-19 and cannot come to the exam?
If you have COVID-19, or any illness, that prevents you from attending the February bar exam, you may apply for the existing 95 percent medical refund of fees. Documentation must accompany any request for medical refund.
Check the FAQ daily for updates. For now they seem to be issuing updates on Mondays (1/3, 1/10), but as with everything else, that can change quickly as well.
My advice: prepare as if the exam is in-person, AND prepare as if the exam is remote. Have your logistics ready to go about where to take the exam, etc., either way. Practice essays with paper fact patterns and digital fact patterns. Practice PTs with paper Library and File, and with digital Library and File.
Exam held over two days, and no MBE. People who were going to handwrite the exam could still do so at the State Bar’s office, but spacing is limited so it sounds like no guarantees.
NOTICE TO FEBRUARY 2022 BAR APPLICANTS
THE FEBRUARY 2022 BAR EXAM WILL BE HELD REMOTELY DUE TO COVID-19 CONCERNS
The Supreme Court of Nevada has ordered holding the February 2022 bar exam remotely due to COVID-19 concerns, as was done successfully with the July 2020 and February 2021 bar exams. The February 2022 bar exam will be held over two days (February 22-23, 2022) and the MBE will not be given. There will be seven (7) Nevada essay questions and two (2) Nevada Performance Test questions. Additional information, including the registration and testing schedules, computer registration schedule and testing protocols will be included in the Notice to Appear that will be emailed to all February 2022 bar exam applicants in mid- January.
Applicants who signed up to handwrite the exam: You will be permitted to take the exam in-person at the offices of the State Bar of Nevada in Las Vegas if you elect to do so. As there will be limited space at the State Bar’s offices due to social distancing requirements, we will honor this election on a first come-first served basis. Alternatively, applicants who signed up to handwrite the exam may elect to take the exam remotely by computer. Please provide us with your decision via email by no later thanJanuary 14, 2022atadmissions@nvbar.org.
Dr. Shaman is an infectious disease modeler and epidemiologist at Columbia. His team built one of the first Covid-19 models.
The Omicron variant is spreading widely and infecting large numbers of people, including the vaccinated and those previously infected with the virus. While spikes in cases have been the norm for the past two years, there are clear indications this wave will differ substantially from previous ones.
The record number of cases in the United States and globally is largely because Omicron is more contagious than other variants and has a greater ability to evade immunity to infection. At the same time, early evidence indicates that it’s less common for people infected with Omicron to experience severe disease and end up in the hospital. This has important implications when estimating just how disruptive Omicron will be in terms of deaths, hospitalizations and work and school interruptions.
To assess the future burden of a variant like Omicron, epidemiologists like myself often turn to mathematical modeling and projection. The idea is to use a computer-based representation of how the virus spreads to simulate potential future outcomes.
It is important for modelers to explore the unknowns around Covid. For instance, evidence indicates that Omicron is more transmissible than the Delta variant, but by how much? By incorporating uncertainties into our models, we don’t merely project a single outcome. Instead, we create a distribution of outcomes, much like the cone of uncertainty used for a hurricane landfall forecast.
Projecting the Covid-19 burden is also more difficult now because of the December holidays. Reporting of cases is often delayed during the two weeks beginning shortly before Christmas until shortly after New Year’s Day. As a consequence, reported case numbers can give the misleading short-term appearance of steep case increases, or even declines.
All these issues create uncertainty and limit how far we can reliably project the burden of Omicron. My inclination is that four to six weeks is as far as modelers should routinely project.
So what does my team see for January 2022?
Our models project that the United States is likely to document more Covid-19 cases in January than in any previous month of the pandemic, but a smaller fraction of those cases will require hospitalization. Whether hospitals experience more or less strain than they did in January 2021 will depend on case numbers and how severe they are. For example, if twice as many people become infected but these people are half as likely to be hospitalized, the demand for hospital beds would be the same. This calculus also applies to estimated deaths from the virus, as well as expected disruptions to the work force.
Our projections depict a rapid surge of cases nationally that peaks at record high numbers during the first one to three weeks of January. Just how many? Our middle-of-the-cone projection produces five million cases during the worst week but ranges from three million to more than eight million cases. And the estimates vary by location. New York City is projected to peak during the first week of January; other locations peak later.
As we move deeper into January, it will be important to monitor whether the steep rise of Omicron cases is followed by a rapid decline, as has been seen in South Africa. This would make the Omicron wave intense but short-lived. However, a rapid decline is not guaranteed. South Africa has a younger population compared to the United States, and younger people are more likely to have mild, undetected infections. South Africa is also in summer, which is less favorable for virus transmission.
Other countries like Britain, which has demographics more similar to the United States and is also in winter, will be critical to watch. If Britain also experiences a rapid case decline, that may bode well for the United States.
The implications for hospitalizations and deaths here from the Omicron wave are even less certain. While Omicron is causing record numbers of infections, the hope is that vaccinations, booster shots and prior infections by other variants will still protect most people from the worst effects of the virus. Early evidence supports this conclusion. However, Omicron may still greatly affect our daily lives in other ways: If teachers test positive and schools move to remote instruction; if flights, subways and buses are disrupted because of a lack of workers, or if elective surgeries are postponed because of staffing shortages.
What will happen beyond January? We don’t yet know the ultimate fate of SARS-CoV-2 and all its variants. The future burden of Covid depends in large part on whether highly transmissible variants able to evade pre-existing immunity, such as Omicron, continue to emerge.
If new variants arise roughly twice per year, for example, then we should expect multiple outbreaks each year, even in the summer. If such variants emerge less frequently, then outbreaks might occur annually or even less frequently. The severity of these outbreaks will depend on the characteristics of those new variants and whether prior infections, vaccination and new drugs can keep people at a lower risk of severe disease.
The long-term implications of Omicron remain unknown, but in the near term, everyone should expect an intense month of disruption. Still, the familiar advice remains the best: get vaccinated, get booster shots and prepare for a bumpy January.
The February 2022 Cal Bar (and to some extent, the UBE) applicant pool are wondering about the impact of the Omicron variant on the administration of the February 2022 Bar Exam. Here’s what we know:
The Cal Bar has issued four updates to its FAQ document since October 1 (12/1, 12/14, 12/17, and 1/3). The updates have mainly focused on what kinds of testing applicants need to take to take the exam in person (e.g., as of 1/6: vaccination by 2/8, negative PCR test between 2/20 – 2/22, or negative antigen test between 2/21 and 2/22).
To date, as of 1/6, the Cal Bar has not changed a syllable of its FAQ #1, which indicates that we are returning to normal (e.g., party like it’s 2017, in person exam, paper materials for essays and PTs, scratch paper).
However, the big question is whether the Cal Bar will indeed remain an in-person exam for February 2022. If the Cal Bar decided to go remote a la October 2020/Feb. 2021/July 2021, when would it need to make this decision? Who approves this decision? And how does a student prepare with all this uncertainty in the meantime?
Here’s what we know for now. Disclaimer: at Cal I was a history major, not epidemiology, immunology and not public health. And no, don’t rely on this blog post to your detriment. Your exam, not mine, personal responsibility, folks.
The lay opinion from a history major suggests that everything around us looks terrible in terms of trends from the Omicron variant. Examples:
Omicron numbers are doubling in LA county every 2 days per the LA Times
LA County is suspending criminal trials for two weeks per the LA Times
8 UC campuses have delayed in-person classes and have gone remote for 2-3 weeks (for now).
My law school (UC Hastings) announced on December 23 that we were going back in person on January 10. Seven days later, on December 30, Hastings announced that we were going to have most courses on Zoom for 3 weeks, with in-person classes currently slated to resume on January 31.
8 Cal State schools have delayed in-person education and will begin school on Zoom, per the LA Times. Long Beach State, for example, will begin school on January 20 and operate via Zoom for 3 weeks. That means in-person operations will begin no earlier than February 10.
Requirements for return to in-person operations have intensified, not reduced. For example, students and staff at many schools are required to have booster shots, not merely one or two shots as appropriate, to set foot on campus.
More than 70% of coronavirus cases in LA county were among adults younger than 50 for Dec. 22-28, per the LA Times.
Rates among youngest adults (18-29) are 8x higher than they were one month ago. Adults in the 30-40 year old range are 6x as high as per the LA Times. Guess what the ages are of the typical Cal Bar applicant?
The Grammy’s (an indoor event with a lot of people seated near each other for a few hours) were cancelled.
Sporting events have been postponed
That said, is Omicron less serious than the prior surges of COVID-19? Seemingly. Yes, Omicron is far more transmissible than prior forms of COVID-19. But cases generally seem less severe. Fewer deaths. Hospital beds aren’t filling up as quickly. According to the LA Times, Omicron appears to be “more infectious to the airways, but less infectious to lung tissue, where infections contribute to respiratory problems and death.”
And as reported on January 1 in the LA Times, COVID-19 patient hospitalizations jumped 48% from a week prior, but those 5,433 patients are a fraction of the 20,640 who were hospitalized in early January 2021, and the all-time peak was 21,938 on January 6. Hospitalizations have risen most dramatically in the last month in So Cal and in the Bay Area (double the rate), while Sacramento’s count increased 30%.
According to Bob Wachter from UCSF, supposedly Omicron should peak around mid-January and then recede relatively quickly.
Note the recommendations from state and local officials. Per the LA Times on January 1, state and local officials “have indicated no need for new orders closing certain businesses or mandating people to stay at home, but they have looked at bolstering requirements in certain settings for vaccinations or negative coronavirus tests.”
And the California Department of Public Health, really the final arbiter in our state on decisions about in-person v. remote events, announced a new order on December 31 that requires “those at indoor events with 500 or more attendees to show either proof of full vaccination or a recent negative test to enter. The order will go into effect Jan. 15. Currently, only indoor events with 1,000 or more attendees are subject to the requirement.”
In other words, businesses aren’t shutting down. People aren’t being forced to stay at home (except for undergrad and grad students at certain California schools).
So… what are the logistics moving forward?
My guess is that if the trends continue that the Cal Bar Exam COULD be moved to a remote exam and not conducted in person. That’s my guess, and that’s not informed by any inside information. I think if the move to a remote exam occurs, it would need to occur between January 15 – 31 so that students can find places outside their home (if needed) to take the exam. Living in a loud area, too many people living with you to realistically take the exam in a quiet area, internet not reliable at home, etc. Law schools would need to prepare to allow former students to take the exam there as needed. Etc.
The Cal Bar would need to consult with the California Dept. of Public Health (especially if the CA DPH forces the exam to go remote), the Cal Bar must make a recommendation to go remote, and ultimately, the Cal Supreme Court must issue an order to hold the exam remotely. I hope that these entities are already consulting with each other and that a decision is made soon about what to do. Students deserve to know as soon as possible if the exam is in-person come what may, or if the exam will be remote. A January 15-31 window is responsible. A Valentine’s Day surprise would be difficult to implement logistically I would think.
As a Bar applicant, what should you do? Prepare for both options NOW. The registration deadline has passed. So that means if you’re taking this exam, you have an exam site. If the exam site is in person, great. If the exam goes remote, what are you going to do? Where are you going to go? Start developing that plan NOW. Take the exam at home? Going to a law school? Taking the exam at a hotel? Local law library? Public library? Figure it out. NOW. Don’t wait.
What about practicing exams? For MBEs, take some questions online for practice. For essays, you can get exams online and practice them online from the Bar’s site or my stie. Same with the PTs.
Don’t wait until the last minute. Have plans for in-person vs. remote about where you’ll take the test. Practice on hardcopy and online so that regardless of how you’ll take the exam, it won’t be a shocking event to you. Stocks going down 20 points, not 2000 points.
Here are my best tips to help you pass the bar exam on the first try.
You’ve finished law school, but the journey to becoming a practicing attorney isn’t over yet. Before you can hang out your shingle and start passing around business cards, you’ll need to pass the bar exam.
You’ve probably heard horror stories of friends and classmates who had to take the bar exam two or three (or more) times before they finally passed. Isn’t there a way to speed this process up?
Despite what you may have heard, it is possible to pass the bar exam on the first try. You just need to know a few tips.
As a law professor and tutor for more than 20 years, you could say I wrote the book on the California bar…literally. Allow me to give you a few tips on how to pass the bar exam quickly so you can get to work.
1. Prep Ahead Of Time
Success, like a sourdough starter, doesn’t happen overnight.
Yes, it’s possible to pass the bar with only two weeks of hardcore study (I’ve seen it happen). But no one can goof off through all three years of law school and pull out a passing grade on their first stab at the bar exam.
By the end of your first semester of law school, you should be writing outlines and taking practice essays. Get your head in the game from the get-go.
2. Get Rid of Distractions
If you truly want to pass the bar exam on your very first try, you need to be laser-focused on that goal. Put everything else on the back burner.
If you’re single. Stay that way. Don’t start a relationship during bar review. You’re committed to the exam. If you’re with someone, don’t break up with them. It’s impossible to study with your emotions in turmoil.
Don’t allow yourself to develop any addictions during this time, either. Alcohol, cocaine, even caffeine pills are not your friend. You have no idea how addictive substances and behaviors can quickly become the most important thing in your life.
Right now, passing the bar is the most important thing.
The best way to understand material is by condensing it down again and again until you’ve reached the core principle. After that, everything else will fall into place.
Remember this, kids. Studying isn’t about cramming facts into your head. It’s about understanding what they mean and being able to apply them in real life. This is true whether we’re talking about science, literature, or the law.
4. Find a (Great) Program
I can’t tell you how many people have failed the bar exam after being so confident that they had it in the bag.
The bar exam is not law school. The bar exam is not a practice essay. The bar exam is its own animal.
The best way to pass the bar exam is by seeing how others have done it. Take a course, listen to a lecture, start a program. But remember that not all bar prep courses are created equal.
Some only cover one or two phases of the exam, rather than all three. Some just give you a “thumbs up” on your practice essay without ever telling you what you did right or wrong. Most don’t customize their content around the areas you need to work on.
I created my own system of bar prep by systematically analyzing the bar exam year after year until I developed a method that just worked.
But I don’t just have one system. Oh, no. That would be too easy for me and too hard for you.
And for the most dedicated tutoring that’s individually suited to your struggles and schedule, I offer 1-on-1 private tutoring from anywhere in the world. (Oh yeah…I’ve got three versions of this plan as well!)
If You Don’t Pass…Don’t Stress
As much as it pains me to say it, not everyone will pass the bar on their first try. I didn’t. Even Michelle Obama didn’t.
You won’t be the first to fail on your first try and you certainly won’t be the last.
I guarantee that, by the time you’ve built a successful and lucrative career as an attorney, you won’t even remember which questions you got wrong.
Need Help? I’m Here!
No matter how many times you’ve taken the bar exam in the past, my system can help you.
Between my books, courses, and my private tutoring programs, I offer the most useful bar prep of any other program in the country. In fact, I’m one of only three bar exam tutors who focuses on all three phases of the exam 1-on-1.
Whether you need a quick-fix solution or have four months until the next exam, I can give you the tools, the knowledge, and the support you need to pass the bar exam.
You’ve worked hard all through law school, hoping to finally reach the goal of a rewarding career in the field of law. But graduating with your J.D. isn’t technically the finish line.
First, you have to pass the bar exam.
If you’re planning on working as an attorney anywhere in the United States (with the exception of Wisconsin), you will have to pass the bar exam first. And if this is your first time, you might be asking yourself, “What is the bar exam?”
What Is the Bar Exam?
As a lawyer, you will have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. Giving legal advice and representing clients in court is not a job that should be handled by just anyone. Jurisdictions need some way to prove that you have a certain level of competency needed to practice law.
Enter: the bar exam.
Rather, I should say, “Enter: the bar exams” because there is not just one type! The most common bar exam in the U.S. is the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), but it is currently adopted by only 36 states. Thirteen states (including California) have their own version of the bar exam.
I can hear you right now: “But Steven, that’s only 49 states!” You’re right. Wisconsin gives their law school graduates “diploma privilege.” They don’t have to take the bar exam in order to practice law!
California Bar Exam Format
As a UC Hastings alumnae and law professor, I eat, drink, and breathe the California bar exam. And while it’s changed a time or two over the last few years, I’ve managed to keep up with it.
Recently, the State Bar of California announced that the bar exam will be returning to an in-person format for February 2022.
Much like the UBE, the California bar is split up over two full days.
Day One consists of five 1-hour essay questions and one 90-min performance test. You will be given a lunch break after the first three essay questions.
On Day Two, you will take the Multistate Bar Examination, which is made up of 200 multiple choice questions. You will also receive a break after the first 100 questions.
That’s three distinct and separate phases, all with their own “secret code” that you’ll have to decipher in order to pass.
How Do I Study For the Bar Exam?
All bar exams are designed to be difficult, but the California bar is notoriously hard.
The advice I give my students tends to follow the same three steps:
It’s never too early to start preparing for the California bar! In fact, you should have that goal in mind on your very first day of law school.
Generally, it’s best to be a “jack-of-all-trades” in a variety of different subjects, rather than a master at one specific one. Patent lawyers and family law attorneys both have to pass the same bar exam!
If you go the “bar exam tutoring” route, choose your program wisely. Most of them will require a ton of your time and won’t focus on all three phases of the exam.
But Wait…There’s More!
There is one more step you must take before you can practice law: pass a moral character review.
According to the Rules of the State Bar of California, prospective lawyers must show that they have “good moral character.” Among the many things considered during the review are “honesty, fairness, candor, trustworthiness, observance of fiduciary responsibility, respect for and obedience to the law, and respect for the rights of others and the judicial process.”
This review can take a minimum of six months, so start the application process early, preferably in January of your last year of law school. Once you receive the good news that you passed the exam, you’ll want to hit the ground running.
Are You Prepared?
I’ve built my career on helping students prepare for (and pass) the California Bar—it’s a skill I’ve been honing over the last 20+ years. I’m one of only three bar exam tutors in the country that offers 1-on-1 tutoring on all three phases of the bar.
Don’t have time for private bar exam tutoring? No problem. My books WINNIN’ TIME! and The Trigger List have everything you need to decipher the bar exam and finish in record time.
You won’t just feel better prepared, you’ll be better prepared!
The Cal Bar published FAQ’s today, 10/7. The matter is settled: paper materials for essays, PTs, and MBE for February 2022:
Does returning to an in-person exam mean the administration of the exam will return to “normal” – paper exam materials (question booklets and scratch paper), multiple questions administered per session, access to water, and ability to use the restroom during exam sessions?
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Yes. The administration of the exam will be the same as it was prior to the remote exam administrations. Essays 1–3 will be administered together without breaks during the morning session of Day 1; then, after a lunch break, applicants will return for Essays 4, 5, and the Performance Test, which will be administered together without breaks during the afternoon session of Day 1. The morning session of Day 2 will be comprised of the first 100 Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) questions, after which there will be a lunch break. The last 100 MBE questions will be given during the afternoon session of Day 2. Please see the full schedule here.
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Applicants will receive the questions in a paper booklet and will be given scratch paper to use if they need.
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Applicants will be allowed access to water during the exam.
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Applicants may leave to use the restroom, but the clock will run continuously.
Registration is OPEN for February 2022. Timely filing occurs this month. Don’t pay late fees, people! Remember you can submit your Accommodations petitions at any time. If you haven’t submitted your Moral Character Application, note that it takes 5-6 months to get cleared and that’s if you’re boring. You want to be sworn in after you get the good news in May, right? Make sure your admission isn’t delayed due to not filing your Moral Character application as early as you can.
But what is FAR more important for the applicant pool, my friends, is the fact that the Cal Bar is going to be held IN PERSON. The February 2022 Cal Bar Exam Announcement was published today. In relevant part, it states:
February 2022 California Bar Exam
Date: Tuesday and Wednesday, February 22–23, 2022
Please note that the February 2022 California Bar Examination will be held as an in-person examination. Applicants will be required to select atesting locationand test in-person.
So we’re going to party like it’s 2019, people! Back to the Future, as it were.
No more remote video proctoring. Show up on Tuesday, take the exam for 3 hrs., then leave. Then come back, take the exam for 3-1/2 hrs, and then leave. Rinse and repeat on Wednesday. Your results will vary if you have accommodations.
And now you know! If you want a certain location, I’d suggest registering over the next 7 days.
By the way, some notable dates for you:
10/1 – 11/1 Registration period for Feb. 2022
11/1 Timely filing deadline
11/1 – 11/30 $50 late fee registration period.
12/1 – 1/3/22 $250 late filing fee
1/3/22 FINAL DEADLINE TO REGISTER FOR FEBRUARY 2022
2/22 – 2/23/2022 February 2022 Cal Bar Exam
2/24, noon Laptop answer file upload deadline
2/25 OR 2/26, noon Extended time students’ exam answer file upload deadline (deadline dependent on student’s accommodations).
One is rarely disclosed: you’ll need to write 250-300% of the same number of issues in the same amount of time to succeed on your Evidence final or an Evidence essay on the California Bar Examination.
Say what?
Yup, you read that correctly. Most essays on law school finals or the California Bar Examination require you to write 7-9 issues in an hour.
Evidence, on the other hand…first one to 20 issues wins! (It’s both a marathon and a sprint!)
Now, this conundrum should be common knowledge. The problem is, no one talks about it. Well, no one except me.
Evidence Essays Are Different
One of the most important secrets behind your law school final in Evidence or your California Bar Examination if one of your essays is an Evidence essay. It is, by far, the most demanding essay in all of the California Bar.
No, this essay won’t be confused for a depth question in Civ Pro, Con Law, or Torts. And it’s not a typical exam question. This is the most extreme shotgun-type essay question. 20+ issues.
You can’t linger on an Evidence question. There’s no time to “settle in”. You have to bring it early and often. And especially in the COVID testing area, you best believe you need to finish that exam on time!
“But I can’t transfer the skills I used on my Torts final or my Con Law final or my Bus Ass final. What should I do?”
How to Prep For an Evidence Essay
I invented the Evidence Boilerplate on June 28, 2003, while grading several evidence essays for Barbri in my apartment in Oakland, CA.
I was struck by a realization that, in most subjects, there are several different types of questions. For example, in torts, there are five types of questions:
Malicious prosecution/abuse of process,
Products liability,
Defamation,
Negligence, and
Intentional torts.
How you approach each of those question types is pretty important, since if you wrote a negligence response to a defamation question, you’d fail the question.
Same with Civ Pro: you wouldn’t dare write a res judicata/collateral estoppel response to a personal jurisdiction question, would you? Or a 10(b)(5)/16(b) response to a duty of care/business judgment rule/duty of loyalty question? Of course not.
You need an attack plan for each type of question, in each subject, because all the questions are different.
Except when it comes to Evidence.
Sure, there are two different types of evidence questions: narrative fact patterns (i.e. the regular fact patterns like you see in the other subjects), and transcripts (i.e. the question/answer) fact patterns.
In the narrative fact pattern, what do you write? Logical relevance, legal relevance rel, personal knowledge, hearsay, exceptions, right? Absolutely. And what of the transcript? Yup, you guessed it: Logical relevance, legal relevance, personal knowledge, hearsay, exceptions! The same thing!
So I wondered how to take advantage of this realization that evidence fact patterns are generally the same, no matter what. I reviewed several bar exam questions and whadda ya know…the issues were almost always the same!
As it turns out, you can predict evidence questions to a remarkable degree of accuracy!
But why are there so many more issues in evidence questions than in other subjects?
Well, I don’t know why, but you’ve noted a very serious consideration. The average evidence question has at least 20 issues. Most other exams have 5-7. So how can you “speed up” your exam time? Or to put it another way, even if you know all 20 issues, how can you increase your output of issues by 250-300% in the same amount of time?
The Answer: The Evidence Boilerplate
On June 28, 2003, I thought about both of these critical questions:
To a degree of 80-90% accuracy, what are the issues on all evidence exams?
Even if you know all 20 issues, how can you increase your output of issues by 250-300% in the same amount of time?
On that fateful day, I figured out the answers to both those questions in what has become known as the Evidence Boilerplate.
Does it work? Sure has. Undefeated in 18 years of testing at the law school and the Cal Bar Exam level.
Some students have even received awards for the top grade in their Evidence class. And one Evidence professor was so impressed with the Evidence Boilerplate that he told his students, “If you don’t practice the Evidence Boilerplate, you are EMBRACING FAILURE!”
When Do I Start?
That’s the beauty of the Evidence Boilerplate.
You can start writing it on the first day of the semester. That’s right: you don’t have to know ANYTHING about Evidence law to start generating points on your final! In fact, you can start writing even before the first day of classes if you wanted to.
Draft the Evidence Boilerplate once a week, for 30 minutes a week, and you’re good to go. Be sure to use The Trigger List to see how to implicate each issue on an Evidence Essay.
What if I am reading this a month into the semester and I need to prepare for my midterms?
No problem.
Write the Evidence Boilerplate once a week until 10 days before your midterm. Then write the Evidence Boilerplate once a day until your midterm. Then write the Evidence Boilerplate once a week until the last day of classes, and be sure to use The Trigger List to see how to implicate each issue on an Evidence Essay!
And if you’re reading this at the end of classes? Again, no problem!
Get my books immediately. Write the Evidence Boilerplate once every day, and be sure to use The Trigger List to see how to implicate each issue on an Evidence Essay.
That will help you get your timing down on exam day AND ensure that you can spot every issue!
