Hello everyone. Today’s the day! The unique, unprecedented October exam results will publish today at 6 pm.

For those who pass, congratulations! You have earned it. In some ways, this was the most difficult bar exam of all time. The exam was delayed to September and then to October. You had to comply with deadlines. You had to clear all that stuff out of your workspace so the remote proctoring video wouldn’t trip up. You had to hope that a cat or a child didn’t inadvertently enter the exam space. Or that that the garbage truck wouldn’t somehow trip up your exam! Much less finding quiet spaces to study, finding time to study amidst the chaos, etc. You will have stories of perseverance and more to tell your kids and grandkids someday about the unique COVID Bar Exam.

For those of you who do not receive good news today, I feel you. I had the honor and privilege of retaking the Cal Bar Exam. And you have far more and far better excuses to fail given the COVID than I did!

Here’s the challenge though: the result wasn’t what you wanted. What are we going to do about it?

The first thing you need to ask yourself is whether you’re going to take the February exam, or wait until July. Some good news: the February exam won’t be delayed. You know when your exam will be! Yes, you have less time to prepare. Then again, remember the Bar originally set January 15 as the results date, so at least you have an extra week. But time is of the essence. You don’t have the luxury of taking two weeks to mourn the exam.

So, do this: get your results. Mourn the result for 30 minutes. Then email or call me. I have the tools you need to pass the next exam. My calendar is already drafted. Let’s start Monday or soon thereafter. Let’s generate some points!

I am a staff of one. I don’t farm out grading or lecturing to other people – my teenagers aren’t quite ready to start lecturing! But I am that rare breed of tutor: I focus on ALL THREE parts of the exam: essays (including issue spotting and outlining, and a NEXT LEVEL method of outlining for an online exam!), Performance Tests (specific methods to reduce your reading time and a NEXT LEVEL method of inventorying and outlining for an online exam!), and 1-on-1 tutoring for the MBE. Yes, I’m one of a handful of 1-on-1 MBE tutors in the country. I don’t relegate 50% of the test to a coupon code for questions that look nothing like what you saw on exam day.

If you failed the October exam, my condolences. 1390 is in reach! Now let’s do something about it. Call or email me now.

Hello everyone!

Lt. Gen. Paul Ostrowski (Ret.) is the Director of Supply, Production & Distribution of Operation Warp Speed. He said in a TV interview today that vaccines will roll out over several months. He said that “100% of Americans that want the vaccine will have vaccine by that point in time [June 2021]. We will have 300 million doses will be available to the American public well before then.”

I’m a lawyer, not a medic, and not a public health expert. I know that there are anti-vaxxers out there. So the question is this: if Lt. Gen. Ostrowski is correct and millions of Americans (not all of course) are taking the available vaccines, will that persuade Governors to allow in-person bar exams for July 2021?

I’d still put the odds at 50/50, if not worse for the following reasons. If vaccines will be available in June 2021, people need to take them and that takes time. Then a Governor needs to see that all that vaccinating is going on. Then more time will go by and a Governor will need to make a decision. And if the logistics behind an in-person exam require that certain things must occur by April or May to make a July Bar Exam happen — not saying that’s true, I don’t know — then June vaccine availability will be too late to make an in-person exam happen.

As of November 30, 2020, it seems that a remote exam for July 2021 seems more likely.

One other thing to keep in mind. What is the prevailing sentiment from the Cal. Supreme Court about remote v. in-person exams? From the Cal Bar? Maybe the Cal Bar says we’ve saved tons of money from room rental fees (though I doubt it since applicant fees are presumably paying for all of that) or saved time/money for other logistics that they are happy with a remote testing environment and don’t want to change it?

Or what if students like the idea of not having to go outside of their house to take the exam? What if they like taking a rest between questions or not having to get a hotel or fly somewhere (especially for out of state or international students) to take the test? What’s the prevailing sentiment?

My guess is that the Cal SCT and the Cal Bar like the idea of the old status quo. Maybe some students with necessary accommodations might be able to take the exam from home? But otherwise, I’m confident that we’ll be back to an in-person exam environment for sure by February 2022. July 2021? Maybe. I would think it’s likely if vaccines were widely distributed by March 1 or so and that people took them and positivity rates dramatically declined by April 1. That might give enough incentive to a Governor to allow in-person testing and allow a Board of Bar Examiners enough time to logistically make it happen.

We shall see!

Hello everyone!

In a typical year, the Cal Bar Exam would have occurred on the last Tuesday and Wednesday in July (July 28-29 to be exact), and the Cal Bar would normally publish those results today, November 20, at 6 pm. As a result, the February 2021 Cal Bar Exam season officially begins tonight.

Fear not, you won’t have to start studying immediately. But if this season is remotely typical of other February Bar seasons, spaces in 1-on-1 tutoring programs will fill up quickly. Please reach out to me on calweasel@sbcglobal.net or (510) 301 2791 and I will set up a meeting for us to discuss tutoring options.

We do want to get started sooner than later. The last two weeks of December are a period where people typically promise to do a lot of work and then never do. Usually that’s due to quarter-end deadlines, year-end deadlines, family issues, health issues (and that was before COVID!), or even more fun, the superfecta combination of all four. Also, there’s one less week in the Bar season than usual due to five weeks in October, not November.

Anyhow, if you’re interested in the February 2021 Bar Exam, now is the time to start finding a tutor and getting started. Email or call me now and let’s generate some points!

Hello everyone!

Today I found something that I wanted to share with you. Like most of you reading this, I’m no expert on the COVID. I’m a lawyer and a tutor, and not a scientist, and I sure as hell am not Scott Atlas.

I found an analysis in National Geographic, November 2020 issue, at 34. It shows that potential emergency authorization would begin January 2021 for a vaccine to be distributed to high risk groups such as first responders and the elderly. Then the potential approval of wide-scale distribution of a vaccine may take place in September 2021, and that’s what the authors call an “ambitious scenario.” Sadly I can’t seem to copy the graphic here so you’ll have to go on the written description here.

If the graphic is anywhere near accurate then it would seem that the July 2021 Bar Exam will be online, and that the February 2022 Bar Exam would be at least 50/50 to be online as well. Again, I’m no scientist and curves can flatten over time due to external circumstances. But at least as of October 28, 2020, that’s what I’m seeing.

Note the interesting stuff:

1) the NCBE will equate the MBE, so that means that states like California don’t need the psychometrician or whoever they used to help make the MBE a reality for October 2020, and

2) Do we have 100 questions again for Feb. 2021? Or 200? Nobody knows. We shall see!

3) 3 states have already signed up for the online option (NY, Connecticut, and one other).

From the NCBE’s site:

NCBE Announces Initial Plans for Remote Option for February 2021 Bar Exam

NCBE today announced initial plans that will allow jurisdictions the option to provide the bar exam remotely in February 2021, since challenges related to COVID-19 will likely still be present next year. More details will be provided in the coming weeks.

To provide flexibility to jurisdictions and candidates as we all continue to navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, NCBE plans to make a full set of bar exam materials available for a remote administration in February 2021 to be held on the same dates as the in-person administration (February 23–24, 2021). Each jurisdiction will select which mode it will use for its administration.

NCBE plans to equate the MBE, calculate scaled scores for the written components, and provide UBE and MBE score transfer services for both the in-person and the remote administrations.

Additional details will be announced in the next few weeks as jurisdictions and NCBE complete their review of the October remote administration, which was the first time the bar exam has been given to candidates testing in their own environments using their own computers.