How To Pass The Bar Exam (on Your First Try)
It’s difficult, but not impossible.
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.
You have to lay down the groundwork within your first few semesters of law school if you want to give yourself the very best chance of a winning score.
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.
3. Learn How to Study
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Making flashcards is not studying!
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.
For a quick, “oh-crap-it’s-the-night-before-and-I-have-no-idea-what-I’m-walking-into” approach, read my books, The Trigger List and WINNIN’ TIME! Or, sign up for my next free webinar. For a more in-depth dive, take one of the many courses available on my website.
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.
But the secret is not to let yourself wallow in misery and “woe is me”-ism. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and ask yourself what else you can try the next time.
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.
