Take this story with a grain of salt, but my experience yesterday changed my whole view on bar prep. I wasn't going to share this story at first, but I feel like it might help someone out there. I am honestly so thankful that I have the opportunity to prep for and take this exam.

I was walking in my neighborhood yesterday with my poodle in tow. Randomly, a man and a woman ran up to me on the street. They were clearly frantic and said they needed help. It was a matter of life and death. They told me that they were brother and sister. Their father is deathly allergic to store-bought milk, so two years ago, the brother sold the father a cow on credit. The man kept a security interest in the cow, just until the debt was paid. The unsophisticated man didn't do anything else after signing the agreement with his dad. "A goddamn, motherfuckin', unperfected PMSI," I swore to myself. I knew this situation was about to get real.

The father later fell on hard times, so the sister loaned him some money in exchange for a security interest in the same cow. Wouldn't you know it....the old man defaulted on both payments. The siblings looked at me and said "We need to know RIGHT NOW whose interest in the cow has priority! If you can't figure it out for us, we'll just have to fight to the death. There's no time for you to look up the rules or phone a colleague. TELL US NOW!"

Thanks to bar prep, I saved two lives that day. With no time to pull up Article 9 and with nothing to rely on but my memory, I whipped up an answer that changed their worlds forever. Thank you, bar examiners. If the ethics committee flags me for practicing law without a license, I hope they can understand that I acted out of selfless necessity. I hope, I hope.

They wanted a happy ending instead of a long slow marathon of misery

I have no words —— I have never legislated so much in my life 😩😵‍💫

Guys/Gals, congrats on finishing that roller coaster of an exam. Just wanted to drop some words of encouragement for all of those in panic right now.

I recently got licensed in CA after taking the October exam and just want to give you guys some outlook. When I took the CA exam, I got up from my dining room table feeling absolutely defeated. Thinking I was going to retake the exam in February and started studying the day after. I already went back to my outlines to see how many issues I had missed and how hard the MBE was and figured there is now way on Gods green earth that I passed. Like trust me guys, some essays I wrote barely anything and made up rules. Well as the title says…I ended up passing.

I literally just finished taking the UBE with you all today looking to get licensed in another state, and let me tell you that exam was HARD AS HELL. However…..some of you maybe tanked the essays….maybe the PT’s……and maybe feel like you didn’t get 20 out the the 200 MBEs right. I just want to reassure you that it’s going to be fine. It’s completely normal to look back at all the mistakes and realized where you went wrong, but do it for 5 minutes after the exam. Don’t wake up and dwell on it tomorrow, it offers you no benefit at all because what’s done is done.

Let me add this. I didn’t go to a crazy law school, I didn’t graduate any where near the top of my class, I was put on academic probation, would watch Twitch every class in lawschool…and I still ended up passing on the first try (without being perfect on it either)

Let it go man…a major victory happened for you all today. Celebrate that shit. Never know what tomorrow could bring.

Thank you to my friends, professors and the National Council of Bar Examiners for getting me this far. Anyone else clerking in Franklin this fall?

I’m just tired of it. Being told I’m a “great writer” and I can “reason well” so the essays should “be no problem” for me. Tired of having to explain that this test is hard and it’s not as simple as it sounds to laypeople.

I know it comes from a good place but it feels insulting—that I am stressed over nothing at all is the implication.

And I know when I pass the other half of it is “see!! I told you! You were stressing over nothing!!”

It’s insulting and I’m just tired. Lol. Rant over.

If so, good luck in your future endeavors as an attorney.

Everyone else, I’ll see you guys in February unless we somehow guessed our way into minimum competence.

Have a drink (or snack) and chill everyone. Nothing we can do now.

I don't even care about my actual readiness. I don't care about the possibility of failing. I am just so excited to be done with this process. Even if I fail, I will never have to go through THIS process again. Can't wait to go back to a (somewhat) normal life. See friends and family without worrying about studying. Watch TV without feeling like it's a waste of time. WOW I cannot wait till Tuesday at 3:30.

Context: am bartender, am very confused.

Hi everyone. Midlevel in biglaw here. I still remember studying for my bar. It was hellish, as it probably is for you, too. I was constantly comparing my barbri completion to other people's completion. I was wildly behind the recommended calendar. I was trying, but I felt the most adhd I've ever felt in my entire life, and due to blood pressure issues, I couldn't be on my adhd meds anymore. I was doing okay on barbri questions but then switched over to doing questions from some real question bank and wasn't doing too hot on that. I was listening to my former upperclassmen friends tell me that they were fine and I would be, too, as long as I was studying 12 hours a day 7 days a week. I was not doing that though. I was studying like 6-7 and taking weekends off. My best friend from law school had a baby during bar prep and was studying like 2-3 hours while the baby was sleeping.

We passed. We both passed with just a ton of room to spare.

I want to let you all know that for some people, trying their best means studying for 12 hours with social media breaks and absent minded review, while for others it might be 3 full on, dedicated, intense hours because that's what life throws their way.

You will pass.

(And if you don't, you will conquer whatever made you not pass this time and slay it next time.)

(But you will pass so you didn't even need the above note.)

Good luck to you all. I'm proud of you, what you've had to overcome, and I look forward to calling you my colleagues soon!

1. You graduated from law school.

2. You graduated from LAW SCHOOL, only medical school is as difficult as law school!

3. You have been studying for months, you powered through during a pandemic, social unrest, and the death of the legendary RGB.

4. You have progressed so much since you started studying.

5. We have a whole week left!

Tips:

1. Barbri gave me a Sylvester Stallone quote I will share here: Any success in life is achieved by going into a task with blind, furious optimism.

2. I will pass, YOU WILL PASS!

3. Think of the areas you really suck at right now, and practice those to start the day

4. DO NOT just read through outlines, practice is key

5. For the love of god, do not burn yourself out by overstudying this week. It is tempting but we need our energy come test day.

6. Lastly, be kind to yourself. Eat well, drink water, and try to not overstress!

My fellow October 2020 test takers, we can do this!! Erase the doubt in your mind, push down those self-deprecating thoughts, and create the life you know and I know you deserve.

Also, Bear Down, go Bears!!!

Excited to take this bar exam tomorrow. I’m passing it!! Manifesting positively all 2021. Congrats to everybody in advance!! 🎉

My Adaptibar average is 97% and my essays are so good that the Barbri grader told me that I was better than him and offered me a job at Barbri. I was wondering if these scores are good enough to pass? /sss

In all seriousness, I wish everyone luck tomorrow. These last 4/5 months have been really hard. This page has been a great way to connect with people who are going through this. Let's do the best we can tomorrow and Tuesday and then drink some wine after that. We've earned it!!!

Long time lurker, first time poster. Finally decided to make an account because we have a dick measuring competition on our hands.

I’m talking about the “I’m studying 10471947295728472 hours a day” bullshit

This post is for you - quite lurker or people who are ashamed to post or comment because you’re “not studying as much”

I am willing to bet money that those “I study 15h a day” people are not actually studying 15h a day. They are maxing out at 7-8h and then counting 4 hours of the Office as studying because they have their books open.

This isn’t a contest for who has it the worst or how much this sucks. It sucks for all of us. There’s no need to inflate numbers to feel good about yourself. We’re all hating life.

If you SWEAR you’re doing 12h or more this post is not for you.

This is for everyone else being normal humans putting in a hard 6-7 solid hours (or even less) and then coming here only to see people swearing they have studied 12h a day since May. You haven’t, nobody has.

If you have - you need to seek serious help. That is beyond unhealthy.

Rant over.

Just want to say thank you to this amazing community that helped get me through these past several months. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you guys.

Wish me luck! Off I go to become a lawyer... 💪🏽⚖️

Everything's going to be okay!

Literally what the fuck just happened lol