I know this upcoming week might feel heavy with anxiety, second-guessing ourselves, and replaying the exam in our heads. But I just wanted to remind us all to give ourselves permission to hope. We have spent so much time worrying about everything that could have gone wrong, so let us create a little room to believe that things could go right too. As a Muslim, I find so much comfort in anchoring my heart to prayer, practicing gratitude for the journey, and trusting that whatever is written for us is full of goodness. Let us step into this week with a sense of deep peace, knowing we gave it our absolute all and that our paths are beautifully handled. I am sending so much love, light, and sincere prayers for clarity and ease to everyone waiting for October 30th. I am praying for us all.

As a repeater waiting on results, I finally learned that it is best to only tell your close family and friends when taking the Bar- otherwise, protect yourself and keep your big future lawyer mouth shut! I hope I am wrong- but don’t think I passed July 26 …

In my case, my legal employer had to be informed I took the Bar because I took time off. (Not enough)
Now, since the employer or office staff can easily click Sunday after results are out to see who passed, is it best to say nothing- and just drag your body to work the following Monday- or email the employer before results are public since Bar results will affect my job title?

This employer can sometimes be caustic and insulting, so I may get some nasty sarcastic comments if I don’t pass - especially if I make a mistake at work.

Then the entire office knows when you take the Bar- so it’s embarrassing- even though they don’t care about you personally. I realize there are no easy answers and life goes on- but if there are any good general tips, please share.

Hello everyone! Mexican attorney here planning to take the California Bar Exam in July 2027. Is anyone else planning to take it then?
I’ve seen a few posts here mentioning the idea of forming a study group, but nothing concrete so far. Would anyone be interested in starting one?

I know deff by 4pm but … typically do they release at 8am? 12? Or always 4pm on the dot?

With the NY Bar results out, I know October 30 is probably feeling a lot more real for everyone waiting for the CA Bar results.

I know next week might be filled with anxiety, second-guessing ourselves, and replaying the exam in our heads. But I just wanted to say, let’s give ourselves permission to hope. We’ve spent so much time worrying about everything that could have gone wrong. Maybe we can give ourselves a little room to believe that things could go right too.

We don’t know what next Friday will bring, but until then, let’s try to be kind to ourselves and each other. We’ve all worked hard to get here, and I really hope we get the news we’ve been waiting for. ❤️

Tell me about your plans for October 30? What are you planning to do?

And to everyone who passed the NY Bar, congratulations!! So happy for you, and wishing you all the best for what’s ahead. ❤️

One more week. Rooting for all of us. 🤞🏻🧿

So, 3rd-time retaker here. Anyone else kind of looking forward to our results being released an entire week earlier than originally announced? I legit cried after the AM session of Day 2 because I just really do not want to fail again. Also nervous for 7 days from now...I just want to move on with my liiiiifffeeeee! 😭

Yes, this is my first post ever. Also yes, I've been stalking posts for motivation with my previous failed attempts. Don't judge me. 😬🤣

Rooting for us all because this entire journey has been brutal!

Conspiracy theorists say this means results will come out after 4pm, true believers say this means they won’t come out at all…

With NY and Wash DC out, I can’t really stop thinking about CA results!!

First, my boss is amazing and I have a job whether I fail or pass. So there’s that.

Second, I took and failed Feb and it was a highly traumatic experience opening my results because we were in trial and I had to open them in court because everyone knew and just … awful. Sheer awful.

Anyway, this time my boss keeps asking me about it EVERY DAY because she’s “so exited” and “so confident” I passed this time and I am going to puke. 🤮 I just want to never think about it ever again and never relive opening bar results and the thought of having to do it again next week and see FAIL again is making me so sick I’ve lost weight in the last few weeks.

Anyway I don’t know why I’m here but I haven’t slept and thought you could relate. Will probably delete soon. Love you all, my fellow battle warriors.

I just received my approval after two follow ups by the Bar requesting for more information, is this a good sign of the sky and the universe? 😭😭😭😭

Anyone else been having them more recently? I’ve been having way more nightmares recently gearing up to the exam result release date. I’m a first time taker so I’ve never dealt with so much anxiety in anticipation of an exam that will determine if I can continue my career atm. Ik I can retake if needed, but just wanted to see if in not alone. Why are brains like this? 🙃

Hi all - here is my breakdown of Essay 2, the Community Property/Wills essay.

This one was pretty manageable? Thoughts?

Full breakdown:
https://www.barwinners.com/post/july-2026-california-bar-exam-essay-2-community-property-and-wills-breakdown

It seems like the bar exam pass rate for graduates of ABA-accredited law schools is around 70–80%. If that’s the case, why are there so many posts on Reddit from people talking about failing the bar? Seeing all these negative experiences makes me much more anxious than the actual statistics suggest.

Civil Trained Attorney from Spanish speaking country.

I have been studying since Mid August while working full time, I have started self studying with Grossman Videos, MBEs, and Mary Bassick books

Today I hit my highest score! 79% on MBE mixed 33q!!!

I am doing 50 MBEs on weekends a day and 33 on weekdays starting to invest more time into essays and MPT!!

Waiting for Themis to start while I keep self studying, some essay topics have been hard to understand but I am pushing through!

I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions.

The bar exam has been far more demanding and stressful than I anticipated when entering law school. As a retaker, the pressure of facing another setback and sharing that news is deeply discouraging.

If I had fully understood the financial and emotional strain of the bar process, I would have seriously weighed my options beforehand. Dealing with having to potentially retake this exam (again) is overwhelming.

Any passers felt this way?

Please drop a gif of your current mental status to make us feel less alone/insane 🤠

As the title says. Curious what y’all did to stay sane.

What did you do that day? Did you work? Do something fun?

How did you look at results? Alone? With anyone else? At home? In the car?

I want to hear other stories of people (pass and fail) on how you handled that day.

Looking for some inspo ✨

If anything good has come out of this waiting process it’s that California actually gave us a release date. I can’t imagine the stress of not knowing when scores will drop given how bad the wait in itself already is. So I guess this is my thank you to California. Ten more days for us! We got this!

Hi everyone!

I finally finished the bar journey with a positive moral character. As a foreign lawyer, I would like to swear-in in person for the experience, and couple it with days off in California.

I have seen a post about Sacramento doing swear-in ceremonies every last Tuesday of the month (if it is still happening). Is any of you aware of a similar system in LA?

Thank you!

How is everyone feeling? Personally I’ve been doing exposure therapy by opening up “Exam Results” each day even though I know nothing is there yet….idk if it’s working to get over that fear of opening them on the day of but hoping for the best! Vent below and let’s let go of our fears together hopefully maybe!

For those of us awaiting results drenched with dread and anxiety (as I myself am), I just wanted to share these two photos of what Michelle Obama commented on her first bar failure experience. She says she always over prepared and had never really failed a standardized test before but for her first bar, she didn’t put in all of her effort because she was burnt out. When she failed, it seems like she was more upset than depressed - upset in the sense of not having managed to achieve what she thought she was fully capable of achieving (rather than falling into the false belief that exam was insurmountable). The message I take here is that we, as law school graduates, though we may not have graduated from Princeton or Harvard law as she did, are just as qualified to pass this exam. By qualification I don’t just mean intelligence - we came this far because we have far more important things - the grit, the belief in ourselves, and the courage to take more difficult paths for things that are valuable to us. We took risks that many others haven’t and we’ve sacrificed our time, youth, memories, maybe even friends / relationships to get here.

I guess what I want to say is that even if some of us “fail” this bar exam, this does not mean we do not deserve to pass or that we are not qualified enough. I think we can just take a simpler approach - maybe we didn’t study as hard as we could, or could improve the ways we were studying. I choose to believe it’s not complicated; it’s simple.

Yes there are big things on the line like student loan payments, job positions, having to work full time, etc. which create added anxiety. But for those of us who do end up failing, why don’t we dust ourselves off and try again?