CA BigLaw Attorneys - Have you ever seen someone fail the Bar Exam 2x? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Topic says it all...How common is this? Scared recent grad and incoming BigLaw associate who's preparing for the CA Bar Exam right now.

How were you feeling just before the start of July while preparing for the CA Bar Exam? Is it normal to feel completely unprepared like you haven't memorized or retained enough? Have you ever seen firms give people 3 shots at taking the CA bar exam or am I overly panicked?

(Graduated from a T-20 at about median but 1L wasn't great.)

Thank you!

[Anonymous User]

My old firm was fine with two shots but not three.

Have you even failed it once yet, though, if you just graduated? Why are you thinking like you've already failed the first and second time if you haven't even taken it once yet?

It's perfectly normal to feel unprepared, but just give it your honest, best shot. You've got a month left until the exam, good luck.

[lawlo]

I've passed two bar exams on the first try. I never once felt very confident and I did great on both. Just keep putting in the work. I also never did that great on the practice tests/as good as others online seemed to say they were doing fyi.

[dyemond]

as far as I understand, there is a decent correlation between ls performance and the bar—if you go to a decent school and didn’t do miserably, your chances of passing are good.

100% believed I failed the bar, and honestly wasted a few months of prime free time worrying about it.

Just go relax

[Anonymous User]

How prepared did you passers feel about the essays. I’m worried about the breadth of info there

[Anonymous User]

How prepared did you passers feel about the essays. I’m worried about the breadth of info there

[lawlo]

How prepared did you passers feel about the essays. I’m worried about the breadth of info there

Not very prepared. Certainly not for ca specific stuff. I studied alot though. Read through all the essays for the different subjects and write down the rules. Same ones always come up.

[Spartan_Alum_12]

Topic says it all...How common is this? Scared recent grad and incoming BigLaw associate who's preparing for the CA Bar Exam right now.

How were you feeling just before the start of July while preparing for the CA Bar Exam? Is it normal to feel completely unprepared like you haven't memorized or retained enough? Have you ever seen firms give people 3 shots at taking the CA bar exam or am I overly panicked?

(Graduated from a T-20 at about median but 1L wasn't great.)

Thank you!

Not BigLaw but did pass the CA bar the first time back in July 2016. I remember the 4th of July being my peak freak out time FWIW.

My advice is to practice, practice, practice and focus on the issues on the previous essays, as they are often repeated or similar.

[Grazzhoppa]

Yes.

[Anonymous User]

How prepared did you passers feel about the essays. I’m worried about the breadth of info there

I went into the bar exam more worried about the essays than the MBE but left thinking the essays were way more fair/predictable than the MBE, and this was when the CA bar was still 3 days (2 days of essays, 1 day of MBE). I thought the bar prep companies did an adequate job preparing you for the essays as long as you put in the work, but the MBE questions on the actual bar exam seemed to intentionally test you on the exceptions to the exceptions to the exceptions to the rules that you studied during bar prep. Even though I felt crappy about the MBE, I passed on the first try, so remember that you don't need to feel like you did an A+ job in order to pass.

[Prudent_Jurist]

First time CA bar taker, passed Feb 2022 (graduated law school early in December). I definitely felt like I had a shot at failing. I woke up one night a week after the exam freaking out because I forgot to discuss negligence on an weird torts essay. Felt unprepared for CA specific stuff, especially evidence. MBE was a wtf moment, especially the Con law questions. I didn’t think taking the exam was actually that bad. The worst of it is the prep and the post-exam feels. You’ll be fine if you did average or above in law school. You got this.

[Anonymous User]

Topic says it all...How common is this? Scared recent grad and incoming BigLaw associate who's preparing for the CA Bar Exam right now.

How were you feeling just before the start of July while preparing for the CA Bar Exam? Is it normal to feel completely unprepared like you haven't memorized or retained enough? Have you ever seen firms give people 3 shots at taking the CA bar exam or am I overly panicked?

(Graduated from a T-20 at about median but 1L wasn't great.)

Thank you!

I'm sure it can happen, but it's pretty rare for someone who put in the work and graduated from a good law school with reasonable grades to have multiple bar failures.

It's EXTREMELY common for bar takers to feel anxious and think they failed when they have in fact passed. My spouse came back from Day 1 of the bar exam and told me there was no point in going back for Day 2 because Day 1 was such a disaster. Guess what? They passed. I was quite anxious as well (to a somewhat lesser degree), which lead me to way over study. Over studying isn't the end of the world, but I could have had a much more enjoyable summer.

Some level of freakout is good as it drives you to properly study, but you are getting WAY ahead of yourself getting anxious about a second bar failure when you haven't even taken the test once.