Serious Question: Withdraw from bar Exam

[JReed0908]

Hi Guys,

I have a serious question. I graduated this May and was planning to take the July bar exam. However, because of personal reasons (my grandmother passed away last week) I was busy and distracted. I am debating whether to withdraw for this July and then take the February bar exam in 2015. I was planning to take the NY and NJ bars. Do you think I should? Is there a stigma to this? How would it look to employers? Will I be asked why?

My other alternative would be to really cram (I have only finished about 25% of the assigned Kaplan assignments) so I don't know if this is honestly and possibly feasible. If I did, i would focus mainly on MBE question.

What would you guys recommend?

Thanks.

[alphagamma]

I don't see how "failing in July and then passing in February" would be worse than "withdrawing in July and then passing in February." Both would require you to speak with your employer, and both would delay your admittance to the bar. You've already paid to take the bar exam in July. Just cram like mad and see what happens. If you pass, you're all set. If you fail, you'll just take the bar again in February as expected.

Maybe it would make sense to withdraw from either NY or NJ, rather than both? That way it'll be easier for you to focus on the one bar exam left.

[tepper]

I don't wanna sound harsh, but let's face the facts here, life is full of uncertainties and challenges. Shit could happen at any time, and there is no guarantee that nothing unexpected will happen next time. Sorry about your grandma, and perhaps you can draw strength from it instead of putting off the bar until Winter.

On a side note, may I respectfully ask, what were you doing in June??? Did anything keep you from studying diligently for the bar?

[NYSprague]

Take the exam. You will regret it if you don't. Study hard for the multi state. Maybe just do one of the exams? Or stick with both and just grind it out.
Cancelling would be a mistake.

And, yes, it will look bad to employers in the sense that many small firms won't even interview people who haven't passed the bar.

[JReed0908]

So both of you would recommend that I try cramming?

You're fine tepper. I was on track up until mid June (where my 25% came from). But then my grandmother had to be hospitalized and I spent most of my time there with her just because we weren't sure how critical her condition was and I needed to help translate. I tried to study there but I wound up spending most of my time studying with flash cards - if at all.

I started to continue studying last week (but then due to the wake and funeral), I did not have as much time.

As for already having paid for my exams, I was going to ask the bar examiners if I could get a partial refund. They have a clause for extenuating circumstances but I am not sure if mine counts.

And thank you for the responses! I am really conflicted about what I should do. On what hand, I guess it is fortunate that I am not employed so I don't have to worry about explaining to employers yet - but on the otherhand, waiting 6 months is a lot.

Also, I don't really have loans - so I do not need to worry about this. On the other hand, how bad does it look to employers knowing that I withdrew? THANK YOU.

[alphagamma]

As far as I know, your bar exam record doesn't follow you around. You're either "admitted" or "not admitted." If you end up taking and passing the exam in February, then nobody will ever know whether you failed or withdrew in July. Withdrawing from the July exam just denies you an early shot at being admitted. Even if you could get a full refund, I'd still advise you to just take the July exam. You only have to be mediocre.

[pkt63]

I'm not sure how NJ/NY work, but in CA, failing gets you all your exam grades back and you can get super valuable feedback about where you'll need to improve for February. You still might pass, and even if you don't, you'll then be ahead of the game to make sure you pull it off in Feb. Also, on a personal/practical note, studying might actually be a good way to deal with the grief you may be experiencing. Something similar was really valuable for me when my dad died.

[Johann]

Just put in ridiculous hours on MBE multiple choice. You'll be fine. Minimum competency test. The people who usually fail in my experience are bad multiple choice or standardized test takers.