Top Law Schools

I feel like most people who fail the bar likely avoid this website in efforts to avoid ridicule, but it would have helped me had there been one...so here goes.

I took the bar (Illinois) in February, 2014 and failed by a few points. I also took BarBri. We take the MEE, 3 Illinois essays, 1 MPT, and the MBE. Our jurisdiction allows us to review our essays tests and score, so I did so. On review of my test, I can say that the MBE was the sole cause of my failure. I got somewhere around 120 on the MBE (i Know...terrible) and somewhere near 140s on the essays (and that was brought down because I bombed the MPT bc I thought I would be a creative writer and not follow directions provided in the Memo.....real winner right here). Needed 264 to pass btw. Anyway, not only am I horrible at multiple choice exams, but I never perfected the craft in law school given that all final exams were essays. But what I found to be my biggest failure was trusting BarBri's paced program. The review course is solid - and I am not belittling what they do - but I found that the weight given to each subject was more of a comprehensive Cover Your Ass for BarBri rather than what we should have honed in on. The program essentially gives the 6 MBE subjects (crim law/pro, torts, con, evidence, K, and property) half weight and the remaining 20 something topics + the MPT the remaining half. As I was studying for the exam this past July, 2014 I realize how horribly in vain and useless a lot of it was. I think any student would agree that it would be optimal to study just enough time for what is ACTUALLY tested on the exam in order to perform the best. Having said that, (and this is Illinois and MEE specific jurisdiction), the bar exam is not 50% MBE topics and 50% the rest. The MBE topics are undoubtedly at LEAST 50% because that is the entire MBE (and in our jurisdiction it is half weighted), but usually at least half of the MEE and IEE are MBE topic essays (the MPT for us is only 7%, so lets say the 'study-able' essays are 43%. So if half of the studyable essays are MBE topics (~22%) and the MBE is 50%....we have 72% of the entire bar exam on MBE topics. So the paced program had us studying only half the time for a portion that was 72% of the whole test. Then the other remaning half of the study period would be dedicated to the other 21% of other subject essays (2 of which are already guaranteed, state civ and fed civ). So, BarBri is having us study for the remaining 7 essays worth 21% for HALF of our entire study period. Does anyone else see that as ridiculous? Am I wrong in thinking that is very CYA-esque? I didn't need to focus 4 full days on Fed tax and Admin law when I could have been perfecting mortgages.

Anyway, the combination of trusting the program and being terrible at Multiple choice question, undoubtedly caused my failure. Needless to say, I spent ~90% of my time studying for the 6 MBE subjects this past July test and I feel about 100x more confident with my results. Whats better is that I think even more than half the essays on the MEE and IEE were one of the 6 subjects. EVEN better, those 6 subjects help craft your ability to understand the smaller essay topics and understand the law as a whole.

So, ultimately, if you are retaking or just generally trying to study....just keep pumping out MC questions and focusing intimately on the MBE topics. I know its uncomfortable to shirk minor topics, but the risk of getting one of those minor topics pales in comparison to understanding the 6 subjects which will always be around half of all your essays.

I actually received that same advice from a classmate who passed using only self-study. It resonated with me, I went so far as to ask our bar review instructor who advised otherwise. However, I did it anyway. I knew the MBE's could potentially put me over the top so I honed in on those subjects. Granted, I do not know if I passed or not, but from taking the test, it would have been counterproductive to spend extreme amounts of time on Secured Transactions, Negotiable Instruments, Agency, etc. I didn't even make flash cards on the MEE subjects, and sure as shit they weren't heavily tested. I did spend a week going over each and every past essay and model answer and I feel as though that prepared me for the outlying subjects. I also used this method for the MBE's and it left me feeling more in control of the exam. --LinkRemoved--


We shall see!

If folks like the two of you don't pass, then I have no hope. (Failed Feb 2014).

Folks like us? I can't speak for her....but I am nothing special. The test is just a puzzle you have to decode, then its easy. Which jurisdiction were you in? Did they offer you an opportunity to review your essays? I think most people who had the opportunity didn't actually go, and it was pretty enlightening. In Illinois, the February exam usually brings in 1000 test takers and ~75% pass. So of the 250 people who failed in February, only 8 other people were there reviewing the test with me (1 of them being a friend I dragged). (Note: there were only 2 options to review it...one in chicago at a designated time for 3 hours and one in Springfield...and I was at the Chicago location....so I also assume Springfield had even fewer because most Illinois test takers do it in Chicago). So, that's a tip if you do end up failing again.