Retakers: Did you feel better/more confident than the first time? Forum

[xonimi]

For those who retook the bar exam, did you feel more confident or more prepared in the days leading up to the exam that you passed compared to the previous exam(s)?

I'll be taking the CA bar for the second time and I don't feel much more prepared than last time. I'm wondering if that's a sign that I might have not studied enough.

[justanotheruser]

Heading into my final re-take, I felt simultaneously more confident and more nervous. I felt the latter because I was aware of more issues/problems to worry about. I felt the former because I knew I was better prepared to tackle those issues/problems I wasn't prepared for on previous exam administrations. Good luck!

[rcharter1978]

Yes and no. I still thought I failed the second time and I didn't even bother checking results online because I assumed I had failed. I found out with the little letter.

[lexingtonhr]

For those who retook the bar exam, did you feel more confident or more prepared in the days leading up to the exam that you passed compared to the previous exam(s)?

I'll be taking the CA bar for the second time and I don't feel much more prepared than last time. I'm wondering if that's a sign that I might have not studied enough.

I know this post is geared towards repeaters who took and passed, but I just wanted to let you know I took the exam for a second time too. I cried when I got home. I have no idea how I did, but this was a very difficult exam. Very difficult...

[xonimi]

For those who retook the bar exam, did you feel more confident or more prepared in the days leading up to the exam that you passed compared to the previous exam(s)?

I'll be taking the CA bar for the second time and I don't feel much more prepared than last time. I'm wondering if that's a sign that I might have not studied enough.

I know this post is geared towards repeaters who took and passed, but I just wanted to let you know I took the exam for a second time too. I cried when I got home. I have no idea how I did, but this was a very difficult exam. Very difficult...

I agree! Every single essay felt like a horse race. I kept running out of time. I know I completely blew the PR essay because I spent too much time on the Evidence one and I needed to do the PT so I only wrote about 5 issues on the PR one with not enough analysis. The July essays were much more manageable.

[rcharter1978]

For those who retook the bar exam, did you feel more confident or more prepared in the days leading up to the exam that you passed compared to the previous exam(s)?

I'll be taking the CA bar for the second time and I don't feel much more prepared than last time. I'm wondering if that's a sign that I might have not studied enough.

I know this post is geared towards repeaters who took and passed, but I just wanted to let you know I took the exam for a second time too. I cried when I got home. I have no idea how I did, but this was a very difficult exam. Very difficult...

Awww, this post makes me sad, I hope you feel better. If it helps I think it's okay if it feels shitty. I probably felt fine, maybe a little numb because the second time I took it I just KNEW I failed. It made life lots easier because I could just start coming up with a plan for next time and that made me feel better.

I nearly had a heart attack when I found out I passed.

I think I also looked up a bunch of successful people who failed the bar exam. It helped me realize that this exam consumes your entire world, sometimes for six months, sometimes for a year, but it's really mostly a blip in your life. If you don't pass this time you will pass next time and you'll realize after that that this exam was a blip.

[maga]

I did fine on the essays but failed royally on the MBEs last time. This time, I feel MUCH more confident on MBEs.

Essays definitely felt a little race horsey this time around. I remember starting Q1 and mid-way through thinking "i'm failing this exam" because of how clueless I felt on at certain stages of that essay.

By the end of the 1st day though, I was content. I just reminded myself that, even if I did worse on essays this time than last time, I gotta do just average or midly below average to pass because of how heavily the MBEs are weighted. I actually studied relatively more properly this time and have no doubt I did at least average on MBEs, if not above average, which gives me very good hope.

[JakeTappers]

I barely studied my first time for the attorneys exam and failed (1390). Decided to take the full exam this time and spent most of my time on MBE/Adaptibar studying. Only got up to about 67% on 2000 but 77+ on every OPE and 75 over last 500 or so. But I didn’t have much time to study for exams since I was working full time. ANYWAYS. Felt like I did rather well on essays but who knows. More importantly, MBE felt awful.

With that as a background, would successful (or even unsuccessful) retakers recommend studying now for the next one. If I don’t do well on MBE will just do attorneys again, I think, so would probably just do 5 essays every weekend in the meantime. But wanted to see what others had done.

[Smiddywesson]

For those who retook the bar exam, did you feel more confident or more prepared in the days leading up to the exam that you passed compared to the previous exam(s)?

I'll be taking the CA bar for the second time and I don't feel much more prepared than last time. I'm wondering if that's a sign that I might have not studied enough.

I know this post is geared towards repeaters who took and passed, but I just wanted to let you know I took the exam for a second time too. I cried when I got home. I have no idea how I did, but this was a very difficult exam. Very difficult...

Let's put it this way, I started to study on February 24, 2018. I put in 1530 hours over the course of a year. I did 3800 questions. During the essays, my computer's touchpad gliched and wouldn't cut and paste. The cursor kept jumping between paragraphs while I was typing so I had to type like a hunt and peck typist. I didn't study the proper materials for two of the most important essays. It is what it is. Plan B is now to study something I like, such as Evidence, until the grades come in. If it's bad news, I keep right on going until July. In your case, I would at least use your knowledge of what happened to formulate a better study plan. If the news turns out bad, there won't be as much soul searching and woe is me horseshit, you can plunge right ahead and get it done.

PS: Yes, that test was a nightmare, I went into it with a 94% high MBE raw score, and a rock steady 91% on the practice questions. That being said, I have no idea how this thing went. I very well might have failed. Hence, PLAN B FROM OUTER SPACE. You SHOULD feel bad. Even I feel bad. That most definitely does not mean we failed. It's a scaled test, somebody has to win. It is what it is. Let me leave you with my advice to another examinee. The cut score isn't very high. The test is designed to reward you if you did the work. Did you do the work? There you go. What about bad luck? What about it? There's almost 16 hours of testing, it's that long to allow multiple instances of both good and bad luck to average out. The test is scaled, there are a tremendous number of reserved seats in the lifeboats for people like you who did the work to pass. No lazy kid from New Jersey is going to luck out and take your seat away from you. The test was designed by a dozen PhDs to filter out the lucky and reward you. What the examiners cannot do is hold your hand for the next five weeks, you have to trust the numbers and plan for either result.

Good luck, you don't need it, but I'll say it anyway.