Passing the CA Bar Exam with 3 Weeks to Study, Working Full Time, 8 Months Pregnant (Gone Right)

Thanks, Brian. I passed :) 

This was a hard attempt for me, I was 8 months pregnant and in the hospital a couple of days prior. I didnt want to take the exam because of the exhaustion and medical conditions. But I felt like it was worth another shot and I am still in disbelief. Even sitting for such a long period was a big concern and hurdle, let along writing the exam! 

I saw the results with my baby and I couldnt have experienced this joy in a better way. 

Thank you for all your materials and motivating emails. 

Regards,

Gazzal

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Hi Brian, 

Thank you. 

If it helps anyone else preparing, here’s what worked for me: I studied for three weeks before the exam, after wrapping up work each day — I didn’t get any time off from my job to prepare. With that time crunch, consistency was key to keeping the momentum going.

With limited time, my main strategies were:

– Topic-wise MBE practice: I did 25–30 questions each day.

– Essay review: I read all essays and sample answers from the Mary Basick Essay book — this helped me spot commonly tested issues and recognize essay patterns for each subject.

– Magicsheets: I used these to memorize black-letter law and core legal terminology.

– Professional Responsibility (PR): I identified every possible PR issue and drilled them repeatedly to master the PR essay. 

– Performance Test (PT): I practiced writing PT essays under timed conditions until I could finish confidently within the allotted time.

On the exam day:

– I didn’t rush through the MBEs — pacing myself helped me avoid falling for “trap” answer choices.

– For essays, I spent the first five minutes outlining and noting down all issues before typing, so I wouldn’t miss anything in my final answer.

This focused approach helped me study efficiently and aim directly for a passing score, rather than spreading myself thin. Hope this helps anyone in the same boat!

Thank you again,

Gazzal

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Hi Brian, 

I am a foreign attorney and it took me sometime to even realise what the bar essays needed to be like. I worked with Daniel from Bar Winners a year and a half ago, but my working hours never permitted me to spend lots of hours studying; I realised I had to strategise.  

For my essay review, after reviewing selected answers I realised that I needed to focus and drill down on things that helped my score – I didnt have the bandwidth to focus+memorise everything:

– I analysed more and used facts to my advantage;

– Some selected answers at times didnt have the complete rule statement – meaning I could just issue spot and didnt have to worry about memorising everything;

– I ONLY memorised rules and focussed on issues of the more commonly tested topics, I used the Mary Basick book to do that. I read all the questions – doing this helped understand that issues generally get repeated or there maybe only 10-15 for each subject that kept reappearing. 

– Also, PR is a sure shot essay so working on getting 80-85 on that, vs trying to improve each essay score was a better option – so I really spent most time reading, issues spotting every PR essay I could find (books, internet, sample answers, etc.) 

– Lastly, the same logic applied to PT – my writing skills are decent. So I worked out a skeleton model approach for my PT. I’d sketch out a skeleton (intro, applicable law, structure, etc.) and copy paste while reading through the library. Lastly, id just fill in for my analysis. This helped me not get lost in the library and retain my focus on what’s important. 

For my MBE, honestly it was more of a game for me, I did questions anytime I found time (on adaptibar). By the end of it I had done ONLY around 600 questions – which was way less than for my previous attempts. But again, I realised I got confused more as I did more MBE questions and that led to getting tripped up in the exam.

I deliberately did enough but not so many that I was overconfident or would fall for a trap because it seemed obvious. I wanted to think a bit more in the exam (not sure if this is great advice, but worked for me). 

Lastly, because I had zero hopes of passing with this prep, I didnt stress at all. I think that just helped me clear my mind and do better – I remember zoning out or even dosing off for sometime in between :p

I dont know if any of this will help anyone, but I am just glad Im done with the exam. 

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This was my 5th attempt – first 2 I was studying on my own with no clue about how to go about it. I also did my exam with no time off, while working – I only took off for exam days. 

The 3rd one I came pretty close. 4th was a disaster due to feb 2025, and the stress of the exam glitching led me to having an anxiety attack. I was 3 months pregnant with no accommodations. I feared that if I went to the ER post day 1, I may not be permitted to write day 2 and so I didnt see a doc – I got 1385.5.  

I didnt want to take the exam anymore, esp at 8 months and risk myself or the baby. I was in the hospital with a condition 2 days before the exam and the doctor was against me sitting for so long to write the exam. But something in me couldnt give up, so I decided to take it and do what was possible. 

In fact day 1, after the 1st session the centre didnt let people leave the building and I didnt have food – my husband couldnt come in and so I wrote day 1 with no food at 8 months pregnant. Everything that went wrong did go wrong. 

I had no hope of passing! But I guess all the hard work paid off finally :)

Hope this helps!!