Megan passed the Illinois Bar Exam as a foreign attorney on her first attempt.
331 is an excellent score, especially for a first attempt by a foreign-trained lawyer!
It doesn’t sound like Megan had the best study environment, but it turned out to be a different animal entirely.
What did she change to make it work anyway?
Quick stats
Jurisdiction: Illinois (UBE)
Attempts: 1
Score: 331
Unique circumstances: Foreign-trained lawyer, studied while caring for a 6-month-old son
Resources Megan used to pass the Illinois Bar Exam (UBE) as a foreign attorney
💬 “I purchased your study aids and the passer’s handbook towards the last month of studying and can’t say enough positive things.”
Themis
What changed in the final month of studying?
1) It’s not too late to drop what isn’t working
Megan was following The Plan assigned to her when she decided to stop in favor of patching up her weak areas.
Notice the word “confidence.” Megan was able to see through how Themis’s stock plan was built for a generic person and not for her weaknesses, unlike other bar takers going through Stockholm syndrome.
Another person who can’t trust themselves when I’ve shown dozens of examples of people who did just that.
No one’s falsely imprisoning you in a room. You can literally walk out the door anytime. Or you can decide to stay in if you like what’s there. But you need to be able to trust and follow your decision either way instead of agonizing over something that’s clearly not working for you.
If there’s anything you take away from MTYLT, it’s the confidence to take ownership and do what works for you as the dean of your own studies.
2) Use data to patch up your weak areas
Megan had the data to show her weak areas. You can find out by looking at your scores.
There’s a difference between studying broadly (everything) and surgically targeting the gap in your skills.
Frequent diagnostics help keep this data fresh and relevant. You could:
- Attempt practice questions. Test yourself to generate test data.
- Compare your MBE subjects to see where the lowest scores are. Break it down even more into subtopics to see where the weakest areas are (e.g., hearsay within Evidence).
- Use a coverage calculator to keep track.
Ask yourself what you can learn from the data, like a scientist.
That’s what Professors Mary Basick & Tina Schindler said when I spoke with them. If you’re not ready to listen to me yet, listen to them at least.
3) Make sure you cover the point sources
Not all points are equal. Megan kept in mind the Tripod Approach to make sure she covered the MPT (since it’s worth 20% of the UBE score).
BTW, there is no written portion on the Ontario Bar Exam! So Megan had no clue going in what the MPT was. But it wasn’t a mystery anymore by the time she sat for the Illinois exam.
If you don’t know something, you just have to learn it.
You don’t accidentally fall into a high score. It’s called bar “preparation” for a reason. Preparation –> confidence and composure.
4) Repeat it often to lock it in
Knowledge accrual happens when you attempt to use that knowledge often.
Shorter, faster, and more repetitions is how I set up the sample study schedules in Passer’s Playbook.
Like everything else, what you use often flows back to you. Don’t let it go stale.
What made it work for Megan was boring but systematic: a weekly check to identify her weaknesses (not blindly based on a cookie-cutter schedule that doesn’t know you) and repetition to gain the competence and confidence.
