Brian, Author at Make This Your Last Time

May 8, 2026May 8, 2026 - No Comments

Passing the NY Bar After 4 Failures and a Forced Year Off

“T” passed the New York Bar Exam on her 5th try. Her journey had ups and downs (mostly downs):

Her 4th attempt scored lower than her 3rd. She came 5 points short of passing, then went backward.
The NY BOLE benched her from the next exam and made her wait a full year for her next attempt.
She watched her dad get really sick during her year off.

But that year became the thing that made her 5th and last time work.

💬 “I can’t believe I’m writing this email. I just found out I passed the NY bar exam! Honestly feels like a dream. My parents cried :)”

It wasn’t because she found a new course or schedule or other tactical minutiae. Those are just products. Which tool you use doesn’t matter if the user can’t wield it effectively.

If all you do is consume the product (which traditional commercial prep courses are designed for), that’s like eating a bunch of protein because you heard it’s good. And then you end up in an even bigger caloric surplus because you overate and didn’t work out to give the protein something to do.

She passed because she changed her approach. She started digesting what she consumed.

What changes when you stop being a tryhard and start being an overachiever?

How do you start thinking when you stop the barebones “I just need a few more points” mentality?

What happens when you show up again and again?

T was a different person altogether by the time she walked into the exam room for the 5th time.

The scariest thing about humans as predator is that they keep following and hunting their prey until it gives up from exhaustion.

May 3, 2026May 3, 2026 - 11 Comments

Why You Feel Exhausted Studying for the Bar Exam

Let me guess. Is this your idea of bar prep?

Listen to lectures while sitting still like a statue
Pause to take notes and fill in the blanks (doubling the time it takes to finish the lectures)
Re-read giant outlines you highlighted last week (osmosis didn’t work) before falling asleep with the lights on

It’s like you’re experiencing the most annoying part about traveling—sitting for hours next to someone who takes up the armrest even though they got the window seat.

And repeating this every day. Is this what Limbo is like?

You’re drained and demoralized because you’re trying to “study” but aren’t feeling a sense of progress as words and days pass by you.

But why are you trying to do this the hard way?

May 1, 2026May 1, 2026 - No Comments

Summary of Changes to the UBE: NextGen Bar Exam vs. Legacy UBE for 2026-2028

Change and reform are happening to the bar exam. No, it’s not being abolished. Put those dreams back in the drawer.

But the Uniform Bar Exam is changing into something else… the NextGen Bar Exam. It’s more “skills-focused” and less about memorizing random rules.

Two main categories of change: question types and subjects.

Question types: Depending on when and where you’re taking the bar exam, you’ll encounter the MBE, MEE, and MPT via the current UBE through February 2028. Business as usual if you’re taking the legacy exam.

After that, starting July 2028, no jurisdiction will administer the legacy UBE.

It will be fully replaced by the NextGen Uniform Bar Exam, which will test multiple-choice questions (MCQ), integrated question sets (IQS), and performance tasks (PT). More on the different question types and sample questions here. I’ll also go over some sample questions below.

Subjects: “What do I need to know for the NextGen UBE? (And the current UBE?)”

This might be confusing, so here’s the scoop (and a timeline graphic)…

April 23, 2026May 5, 2026 - No Comments

Do I Really Need a $3,000 Bar Prep Course? Is Self-Study Enough to Pass the Bar Exam? What the Data Shows

You’re staring at your bar exam registration deadline trying to come up with a game plan.

Your inbox is full of emails from Barbri, Themis, and Kaplan. “Sign up for our course to pass. Hurry!!!”

Then you see the price tag.

Is this mandatory? Or just a sales pitch?

What typically happens is that prospective bar takers default toward courses on auto-pilot after exposure to three years of marketing.

Understandable! You’re not sure where to even start, and law schools will farm you out to big courses. They’re not going to go out of their way to teach you. (What are they, some kind of charity?)

And it’s exciting when the first video starts playing. Time to buckle down and dive in! Yeah!! Whether you’ll end up lost and frustrated anyway in 5 weeks is another matter.

The bar exam sounds scary, and that’s exactly what they’re banking on. We’re drawn to what feels “safe” and familiar even if it may not the best thing for us. But if you think about it, there’s no real reason you must take a course or be in that situationship.

Courses are a luxury supplement when it comes to bar review. Remember that, and treat them as such.

❌ “Should I use Barbri or Themis?”
✅ “Should I use Barbri or Themis at all?”

❌ “What’s the nicest, ‘best’ option?”
✅ “Where in this bar prep process am I going to feel stuck, and what can I use to make that part go smoother?”

The first question is like sorting by business class when shopping for plane tickets. Maybe this is actually how you want to travel, especially if it’s long distance or an important trip (or someone’s paying for it).

There are legitimate reasons some folks should buy a course. Not everyone should DIY this.

But maybe you weren’t even aware of other options that also get you to point B more cost-efficiently (and more effectively while wasting less time). The first time I took the bar, I didn’t know there were paths other than the default one given to me. I even got excited because “everything I needed to know was in that box of books”!

Lots of people pass with a course. Lots of people pass without one. It’s not the course that determines your success.

I’m going to show you the evidence and perspectives you may not have considered so that you can decide for yourself whether you should take a course or self-study.

March 11, 2026April 7, 2026 - 5 Comments

Early Bar Prep: Should You Study Early for the Bar Exam? (When and How)

Some bar takers wonder if they should study early for the bar exam (ahead of the traditional 10-week schedule), whether they want to…

Start months ahead of the next bar exam
Get a head start on studying before their bar review course officially starts
Defer the exam (from July to February, February to July, or even a year or more)
Study “just in case” while waiting for bar results
Juggle their full-time job at the same time (and won’t be able to take much time off)
Get ahead because it’s been a minute (or years) since they’ve graduated from law school or taken the bar exam

While there are benefits to studying early and giving yourself a lot of time, there are many traps to doing so. There are also benefits to simply waiting (if your neurotic anxiety can handle it) until study season is in full swing before deciding whether or not to study for the bar exam.

But bar prep is personal. You’re the dean of your own studies.

To help you decide when to start studying, let’s discuss all of this—who early bar prep is right for and the best way to study early and effectively—so that you’re making the most of your time and energy.