Brian, Author at Make This Your Last Time

June 13, 2026June 13, 2026 - No Comments

MBE Tips and Tools (+ Best Supplements)

Ah yes, the MBE, everyone’s favorite multiple-guess section…

1.8 minutes per question for 6 hours
Paranoia from seeing seven C’s in a row on your answer sheet
50/50 choices that make you go, “Damn, what’s with this ultimate decision?”

Up to 50% of your bar exam score hangs on a series of letters. I don’t mean essays and performance tests, which are also a series of letters.

Wow! Sounds important. (So are these 3 high-priority areas that take up 21% of the MBE.)

For some people, the MBE comes easily, while it seems impossible for others.

While the MBE is a formidable portion of the bar, improving on it is figure-out-able.

So how do you improve your MBE score? Here are:

3 quick tactics you can try RIGHT NOW
3 study strategies for long-term success on the MBE
How to implement these tactics and strategies

June 12, 2026June 12, 2026 - No Comments

From 40% on AdaptiBar to Passing the California Bar Exam (First Try)

Theodore had a pretty chaotic start to bar prep.

A job, a baby incoming (or outcoming lol), and a trip to the ER on Christmas Day. And bar prep to figure out.

💬 “I’m a California part-time law student working full-time in Benefits, and I really couldn’t start my Themis Bar Prep wholeheartedly until the baby was born so I could start my parental leave.”

💬 “My wife was scheduled to deliver our baby on December 12th, 2025, but we were about a week past the expected date. . . . Thankfully, my wife’s water broke around 3am on December 19th and off to the hospital we went.”

Theodore passed on his first try anyway, starting from a discouraging 40% AdaptiBar score.

June 9, 2026June 10, 2026 - 7 Comments

Stupid Simple IRAC

Everyone says “just IRAC” when it comes to writing essays on the bar exam.

That drives me crazy too. I’ve heard that since I was a 1L. And it kinda makes sense… until you ACTUALLY TRY TO DO IT.

It’s supposed to be one of the most basic skills in law school (and on the bar exam), but it’s frustrating when you have no idea what you’re writing because law school forgot to teach it to you.

Coming up with things to write is hard! Know the pain of creation. But you don’t have to suffer.

Let’s break down “IRAC” so it finally becomes simple and the least of your concerns. We’re going for the win!

June 5, 2026June 10, 2026 - No Comments

How Waylon Finally Beat the Utah Bar Exam (UBE) After Years Away from Law

Waylon took the Utah Bar Exam (UBE) four times, from 2020 to 2026. His first two attempts ended with him giving up on law altogether.

💬 “I took the July 2020 bar exam in the middle of the Covid pandemic and came up short by ten points. Rather than get back on the horse, I gave up on the idea of being a lawyer. I ended up finding a decent job in banking compliance but the ghost of the failed bar exam kept haunting me and I could never really let it go. Fast forward to 2022 I succumbed to the pressures of other people and the nagging feeling from failure and took another half-hearted (probably more like quarter-hearted) attempt at the bar. This time I did even worse than the first time.”

What eventually pulled him back to bar world was that very nagging feeling. (Your bar nightmares might last for months or years btw)

He came back differently for his third attempt in, three years later. He was confident!

💬 “Again, the demons would not leave me alone so, I decided I would take that damn test one more time. I signed up for the July 2025 exam. . . . All this while working full time, and raising a family. I walked into that exam more confident than I ever had been for any exam.”

He improved but still missed the mark.

💬 “When the dust settled and the scores came out, I missed it by four points. Four points! Some people would have been discouraged, and my old self would have given up, but those four points unlocked something in me.”

What did those four points unlock in Waylon?

May 30, 2026June 3, 2026 - 6 Comments

Two Biggest Fears of a Bar Exam Taker

“I need to know all the law first!”

What were those three years of law school for? Never mind.

There’s this strange concern in the atmosphere floating around.

A concern that if you don’t know it all, then you won’t be prepared to solve the problems… The thought that all you need to do well on the bar exam is to “have the information”…

So you sit there, fold your arms, and wait for osmosis. Maybe your soulmate will suddenly come knocking on your door, too.

And then when you finally flip open that essay after weeks of “studying”…

You stare at the blank page.

In front of you, a blank canvas ready to be filled but only reflecting an uncomfortable stillness.

The cursor blinks at you, urging you to fill the awkward silence.

Cold sweat squeezes out of pores you didn’t even realize you had on your body. 😓

“…”

You decide to hit the books and videos again. Maybe you just need to study a little more…

You’re mostly grasping the material, but then when you take a practice exam it’s like everything you know is out the window.

WTF? Why didn’t it work?