Bar Exam Preparation
You may have gotten this email if you took the 2025 February California Bar Exam:
(You know the one where the exam software wasn’t working and some people even had to retake it in March?)
What does it mean for the raw passing score of 560 to be dropped to 534?
Some bar takers wonder if they should study early for the bar exam (ahead of the traditional 10-week schedule), whether…
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.
Continue reading “Early Bar Prep: Should You Study Early for the Bar Exam? (When and How)”Preparing for the bar exam forces you to cycle through various emotions over weeks and months.
One moment calm, feeling like you’ve done all you could. Panic and anxiety the next moment. Frustration. Utter confusion. Overwhelm. Back to relief. Rinse and repeat.
Your heart is beating uncontrollably, your thoughts are becoming irrational, and your palms are sweaty! 🥵 You’re feeling HOT!
Go from hot ⤵
To cool
When you’re in trouble, breathe and go back to the fundamentals.
Reality can betray the most reasonable of your expectations and daydreams at whim, coloring the past with regrets and the future with despair.
It can also present us with gifts if you look carefully. Some days you have to look much harder than other days.
But if life only gives you lemons, you weren’t looking out for the oranges.
Here are five philosophies you can apply right now to mentally reframe how you feel about the bar exam:
Continue reading “5 Reframes to Power Up Your Mind and Emotions for the Bar Exam Right Now”How often do you see motivationals like this?
But what do you do to pick yourself back up in your most defeated moments?
I wanted to pass the bar exam.
So instead of actually preparing for it, I made an image of a bar license card with my name on it using Microsoft Paint. You know, for visualization and manifestation like random people suggested online.
I’m not even kidding. Look and cringe:
Continue reading “Tired of Bar Prep? Guarantee Motivation to Beat the Bar Exam with These 5 Reminders”Manfred passed the 2024 July California Bar Exam on his first try.
💬 “I passed as a first-time taker thanks to you!”
The story he sent in about his study process was a complete story arc, a great reminder of how to pair memorization and practice, and how to navigate the plateau that you’re sure to experience.
He started with a typical approach, starting right after graduation and using Barbri.
💬 “I am a K-JD who graduated from UCLA Law this past May. Due to my circumstances (like having plenty of time to study), I did fairly well in law school. I knew what the Bar would be like structurally due to prior exposure, and I knew that I would expect to be studying around 8 hours a day, every day, for at least two months. I started studying for the California Bar basically the week right after commencement.”
Let’s see how he did it.
Continue reading “Manfred’s Classic Approach to Bar Prep (and Moving Past Plateaus)”