Here’s a compilation of top tips from stories of FOUR different July 2025 bar exam passers.
They’re a mix of repeaters and first timers, and those who took the California Bar Exam and the UBE. Something here will work for you too.
Think about what lessons you’ll take into 2026.
If you’re getting that grind in, you’ll need…
👉🏻 MBE questions. Pick from:
- Use code here for 10% off AdaptiBar
Strategies & Tactics for the MBE
👉🏻 Past essay and PT questions and answers
👉🏻 Magicsheets (or outline of your choice)
👉🏻 Approsheets for organizing issues
👉🏻 A custom study schedule that molds to your situation, not the other way around. Use scheduling materials from Passer’s Playbook to fine tune your system, or modify what you have.
Ignore the people on Reddit who are perpetually confused.
It really doesn’t matter as long as you have a way to gain a baseline understanding and a way to verify your understanding. Use any or some of the tools above.
Unfortunately, it really is this simple. Not easy. But simple.
Here’s where the learning happens
Megan graduated from law school with a 2.8 GPA and passed the Texas UBE with a 273 on her first attempt.
Megan skipped the traditional bar prep and got it one and done.
Her story spoke to me because it proves that you don’t need a course bloating you up and slowing you down. And she was yet another graduate with a 2.8 GPA like me, showing that it’s not about how well you do in law school but the essence of how learning happens (law school and bar prep are separate skills).
The point of doing the exercise of solving practice questions is to gauge your performance with it. How do you do that?
- MBE: Check answers and study the explanations.
- Essays: Check sample answers and see which issues you identified and whether you stated the rules accurately. How you applied the rule to which facts is also important, but it may be more subjective.
- PTs: Check sample answers and see which rules from the Library and which facts from the File you pulled out correctly. Is your answer generally structured similarly as the sample answer?
There is no point in solving questions if you skim or skip over this step.
In fact, I encourage you to account for this time in your study schedule by at least doubling your practice time.
Example:
❌ Allocating 1 hour for 30 MBE questions
✅ Giving yourself AT LEAST 2 hours to:
- Attempt 20-25 questions (~1 hour),
- Check answers (1-2 minutes),
- Scream into your pillow / have a breather (2-5 minutes), and
- Review all explanations while cross-referencing with your outline to lock in that understanding (~1 hour or more).
Notice I bumped down the number of questions because you might not be ready for that right now.
What else do you notice?
Obviously, this is an illustrative example, but don’t try to be ready before you’re ready. I’d much rather you do fewer questions for more understanding. You can adjust as you get better.
You’re building in buffer time for yourself. If you have time left over, that’s better than being swamped and being tempted to go after metrics like how many questions you did or how much of the course you completed.
This is how you stop being overwhelmed and chased by your schedule.
Use your study time strategically
MacKenzie finally passed the Massachusetts UBE as a repeater by escaping the (expensive and inflexible) web of big bar prep that resulted in her worst score:
Through your website I was able to find resources and materials that helped me build my own study schedule and what I needed in order to learn on my timeline. Time was the biggest stressor, I felt like I never had enough time for anything, to learn, to review, to sit for the exam. So I gave myself over a year, to learn and find what worked for me. All while still working full time.”
In the end, it’s up to you to tailor your plan. Remember that you’re the dean of your own studies.
A bar review course is simply a luxury supplement to your self-study.
If you’re overwhelmed by everything bar prep asks of you, pause. Ask yourself:
- Does the schedule given to me make sense? In fact, who is the schedule for?
- What do I need to do? How does this fit into my personal schedule?
- How much time do I have? How much time do I need?
Just sit in a straitjacket for 5 mins away from your 73 assignments and sketch it out.
When you come back, what would you recommend to this person?
Let yourself win with small victories first
From Rebecca, who passed the Utah UBE on her first attempt:
There’s value in letting your body get a feel for what an essay answer should look like by copying a model answer.
From a current repeater:
- “You said it: it is not a bad idea to copy the model essay to get the feel.”
- “I have just finished another two essays thanks to your advice. You are right. Practicing the essay is drastically different than rewriting(copying). It commands creative and brain-tormenting effort. But that’s the way it should be.”
How to give yourself small victories
If you’re stuck and overwhelmed, this is a psychology problem, not a knowledge problem.
If bar prep is too challenging right now, give yourself small victories to start:
- If jumping into an essay is daunting, try identifying the issues and rules only, open book.
- If that’s too daunting, try copying the sample answer to get a feel for it. The answer is right in front of you. Why not practice the act of writing?
- Or answer one MBE question. Or read a PT file and library and sample answer. Or count backward from the exam date and sketch out a rough plan.
Break it down into small baby steps. Let yourself win. The flywheel will start turning faster and faster as you get used to facing questions.
Or use a tool that will make your life easier (or even change your life). From Megan again:
I don’t think I would’ve passed if I hadn’t found them and incorporated them into my studying.”
You don’t need to be a great writer to pass the bar
You don’t need a perfect command of English.
You just need to give the graders what they want. A clear framework organized by issues.
Lily, a first-time California passer, says:
Here are said videos of me walking you through the issues:
Participate in your own rescue
Whether you’re a repeater or a first-timer,
Whether you did well in law school or not,
Whether you’re working or not, or
Whether you’re taking the California Bar Exam or the UBE…
Here’s what works:
- Adjust for your situation
- Apply tried-and-true strategies to your situation. Don’t wait for the perfect thing
- Do what speaks to you most. Everyone learns differently. Don’t go after hype out of desperation, or you might end up being the person who comes back to tell me you finally sat down and did the simple repetitive work
WE ARE LEAVING 1984 BEHIND IN 2025!
But maybe your takeaways are different for you. After all, everyone learns differently.
Let me know: What spoke to you the most from these passers? What lessons will you take into 2026?
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