California Bar Exam Archives | Page 2 of 15

May 15, 2026July 16, 2026 - 1 Comment

How Adam Added 140 Points on the CA Bar Exam (But What Cost Him the Pass?)

Adam took the February 2026 California Bar Exam for the second time.

Starting with an overall score of 1201, Adam closed a 140-point gap between July 2025 and February 2026. That’s a remarkable jump by any measure.

He did this as a foreign-trained lawyer with zero prior knowledge of U.S. law, no commercial bar prep course, and roughly two months of prep.

If you did the math, you’ll have noticed that he didn’t pass this time… His February total score of 1341 was 50 points away from the pass score of 1390.

💬 “Regret to tell you, I failed again. I scored 1341.0200. . . . No matter what, thank you for all your help.”

This is the 75^th installment of Fire-up Friday, but it’s the very first one where I’m featuring a non-passing attempt.

Why?

Defeat is fodder for your next victory. We ought to document both what worked and what didn’t work.

Adam’s story isn’t over yet. This is just part 1. He’s coming back for the rest of his points in July.

In the meantime, we get to find out what worked for his second attempt, and what he could do differently for his third.

There are insights we can glean from Adam’s mistakes and improvements. He has graciously allowed me to share his painful story. And he must have done SOMETHING right to go from 1201 to almost passing.

Passing is easily achievable for Adam from here on. (Hint: A 50-point gap in California is smaller than you think.)

May 14, 2026May 15, 2026 - No Comments

4 Examples of California Bar Exam Score Reports (Feb 2026)

I dove into four actual score reports from the February 2026 California Bar Exam.

Walking through these score reports, I suggest how they should prepare for their next attempt, and include advice for anyone struggling with different portions of the California Bar Exam.

0:00 Intro (and defending my outfit)

0:33 Example score report 1 (total scaled score 1382.8700)
8:16 Example score report 2 (total scaled score 1341.0200)
16:28 Example score report 3 (total scaled score 1362.8950)
22:41 Example score report 4 (total scaled score 1298.9950)

28:46 The 5-layer priority of CBX components in order of importance

29:58 Framework for analyzing your score report
32:05 The importance of 5-point increments on the California Bar Exam

February 13, 2026April 25, 2026 - 2 Comments

Scoring a 307 on the New York Bar Exam After 1 Week of Prep (Another Double Passer Alert with Doreen Benyamin)

About two weeks from the bar exam, most students:

Get overwhelmed, freeze, and suddenly not know what to do
Panic, overthink everything, and see scores dip
Feel like they’re behind and completely cooked on the exam

I want to share a story about Doreen Benyamin.

Maybe you recognize her. She hosted a live workshop before, where she interviewed me so she could take all my tips for the California Bar Exam for herself.

She passed California.

And then she passed the New York Bar Exam with a score of 307 after studying for just one week (on her first attempt).

She was yet another double passer (like James).

So I had to interview her back. This was a long time coming. There was an incredible amount of insight from our conversation that took me days to process.

But maybe you won’t panic or get overwhelmed after hearing the strategies that allowed her to get it done in one week.

January 30, 2026February 6, 2026 - 1 Comment

How Michelle Passed the California Bar Exam from Scratch (Years After Graduating)

Michelle wrote me randomly after passing the California Bar Exam months ago.

💬 “I woke up feeling grateful for the circumstances of my life yesterday and realized that so many of those things came to pass because I passed the CBX in Feb 2025. It was my first time in CA. I went to law school in AL and graduated in 2018. The material wasn’t fresh or familiar.”

That’s why it’s best to pass the bar exam and escape limbo as soon as you can. Opportunities and doors fling open once you have your license in hand.

Michelle passed California on her first try despite being YEARS removed from law school (outside California) and from the last bar exam she attempted.

💬 “I sat for NC July 2019, failed. We moved to CA in 2021 and I decided to sit for CA in February 2025, first attempt and passed.”

💬 “I did not go to law school in CA. It had been years since I graduated law school. It had been years since I needed to do deep study. The CA bar exam tragically low pass rate intimidated me.”

It’s possible to prepare for the bar exam from scratch. Even without a bar review course. Even with family. Even with an illness.

💬 “I had a family and young children, a chronic illness, and a mother that was going through chemotherapy.”

💬 “I used Barbri previously. I was a Barbri rep, and my course was free, but I knew that Barbri’s schedule was too overwhelming for me. I did not feel in control of my bar prep that time.”

💬 “I knew that I would need to do something different considering that I failed it in NC.”

January 16, 2026July 17, 2026 - 4 Comments

How an Australian Lawyer Passed the Illinois UBE (After Passing in California)

I featured James in a previous case study back in 2022. He passed the California Bar Exam as an Australian lawyer back then. Then he passed the July 2025 Illinois UBE.

💬 “Brian, just a heads-up: I passed the July UBE! Thanks for all that you do.”

I didn’t even know James was taking another bar exam. What a masochist.

💬 “After passing the CA Bar exam in 2022, in late 2024 I ended up in the mid-west! Fortunately, given my decade+ experience as an attorney in Australia, I was able to become eligible to sit the Illinois Uniform Bar Exam (UBE).”

Here’s a follow-up to his 2022 case study because I run into folks taking both exams fairly often.

Whether you’re taking the UBE or the CA Bar Exam (or a masochist looking to take both at some point), James compares and contrasts his successful strategies from both exams.

He recommends tailoring your approach to each exam given the differences.

💬 “You might think that passing the UBE would be easy enough (after passing the CA Bar). However, speaking from experience I can advise that it isn’t that simple. In important ways (content tested, timing, structure and scoring), the first day of both bar exams are completely different. This means that if you don’t adapt your strategy accordingly, you could end up failing the UBE!”

💬 “I do not recommend the strategy I used to pass the California Bar be used to attempt to pass the UBE.

These differences dictate the need for a change in strategy!”