Case Studies Archives | Make This Your Last Time

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 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 29, 2026June 12, 2026 - 1 Comment

“I was certain I was screwed.” Said the guy who scored a 300 on the UBE (with 3 perfect essays)

Ryan did everything Themis told him to do. He followed the study plan, stayed on schedule, kept up with the material.

But he wasn’t able to write anything on his practice essays. He couldn’t even start.

This was 6 weeks before the February 2026 Michigan Bar Exam (UBE).

Then he walked out of the exam room with confidence. He passed with a score of 300 on his first attempt.

💬 “When it came time for exam day, I walked out of the room feeling like I had actually killed it. I wasn’t sure if I was delusional or had really actually done well.

Upon receiving my results, I did actually kill it. I scored a 300, with three perfect essay scores.”

May 15, 2026May 15, 2026 - No Comments

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 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.