MBE | Make This Your Last Time

June 28, 2024June 28, 2024 - No Comments

Passing the DC Bar Exam on Second Try with a 269: “A Pass Is a Pass”

Rebecca passed the 2024 February DC Bar Exam (UBE) on her second try, with a 13-point improvement from a score of 256 to 269.

It wasn’t a “crazy” jump… but you don’t need a crazy score!

💬 “Didn’t pass my first time in July 23 (256, needed 266 for DC). Took February 24 and all I wanted was a 267, ended up with a 269! Sure, it’s one shy of the “every jx” score and it’s not a ~crazy~ jump or anything but I am literally over the moon. Also, who cares, a pass is a pass, and I can practice in the jxs that *I* want.”

I share big jumps too to show the possibility for anyone with a large score deficiency.

But Rebecca emphasizes that a pass is a pass.

You just need enough. (Remember that the bar exam doesn’t require 100% perfect accuracy.)

Someone who gets a 300 gets to be an attorney just the same as someone who gets a 270, 266, or whatever you need for your jurisdiction.

💬 “I surpassed my jurisdiction’s score by three points and my personal goal by two. Let’s be real, 269 isn’t the best but it is the funniest score I could get. I don’t need to practice in any 270 jxs any time soon, and also reciprocity/waiving in exists. It’s fine, everything is fine. I’m including this dumb rant because if any of your readers are like me, they might see the people boasting 290s, 300s, or other such impressive leaps in scores on repeats, which is genuinely great for those people, but in this weird, awful rat race we’re in, I legit found myself thinking at one point, damn I “only” got a 269 😪 which is bonkers. Friends, retakers, you just need to pass for your jurisdiction(s). Anyone who asks you about your passing score or who tries to make you feel less than for a p a s s i n g score is a knob.”

Now, that’s not to say that you should aim for the bare minimum.

To help you get past your threshold, I’ll share some specific strategies from Rebecca and what she did differently on her second attempt.

June 21, 2024December 4, 2024 - No Comments

Fundamental Strategies for Passing the UBE While Working Full Time

Nat passed the 2024 February UBE on her second try while working full time. There are a lot of people working and studying at the same time these days. Times are tough!

💬 “I took the UBE bar in July of 2023. . . . Today [April of 2024], I learned that I passed the February 2024 Bar. I have been studying, waiting, or taking the bar since May of 2023. When I sat down for the bar this time, I felt calm.”

It doesn’t seem like much to take the bar exam twice, but that was almost a full year of her life.

One thing to realize is that each non-pass is costly. You have to wait 6 more months to check results again.

If you retake the exam in February, you’ll be finding out whether you passed in April or May next year. That’s a haunting length of time to stay in limbo.

That’s just one reason it’s imperative to Make This Your Last Time. whether you’re a first timer or a repeater, you can learn from the wisdom of your predecessors. Especially while the exam hasn’t changed.

Like many repeaters, she realized the folly of the approaches she used the first time.

💬 “I thought I was supposed to do that as I had done it last time.”

So she tightened up her approach and did what was helping her learn. She was always pivoting and correcting course instead of being stuck along one path (like many Passer’s Playbook users).

💬 “I would find myself saying things like ‘this is passive learning, why are you doing this?’ and I would change how I was doing it.”

Her motivation? Not taking the bar exam a third time (aka making this her last time).

💬 “My drive for passing? I didn’t think I could take it a third time, I didn’t want to tell people I hadn’t passed AGAIN, and I wanted to keep my job.”

Nat shares a lot of strategies in her story. I’ll break down the key ones. See if you want to try using them.

January 21, 2024January 25, 2025 - 15 Comments

The Value of Redoing Practice Questions (You’ll See Them Again on the Bar Exam)

“How do I do MBE questions faster?”

“The way to approach these questions is not staying with me.”

“I thought I ‘got’ it and moved on, but I keep getting questions wrong.”

Have you ever felt that?

There is a SIMPLE and UNDERRATED way to fix this: REDOING practice questions.

"I followed your advice today and redid an essay I had taken; it was really good practice because I committed to understanding the rules even better than just 'oh look I can recognize this issue.'"

I say elsewhere that DOING is the best form of thinking. If you’re doing that, great. Now the next step is to REDO.

“But wait,” you say, “I have seen and remembered those questions and answers before. Should I be worried because I am not practicing new questions?”

June 16, 2023March 24, 2025 - 1 Comment

LLM Passes California Bar Exam on Her FIRST Try by Being Strategically Independent

Tanvi passed the 2023 February California Bar Exam, which had a 32.5% pass rate.

Pass rates don’t mean anything to MTYLT readers (you) because pass rates have no bearing on their own chance of success.

Like many of the other passers you hear about here, this featured passer did it her own way after she realized things were not working for her.

There are many ways you can pass the exam! You are the dean of your own studies. Bar prep is personal.

April 23, 2023January 4, 2025 - 2 Comments

Struggling with the MBE? Don’t Gloss Over These Tips

For the MBE, I often see bar takers trying to seek endless questions and debating minutiae like AdaptiBar vs UWorld.

Instead, you want to know the rules cold. This doesn’t just mean memorizing the general rule. It means knowing sub-issues like the elements, exceptions, possible defenses, and other nuances so you can hone in on and eliminate choices better.

The more nuanced your understanding of the rules, the clearer the choices, and the fewer ultimate 50/50 decisions you’ll be forced to make.

A relatively general understanding of the law can be enough for essays (as they are more about issue identification). The MBE is more focused on testing the specific ins and outs of the rules—and of course, knowing how to use those rules.

That’s how you could be one of those bar takers who are stellar at the written portion (essays and PT) but still struggle with the MBE.

But we can address this!