UBE Archives | Make This Your Last Time

June 5, 2026June 4, 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, 2026May 29, 2026 - No Comments

“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 16, 2026May 21, 2026 - 1 Comment

Performance Tests: The Most Overlooked Way to Score on the Bar Exam

Most bar takers obsess over the MBE and the essays.

And for good reason! There’s a lot to cover and memorize all at once.

But there’s a section of the bar exam that a lot of candidates take for granted until it’s too late… the performance test (PT).

I know you didn’t want to hear this, but that’s exactly why you shouldn’t forget about it. This could be your edge.

Why are you trying to draw astrology charts to divine which subjects are going to show up on the essays, when you know the PT is right there? You keep meaning to deal with it. You even see other people talking about it.

Then you figure you can panic-cram or wing it. Why are you doing that? That’s just as much gambling as studying the “predicted” subjects.

Here’s why you need to master the performance tests ASAP.

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.

February 13, 2026April 25, 2026 - 1 Comment

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.