How an Australian Lawyer Got Excited to Take the CA Bar Exam While Working Full Time (and Passed)

Laura, a foreign attorney who passed the California Bar Exam

Here’s another story about a foreign-trained lawyer who made it out.

Laura from Australia passed the 2023 July California Bar Exam on her first try—preparing while working full-time as a senior lawyer in a global firm. She got to a place where she was “very excited” by the end!

Here’s how she managed to get to that state of excitement during bar prep and coming out of the exam. See how you CAN do things, rather than what you CAN’T do.

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You Need a Study Plan: Why You Should Make Your Own Bar Prep Study Schedule

The only thing I remember from law school is my negotiations professor saying this in class randomly:

“Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.”

It’s so true. Is bar preparation worth doing? Then it’s worth doing right.

After all, you’re the dean of your own studies. And for sustainable momentum we know that we must enjoy the process (not just fixate on the goal of passing the bar).

Just as what’s enjoyable is personal, bar prep is also personal. Your study plan and schedule are personal.

There are many reasons your schedule will look different from everyone else’s: 

  • You might be working while studying for the bar exam.
  • Maybe you have every day free for bar prep and don’t want to blow this opportunity.
  • Or maybe you only have the first 6 hours of your day free while the kids are at school.

Here’s just one example of what that could look like:

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Salma Passes the NY Bar Exam on First Try as a Foreign Attorney

Salma is a foreign-trained attorney who passed the 2023 July NY Bar Exam (UBE) on her first try!

Despite her nervousness and debilitating thoughts of failure, she found a way to prepare for (and pass) this exam while using her time efficiently. She suggests how to study efficiently in LESS time.

Check it out.

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Should You “Trust the Process”? You’re the Dean of Your Own Bar Exam Studies

Here’s something that people who pass the bar exam never say:

“All I had to do was listen to all the bar course lectures and take a lot of notes. Work hard like me and you’ll pass!”

Can you imagine?

Sometimes we think “doing whatever it takes” to pass the bar exam means exhausting yourself and throwing 1000 hours and even more dollars into a black hole. (But it doesn’t have to be expensive.)

Or following some unsustainable cookie-cutter schedule (that doesn’t care if you have other responsibilities like work or family). Good luck if you fall behind by one day.

Or letting a perfectly fine morning slip through by religiously sitting through 4 hours of droning lectures. Worse, pausing lectures to fill in all the notes. Then not even remembering 99% of it.

When you thought the lectures made sense

Trusting the process.

I remember those days. All of these are things I didn’t do my second time. Here’s what I’d do instead:

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How Mercedes Passed the Colorado Bar Exam (UBE) After Realizing a Simple Approach

Mercedes passed the 2023 July Colorado Bar Exam on her first attempt (as a busy mom with a 3-year-old).

She started using a major bar review course but sped through it in favor of a more effective approach to studying.

Here’s why Mercedes ditched her bar review course and how that led to her passing.

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