How Katherine Scored 314 on the UBE While Working in Biglaw (After Passing the California Bar Exam)

Katherine passed the North Carolina UBE with flying colors. She had only three weeks of leave from biglaw to work with, while managing health issues.

Katherine is yet another double passer who also passed the California Bar Exam on her first try. (Like Doreen who passed CA then NY, and James who passed CA then IL)

Clearly she knew what she was doing.

What could we learn from someone who had health issues, a full-time job, and not much time to dedicate full-time prep?

What worked for her? What would she change?

Quick stats

Jurisdiction	North Carolina (UBE) (2026) California (2022)
Attempts	1 (NC) 1 (CA)
Score	314 (NC)
Strengths	MBE
Weaknesses	Essays
Unique circumstances	Full-time work at biglaw with three weeks of leave, health issues

Resources Katherine used to pass the North Carolina Bar Exam (UBE)

Here are big insights from Katherine’s dual-license experience.

1) Change study materials when they’re not helping you learn

Katherine initially used Barbri for her California attempt and found it ineffective.

This is common! A commercial course provides structure and things to do. Lost law students get shuttled into the default path because the big bar review courses are the only options they see.

If a course helps you learn and answer questions correctly, use it.

But if it doesn’t help you learn or implement a learning method that works for you, then it isn’t the right process. All of these courses and tools are mere study aids to support your learning. You can swap them out anytime you want.

Katherine noticed this early on, even as a first-timer studying for the California Bar Exam (unlike those who insist on powering through even when they admit it’s not working (because “tRuSt tHe pRoCEss”)).

Step zero to making your transformation is awareness. If it’s not working for you, try something else. It doesn’t even need to be my materials (although there’s a good chance that they’ll work for you).

Katherine applied the insights from her successful 2022 California attempt to North Carolina.

Sometimes you need to get shook the fuck up at least once before you finally learn this and get out of your nice comfortable shower. Sometimes the best way to learn a lesson is to touch the stove. Humility. Embarrassment. Nothing motivates you more than pain. Pain benefits those who can learn. And some bar takers refuse to look far enough ahead to the pain that awaits them if they stay on the same course.

Or you could do some self-reflection, gather some courage, and take a leap of faith off the conveyor belt—but only if you deem it necessary to your metamorphosis into a passer.

After all, you’re the dean of your own studies. Dance to the tune of your own song. Don’t blindly get pulled into anyone else’s pace (including mine).

This is how you get energized about bar prep and make actual progress.

2) Use limited study time for practice

Mere knowledge doesn’t give you the judgment needed to apply it to a real fact pattern.

Katherine gave herself time before leave to build coverage and drill questions, then reserved the leave period for more drilling.

Build coverage, practice, and review. It’s the Practice + Feedback Loop. Simple enough.

At some point, you have to know when to stop “studying,” and start learning. A common mistake is continuing to read and watch, passively absorbing but not capturing the material, exhausting precious hours with barely anything to show for it. It’s like the flavor profile of La Croix.

You either learn or succeed. If you want to learn more, get more things wrong now. Get the fails out of the way before the exam.

You actually have enough time. Make the time instead of squandering it.

If you’re not willing to make the time, then triage accordingly.

3) You don’t need to ace every portion of the bar exam

You might think Katherine is some kind of super genius who can absorb the bar materials all while going through health issues, work, and grinding like a robot (which in fact is how you lock in the material—it’s straightforward like that).

She had weaknesses too. Katherine’s essays were weak during prep.

But you don’t need to be perfect at everything to pass the bar exam. You can pass with an uneven profile. What’s the point of prep if you’re already good at everything?

Katherine ended up with a strong MBE score of 164.6, giving her a solid buffer for the written portion of the exam. Was it thanks to the constant drilling, or was she naturally stronger at the MBE?

Either way, if you have a strength, lean into it (while addressing your weaknesses). It will be the anchor for your score.

(In fact, it’s worth stabilizing your score with a few core legs.)

4) Build a sustainable plan instead of treating exhaustion as proof of commitment

Katherine’s pushed herself to a passing result, but the mental cost was higher than necessary.

You could bruteforce the process. Many bar takers probably should be doing more than they think is necessary. It’s better to overshoot than be complacent.

But a passing strategy should preserve enough of your sanity to get through exam week. It may turn out that you have more room for slack as long as you’re not wasting time on low-yield activities.

And remember that you have support all around you.

In both attempts, Katherine was willing to let go of ineffective methods for her. Katherine’s results came from targeted practice, tools and materials that suited her, and spamming the P+F Loop (just like how the billable hours you rack up every day add up to solid monthly and yearly numbers).

Did you choose your study method because it works, or because it’s what was assigned to you?

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