It was like a curse. Monica had the deck stacked against her through ever since law school.
💬 “My law school was filled with health whirlwinds that no one could have prepared me for. My health was failing while in law school (like near death).”
💬 “I had registered to sit for the July 2022 bar exam, and to my surprise there were latent health conditions waiting to be revealed. Given the health surprises, I withdrew from the exam believing that I was going to prepare for February 2023. Unfortunately, I was bedridden with Covid and withdrew.”
💬 “I registered to take the February 2024 bar exam, and you guessed it. My Christmas present prior to February 2024 bar exam was a diagnosis of a brain aneurysm.”
💬 “After the February 2024 bar exam withdrawal, I thought okay now I should focus on July 2024, and I was having brain symptoms and physical symptoms that no doctor could explain, and yet again I withdrew.”
💬 “I studied and prepared for February 2025 UBE, and missed the threshold by 17 points. I thought I gave all I had on my first attempt, what else is there to give.”
Monica dealt with:
- Almost dying through law school
- Withdrawing because of health surprises
- Withdrawing again because of COVID
- Withdrawing again because of a brain aneurysm
- Withdrawing again because of bodily symptoms
- Finally taking the bar exam and failing when she gave it her all for her first attempt
- Enduring the brain aneurysm while taking the bar the second time
Then she passed the July 2025 Texas Bar Exam on her second attempt with a 27-point improvement.
💬 “My husband was informed by the radiologist after an angiogram that he could not find the aneurysm that had been present from 2023-2025. That news (miracle) was provided a week before the bar results were released. On October 6th, I opened an email to read ‘Congratulations you have passed the Texas UBE.”
Anything you want to be thankful for yet?
💬 “If you truly sit with yourself and understand the issue(s) that seem to get you to the exam but not passing, then and only then will you experience true success.”
Resources Monica used to pass the Texas Bar Exam (UBE)
“Your Approsheets helped me with organizing the subject and my MEE answers. I referenced them before starting each subject.”
JD Advising One Sheets
AdaptiBar MBE Simulator
• Use promo code here for 10% off your entire cart
Strategies and Tactics for the FINZ Multistate Method (5th Edition)
💬 “I had doubts whether I should continue pursuing law; however, it was my family, inner circle of friends, the law school’s dean of bar prep and her staff, others, and your weekly emails that allowed me to see there was light and I was not doomed.”
Where did Monica’s indefatigable optimism come from?
What was her approach to preparing even after she thought she’d already given it her all on her first attempt?
It might feel like you’re being judged or expected to meet a checklist or rubric you can’t see or influence: “You must do these many questions, write this specific way, know all these things…”
So we “do whatever it takes.” But sometimes we confuse that for “doing it the hard way,” exhausting ourselves and spinning our wheels.
The right way doesn’t have to be the hard way.
It’s not EASY. But unfortunately, it really is this simple…
1) Focus on your weak areas.
Most people avoid their weaknesses. They see some predictions including a subject they hate and groan. That’s your sign to go after it!
Think about the phrase “bar exam preparation.”
What is preparation? What are you preparing for?
Preparation is making yourself ready for some purpose (passing the bar exam in your case). If you want something to go the way you want, you probably want to make sure all parts of that process are ready. If you’re a sniper, you’re making sure the angle and distance, your posture, and wind are in your favor for 72 hours straight.
If you know your weak areas, isn’t that something you should patch up? Fix the leak, not the boat.
(We talked about how to address weak areas in this guide on designing your study schedule.)
Monica primarily focused on her weakest skill.
💬 “My study schedule was not as grueling as most, but my written section was my weakest given my February results and I primarily focused on my writing.”
And how do you know if you’re improving?
Practice + feedback of course. You compare your work against a reference. In Monica’s case, she also had a bar coach who could give her direct feedback.
💬 “It was not time to reinvent myself, but it was time to focus where I could gain the most points in my writing. After completing each MPT, I would compare my MPT with the NCBE point sheet, in addition, I would schedule a zoom call with a bar coach from the school to receive feedback for improvements. I did the same approach for MEEs as MPTs.”
2) Practice consistently.
It’s a tricky balance to have a lot of time to prepare but to get through and internalize a ton of material. You don’t want to cram, but you don’t want to stretch out this process for too long either.
The key to this is to chip away at it consistently.
We don’t gain weight all at once. We don’t lose weight all at once. We don’t get into a solid relationship in just a few weeks or even months. We don’t become an optimist overnight. I noticed the difference in my attitude only after stopping a gratitude exercise I’d done for two years.
It happens gradually. Go slow to go fast (one of the lessons in Mental Engines). We’re not in a rush as long as we do it consistently and don’t procrastinate.
💬 “I slowly went through the Finz MBE manual which solidified some legal gaps. Also, I attempted to do as many MEEs per subject that I could. It is likely that I did at least 6-10 MEEs/each subject before exam day. I continued this schedule until the Monday prior to the first day of the July 2025 UBE.”
3) Practice deliberately.
The point of exercising (mentally or physically) is to feel the effects of what you’re doing, not sacrifice form to count reps for ego.
Monica went through the Finz MBE book “slowly.” I dug and asked her about that.
💬 “Instead of jumping into MBEs just for the sake of completing 2000+ questions, I methodically picked one subject per week and I would complete all the multiple choice for that subject before moving on to the next subject. … I would move to Adaptibar and work on the same subject that was previously completed while completing the second subject in Finz. Once I had two subjects complete, I started mixing the questions on Adaptibar for those two subjects. I did this method until I completed Finz. Meaning my mixture of subjects on Adaptibar increased as I completed more subjects in Finz.”
I think someone with a debilitating brain condition has no choice BUT to be methodical. Overcomplication is only for the able. Intentionality can help anyone.
This worked out for Monica. She built her skill up with intention. Not farming questions and chasing after a number like the people who do thousands of questions and wonder why their score won’t go up.
You’re attempting the questions for a reason, not just to survive and get away with scraping by doing the bare minimum.
💬 “Every question I attempted I would cross out the wrong answers and tell myself why it was wrong, and tell myself why the correct answer was right. If I was uncertain, I would still complete the question and place a question mark by the question and would move on to finish my question set. Once I completed the question set (generally no more than 10-15), I would reread each question and each answer choice to ensure that I choose the correct answer for the right reason, and if I was unsuccessful, I would determine where I went wrong.”
💬 “It was a transparency test which allowed me to determine if I truly understood the law to pick the right answer in a different question, but same subject. Or if my understanding was superficial and was the culprit of my wrong selections.”
Every question was an opportunity for Monica to test herself and study her work, just like I always say.
4) Pick a few resources and use them.
Even through years of setbacks, Monica refused to drown in materials and shiny new objects.
💬 “Do not feel that you need every resource to pass this exam. True, you do need to study and dedicate yourself to knowing (not memorizing) the law, but overall you need to practice. Please do not go through the motions, because your motions will place you back in the examinee seat for the following administration.”
Most people say, “I passed because I used XYZ.” But Monica didn’t emphasize the presence of a particular resource.
She didn’t fall into the (valid) pattern that many repeaters take of trying different resources. If you’re stuck, that’s 100% better than doing the exact same thing again.
But don’t get overwhelmed. They’re just tools that support your self-learning. Just pick a few and scrape all the meat off the bones.
5) In the end, you have to know yourself.
Monica knows that advice is autobiography.
💬 “Overall, I would advise a repeater to know and understand what caused the failed attempt(s), then work on that area and do not neglect the others. You have to know yourself. Everyone could suggest what is best for you and you will find yourself entering a rat race. The race is not against others the race is truly against yourself.”
Truly, passers know to be the dean of their own studies. It’s something they consistently point to as a reason they passed.
💬 “I know people that did everything they were told and their scores improved minimally, and they still did not pass and there were others like me that did not check every box but I became the ‘master of my own studies.’”
Focus on your personal issues.
6) No excuses
Monica also homeschooled her daughter on top of all this btw. You can see this in her study schedule in the full story.
💬 “I must preface that I am a wife and mother to a seven-year-old. Meaning that I did not have full days to study, but when I did I took advantage of the opportunity.”
She studied for the bar while raising a child and managing health symptoms. She held her life together through all this. She kept this going for years.
I asked earlier, where did Monica’s indefatigable optimism come from?
(By the way, none of my questions are ever rhetorical. I want us to try answering them.)
I don’t have a clear answer to this one. It’s a truly remarkable feat.
But maybe you can get a dose of optimism with Monica’s story. Monica encourages you to do the unthinkable as well.
💬 “Many times it is knowing that an individual is not the only one facing obstacles that will propel him or her to do the unthinkable.”
When her aneurysm disappeared, she called it a miracle. But Monica didn’t pass because her life got easier. She passed because she refused to let a hard life decide what she could do.
I told another passer who made a miraculous jump in points through health issues: “Frankly, anyone who will have the privilege of reading this story will have no excuse.”
I will continue to find ways to obliterate your excuses and prove that you can do this too. Not with empty words like “you’ve got this.” But with irrefutable evidence.
Think about Monica’s journey whenever you feel like you have to do this or don’t want to do this.
You get to do this.
You don’t have multiple debilitating health conditions.
You are alive to feel the wonderful stress and privilege of fighting for your license to practice law.
