UK Attorney Got Food Poisoning and Passed the California Bar Exam on His First Try Anyway
Things were NOT looking good for Mustafa on the day of the bar exam…
💬 “I felt nauseated and weak and it turned out my wife and I had both had some questionable food the day before lol. . . . The morning of the exam, I felt weak, sick, and disoriented but, honestly, it made me feel like I just have to push and do whatever I can now.”
But Mustafa passed the July 2026 California Bar Exam even under unideal conditions.
💬 “I passed the 2026 California Bar exam as a first-time test taker, a foreign attorney (I obtained my LL.B. from the UK and completed an LL.M. in the US), and getting food poisoning the day before the exam!”
There are so many things that could go wrong during the exam that I’m not sure there is such a thing as ideal conditions.
What do I always say? The whole week is the exam. You may have to adapt and navigate in real time as they come up. The more prepared you are, the more equipped you are to handle contingencies.
As a foreign-trained UK attorney who had just finished his LL.M., Mustafa went into bar prep the classic way.
💬 “I think by 23rd or 25th May, I had somewhat started fiddling around with Barbri’s content and skimmed random parts of their massive Outline book.”
💬 “During my two months of prep, I was sure I wouldn’t pass and I continuously felt like I had no idea what I was doing.”
Starting with a big course all excited and ultimately resorting to alternate resources and methods is also a classic in bar prep. Why can’t we just go straight to what works for us?
Let’s learn how Mustafa pivoted from relying solely on Barbri to doing what he needed to learn and pass the hardest bar exam on his first try.
💬 “Straying away from Barbri and into Magicsheets also felt scary but I’m happy that I stuck with my gut about how I knew I would be able to learn and practice within 2 months.”
Quick stats
Jurisdiction: California Attempts: 1 Weakness: Overthinking and switching MCQ answers, which he called “my trap of overthinking” Unique circumstances: Foreign attorney (UK LL.B., US LL.M.), food poisoning the day before the exam
Resources Mustafa used to pass the California Bar Exam
💬 “None of this would have been possible without your Magicsheets and Approsheets.”
💬 “When I saw them on your website, I immediately knew that these were the kind of outlines I needed – dense rule sheets per topic that I can keep reviewing.”
💬 “I learned early on that Barbri’s question bank had simulated questions rather than actual licensed questions and that the former were harder than the ones on the exam itself. . . . As such, I got a copy of Emanuel’s Strategies & Tactics for the MBE, which was recommended on Reddit, to access its licensed question bank and detailed explanations. I attempted a bunch of these and found them more helpful than Barbri’s bank.”
💬 “Reading about other people’s experiences helped humanize the process for me and remind me that it is possible to get through this.”
How did Mustafa tailor his prep over the two months?
1) Develop a single knowledge base (feed everything else into it)
Mustafa noticed the problem with the default path fast. There was simply too much information to process.
💬 “The real issue arose with the Outline then. It was too large and detailed for a valuable revision resource. The CMR was touted as the revision tool, which others said was quite good, but it was also hundreds of pages long.”
Simply absorbing information doesn’t do anything. The insight here was that he needed not just raw information but a useful tool — a tool he could keep as a running base of knowledge that he could easily use.
Mustafa used Magicsheets as his base material. He developed the Magicsheets into his personal reference by incorporating what he learned from Barbri’s Course Companion (CC) and elsewhere.
💬 “I used a red pen to put a star next to each topic or specific rule in the MS that was a starred topic in the CC’s table of contents. This way I knew what the repeatedly tested topics were on my MS without having to consult the CC.”
💬 “Watch Barbri’s Deep Dive videos on that topic at x2 speed with my MS in front of me. . . . Everytime the tutor mentioned something that was not in the MS (about 10-15% of the time), I used a pencil to make a quick note next to the rule it related to, or if it was something not in the MS at all, I wrote at the back of the last page. It took me about 1.5 to 2 days per topic to have a fully annotated sheet.”
💬 “Some annotations were made when I got MCQs wrong as well and I found the explanation was something that I had not added to my sheet (usually though, I would feel frustrated that it was not on the sheet only to then find that actually it was and I just did not recall it lol).”
Notice I’m not suggesting that you kick your fancy bar review course to the side permanently. Use some or all of it to the extent you find it valuable.
His personalized sheets became his exclusive source material. Everything he learned from the course, the videos, and his wrong answers ended up in the same reference he reviewed every day.
💬 “I studied my annotated sheets exclusively till the day before the exam.”
When you have a single reference you’re personally and intimately familiar with, you can stay composed and collected. Meanwhile, your classmate who goes on about how it’s “overwhelming” is flipping through an 800-page outline and reconciling three outlines and flashcards that don’t completely overlap.
2) Drill multiple choice with intention in exam-like conditions
Mustafa put a lot of emphasis on solving MCQs in varying quantities but consistently nonetheless.
💬 “I read so many of your articles and other people’s experiences emphasizing that all that matters is practice and not passive learning. So from the beginning of July, I made sure I did at least some MCQs every single day.”
💬 “During the last two weeks, I did a timed mixed set of 25 MCQs every day, except for two days where I did a set of 50 on each day.”
I wouldn’t say that practice is all that matters. It’s one component of the cycle. But it’s better than playing defense and anything that encourages people to take an active approach is good.
Another move Mustafa made was targeting the areas he struggled with.
💬 “Before July, I was practising almost everyday but it did not feel as regimented as it was in July. I would do them in the mornings before any essays. I was probably doing about 10 to 15, some days were mixed and other days were targeting topics I was struggling in.”
(Speaking of questions, a side rant: Say you asked me another question that could easily be answered by a 15-second online search, or one that was answered in the very email you’re responding to. Would it be rude if I gave in to my temptation to suggest that you ask Google or Claude? Or would it be kind because I bothered to guide you on basic etiquette? I think it’s the latter, but I wish it were the former because treating me like AI is asinine in the first place.)
He also tracked every question he got wrong.
💬 “I also kept track of all MCQs I got wrong (I actually built a tool for myself and then turned it into a website for my friends and others to help them track their MCQs. I spent about 4 days in the end of June doing this lol because I hated making an excel sheet and trying to track that. Plus I liked the fact that the tool provided me analytics. The website is called gettingtoaced.com.”
AdaptiBar’s exam mode forced him to commit to batches of answers like an actual exam. Exam-like conditions allow you to practice exam-taking skills, like time allocation and management.
💬 “I HIGHLY recommend people do MCQs in the ‘Exam’ format on Adaptibar because it forces you to make a decision and move on without knowing whether you got it right or wrong. Doing that under timed conditions also forced me to get comfortable with just picking an answer that I felt was right in my gut when I was debating between two different answer choices.The more I did this, the higher my performance was (highest was 76%). Whenever I lingered too long, overthought, or went back and switched my answer, my performance dropped (lowest was 62%).”
That’s a big difference between overthinking and being decisive. This pattern showed up on MBE day:
💬 “Day 2 in the morning session I ran out of time. When the proctor called out that 30 seconds remained I had 2 MCQs left. I literally just circled random answers to avoid them being left blank.”
💬 “The difference was in the morning session I was falling into my trap of overthinking and trying to go back and change my answer. I avoided that entirely in the afternoon session.”
3) Write essays in exam-like conditions
Similar to MBE practice, Mustafa practiced essays under timed conditions. He also got some graded for feedback (important to get some form of it from somewhere).
💬 “I got about 3 or 4 essays graded and all were done under timed conditions. I don’t think there is much value in practising them outside timed conditions.”
His essay practice also included outlining to save time. This gave him far more issue-spotting reps than full essays could.
💬 “I did not, however, write full essays for each subject. I did one full essay for most of the MBE topics and maybe some of the California topics. I did, however, ‘cook’ essays like you had recommended. This was super helpful. I would keep Barbri’s essay workbook open and in a day go through about 4 to 6 essays for a topic and just outline them.”
It helped that he had time-saving tools at his disposal. Your most valuable resource is attention, which will get shredded the more you get distracted flipping through three different books.
💬 “I only used Magicsheets for the essays as well and for topics that I struggled to issue spot, the Approsheets helped to remember issues as well.”
Get all the past essays and PTs you could practice here.
4) Stop obsessing over memorization
This is another way Mustafa didn’t play defense.
He didn’t obsess over memorization because ACTUALLY USING THE RULES took care of memorization.
He focused on learning the issues and the elements of a rule, and built rule statements from them.
💬 “I didn’t focus as much on ‘memorising’ rule statements, I think the outlining helped a lot with this instead. I found that as long as I was able to remember elements of the rule, I could frame a statement to put it down and it would be fine as per the rubric.”
💬 “I never wrote entire issue statements, only headings like ‘Battery’ or ‘Mr. X’s Will – Formation’ and only wrote actual statements when it felt absolutely necessary.”
5) Adjust your prep to your strengths and weaknesses
He didn’t do much PT practice, and he’s upfront that you should do more.
💬 “I felt fairly confident about the PT and so kept putting it off but I made sure to do at least one under timed conditions so I wouldn’t panic in the exam that I never practised one. Definitelywould not recommend this and people should practice at least more than one. I think studying the grading rubric closely was very helpful though, it shows easy ways to pick up points (like literally mentioning the name of any judgments in the legal database at least once was a point per judgment).”
But there’s no set routine. There’s no set regimen. You are the dean of your own studies. If you feel confident about something, maybe it’s not the end of the world to pay less attention to it. If you feel weak in another area, then lean into that more.
Pretty solid prep! See how Mustafa handled exam day with his food poisoning in his full story below.
6) Stay sane
Mustafa didn’t study all day every day. When the World Cup was on, he (gasp) went to the pub and (gasp) enjoyed himself.
💬 “Only thing I took away from that experience is that you need to show up as consistent as possible and hit out an achievable target. I also did not study every single day or all day everyday. The World Cup was going on and I would end up spending entire afternoons or evenings watching games with my wife and friends at a pub. It was also the only way to stay sane throughout that gruelling time.”
💬 “The consistent drilling in the last two weeks where I saw my score average at 70% made me feel a little better.”
Don’t get burned out.
Stay consistent.
Enjoy the process.
Have the confidence in yourself to do what makes sense to you.
Don’t hallucinate bravado. Confidence in your bar abilities won’t just appear. Build evidence to earn the confidence.
Trust that your future self can handle what is thrown your way. But set your future self up for success. Do something today that your future self will thank you for.
Be decisive with your actions. You can only do that if you understand WHY you made the decisions.
💬 “I don’t mean for the above to sound like this is the gospel truth of how to pass the bar, it’s just what ended up working for me without me even knowing why.”
Full story
Text version
Hi Brian,
I passed the 2026 California Bar exam as a first-time test taker, a foreign attorney (I obtained my LL.B. from the UK and completed an LL.M. in the US), and getting food poisoning the day before the exam! None of this would have been possible without your CA Magicsheets and Approsheets. Reading people’s experiences through your emails and the feedback they gave for your tools provided a huge stamp of approval and a vote of confidence for buying the sheets. As such, I want to share my experience and journey from May to July 2026 so you can share it with others who need to take future bar exams and come across your amazing resources. I’ve broken down the sections below into Content/Outlines, MCQs, Essays, PT, and Exam Days.
Content/Outlines
I completed my LL.M. in the middle of May 2026 and took about 10 days off before starting to prep for the July exam. I think by 23rd or 25th May, I had somewhat started fiddling around with Barbri’s content and skimmed random parts of their massive Outline book. I initially started with watching videos, reading the Course Companion, and attempting random MCQs from Barbri’s question bank. I learned early on that Barbri’s question bank had simulated questions rather than actual licensed questions and that the former were harder than the ones on the exam itself. I do agree with that assessment as Barbri’s questions were unnecessarily long and convoluted, obscure, and would zero in on a tiny specific point more often than not. As such, I got a copy of Emanuel’s Strategies & Tactics for the MBE, which was recommended on Reddit, to access its licensed question bank and detailed explanations. I attempted a bunch of these and found them more helpful than Barbri’s bank.
The real issue arose with the Outline then. It was too large and detailed for a valuable revision resource. The CMR was touted as the revision tool, which others said was quite good, but it was also hundreds of pages long. I wanted a few dense pages per topic that I could comfortably read through in the mornings or evenings before bed as revision. I tried making my own outline then. I did this for Torts to start – I used the Course Companion to summarize and make bullet points. This whole process, however, took me about 3 days, even with the help of Claude. I did the math – 3 days (minimum) for the 6 remaining MBE topics meant 18 days of just making my own outlines. In bar prep time, 18 days are SUPER precious. After some Redditing, I came across recommendations for Magicsheets and Approsheets. When I saw them on your website, I immediately knew that these were the kind of outlines I needed – dense rule sheets per topic that I can keep reviewing. The fact that so many people swore by them as having helped them pass past bar exams was the final push I needed. By June 8, I think I bought the CA bundle (insanely good price for what the value is, honestly). I’m very happy I bought them as early as I did.
When I first reviewed them, I found that some rules, exceptions, or specific points were not covered (or were covered later on in the sheet lol). So I combined the sheets with Barbri to get them as jam-packed as I could, I felt better knowing that I had covered my bases as much as possible. The workflow for getting through each topic ended up something like this:
1. Choose a topic, especially one that I was unfamiliar with in the beginning, for example, Criminal Law or Real Property. 2. Keep the MS and the table of contents from Barbri’s CC in front of me. I used a red pen to put a star next to each topic or specific rule in the MS that was a starred topic in the CC’s table of contents. This way I knew what the repeatedly tested topics were on my MS without having to consult the CC. This was helpful for revision using the MS. 3. Do one full read through of the MS to get a general grasp of the topic and familiarity with its rules and structure. 4. Watch Barbri’s Deep Dive videos on that topic at x2 speed with my MS in front of me. The prior read through in Step 3 helped me know what was already in the MS and served as a reason to re-read that rule or concept when the tutor went over it in the video. Everytime the tutor mentioned something that was not in the MS (about 10-15% of the time), I used a pencil to make a quick note next to the rule it related to, or if it was something not in the MS at all, I wrote at the back of the last page. It took me about 1.5 to 2 days per topic to have a fully annotated sheet. Some topics were done in the same day as well if they were shorter. No topic took longer than 2 days. I think by June 20/22 I had all my outlines annotated. 5. When I completed one topic, I would re-read its MS the next morning and do a couple of MCQs for that topic (about 10 MCQs). Then I’d repeat steps 1 to 4 for a new topic. This way I was already practising topics I had annotated and completed, and was simultaneously moving onto new topics.
Overall, in terms of content, my prep consisted of all the sheets plus the annotations I made on them from Barbri videos/CC. Some annotations were made when I got MCQs wrong as well and I found the explanation was something that I had not added to my sheet (usually though, I would feel frustrated that it was not on the sheet only to then find that actually it was and I just did not recall it lol). I studied my annotated sheets exclusively till the day before the exam.
MCQs
For the MCQs, 90% of my prep was using Adaptibar. I read so many of your articles and other people’s experiences emphasizing that all that matters is practice and not passive learning. So from the beginning of July, I made sure I did at least some MCQs every single day. Before July, I was practising almost everyday but it did not feel as regimented as it was in July. I would do them in the mornings before any essays. I was probably doing about 10 to 15, some days were mixed and other days were targeting topics I was struggling in. I also kept track of all MCQs I got wrong (I actually built a tool for myself and then turned it into a website for my friends and others to help them track their MCQs. I spent about 4 days in the end of June doing this lol because I hated making an excel sheet and trying to track that. Plus I liked the fact that the tool provided me analytics. The website is called gettingtoaced.com. Now that I passed, I’m planning on making a few improvements to it and offering it as an affordable paid tool people can use to build a bank of the rules they forget, misapply, or didn’t know and to monitor their stats through the analytics. If you visit the website, I’d be grateful for any feedback that you have!
The remaining 10% was Barbri’s MCQ bank and some of Emanuel. I would recommend starting drilling MCQs even earlier if possible but I personally wanted to have “run through” the sheet for each MBE topic with annotations at least twice before doing so.
During the last two weeks, I did a timed mixed set of 25 MCQs every day, except for two days where I did a set of 50 on each day. I HIGHLY recommend people do MCQs in the “Exam” format on Adaptibar because it forces you to make a decision and move on without knowing whether you got it right or wrong. Doing that under timed conditions also forced me to get comfortable with just picking an answer that I felt was right in my gut when I was debating between two different answer choices. The more I did this, the higher my performance was (highest was 76%). Whenever I lingered too long, overthought, or went back and switched my answer, my performance dropped (lowest was 62%). My last set was a 50 set two days before the exam and I scored a 70%. The consistent drilling in the last two weeks where I saw my score average at 70% made me feel a little better. I did a total of approximately 700 MCQs on Adaptibar, and approximately 250-300 on Barbri.
Essays
For the essays, I made use of Barbri’s grader tools. I got about 3 or 4 essays graded and all were done under timed conditions. I don’t think there is much value in practising them outside timed conditions. I did not, however, write full essays for each subject. I did one full essay for most of the MBE topics and maybe some of the California topics. I did, however, “cook” essays like you had recommended. This was super helpful. I would keep Barbri’s essay workbook open and in a day go through about 4 to 6 essays for a topic and just outline them. The outlining mostly took place in July as well, with the full essays being written in June. I kept doing outlines also until the second last day. Thankfully, I focused on outlining the California only topics near the end because ALL the essays on my exam turned out to be CA only topics (even Evidence!). I only used magicsheets for the essays as well and for topics that I struggled to issue spot, the approsheets helped to remember issues as well. And I did make sure to do quick read throughs of the sample answers, especially to see if I missed any issues.
I didn’t focus as much on ‘memorising’ rule statements, I think the outlining helped a lot with this instead. I found that as long as I was able to remember elements of the rule, I could frame a statement to put it down and it would be fine as per rhe rubric.
Whenever I started a new essay, I’d immediately read the questions below. If they gave any indication of what was being tested, I immediately put down issue headings in my essay/outline. Then as I read through the facts, I’d continue doing this, adding either new issue headings or sub issue headings. I never wrote entire issue statements, only headings like “Battery” or “Mr. X’s Will – Formation” and only wrote actual statements when it felt absolutely necessary. Once I had read through the question and fact pattern and had my headings/issues down, then I’d start writing my rules. I made sure to use every fact to whatever extent possible. Also I’m a reasonably fast typer – I heard lots of people struggled with completing their essays because of their typing speed. Not sure what one can do to improve this except forcing themselves to not look at their keyboard when they type and keep typing that way, it should improve over time.
PT
For the PT, I did the Barbri workshop in the beginning of June and then just one PT from the Barbri workbook three days before the exam. I felt fairly confident about the PT and so kept putting it off but I made sure to do at least one under timed conditions so I wouldn’t panic in the exam that I never practised one. Definitely would not recommend this and people should practice at least more than one. I think studying the grading rubric closely was very helpful though, it shows easy ways to pick up points (like literally mentioning the name of any judgments in the legal database at least once was a point per judgment).
Highlights from Exam Days
The day before the exam, I mostly spent time reading through my sheets and discussing rules or topics with my friends. The latter was really helpful because I would tell them rules I was familiar with or knew and it helped me revise, and they did the same for me. Unfortunately, near late afternoon, I felt nauseated and weak and it turned out my wife and I had both had some questionable food the day before lol. So the night before, I just took some meds for my stomach, and went to bed by about 10:30 pm. The morning of the exam, I felt weak, sick, and disoriented but, honestly, it made me feel like I just have to push and do whatever I can now. I kept two bananas and a small fruit yoghurt in my bag and left for the centre which was luckily 20 mins by bus. I wore my analog wristwatch because I read that there will be no official clocks anywhere. I also reset my watch to noon at the start of every session (this was a huge help during the essays).
Day 1 had a traumatising Essay 3. Some monstrosity on remedies and constructive trusts. I knew only 2 rules which I put down and then focused on just trying to use all the facts and so was able to come up with some issues, put down other rules and just bs my way through it. I really dk what my score was on this but couldn’t have been good. All the essays were also on California only topics which was mind boggling. I did however always end the essays at the hour mark and the PT at the 1.5 hour mark. I JUST managed to finish my last essay in time which was Cal evidence but I raced to finish off three issues in like 5 minutes so they were unbelievably brief.
Day 2 in the morning session I ran out of time. When the proctor called out that 30 seconds remained I had 2 MCQs left. I literally just circled random answers to avoid them being left blank. I still dk what the questions even were. The afternoon session I paced myself better and had about 5 mins left when I finished. The difference was in the morning session I was falling into my trap of overthinking and trying to go back and change my answer. I avoided that entirely in the afternoon session.
I don’t mean for the above to sound like this is the gospel truth of how to pass the bar, it’s just what ended up working for me without me even knowing why. During my two months of prep, I was sure I wouldn’t pass and I continuously felt like I had no idea what I was doing. Straying away from barbri and into magicsheets also felt scary but I’m happy that I stuck with my gut about how I knew I would be able to learn and practice within 2 months. I definitely would not have passed without the sheets or staying resolute that I just have to keep practising questions. I still dk how I did pass, I do believe it ends up being luck of the draw. Only thing I took away from that experience is that you need to show up as consistent as possible and hit out an achievable target. I also did not study every single day or all day everyday. The World Cup was going on and I would end up spending entire afternoons or evenings watching games with my wife and friends at a pub. It was also the only way to stay sane throughout that gruelling time.
I just hope this is of help to people sitting the exam in the future and they’re able to take away anything they find useful. Reading about other people’s experiences helped humanize the process for me and remind me that it is possible to get through this. I wish everyone the best of luck for their exams and STRONGLY recommend getting the sheets. Thank you, Brian, for all your hard work and for providing such incredible value at such an affordable price. You not only helped me pass the bar, but inspired me to make a resource to help others along the way!
Also apologies for the length of this email and if much of it is word salad!
This is such encouraging story of the UK attorney passing the Bar on his first attempt. I love to have the same opportunity