From "The Bar Exam is a Bitch": Comment from a Successful Retaker

I am sorry, as I know how totally it sucks to fail the bar exam. I actually, miraculously passed it this time.

The thing I did differently was to sort of start from square one: I used the BarBri outlines, mostly, just read through them slowly. After reading through a subject area outline, I would do all of the BarBri questions, beginning even with the really easy ones. When I would start to miss too many, I would go back the outlines for awhile. After doing 200 or so, I could kind of see the areas that I was missing consistently, and would then go back to the outline on those areas. Also, as I did each question, I immediately read all of answer choices and explanations, while it was fresh in my mind. This method really worked for me. For the first time, I was getting 75-80 percent of the MBE questions correct leading up to the exam. All of the lectures, CDs, etc. did nothing for me.

After all of the studying, my passing score wasn't that hot, but it was passing. Like you, I felt so miserable and actually hopeless, and kind of embarrassed by my situation. I lost a job over it, and basically worked as a paralegal until I passed. The most ironic thing is, I got a great job offer days before I knew my Feb. results -- they didn't care if I passed or failed.

Don't give up on things. I am also a single parent. I though my life couldn't get any suckier, and then things just kind of flipped drastically for the better. I, too, told myself I was finished with all of it, but was just taking it this one last time . . . and I passed.

Good luck to you!!!! Don't let this define who you are as a person, it's just a stupid fucking test.

Lula

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