r/barexam

Me personally, if I read literally any question about the balance of powers between the three branches of government, my eyes glaze over.

“Can the President override this Congressional action? Can the judiciary override that override?”

I gotta be honest with you man, I’ve got no fuckin clue.

Boyfriend broke up with me the day after I moved into our first apartment that we were going to share… and before he moved any of his stuff in. Was out of the blue I was so blindsided. I have nowhere live because he’s taking the apartment because I can’t afford it so now I’m moving home which is in a different state. I literally haven’t been able to study for the past four days. I’ve been in panic mode. Feels impossible and like I am am so screwed. Still need to do property and look at MPT topics. Would love any advice because what the fuck

I’m so scared I’m gonna fail. I’m taking the bar exam in Illinois. I have a 49% on adaptive bar with 215 questions completed. I scored an 80 on the simulated MBE from Barbri 2 weeks ago. I haven’t done property or business administrations yet video lectures yet. I feel like I know nothing and this is just pointless to continue. I am so behind. I have done like 4 MPTs total. No essays for evidence, property, or Crim yet.

That can’t be right? That feels very high for the panic I have been feeling.

Yeah, I’m honestly feeling depressed. All I do is eat, exercise, bar prep, sleep, and repeat. I know it’s almost over, but I can’t help feeling miserable. I keep practicing and scoring pretty well, and I know there’s no end until it’s finished. I don’t even worry about it much anymore because I’m putting in the work; I’m just sick of doing it. And once it’s over, we get a break, but it still doesn’t take away the fact that this has been a pain in the ass mentally and physically for the past two months. :( is there a way to make this fun or more enjoyable? Any fun ways people get themselves to study lol

HOW are there SO many exceptions. I’m still trudging my way through Themis practice sets and just when I think I’ve learned something the answer says no! You forgot about this one line in the 80 page outline!

I only read about 3/8 long MBE outlines (vs skimmed the others) but even the ones I read I’m still missing soooo many tiny details. Is it still worth going back and spending time trying to absorb the long outlines now, or are people just learning what they don’t know via the wrong answer explanations at this point??

I guess the small glimmer of hope is I feel better about the basic rules, I just can’t seem to apply them correctly when there’s an exception to said rule :,)

Where are you guys at in your questions used for Themis QBank?

I swear i’m starting to have way better scores now that ive began deviating from the silliness of themis

I thought I failed the California Bar after accidentally deleting an entire essay. I still passed.

I wanted to post this because when I was waiting for my results, stories like this were the only thing that made me feel even a little better.

I started studying in late April/early May using Themis. From day one, I was convinced I wasn't going to pass. I still remember my first set of Contracts multiple-choice questions—I got around a 35%. I remember thinking, How is everyone else doing this? There's no way I'm going to pass.

That feeling never really went away.

I completed about 70% of Themis. I studied as much as my brain would let me. I also tried a bunch of study methods that everyone recommended but that honestly weren't "me." I made giant Post-it notes and covered my room with them. I wrote things down constantly. The problem was...I never studied that way in law school. I'm someone who learns by rereading material over and over again, not by making outlines or rewriting notes.

Eventually I stopped trying to study like everyone else and went back to what had always worked for me. I mostly used Themis attack outlines and reread them repeatedly. Looking back, I wish I had trusted my own study habits sooner instead of trying to copy everyone else's.

About two weeks before the exam, I started looking at the subjects that had been tested in previous years and tried to predict what might show up.

I barely studied Community Property. Honestly, I accepted that if it showed up, then it showed up. I memorized the one issue that seems to appear all the time and left the rest up to fate.

Trusts and Wills also made me nervous. For whatever reason, I had a gut feeling it would be tested, so I crammed it during the last two days before the exam.

Sure enough...it was.

Then came exam day.

The first essay was Torts, and I actually felt great about it.

The second essay was Trusts and Wills. I finished it right around the one-hour mark and was ready to move on to Business Associations.

Then my entire Trusts and Wills answer disappeared.

I still don't know exactly what happened. I somehow deleted the entire thing, and I couldn't get it back.

At that point I had one hour left to complete what was essentially two essays.

I completely panicked.

I rewrote the Trusts and Wills essay as a bare-bones outline—one sentence for the issue, one sentence for the rule, one sentence of analysis, and a conclusion for each issue I could think of.

Then I moved to Business Associations and only got about halfway through before time was called.

Walking out of that first session, I was absolutely convinced I had failed.

In my mind, I had:

• One essay I felt really good about (Torts).
• One essay that was basically an outline because I had deleted my answer.
• One half-finished Business Associations essay.

For the afternoon essays, Constitutional Law was just okay. I even left part of one question unanswered. Ethics felt decent, but definitely not amazing.

The only thing I felt truly confident about was the Performance Test. I walked out of that thinking I absolutely crushed it.

Then came the MBE.

It felt harder than anything I had seen during practice. I honestly felt like I was guessing on every other question.

For reference, I was never an amazing MBE scorer. During prep I usually scored somewhere around 60–65%. On the graded essays, I wasn't consistently passing either.

After the exam, I was certain there was no way I had done enough.

I spent months replaying everything in my head. I asked ChatGPT if there was any realistic chance I had passed after bombing the essays, and even those conversations convinced me I probably hadn't.

I had accepted that I was going to have to take the exam again.

Then November 7 came.

I passed.

If you're reading this because you just had a horrible exam experience, please don't count yourself out.

One disastrous essay doesn't automatically mean you failed. Feeling like you guessed on the MBE doesn't automatically mean you failed. Walking out convinced you're doomed doesn't mean you're right.

You don't have to feel good to pass.

You just have to earn enough points.

If someone had told me after that first essay session that I was going to pass the California Bar, I would have laughed.

I was wrong.

I hope this gives someone who's spiraling a little bit of hope.

Frank Abagnale. Iykyk. Two weeks. Aint no way he passed in that time. If you did, help a brotha out and drop the tips

30 qs for reference. Property torts contracts and con law.

It's July and I feel comfortable with writing MEEs in the sense of issue spotting, structure, etc. However, I feel like I am struggling a bit with rule statements. I am able to create a rule on the spot, but it's not the best nor is it totally accurate. I'm feeling a little anxious about that.

For what its worth, my job is strictly 40 hours a week with no overtime, weekends, or billable hour requirement. My attorney job is also fully remote.

It's been a dream of mine to live in CA since I was a kid. And while my current attorney job is remote, I still want to take the CA bar exam so I can be fully licensed in CA.

I want to start studying sooner than later just so that I don't have to cram as the J27 exam gets closer.

Some lawyer friends around me have been suggesting i should wait till J28 in hopes that CA adopts the NextGen bar exam, but I would rather take the exam sooner when the knowledge is still fresh in my mind.

Any insight or tips are appreciated.

Signed up for the July exam and as predicted, had very little time to study. I work full time and have young kids so it’s be crazy. Haven’t had time to study. I’ve postponed so many times I can’t count so I kind of want to push and see but now I have basically two options (oh btw Themis sucks!):

1). Continue to do Themis as much as possible, take July exam and roll the dice. If I fail, do free retake for Feb.

2). Stop Themis now. Pickup studying again in Nov w Themis and take Feb exam. If fail, do free retake with Themis in July.

With 1), I’m afraid of doing so bad that the board of examiners will be like there’s no way she’s gonna pass ever. I use one of my rounds w Themis. Taking NextGen so maybe there’s a way to use July as a practice and see how it’s laid out.

With 2) I’m afraid that w November and December being so holiday heavy, I won’t have time to study and Feb is notoriously more difficult to pass.

What would you do?!?

I've heard people make this suggestion on tiktok and saw someone say they did the same on their exam in 2025: if you don't remember the rule just make one up and use that for your analysis. is that actually the right approach? I can't imagine how that could garner any points.

idk but impeachment and character evidence are cooking me right now. especially as it pertains to specific prior acts. like why is this not clicking :(. i’ve tried the grossman videos, goat & the barbri lectures. sigh, i’m feeing really hopeless w these subtopics. any tips or resources would be greatly appreciated.

I will for sure do the simulated MBE, but it seems like doing the simulated MEE and MPT is a lot of work for not a lot of return. It seems like drilling/reviewing weak areas or even just doing more MBE questions would be a better use of the day.