Student biting pencil by imagerymajestic FDP.net-100117152California Bar Exam results for July 2014 bar takers will come out on Fri. Nov. 21, 2014 at 6:00 pm PST. It really is agony that bar takers have to wait so long to find out if they passed, so, the big question is: should you do any studying during that long waiting time just in case? The answer to this question will depend upon how confident you are that you did well. It really is so hard to know, especially when you consider that the pass rate for California bar takers is generally below 50%. How do you know if what you did was good enough?

15 Weeks to Review 15 Subjects

There are 15 subjects tested on the California bar exam: Civil Procedure, Community Property, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Corporations, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, Partnerships, Professional Responsibility, Real Property, Remedies, Torts, Trusts, and Wills. (See our BarIssues.com FAQ on how we categorize the bar tested subject of Business Associations.) With 15 weeks to go until results day, why not stay up to date on your rules of law? If you have any doubts at all on whether you passed, set up a 15 week plan right now so that you allocate one week to each subject. Your “studying” for each weekly subject can be as light as reviewing your outlines or as heavy as doing some practice MBE’s and writing a few essays. You are the best judge of what you think you need to do.

Results Day Will Be Here Before You Know It!

Then, when you do hit that button on your computer on results day to find out if you passed, if the news is not good, your preparation will have paid off knowing that you can do it the next time around. Or, if the news is good, then the extra review you did could never be a waste of time as you will be well prepared to enter into your field of law with “the law” fresh in your mind. Good luck on November 21st!

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Stack of essaysIt’s ironic.  You spend years in law school, a fortune in tuition, and months in bar review to prepare for the most difficult bar exam in the country.  You study harder than you’ve ever studied in your life.  Then your bar review instructor informs you that the bar exam graders get paid about $3 to spend an average of 90 seconds to read and grade an essay – that precious product of all your hard work that could make or break your future career plans.

 I’ll admit I was glad to know up front about the brevity in which my answers would be reviewed by some anonymous grader, flying through hundreds of blue books at the speed of light.   It forced me to write more succinctly and answer the call of the question. Read More →

Flashcards 2 by Stuart Miles-FreeDigitalPhotos.netIt seems inevitable that at some point during your law school studies you will need to prepare some flashcards, or perhaps I should say, it’s “foreseeable” – a favorite word among law students, second only to “reasonable.” So, let’s have a look at the best possible method to make your flashcard creation a success. Perhaps you just might recognize yourself in one of these types and be inspired to try out a new method that could give you that boost you’ve been looking for, taking the dreariness out of a mundane task that law students just can’t seem to avoid. Read More →

ID-10091893Reading and analyzing hundreds of bar exam essays might not be your idea of a good time, but we at BarIssues.com have found some hidden gems of humor buried within all those IRACs that made us LOL. We thought we’d share some of these ‘funny moments in bar exam history’ with you.  Especially if you’re suffering from bar prep fatigue, these might make you smile.  Courtesy of those who’ve gone before you and came out with State Bar recognized answers – despite the bloopers. However, please note we do not recommend trying to be witty on your bar exam answers!  We believe these snippets of otherwise good answers were just the unintended result of writing under pressure.   Read More →