A deep dive behind the scenes of the #Barpocalypse bar exam resolution
On August 4, 2020, the American Bar Association’s (ABA) House of Delegates adopted Resolution 10G, by a 256-146 vote, during its first-ever virtual
Category: Bar Exam
Why reading a novel can help while studying for the bar exam
After years of schooling, the bar exam is the final step between the years of hard work and becoming a lawyer. Preparing for this exam can be treacherous, so it’s important to keep tricks up your sleeve to reduce stress and do as best as you possibly can
Bar exam subjects: How many is too many to test?
Social-distancing policies have forced states to rethink the July bar exam. One state has decided to shorten it to one day. Another is going open-book. A third is eliminating the multiple-choice portion and using short-answer questions instead. All three plan to administer their exams remotely (on-line).
Spend your extra time caused by COVID-19 to prepare for the bar exam
Measures taken to combat the spread of COVID-19 have forced most of us to stay indoors, leaving law students with a lot more time on their hands. The coronavirus has introduced more uncertainty into our lives, but at least bar exam takers can use that extra time to
Guide to supervising 2020 bar applicants
The following contains purely informational, educational, or technical material. The views expressed herein represent the opinions of the author and have not been approved by the ABA House of Delegates or the Board of Governors and, accordingly, should not be construed as representing the position of the association
Get 30 tips for your bar prep in 30 minutes
Studying for the bar exam is a marathon, not a sprint. Start your conditioning now so you can achieve your best performance. To help, the Law Student Division brings you "30 Tips in 30 Minutes: Bar Prep," a webinar featuring two young lawyers who
COVID-19 Bar Examination and Admission Changes
It's an uncertain time for recent law graduates and other prospective bar exam takers. Which states will be administering the bar exam in July as planned? Which states have postponed the bar exam until the fall? Which states are admitting law school graduates with supervision from an attorney?
If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again
Look, lots of people fail the bar exam. For obvious reasons, most of them do not go around advertising that failure, but it is what it is. In 2018 alone, 14,210 people failed the bar exam on the first attempt. When I sat for the
Judy Perry Martinez talks about coronavirus' impact on the bar exam and on law students
This is an unparalleled time of fully online classes, uncertain bar exam dates, and other unprecedented challenges facing law students. To help students make sense of the current environment, ABA President Judy Perry Martinez and ABA Law Student Division Chair Johnnie Q. Nguyen held a live Q&A session
Why experienced lawyers should support the ABA’s limited practice rule in response to bar exam postponements
The recent COVID-19 crisis has impacted us all. But in the legal world, the class of students graduating from law school in spring of 2020 may be the most impacted professionally. They have had their classes abruptly pulled to an online format and their commencements cancelled. Several states have postponed
Why a delayed bar exam is a financial and legal disaster
These concerns are the observations of what many law students across the country are facing and why a delayed bar exam is terrible for several graduates. First and foremost, several states continue to face issues concerning access to justice, and each jurisdiction relies on
ABA recommendation: States that cancel bar exam should allow limited practice for law grads
The American Bar Association Board of Governors approved a policy resolution late today that urges state licensing authorities to immediately adopt emergency rules that would authorize 2019 and 2020 law graduates who cannot take a bar exam because of the pandemic to engage in a limited practice of law
The chrysalis year: What to do during your time as a 3L
Here we are, another school year winding down. 3Ls are gearing up for the big day they’ve long awaited— graduation—while simultaneously thinking about how fast the bar exam is coming. 2Ls are trying to avoid senioritis as their final year awaits. And 1Ls are breathing sighs of relief
Student Success 101: Reduce distractions and increase focus
To thrive academically, and pass the bar exam the first time around, you must combat distractions with enormous discipline. You must be on—mind, body, and spirit. To do this, you need to ruthlessly protect your time and put up walls around everything that steals time and focus from your studies.
How to alleviate bar exam stress
You have completed law school and are ready to take on the world and start helping people. However, before you hang up a shingle of your own, you will need to undergo even more studying in order to pass the bar. This is incredibly stressful, as no one is a lawyer until
Who's your next UBE adopter? Possibly the Hoosier State
As the calendar turns to 2020, the ABA Law Student Division was waiting for a sign, any sign, that indicated one of the remaining 16 holdout states would consider adopting the Uniform Bar Exam. It's been 8 months since last we heard from a jurisdiction
Your GPS to summer bar success
Intensive bar preparation is a “long, strange trip” (apologies to the Grateful Dead). You need your Bar Success GPS—something you don’t want to be frantically pulling together in June and July. Start early. Start now.
NY law deans join NYSBA effort to remove mental health questions from Character and Fitness exam
The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) is working to remove the questions about mental health from the Character and Fitness examination to join the bar. I was part of the NYSBA Working Group on Mental Health that determined that the questions had an adverse impact on law school students.
Albany vs. Buffalo: How to choose a site for the NY bar exam
Should you take the bar exam in Albany or in Buffalo? The answer to this question depends on a number of factors. Because costs for ride-share companies and meals do not differ substantially from one location to another, we will focus here on the differences in travel, housing, and testing rooms each
Empire Prep: Tips for choosing between handwriting and typing the bar exam
Should you handwrite or type the Multistate Performance Tests (MPTs) and Multistate Essay Exams (MEEs) portions of the bar exam? Do the bar examiners grade the handwritten essays differently from typed essays? Maybe I can’t answer that second question for you, since grading can be
It's only natural that we state this: Arkansas goes Uniform Bar Exam
When we last checked in on the march toward full adoption of the Uniform Bar Exam, it took root in Texas. The expansion is once again a traveler, moving northeast to Arkansas, which adopted
It's official—Texas adopts the Uniform Bar Exam
A short time ago, we provisionally put Texas on the map of Uniform Bar Exam states after their supreme court accepted the recommendations of their UBE task force. Today, we can say for sure that Texas will administer the Uniform Bar Exam beginning in 2021.
The Uniform Bar Exam: Is it coming to Michigan anytime soon?
Before the Bar has done a great job keeping the law student universe aware of progress among states in adopting the Uniform Bar Examination. An August 15, 2018 post reporting Ohio’s adoption, “What’s round on the end and high in the middle? The UBE in Ohio
Worst case scenarios: Survive the unexpected with your personal plan for bar prep
It's safe to say the bar exam is no walk in the park. What not all bar exam prep courses provide, however, is personal preparation and what you need to know to overcome challenges during the course of the exam that don't necessarily involved the tested materials.
The fight-or-flight plight: Staying calm during bar exam prep (podcast)
Take 15 minutes to learn how to suppress your fight-or-flight response in times of extreme stress – like the bar exam. The ABA Section of Litigation podcast, as part of its Sound Advice series, talked with Matt McCusker, an expert in witness preparation with a background in industrial-organizational psychology, offers essential test-taking and stress-management strategies for bar-takers.
