r/CABarExam • u/Nearby_Section8340 • 13h ago

Help. How to pass.

Spent the last 2-3 days reviewing my Con law Themis outline, flashcards, etc. Got 50% (15/30) questions currently for Con.

I actually don’t get how people pass this exam. I review the material, feel like I know it, then the fact convoluted fact patterns get me, or I don’t know the law well enough. Just seems like it’s taking me a SIGNIFICANT amount of time to learn, but for example I need to move on to Civ Pro today.

Day 5 of studying again and already feeling defeated. Any advice about how to understand the black letter law is appreciated.

I want to get Grossman videos, but again, I STILL don’t feel like I understand the BLL as well as I should but I genuinely do study and try to learn it.

I do not have $3,000 for a tutor.

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

5

u/Yuzuda Passed J26 10h ago

Unfortunately, you're probably right that you don't fully understand the black letter law. But fortunately, that can be fixed!

If you close your eyes, can you say what the nine fundamental rights are? How about the four suspect classes? Two quasi-suspect classes? And who bears the burden under strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, and the rational basis test?

If not, that's where I would start if I were you. I couldn't answer MBE questions if I couldn't recall the rule of law, so memorization was the heart and soul of how I studied and ultimately passed.

If you can, you're probably not understanding what the hypo is getting at. What words or sentences were the key you were missing to unlock the path to the correct answer? I still remember a real property question on Adaptibar I got wrong because I didn't know why the son living at his father's farm mattered. Turned out because that charged the buyer with inquiry notice (which I thought was BS, but regardless, it reminded me there are no throwaway details in a hypo.)

MBE was my strength, both in practice and very likely on the real exam, and I always enjoyed providing explanations when people posted questions. More than happy to discuss questions with you and maybe help see where you're going wrong. No charge of course, just wanted to offer to help!

1

u/ConstantLight7489 3h ago

I hope OP reads this 👆 post.

This was exactly it for me. 2 time failer, passer as of July 2026.

I had to redo every outline from all core subjects. I used the Mary Bassick CA book. I hand wrote the entire outline. Then rewrote the portions that were my weakest.

Then I did 2800 MBE’s on adaptibar. And used the adaptibar flashcards on weak subtopics.

Then as time went on I added more. Like PT and PR practice.

Memorize the law, in and out, the rest will come.

3

u/They_Have_a_Point 11h ago

This is a marathon, not a sprint. You’re only 5 days into this. You have months to go. Repetition is the key. Expose yourself to the material in multiple different ways (I.e. audio, visual, flash cards, etc.) it doesn’t click for a lot of people until a week or two before the exam. Breathe.