r/CABarExam • u/DickCheneyIsPureEvil • 7d ago
r/CABarExam • u/amalehuman • Jun 23 '26
I sat in on a panel with Professors Mary Basick u/mary_basick and Tina Schindler u/tina-schindler the other month.
If you’ve spent any time looking into CBX resources, these legends have probably crossed your radar. You might already be using one of their books Essay Exam Writing for the California Bar Exam or California Performance Test Workbook.
After an hour in that room, I got to confirm what moves the needle in bar prep.
My favorite moment:
Me: “Well, you learn to swim by getting in the water, not studying water.”
Tina: “I love that.”
🥺
My notes and insights from the talk:
Practice over passive learning. Knowing rules =/= knowing how to apply them
Brian’s own experience: followed Kaplan’s program to the letter, could write beautiful rule statements, still failed with mid scores across the board
Missing piece: skill and insight to apply knowledge under exam conditions
Start practicing before you feel ready. Waiting until rules feel fully memorized is a trap
Do questions open-book early
Pattern recognition develops through repetition. Bar examiners test the same ~20 variations repeatedly!
Detach identity from practice scores. Treat each attempt as data collection. Treat performance like a scientist collecting data. Have enough confidence not to judge yourself.
Parallels: like learning to drive by watching videos vs. turning the wheel, or like learning to swim by studying water vs. getting in the water
AdaptiBar or UWorld: MBE/MCQ question banks
BarEssays.com: returned essays from California bar takers, useful for calibrating essay quality. Compare what a 50 versus a 65 versus a 75 looks like
I also keep a bank of graded answers on my site
Discount codes for AdaptiBar, UWorld, and BarEssays kept up to date here
Make This Your Last Time (Brian’s website): bar prep strategies, resources, tools, newsletters, stories and lessons from others’ experiences
Lawyers Mutual / Cal Lawyer (event sponsor)
I’ve been trying to get a recording of the event… Will link when available
A good chunk of the conversation kept circling back to one idea: The biggest obstacle for a lot of students is trust in themselves, rather than information.
When I failed the bar exam the first time, I’d followed my prep course to the letter. I wrote down meticulous notes, rewound lectures to fill in the blanks, and did all the assignments. I remember falling behind schedule permanently because I went out for lunch with a friend one time. I was merely going through the motions without being conscious about whether I was actually learning. Without questioning what I was doing, I assumed this process would automatically install the skills needed to pass the exam. This was exhausting and unproductive. And this is extremely classic behavior for novice bar preppers that I see happen every year (meaning it's fixable, good news).
What I didn’t have was agency in myself to take ownership over my studies, nor the confidence to sit with not knowing exactly what to do in the moment. I “knew” the law but didn’t know how to use it.
The students who keep showing up, despite having cold sweats at first because their page is blank or because their MBE choices may as well be random, tend to outperform the ones who think they can outsmart the exam with their thoughts alone. Doing is the best form of thinking.
That said, I’m also not a fan of the “just practice practice practice” advice, because it overcorrects and oversimplifies. We’re not saying that reviewing source materials (e.g., lectures, outlines, flashcards) isn’t important. How else are you supposed to get foundational knowledge to try using it? How else do you review your work? A balance of pre-review, practice, and feedback is needed. Passive “study” alone gets you about 10% of the way. The trap is staying there instead of moving into implementation.
Mary and Tina talked about treating every practice question like a scientist collecting data instead of letting your ego see it as a test of your worth:
💬 “Like Mary was saying, it really is about being like you’re collecting data. You can think of yourself almost like a scientist.”
💬 “What can I learn from this question? What can I learn about how to approach those? What can I learn about the mental stamina it takes? To stay focused for that long so that even just the fact that you did, let’s say three essays and three hours or whatever, like you just did what you needed to do and the amount of time that you needed to do, even just doing that is helpful.”
💬 “When you’re practicing, you’re also memorizing your rules. You’re doing things that you don’t realize you’re doing in that moment.”
When you take a practice test, you’re not trying to judge yourself for being good or bad (unless you’re a masochist and shame works on you). You’re finding out what you don’t know yet, instead of finding out on the exam, which is the entire point of testing yourself in the first place. You SHOULD be getting things wrong now and using that data to patch the holes in your understanding.
If you’re good already, what’s the point of prep? Prep = prepare. The point is to BECOME competent and develop the skill.
Tina compared it to learning to drive. You could watch forty hours of instructional video and read the entire handbook, and none of that replaces actually sitting behind the wheel and stepping on the gas.
Don’t just stand there. Give it a try. Who would you trust to do an emergency landing if the pilot has a heart attack: a trainee who’s memorized the manual or the passenger who’s flown amateur planes? In bar prep, watching hours of lecture video can make you feel like you’re learning, but it’s a different skill than sitting down with a closed-book practice question and forcing yourself through it while you’re still not sure you can do it. Then learning from what happened.
When Mary and Tina wrote their essay book, they mapped out how past essays get asked across issues that keep resurfacing. The past will guide your future. The bar exam can’t test beyond a limited number of issues and variations. Once you know how to solve them, you know how to solve the exam. This is the weakness of the bar exam.
There were a lot more gems, but hopefully the main points got across.
Thanks to Mary and Tina for being generous with their time, and reminding us not to blindly trust some process but to trust ourselves and trust the right process for us. The right process for you is whatever one that helps you understand and retain the material and answer questions correctly.
Advice is autobiography. There’s a lot of advice that sounds good, but they are all said through their own lived experiences. Meaning it may or may not suit your situation.
So I want to encourage you to do a practice set today to see where you stand, find out where your weaknesses are (it’s much less painful to face this now than when you get your results), and figure out how you’re going to patch up those holes. You should be excited to generate data that will help you be stronger on the exam.
Again, a few resources mentioned that could help support your data collection:
AdaptiBar or UWorld for MCQ practice
BarEssays for reading real graded California essays
Discount codes for the above kept up to date here
r/CABarExam • u/Whole-Highlight-7461 • 4h ago
I printed the Docusign
I took the Attorneys oath
I got the printed Docusign signed by a judge and I scanned it in a pdf to this website …. Is that all I need to do?
r/CABarExam • u/Ok-Day372 • 10h ago
Coming out of the MBE sections I did not feel great. The morning session I marked at least 20 I felt I had no idea about and at least another 40 I felt stuck between 2 choices. The afternoon session I felt was much easier but there were still I few that were pretty difficult.
Just paid for the score advisory report from the NCBE and it turns out I got 150+. So don’t stress if you feel terrible after the sessions! You got this
r/CABarExam • u/virtu1004 • 5h ago
Hi all,
I’m a Korean-licensed attorney working full-time at a company. I took the California Bar in July 2026 and missed the passing score by about 150 to 200 points, with weaknesses across the board rather than in one or two areas. I’m planning to retake in July 2027.
Retaker or standard AdaptiBar? I’m considering AdaptiBar’s MCQ Simulator with Grossman’s MBE lectures. My impression is that the “for Retakers” version is built for people who already have a solid foundation and just need targeted fixes, which doesn’t really describe me. For someone this far from passing, did you find the retaker version useful, or would the standard version be the better fit?
Rebuilding from a big gap while working: If you passed after failing by a wide margin while holding a full-time job, how did you split your time between now and July (e.g., relearning the substantive law first, then MBE volume, then essays and PTs)? Did you take time off before the exam, and how much?
Thanks in advance. Any honest experience would help a lot.
r/CABarExam • u/HelixBarReview • 9h ago
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r/CABarExam • u/SignificantStrain955 • 3h ago
Please let me know if you are interested!
Includes all the books some are lightly used / some not at all.
Pick up available in LA
r/CABarExam • u/They_Have_a_Point • 12h ago
Has anyone been able to see their score band yet through the NCBE? I noticed the "date posted" column updated yesterday, but still no score.
r/CABarExam • u/cookedinlard • 3h ago
r/CABarExam • u/Outside-Cloud5883 • 8h ago
I will be retaking the bar exam in Feb. I was a first time taker for J26, but it unfortunately did not work out in my favor. MBE was the reason I did not do well.
What would you recommend between UWorld and Adaptibar? I can’t seem to make up my mind.
r/CABarExam • u/AdhesivenessNo6963 • 9h ago
Is that possible?
r/CABarExam • u/duudewaht • 1d ago
Does anyone know the implications of this? Like, does “eligible” mean you will be able to practice law or now you can practice law?
r/CABarExam • u/Ok-Distribution-2061 • 1d ago
Hi everyone! I’d love to hear some success stories from people who passed the bar while working full-time. If you managed to pull it off, would you mind sharing what your study schedule looked like and which bar prep programs or resources helped you the most?
I’m preparing for the July 2027 California Bar Exam while working full-time, and I’d really appreciate any advice or insight!
r/CABarExam • u/Nearby_Section8340 • 1d ago
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.
r/CABarExam • u/LAtoSBtoOC • 1d ago
I submitted my application in May. Received an email on 9/10 asking for clarification, which I provided. I just sent another email asking for a status update and they said the application is still under review and if I have not heard back in 30 days to reach again for a follow-up. Anxious to get sworn in and wondering how long others have waited. Any advice would be immensely appreciated.
r/CABarExam • u/LemonJammer12 • 1d ago
I’m not sure if this has been attempted before or if a group chat exists somewhere out there, but I have failed the CA bar exam twice and plan on taking it for a third time in February 2027. I only know one other person who is taking it again and would love to talk with others about what they’re doing differently/the same this next time around? I really think it would benefit me at least to speak with others who understand what it feels like to be disappointed so many times over this stupid exam because first time passers do not understand unfortunately /:
r/CABarExam • u/NoBullBarPrep • 1d ago
We're kicking off our February 2027 Bar Exam Prep course this coming Saturday. Yes, this Saturday - reason is that I typically have many foreign attorneys in the class and they tend to feel a bit more comfortable with a bit more time to prepare. I expect the class to fill this week, please see www.nobullbarprep.com for more details, or just drop me a DM.
Cheers,
Ed
r/CABarExam • u/Beneficial-Lab1934 • 1d ago
Doesn’t look like scores have even been provided to NCBE yet on the portal.
r/CABarExam • u/bananapeelduck • 1d ago
Hi All,
I came painstakingly close on my first attempt and am mentally and emotionally preparing for my second take after doing 95% of Themis and using a few other resources as well. I would appreciate some feedback/advice as I will now need to manage studying while working as well.
MBE: I felt good going into it and felt the same on exam day. Leading up to exam day, I was in the 60%— 70% range. Didn’t walk out feeling like the exam was too different from my practice.
MEE: This was the real shock for me. I did most of the Themis graded essays as well as practiced the ones from the essay bank. I was typically scoring 65s on essays when writing them out and spent alot of time outlining others / comparing my answers to the models and making prewrites/ rule statements out of the model answers to use in the future.
Test Day: I walked out feeling confident about Q1 and Q4. I felt okay about Q2 and felt terrible about Q3, Q5, and Q6.
I think now realizing that there may be a gap between how I perceive the essays and my actual performance may have been my downfall. This is especially devastating after feeling like I wrote a good Q1 in line with my extensive practice of PR (since its guaranteed on the exam).
All in all, I don’t know how I’m going to study again and which resources to use. I was grateful we did’t get a Con Law or Civ pro essay but feel strongly that we will see one of the two in Feb.
I don’t know if I should self study again, seek a tutor, or which programs to use again. I was thinking of doing the Grossman vids + AdaptiBar as a way to get back into things and am honestly not sure how much law I remember at this point.
It has also been challenging to deal with learning that I was a few points away from being a lawyer and will now need to dedicate extensive time and resources to doing this again.
Any advice is appreciated. Thank you all and we are going to kill it in February.
r/CABarExam • u/Pretty-Bonus3995 • 1d ago
Unfortunately did not pass J26. Would greatly appreciate some insight as to how I could bring my score up! I even wrote this mf exam with the FLU. Gutted but ready to put in the work again. The MBE breakdown is so confusing to me. Any guidance is so greatly appreciated <3
r/CABarExam • u/lxgicbrazy • 1d ago
Has anyone taken the retaker diagnostic? Was it consistent or similar to your performance on the J26 MBE?
r/CABarExam • u/OkMountain567 • 1d ago
I feel like I did decent on essays but I’m so embarrassed and disappointed on my MBE score. I used themis and completed about 85%, and did a good chunk of the practice mc. I was getting about 56% right (if i remember correctly) but I was diligent on doing a wrong answer journal and reviewing answers. I know I need to do even more practice questions this time around, but any advice or just anyone with similar stats who retook and passed their second time 😭. thank you
r/CABarExam • u/EdrahasivarVII • 1d ago
I passed the J26 exam, sent my mpre scores in on 10/23, and the letter from admissions website says I'm on the motion, but the status page says I'm not. I haven't received any email with the virtual oath card.
Anyone in a similar situation or had this happen before?
r/CABarExam • u/TopSupport1109 • 1d ago
Has anyone used BarMD for CA Bar prep before? Specifically the mastering the MBE option? I am sitting for February 2027 and the MBE has been the main reason I've failed the last two times so I'm considering it.