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I never worried that I would fail the bar until I walked out of the test at which point I was 100% convinced I failed. I was sick about it for months. I ended up passing with flying colors. It wasn’t even close. You more than likely did much better than you think.
Seems to be a recurring pattern.
I’m in the weird in between space where I felt initially that I had done enough to pass but over time I’ve convinced myself that my errors will amount to a failure.
Rising Star
Rule #1 of taking the bar exam: stop thinking about it the second that it’s over.
Rule #2: it’s a pass/fail test. Odds are, the overwhelming majority of the tests you’ve taken in your life have not been, and your focus was on getting the highest grade possible. This ain’t that.
As someone who graded essays for the NY bar exams for several administrations (tho not sure where you took it), it’s graded on a curve and they really do want people to pass.
It's often a subjectivity thing; just depends on who's looking at it. Don't fret, just keep at it and don't stress too much. You can always take it again.
Update?
Drink till u can’t feel feelings any more
Rising Star
Everyone makes up the rules on the essays, the ABA literally made a post on instagram about it. More likely than not you did well…and if not, you’ll get another chance at it
Thought I completely bombed the MEE, got a 303. The more you think you failed, the more likely you passed
Alright I’m gonna tell myself that
Not NY here but our bar exam had two parts and the first part I totally ran out of time and didn’t complete all the questions (just inserted the answer without checking for the last portion) and for the second part (on a different day) I was sick and fell asleep for 15 mins, and skipped all questions related to tax. I still passed both sets. You probably did better than you think.
Please don’t beat yourself up. The test is over. And you finished it! (I emphasize this because one guy at a table near mine at one point the first day, stood up, collected his things, and left during a break. And the attendance on my second day was noticeably smaller than the first day.) I can’t tell you whether you passed or failed. What I can tell you is that I felt very much like you after I sat for the bar. I had a three-week panic attack before the exam, and there were days I couldn’t open my practice test book without bursting into tears. When I returned to work after taking the test, my mentor told me there was no point in spending any more time freaking out. “The test is over. Either you passed or failed. Worrying about it is not going to change the outcome,” he said. I ended up passing. But I have known other lawyers who didn’t pass the first time. And they are very good lawyers who just happened to have to sit for the bar a second time. One had to sit for it a third time. He now has his own very successful firm.
Wishing you a pass on your bar exam. I left my exam feeling negative but thankfully I passed.
Hang in there, I took the Bar exam drunk. I chugged a full Nalgene bottle of Sprite and vodka right before the test to take the edge off, but I made it really strong on accident. I still passed. I am sure you did alright on it.
This is crazy if true!
You likely passed!!! Be proud of yourself for getting to the finish line. Congratulations in advance :)
I hope you’re right!
A lot of people feel like they failed but end up passing just fine, myself included. It’s normal.
The only thing I can tell you is that there comes a point when you just have to realize it’s all in your head and you have to get it out onto the paper. I am licensed in New York, and since I did not live in New York, I had to take the bar exam in Albany. About halfway to Albany while I was riding the train, I realized if I didn’t know it I wasn’t gonna know it. I close the review book and I just decided to relax.
I got to the hotel put on the A-Team (yes I know that me) and went to sleep. You have to look at the exam like it’s just another night and focus on it.
Having done this in NY and CA when both were considered the gold standard and amongst the most difficult in the country - you are stressing out for no reason. NY is now one of the easiest to pass. They are ranked lower than Massachusetts(passachuetts?) What that means given the curve is you would have to do horrible in the MBE and do terrible in your essays to fail. Even with your analysis in your original post, and responses I did not get that impression that you didn’t do the minimum to get to a pass. Second, since it’s on a curve, if it was terrible for you it was probably the same for your peers. You ended up at Georgetown. That would indicate that you did well in your LSAT. LSATs are good predictors of how good your analysis is. It’s extremely unlikely you are going to fail if you didn’t goof off with the Barbri lectures.
Finally, the grades depend on IRAC as much as getting the law right. There are always points for analysis irrespective of getting the law right. If you didn’t come across the rule in your barbri sheets, the chances are the rest of your peers didn’t either. That means on the curve you get pulled up. On a pass fail exam where 70 percent pass that’s a lot of points you get. Relax.
I didn’t have access to any bar lectures and did fine with just the hand me down notes. You did the whole nine yards. You are going to pass this exam. Relax. Enjoy the next three months and come back and tell us you did ok.
This makes me feel much better. Didn’t totally goof off
Odds are you took the exam in California and they used AI to make the July questions again after not learning their lesson in February when they used AI to make those questions and a lot of them were gibberish so they had to allow more people to pass by throwing out the gibberish questions.
Oh. Well. NY is a UBE state and I find that generally the UBE questions are easier than Barbri so idk what to tell you...
Rising Star
What was your law school GPA? Higher it is, the less perspective you’re likely to have. I was an A student and didn’t know how to write C essays. I bullet-pointed one of my MPT essays, and bombed two of my four essays. MBE felt solid, but the room was ice so I was going to the bathroom every 30 minutes to run warm water over my hands to warm them up. And there was a problem with the upload software so we almost didn’t get to upload our written portion. Passed easily.
Deep breaths, and take off the day that results come out.
Appreciate this. GPA stayed constant throughout law school at a 3.6 with pretty medium effort, though my school has a generous curve.
Hoping for a similar outcome, will do
If you think you failed you probably didn’t!
Appreciate it :’)
You can have a great career and do well financially without biglaw. You need to be selective about where you build your career and if it's not conducive to your success move on.
You may have done better than you thought. Everyone can have a bad day. Being a lawyer is not so great anyway!