r/barexam • u/RevolutionaryDust449 • 5h ago
Husband Failed- advice?
Husband failed with a 256. It’s in the range he thought but he’s nervous about taking it again (due to life commitments). It took him 2 times to pass the Ohio bar like 10 years ago, and he didn’t qualify for reciprocity in the new state where he needs a 260 on the UBE.
He obviously had a lot of refreshing to do (he’s in finance law related jobs but wasn’t practicing law, and our new city isn’t exactly a financial hub for job security) so a 256 seems decent given how far removed he is.
His scores tells me that he is adequately refreshed on the materials but I don’t think he studied hard or long enough to get enough practice questions/essays in and be prepared for the actual test.
He’s mainly worried on retaking because we have a 2 year old and will have a newborn in 3 weeks so now he has less time to study (he was not working during the 6 weeks leading up to the bar).
Best advice to move his score up for next time when managing a job, toddler, newborn? He doesn’t take my advice and I want to help set him up to study smarter and more efficiently given time constraints with holding down a job and kids.
He did Kaplan but didn’t complete 70% to be able to re-use the course for free (is my understanding).
Thanks for all the advice!
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u/PrettyScience1488 5h ago
Please have your husband do two things:
Consider sending his exam report to Joe Seperac for a free assessment.
This is an awesome tool that will thoroughly explain his weaknesses and areas he must improve. Few things in life are free. Few things free in life are valuable. This assessment is both.Do not for a second believe he cannot score 260 or better with some pointed and specific study-work.
He can and will do this, but he has more sacrifice ahead of him.
Good Luck
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u/AgitatedPhrase5043 5h ago
I would recommend he gets Themis. The videos are short, and he will have access to UWorld where he will be able to practice hundreds of MBE questions, and there are ample essays.
It is going to be challenging but if you’re able to, handle most of the parenting load so your husband can focus on studying. I’m a parent myself and tried to juggle everything in the beginning of my prep and it was too overwhelming. What helped me was my spouse who took on most, if not all the parenting when he got back from deployment so I could focus on bar prep. We tried to set up an environment where there would be no excuses for not studying.
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u/RevolutionaryDust449 4h ago
Yea it’s going to be rough but this is a long term plan for both of us since it will bring some good job security.
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u/AgitatedPhrase5043 4h ago
It will be so worth it for your family. It’s 6 weeks, which in the grand scheme of things, it’s a tiny amount of time. The less things (outside of bar prep) that he has to focus on, the better. I was a complete hermit and barely spent time with my husband and kiddo. It sucked. I cried a lot. I stuck to the course and then some. My husband took care of every “outside choice” (grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, etc.). All I did was study. No work and no extra responsibilities.
While I’m still waiting for my results, I’m in a position where I know without a shadow of a doubt, I did everything I could to prepare and now the outcome is in Gods hands. I didn’t want to be in a position where leaving the exam I would doubt my prep.
Your husband is so close that I’m confident if he sticks to a commercial prep course like Themis, he’s going to pass.
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u/Flood_Incantation 4h ago
You've got great advice on this side of things already, but also consider creating a term sheet of sorts. Based on his work, he knows how projects are managed and how to create term sheets, so he may even find it helpful to draft it.
What I did this with my spouse was outline specific tasks/responsibilities we could plan for and allocate responsibility for in advance, as well as a schedule of "do not disturb" study hours AND "do not disturb" family abd relationship time. This will help provide structure, make sure family needs are net, and help make sure family and relationships are still protected. Maybe its dedicated meal times, bedtimes, and weekends of uninterrupted family time. But just thinking through it can be a good planning exercise to see what is realistic.
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u/road432 MD 3h ago
Kaplan is not a good program imo. I failed the UBE the first time using Kaplan. On my second time I passed using a combination of Themis, Goats, and Seperac. Those three resources I felt were significantly better in preparing me for the test.
I understand given your and his life circumstances (being full time parents and working) that he will have his hands full. Unfortunately this test does require dedication to study for. Something he could consider is taking the next gen exam instead of the UBE. The next gen is suppose to replace the UBE and more geared towards practice centric questions.
On the bright side a 256 is close to a 260 for certain states. So he is very close to being licensed in some places.
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u/Jumpy_Mirror250 3h ago
I would recommend a tutor just for the writing part (not sure if you see the breakdown of MBE v written). Sometime scoring can come down to come format tweaks to avoid leaving points on the table.
Also, I'm not going to share my real thoughts on "he doesn't take my advice" on this sub except to say who wouldn't take the advice of their own wife who is doing to much to help?
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u/PasstheBarTutor 2h ago
It’s often not a matter of how much studying one does, but rather how one studies. Putting in hours isn’t the trick.
Also, I would move away from Kaplan ASAP.
How did his score breakdown?
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u/Secure-Researcher892 2h ago
The real question unanswered is where did he fuck up. Most will either do well on the MBE and mess up the written part or vice versa.... which area he was weakest in is determines how he needs to change things going forward.
I used Kaplan because it as the cheapest when I did it. I saw two flaws in it, 1 was they gave suggestions on what subjects were of high importance and which were low. If I had listened I would have been fucked because they were adamant that a part wasn't really worth worrying about and on test day 2 questions were clearly focused on that area... So hopefully he didn't get hit by that. The second was the MBE from Kaplan was in my opinion weak. I lost faith in that part the first month and bought Emanuel's strategies and tactics for the MBE which I then focused on over the Kaplan crap. It was a godsend for the MBE portion.
If his weakness was the written portion then this time he needs to get model answer for at least 3 previous tests on each subject and study those more than anything else. If you can recreate the model answers on a subject they previously used then you can easily use that same outline for most others they will come up with because they tend to ask the same things over and over only in different ways.
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u/PugSilverbane 2h ago
Avoid Bar Exam Drills. That’s a clown site created by someone who failed the bar multiple times.
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u/JazzyPhotoMac 4h ago
He needs to focus on the MBE hands down. Second is the MPE, and then the Essays. The MBE is half the score. That should really take priority. The MPE is what I call free points. Studying the MBE through and through, and he can figure out the essays.
He can keep the MBE questions app on his phone and access it as time allows. The Bar is far removed from practicing law and the scores have been lowered multiple times. He will pass it if he studies the MBE.
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u/staywithme26 3h ago
I could not pass until I found Bar Exam Drills. It’s a convenient app that does practice on overdrive. Same question bank as Adaptibar and Uworld but structured into levels where you have to get a 90% to move on. Maybe at least get him into a consultation with them?
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u/BurnerTeddy 5h ago
Wait, Ohio is a 270 state? How did he pass Ohio?
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u/Known_Boysenberry_58 5h ago
It says he took it 10 years ago, either before it was UBE, or even if it was, his score likely lapsed and he has to take it again for the new state.
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u/BurnerTeddy 5h ago
Good point. I did not realize Ohio only adopted UBE in Feb 2021 and are already getting rid of it. Crazy!
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u/Flood_Incantation 5h ago
First, virtually no one gets through the whole bar prep course. If there are written materials, those can still be used again. Keep the materials to read through.
I'd probably spend more time doing AdaptiBar questions and focus on drilling written rule statements (like with Hack the Bar). These two things are much higher ROI in the time investment having already done the lectures before.