Bar Exams

Should I retake the exam

By Marino Legal Academy  
on

You did not pass the exam. Should you retake it? Many students ask whether it is worth it – the time, the money, the stress – to sit through another Bar Exam after failing one or more times.

The Bar Exam is no doubt a taxing experience and for many it may seem daunting to go through another several months of studying.   But consider the three years of stress and late-night cramming that you already went through. You survived law school; you can survive the bar exam. Yes, again.

Furthermore, if you made it through law school, there is no reason why you cannot pass the bar exam. Think of all the tests you took just to get into law school. Think about the exams you had to pass in law school to graduate. Yes, the bar exam is difficult, but people from all class ranks and all law schools have passed the bar. Those who pass are not smarter or more capable than you and they did not likely know more law.   But they had the skills and strategy needed to pass the exam.

When you approach the bar exam again, do not simply repeat your previous program.   If it did not work the first time around, why would it work the second? You already crammed and memorized more law than even any lawyer knows. Now you need to learn how to use and apply that law. The MBE is not a random set of questions meant to only quiz how good your memory is. MBE questions are carefully crafted to test your analytical skills. Anyone can memorize the elements of robbery, but can you apply those elements to an MBE question to score the points you need to pass? This is not as simple as it sounds (clearly!), but it is a skill that you can learn with the right preparation and practice. Similarly, the essays also test skills as much as they test knowledge. These are skills you must learn and practice.

The good news is you do not need to spend another $3,500 to prepare for the next exam. Instead, consider supplementing your prior course materials with tailored workshops such as the Marino Maximizers. The New York Bar Exam Maximizer provides you with: an Essay Workshop that teaches you how to increase your score on the essays through guided practice, feedback on your practice essays, and strategic tips to maximize your points; an MBE Workshop that will teach you how to approach and time yourself on the MBE section; Professor Marino’s “Predictions Lecture” which will give you last- minute tips on what is likely to appear on the exam; and Memory Boosters™ which will provide you in a condensed format the most tested rules that you must memorize to pass.

Or consider the Marino Retaker course, the only bar review course designed specifically for students retaking the bar exam. The Marino Retaker Course is tailored to make sure you receive the practice you need on essay writing and MBE skills training to pass the exam – training that you likely did not receive in your prior bar review course. Plus, you will receive three-hours of one-on-one tutoring with an experienced, Marino-trained tutor to make sure you stay focused on what you need to learn to pass.

So should you retake the exam? Yes! But remember that this time it is quality, not quantity that matters. Study smart and this time you can pass.

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If you did fail the February bar exam, send us your score report and we will be happy to explain and discuss the results with you. Simply send your score report to info@marinolegal.com and one of our bar exam experts will be in touch.

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