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Virtual Bar Exam Summit (June 5-7)
By Ms. JD Editor • May 24, 2020 •Ms. JD, Law School, Features, Bar Exam
Ms. JD is proud to serve as a Community Sponsor for this free Virtual Bar Exam Summit hosted by Vinco Prep: Join former Ms. JD Writer-in-Residence and Owner of Vinco Prep, Keriann Stout, in three days of free, virtual programming to examine bar preparation strategies and study tips. Register here.
Learning from Failure: Positive Affirmations for Bar Exam Retakers
By Ms. JD Editor • August 09, 2021 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Features, Bar Exam
“I don’t know what your future is. . . But if you’re willing to take the harder way, the more complicated one, the one with more failures at first than successes . . . then you will not regret it.” - Chadwick Boseman, 2018 Howard University Commencement Speech. About 20-30% of bar examiners will fail the bar exam. If you are one of them, you are not the first nor will you be the last person to do so. At the time, it may be difficult to see this “failure” as a learning experience which can help you grow…
You can be authentic AND get accepted into your dream law school
By Ms. JD Editor • August 06, 2021 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Features, Bar Exam
Myth: You need to be the perfect applicant to get into your dream school. Exactly one year ago, I locked myself in my room, deleted my Twitter, and avoided any outside interactions. There were two reasons for this behavior: I had just began quarantining from the Coronavirus pandemic, and I was studying for what I thought was the most important test of my life: the LSAT. As I spent my days buried in my textbooks and laptop, I wrote the number “173” on a sticky note and placed it onto my mirror. This was the median LSAT…
The Road Less Traveled: 10 Things to Remember as a First-Generation Law Graduate Sitting for the Bar Exam
By Ms. JD Editor • July 29, 2021 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, Features, Bar Exam
“I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams.” – Unknown This past year has been a year like no other. A year full of social unrest, with an unprecedented global pandemic and an economic crisis. Despite these circumstances, thousands of law school graduates are studying and sitting for the Bar exam. Many of whom are first-generation law graduates. Being the first is never easy. When you are the first, you’re repeatedly in the position where you learn life lessons through "trial by error." As a first-generation law student, you often create the course rather than have a path to follow. Sometimes the…
The Neurodiverse Guide to Bar Exam Accessibility
By Ms. JD Editor • July 28, 2021 •Writers in Residence, Features, Bar Exam
It’s hard enough to study for the bar. It shouldn’t be harder if you learn differently. I always end up reflecting on some form of isolated feeling during law school. As an autistic law student, I often felt alone. I didn’t know anyone else who had a similar disability until nearly the end of my 3L year and I spent law school accommodating myself in how I studied, took notes, and navigated the law school culture. I’m hardly the only one who was neurodivergent in law school, in law practice, or in that…-100x100.jpg)
FREE Virtual Bar Exam Summit - June 5-7, 2020
By Natasha Alladina • May 16, 2020 •Features, Bar Exam
Bar exam prep sucks. There’s nothing else to say about it. It just sucks. And now, given the pandemic, there are the added questions of when various state bar exams will happen, how bar exam prep timing will change, and oh yes, whether licensure delays will impact your job prospects. Awesome sauce. Well, I have some good news. A former Ms. JD Writer in Residence is on a mission to make bar prep more bearable and effective, especially in what is sure to go down in history as the strangest year ever to take a bar exam. Her name? Kerriann…
Bar Exam Success Strategies Bar Prep Courses Don’t Teach You with Brandi D. Pikes, Esq.
By Roberta O. Roberts, Esq. of Grace for the Grind™ • June 15, 2019 •Features, Bar Exam, Guest Bloggers and Profiles of Women in the Law
Editor's Note: The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily state or reflect those of the Ms. JD Corporation. Lack of confidence is one of the three most common Bar exam preparation pitfalls according to a recent Above the Law article. So when I heard the story of an attorney who intentionally and strategically incorporated her faith into her Bar study routine to increase her confidence in herself and her abilities, I knew I had to reach out to her! I am happy to share this conversational interview I had with Brandi D. Pikes, Esq. about her Bar…
Just in time for graduation, the ABA tightened its bar pass standard for law schools
By Jen Reise • May 21, 2019 •Law School, Pre-Law, Choosing a Career and Landing a Job, Other Law School Issues, Features, Bar Exam
Thousands of new lawyers celebrated their graduation this weekend and, in time-honored tradition, celebrated for approximately one day before turning to studying for the bar exam. On Friday, the ABA announced that it was tightening its accreditation standard for law schools’ bar passage rates. The new standard will require law schools to have a bar pass rate of at least 75% within two years of graduation. Overall, this rate was 88.57% for the most recent year, but bar passage rates are highly correlated with LSAT scores. This change puts the pressure on bottom-tier law schools, i.e., those that admit the…
Tips for Passing the Bar Exam in an Additional Jurisdiction (CA & NY)
By Diana Stern • December 28, 2018 •Careers, Other Career Issues, Law School, Features, Bar Exam
First of all, be damn sure there's no other way for you to get admitted to the second jurisdiction without taking the bar exam. It's not exactly a blast to spend summer days seeking out a seat in the public library (although I did see some interesting sights, including a security guard tasked with waking people up with an umbrella. And no, I did not learn that first hand, I'm proud to say.) I didn't find a way around taking the entire bar again in NY (people still tell me I missed a workaround). A good strategy employed by a colleague of…