Part Three: How Foreign Attorneys Can Successfully Pass the Bar Examination

Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

Welcome to the third part of our THREE PART SERIES on how foreign attorneys can successfully pass the bar examination.  Read part 1 and part 2 here. In this segment we will address the actual bar exam.

PART 3 – HOW HARD CAN IT BE? I’M ALREADY AN ATTORNEY

We know what you are thinking…you are already an attorney or barrister or solicitor.  You speak multiple languages.  You are clearly smart!  However, taking a bar examination in the United States is likely to be considerably different from the examination you took in your foreign country to become an attorney.  Bar examinations in the United States test your ability to identify legal issues and apply the law to a specific set of facts to reach a well-reasoned conclusion.  Knowledge of the law, as well as good legal analysis are necessary to successfully complete both the multiple choice and written portions of the bar examination.

At Fortnight Bar Prep, we routinely hear from unsuccessful LL.M students who struggle with the written portion of the bar examination.  We’ve reviewed hundreds of score reports reflecting extremely low essay and performance test scores, yet the multiple choice scores are passing.  So what’s the problem?  90% of the time the student has the right conclusion but does not know how to analyze the facts of the law to reach that well-reasoned conclusion.  Students miss a significant number of points because the focus of their writing is conclusion-driven and fails to reflect the analytical process on the paper.

How do you fix your writing?

The simple answer is PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE.

Submit every practice work product (essay and performance test) assigned through your bar review course.   If you are unhappy with the feedback you are receiving through the graded essay/MPT programs of your bar review course – consider hiring a tutor.  While tutors can be expensive, they are well worth the money if you can learn how to maximize your points on all aspects of the bar examination.

If the multiple choice portion of the bar exam is your weakness; we have a number of suggestions.

First, go back to the books and focus on law.  Work on your substantive knowledge.  This is not about memorization it is about understanding.  Second, do not worry about your practice percentages and practice scores.  Focus on learning.  The only score that matters is the one you achieve on the day of the bar examination.  If you get a question correct, make sure you got the question correct for the right reason.  If you got the question wrong, understand why.  Third, keep track of every multiple choice question you get wrong, write down the correct rule of law and identify what error you made when answering the question.  Review this document weekly.  Finally, practice daily under time constraints.   If you find you are still struggling with the multiple choice – consider hiring a tutor to learn additional strategies and tactics to improve.

We hope you enjoyed our Three-Part Series on how to successfully conquer a the bar examination.  If you have questions or find you are struggling to come up with a game plan, we encourage you to reach out to us for additional guidance!  Good Luck!

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