Unfortunately, life doesn’t stop for the bar exam! And being around a person who’s studying for the bar exam isn’t necessarily the most fun thing on earth. (Sorry, but it’s true!)
Below you’ll find tips for handling the obstacles life throws at you during bar prep, along with some tips for bar exam significant others.
Best of luck!
Supporting a Significant Other Who is Taking the Bar Exam
- Supporting the Bar Exam Studier in Your Life Your child, spouse, significant other, or best friend is studying for the bar exam. Maybe it’s their first time studying, or maybe they’re a repeat test taker. No matter the situation, studying for the bar exam can be incredibly stressful and you don’t want to add to that stress. Here are a few ideas for ways you can make your bar exam studier’s life a little easier.
- So Your Friend Failed the Bar Exam You planned the celebration. You had trepidations, but you knew the results would be good news. Then the time came, and the name was not on the pass list. You felt confused, saddened, and a little scared, but it wasn’t your name in contention, it was your friend’s.
- Dealing with the Bar Studier in Your Life You may think you’re prepared for a little stress after supporting a person all the way through law school, but the bar exam will likely push your bar studier to a new level of anxiety. So how do you deal with the bar studier in your life?
- Bar Study During Coronavirus with a Cohabiting Partner We’ve recently heard from several bar students and their partners about how stressful the current situation is. We're looking at how you can handle this from both the bar studier point of view, as well as the partner point of view.
- Supporting Your SO While They Study for the Bar Being a good significant other for a bar studier is often a bit different than being a good significant other for someone who chose a less difficult, non-stressful, low-academic path, so here are some considerations if you’re on the hunt for how to help yours.
- Are You Living With a Bar Exam Studier? Here's How to Cope! The bar exam study period is not only difficult for the exam takers, but also for the people supporting them. In this post we share our tips for supporting and coping with a bar exam studier!
- Are You and Your Significant Other Studying for the Bar Exam Together? We've heard many stories about how challenging it is when two people are going through bar exam prep together. Is this you? If so, we have some suggestions about how to handle the final weeks of bar prep together.
- Tips for the Bar Exam Significant Other When studying for the bar exam, your dearly beloved "significant other" may transform into someone that you don't totally recognize from time to time. Don't fear, in this post we give tips on how to live with (and support!) your exam-obsessed partner.
- How Can You Support Your Bar Studier? If you or someone you love is taking the bar at the end of the month, you may be wondering how you can be supportive. Here are some tips to help!
- Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 34: Advice For Bar Exam Significant Others We’re talking about how to support your significant other or loved ones during the bar exam. If your partner is studying for the bar exam, tune in (or feel free to pass this one along to loved ones, if you’re the bar studier).
- The Bar Exam Toolbox Holiday Gift Guide! If you or someone you love is getting ready to start studying for the bar exam, you may be wondering what sort of gifts would be a good fit this year for the holidays. Here are a few suggestions for bar exam holiday gift giving.
- How to Help Your Friend Taking the Bar Exam Students are getting ready to take the bar exam in just a few short weeks. If you're wondering what you – as a friend or significant other – can do to help and be supportive, here are five simple ways to make the life of a bar studier easier.
Supporting Your Child Who is Taking the Bar Exam
- How Can Parents Help a Child Who Failed the Bar Exam? After someone fails the bar, they need all the support they can get, especially from their parents. In this post we answer an email from a concerned parent wondering how she can help her son after he failed the bar exam.
- Dos and Don'ts for Parents of Bar Preppers After three years of law school, there is still one very big hurdle for your child to jump before she becomes a lawyer: the bar exam. They will usually take all the help they can get, so if your child will be preparing for the bar exam over the next several weeks, here are some dos and don’ts to help you support their efforts.
- Parents of Bar Studiers: How to Best Support Your Child During the High-Anxiety Weeks of Bar Preparation Your adult child has officially graduated from law school. However, as you probably noticed, the excitement and celebrations abruptly came to a close as he or she almost immediately shifted to preparing for the biggest exam of his or her life – the bar exam. Make no mistake about it – even though your child persevered through semester after semester of really tough exams in law school, the bar exam really is the toughest exam your child will ever face.
- How to Survive Studying for the Bar Exam at Your Parents' House If you’re facing graduation and don’t have a job lined up after law school, you might be stretched thin for money. If you can’t afford monthly rent payments near your law school, you might be looking at a move back home to your parents’ house for bar season. Here’s how to survive studying for the bar exam while rooming with your parents.
- Being a Parent During Bar Prep: The Ultimate Test in Multitasking Bar prep is a lot of work, and it can be particularly challenging if you're a parent. We're offering some advice for those bar takers who are parents about how to juggle it all.
Life and Bar Prep
- Manage Expectations Before Bar Prep Begins: Keeping Friends & Family On Your Side Everyone who cares about you has a vested interest in your success (and failures). The one part of law school that is truly yours, and yours alone, is bar prep. Now is not the time to succumb to the pressures of family and friends. Be a wolf pack of one.
- Five Tips for Balancing Bar Exam Prep With Work and Life Responsibilities We delve into five practical tips to help you navigate the balancing act of studying for the bar exam while maintaining as healthy a work-life balance as possible.
- Breaking Up During Bar Prep A breakup can hit you hard. Consider the bright side of this major adjustment in your life when it comes to studying for the bar exam.
- Why It's Important to Maintain Your Relationships During Bar Prep and How to Do It Here are four ways to keep relationships strong to put yourself in the best headspace you can going into the bar exam.
- Holiday Guide for Bar Exam Prep Here are some tips on how to survive the holiday season if you’re also studying for the bar exam.
- Studying for the Bar Exam as a Black Applicant Although there is an abundance of ideas on how to reduce the achievement gap, few to none of those measures have been implemented. We're going to talk about this.
- Studying for the Bar While Applying to Jobs Here are some tips to keep in mind when you are juggling success on the exam and securing success after the exam.
- How to Support Friends Who Don't Pass the Bar Exam If your friend doesn't pass the bar exam, we're talking about how to be the most supportive.
- How the Bar Exam is Portrayed on the Screen Versus Reality Movies and series that portray exam takers may or may not get some things right. The person that would best be able to assess how the exam is portrayed on the screen and how it compares to real life is you! We're looking at some well known portrayals of law school students and the bar exam process on screen.
- First Generation Perspective - Bar Exam Advice We're talking about the unique challenges of taking the bar exam as a first generation law student.
- Bar Exam Perspective - How to Have "The Talk" With Your Loved Ones About Studying for the Bar If you're going into bar study, you will want to explain to them (lovingly) what they can expect during each phase of the bar exam and set some ground rules.
- How to Get Your Family Involved in Your Bar Exam Studies Here are some ways to get your whole family involved in your study strategy.
- How to Study For the Bar Exam, With a Side of Holiday Cheer We're looking at how you can balance holiday plans with bar study.
- Juggling Bar Prep and the Rest of Your Life: Don't Be a Fool! During bar prep you still need to balance your personal life, and we're looking at how you can do both.
- How to Search For a Job While Studying For the Bar If you're studying for the bar exam and don't have a job yet, we have some tips about how to conduct a job search while also making studying a priority.
- Dealing with Outside Responsibilities While Studying For the Bar There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with outside responsibilities during the bar exam, but you ought to plan ahead for how to deal with professional and personal obligations before you begin studying for the bar exam.
- Tips For Your Post-Bar Job Hunt There aren’t many things that will compare to the sense of accomplishment, elation, and relief that you feel when see your name on the bar exam pass list. But that excitement can quickly fade to feelings of frustration, disillusionment, and even embarrassment if you haven’t landed a legal job. If you’ve passed the bar, taken the oath of attorney, and picked up your bar card but are still searching for a position, make sure you keep these suggestions in mind.
- How To Juggle Bar Prep and Job Hunting During bar prep, the last thing you want to think about is being unemployed and the fact that you have no prospect of employment after the exam. If you’re going through bar prep without a job offer in hand, I know it’s unrealistic to ask you to ignore this issue. We want to assure you that you can manage this burden and that you can successfully find a job and also pass the bar. But you have to carefully juggle these two major priorities if you want to be successful. Here are our top tips!
- Don't Be a Grinch! Enjoy the Holidays While Studying for the Bar Exam Studying for the bar is difficult and having to study during the holidays can make it even more of a challenge. You want to spend time with your family and partake in all of the holiday traditions without falling behind in your studies. So, how do you find the balance? Here are some tips to help you enjoy the holidays while studying for the bar exam!
- Adulting and Studying for the Bar Exam If you want and need to maintain your job, family, and yes, your sanity intact during bar study, follow these few tips.
- How Do You Recommend Studying While Balancing Family Responsibilities? The bar is a time where you want to be selfish and make studying a priority, but life doesn’t always allow for that. Get advice on studying for the bar while balancing family commitments like children, caring for a parent, etc.
- What If You Get Sick During Bar Prep? Getting sick is something no one plans on while studying for the bar. But by not listening to yourself and trying to study while sick, you're likely going to make it even harder to get better. Read this post to find out how you should deal with getting sick during bar prep.
- Life Doesn't Stop for the Bar Exam The bar exam is an all-encompassing experience. But as much as we would like to put the real world on hold for the bar exam, we can’t. Find out what you should you do when life comes between you and studying.
- Bar Humbug! How to Handle the Holidays and Study for the Biggest Exam of Your Life Studying for the bar is hard, but if you’re gearing up for the February exam, having to study through the holidays can make things even more challenging. If the bar exam is making you uncharacteristically Scrooge-like this year, read our tips in this post.
- Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 5: Career-Related Bar Exam Issues We’re talking with Sadie Jones, a former BigLaw recruiter, about job situations that come up surrounding the bar exam. This includes studying for the bar while working and what typically happens at work if you fail the bar.
- The Five Things I Hated Most About Studying For the Bar Exam We thought we'd take a moment to pause and reflect upon the things we hated most about studying for the bar. We could go on for days, but for the sake of brevity, we've narrowed it down to our top five. Feel free to leave your own. Misery loves company!
- Enjoy the Holidays (Even While Studying for the Bar Exam) Whether you're traveling to see family and friends or having a quiet celebration at home, the holidays are a time to relax, spend time with the people you love, and enjoy yourself. Does the bar exam have to get in the way of this?
- Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 129: Self-Care During Bar Exam Prep We’re talking about something that’s incredibly important for everyone who’s preparing for the bar exam - self-care. Because, let’s face it, studying for the bar exam is stressful and, actually, so is legal practice. So, working on self-care during the bar exam study period is one thing that will probably help you pass and also help you in your career later.
Best of luck! If you’re very stressed out, take a look at some content on managing stress and taking care of yourself while studying for the bar exam.
