So You Failed the New York Bar Exam

New York bar results were recently released. Pass rates were pretty painful, approximately 65% passed (83% of first-time takers passed though). That means that there are a huge number of folks out there who are sad, frustrated and not sure what to do next. (If you passed, yay for you! You probably don’t need to be reading this post). Here are some next steps for those dealing with a bar exam failure.

You are not alone.

Remember, although this may feel like a lonely and frustrating experience, you are not alone. Plenty of incredibly smart people have failed the bar exam and you too can come back to find exam success. Check out this very honest post about one attorney’s journey after failing the New York bar.

Take a break and regroup. 

Failing the bar exam can feel like a kind of loss. It is important to take a break and give yourself time to recover.  You aren’t going to make the best decisions right now while you are upset and hurt. If you need some time to grieve, go for it. Just realize that you can’t stay in a disappointed state forever!

Deal with reality.

If you are working, you may have to talk to your boss. Here are some tips to get through that experience.

Come up with a game plan. 

Once you are feeling a bit better, now it is time to come up with a game plan to study again. Here are some steps you want to take.

1. Identify what went wrong and why you think you failed the last exam.
2. Research your preparation options. You may want to learn more about bar exam tutors or alternative preparation options. Here is something to think about though — if you prepare in the exact same way this next time you study — do you think you will get a different result when you take it again?

Check out these New York resources. 

We have a few New York Bar resources to share with you that may help you get on the path to success.

• BarWrite® Coaching and Classes for Effective Bar Prep – BarWrite® teaches Dr. Mary Campbell Gallagher’s unique systems, which has helped hundreds of attorneys pass the bar exam. Her systems focus on mastery of basic rules, legal analysis, and timing for more than 20 years.
• BarWrite® Books for Bar Preparation – BarWrite® Press publishes two highly-acclaimed bar preparation books. These volumes – Perform Your Best on the Bar Exam Performance Test (MPT) and Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays — teach the company’s very successful strategies and systems.
• Silverman Bar Exam Preparation – Sean Silverman is an attorney and instructor for a New York based bar review company. Silverman Bar Preparation provides affordable personalized tutoring for those preparing for the bar exam. All students receive a free hour to try out the tutoring.

Good luck!

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Did you find this post helpful? Check out some other great articles:

• The Day I Failed the New York Bar Exam
• Are You Feeling Like the Only Person Who Failed the Bar Exam?
• I Failed the Bar Exam? Should I Try to Take the Exam in a Different State?
• Coming Back After a Bar Exam Failure – Gearing Up to Study Again

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