About a month after you take the bar exam something happens: the glee of not having to study begins to fade, the celebratory post-exam vacation comes to an end, and the harsh reality that exam results will be released soon starts to set in. Here are some suggestions to help you prepare for the big day while you are waiting for bar exam results.
One Month Before Results
Make sure your friends and family know whether you want to talk about the exam or would prefer to pretend like it never happened. After the bar exam, people tend to fall into one of two categories: either they want to constantly vent about the exam and their impending results to anyone who will listen or they don’t want to talk about it all. Either way, make sure your instructions to your friends and family post-bar exam are clear. Prepare them to listen to you dissect the exam and your odds of passing at all hours of the day or warn them that no one, under any circumstances, should mention the bar exam.
One Week Before Results
Let your job know that you will not be in the office on results day. I highly recommend that you access your bar exam results in the privacy of your home so that you can unabashedly scream in celebration or weep in defeat. You should also consider whether you want to be alone when you access your results or whether you want your spouse, friend, or other support person on hand.
5 Days Before Results
In the weeks leading up to and immediately after the exam you’ve likely already considered the possibility that you might not pass. But as results day nears, I encourage you to really take some time to think about the consequences of failing the exam. Would it be disappointing? Definitely. Embarrassing? Sure. Catastrophic? No way. Failing the bar exam is far from ideal, but it’s not the end of the world. Yes, you will have to expend another two or three months studying, you will have to delay working as a licensed lawyer, and you will have to tell everyone that you didn’t pass, but you’ll get through it. Many excellent lawyers have failed the bar exam and gone on to personal and professional success. Hopefully, if you take some to work through the scenario of not passing the bar exam, it will put your mind at ease (at least a little) as you realize that this one test is not the ultimate gauge of your accomplishments or predictor of your future success.
3 Days Before Results
Plan how you will let the world know about the results. Should your family be expecting a text message if you don’t pass, a phone call if you do? Will you let people know right away or will you tell them on your own time frame? Thinking about how you’ll announce the news and alerting everyone to your intentions will save you from being inundated with texts, calls, and questions the day results are released, which is especially helpful if the news isn’t good.
1 Day Before Results
Do anything you can to distract yourself from the fact that bar exam results are released tomorrow! Weeks of waiting have finally come down to one more day, but that 24 hours will seem like an eternity. Plan to do something you wouldn’t normally do to get your mind on something else – take a day trip, try a new activity, binge watch all the television you missed while you were studying. The less you think about the results, the faster the day will pass.
The Morning Before Results
Take deep breaths! There’s not much you can do today except hole up in your room and obsessively hit the refresh button on the webpage where the results will be posted. Try to stay calm and keep things in perspective.
Once you’ve finally seen your results, you’re free to celebrate in the manner you see fit! If the results aren’t what you were hoping for, take some time to feel sorry for yourself, then get up and move forward. You’ll need to analyze what went wrong and craft a plan to ensure success on your next attempt. The release of bar exam results will challenge even the most calm, patient student out there. Having a plan in place will help you cope with the anticipation and deal with the results when they finally arrive.
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Did you find this post helpful? Check out some other great articles:
- Waiting for Bar Results? How to Keep the Bar in Perspective
- Do’s and Don’ts of Waiting for Bar Exam Results
- 5 Things To Do While Waiting for Bar Exam Results
- How Can Parents Help Their Student Who Failed the Bar
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