Just curious - for those of you who have taken the California bar and are also barred in another state. Is the saying true? Is California the hardest bar to pass? I know the pass rates are low but several different factors go into. Curious about people’s actual experiences that have taken CA bar and other bars
For those on this subreddit that took both the j2025 and f2026 CA bar which one did you find harder?
Curious as to people’s thoughts. Why’d you find one or the other harder? And not just because lack/more preparation for one or the other but substantively.
Hey everyone - just passed the California bar exam.
My school is doing swearing in ceremony June 1st so that newly admitted attorneys don’t need to pay for the full year fee for an attorney licensee but
The sooner I get sworn in the sooner I get my $20 bump in my rate. I rather have a month of May for that rate than wait for June.
I don’t personally know any judges though so I’m not sure how to get sworn in after signing the attorney’s oath on Docusign.
Please help! Thank you in advance
I wanted to highlighted specific things I think were instrumental.
In July I scored 65, 60, 75, 50, 65 and a 70 on the PT. I was 12th percentile in MBE. My scaled score was 1346/1390.
MBE
I switched from AdaptiBar to UWorld. UWorld’s explanations are top tier! I completed over 2000 questions but I made sure to REVIEW at least 2000 multiple choice questions. I tracked all of them on a spreadsheet, and I wrote down why I got a question wrong (substantive law gap? Awkwardly worded question? Misunderstanding of the facts?) I also typed the rule for the question and identified what issue or sub issue it was testing.
If I constantly missed the same sub issue, I physically wrote down the rule in my own words in a notebook. I visited this notebook often. I made sure the rule was my own words too.
This helped me see toward end of bar prep what were my weak areas. Torts I was scoring over 80% pretty consistently but Evidence and Crimes I was bleeding points. Specifically double jeopardy, hearsay, character evidence. It’s important to know this type of data.
I drilled hypos with ChatGPT like Estates and mortgages/foreclosure, etc. I mean so much. I spent hours and didn’t leave the computer until I was comfortable.
ESSAYS
I was already comfortable to be honest but I did at least 10 essays under timed conditions for each area of law. (Closed book). I reviewed thoroughly as well. I made flashcards for issues I missed or rules I couldn’t write from memory.
I did what I call a “Nightmare Day” (I THINK THIS WAS MAJOR FOR ME!) I chose a date relatively close to the Bar Exam (2/14) and told myself I will randomly choose 5 essays to do under time conditions closed note on areas of law I PRAY don’t come up on bar. (I think the topics were Evidence, Property, Civ Pro, Contracts, and Community Property). So I had 2 weeks to prep for that so I did so many essays for each of those topics and tried to memorize. All of those topics appeared on the Feb Bar!! (except evidence)
I used Mary Basick and BarEssays.com to prep for nightmare day. OneSheets too!
Finally - for July bar prep I completed 75% of Helix, for Feb bar I competed 97% of Helix commercial course and I reached out for help from their coach support team (thank you Alyssa!!!) and actually followed her advice.
I really felt like I failed Feb 2026 because the MBE rocked my world. I also didn’t analyze an important part of the balancing test
In the PT, so incomplete. My real property essay I think was so fucked. But here we are! Passed!
You really can do it, don’t give up!!!
Hey all, I just passed the February 2026 California Bar Exam! (Retaker, failed July 2025)
I just wanted to share my experience with Helix's commercial course. I really liked this bar prep course. It's a fraction of the price of Themis and Barbri but got me over the finish line. I have several friends who used Themis and Barbri who failed this retake.
Highlights:
- the PRICE: they are a nonprofit and are only $1300ish. That's a fraction compared to the other two. They do a black Friday day sale too!
- Digestible presentation of information: The way Helix organizes its content is really helpful. They do like major checklists for areas of law with subrules. When I studied with groups during the bar, several of my friends would comment on its interface and how they liked it more than their commercial course. not sure how much people care but to me it helped. I didn't know ither prep courses actually did like one hour lectures. that's crazy!!! Helix broke it up into 5 minute videos, it was rare for a video to be over 20 minutes. Bookmarking particular modules/videos to come back to later was really helpful.
Also, Helix's Essentials Outline was amazing!!
- Support: the Helix coaches give THOROUGH feedback on essays and PTs, and are very kind and genuinely helpful. I met with a coach about 3-4 times and I took their advice seriously.
I highly recommend Helix!! Save some money!!
Hey all! Never used reddit before july 2025 bar exam, then I started checking this subreddit so often. This subreddit is filled with the nicest strangers I know. I actually made an account just so I could share with you all ---
I passed the Feb 2026 Bar exam! I failed the July 2025 bar exam, and quite honestly I was very convinced I failed especially since in July, I scored in the 12th percentile for MBE. I was so convinced I didn't pass that I didn't tell anyone in my non-legal circle when the results dropped and people who did know I told them I didn't pass.
I was even working part time in January this time around for studying-
Anyway, I am happy to share my sstudying regime if anyone wants it!!
