Twenty years after I first took and passed a bar exam (Illinois bar in February 2006), I decided to take the Virginia Bar since I couldn't qualify for admission without exam due to not having practiced law for the past three years. Thanks to Option 3 (and the fact that I was active and in good standing in DC), I only had to take (and pass) the essay half of the exam to be admitted. Since it had been so many years since I had last taken a bar exam and more than three years since I last practiced law, I was very doubtful of my ability to prepare for the exam but I didn't want to do a full bar review course since I would't be taking the MBE.
I was so happy to find LexBar because it is a bar prep program that focuses exclusively on the Virginia essay exam. I did the full program, called LexBar Live, and found all of the guidance and study resources to be invaluable! The program offers 13 or 14 practice essays (sorry I'm not sure now how many total there were) and four of those are graded by a real human being who gives excellent feedback. There are four live review sessions on the four Saturdays before the exam led by the LexBar founder, Joshua Jenkins. Based on his expertise in the Virginia essay exam, Mr. Jenkins was able to prioritize for us the review topics and clarify our questions. LexBar Live also gave me access to VA Civil Procedure flashcards, practice multiple choice questions that reviewed essay topics, and an excellent AI tutor all customized to the particularities of the Virginia essay exam. I know I would have never passed without these resources! I really appreciate the structure and guidance LexBar gave me to help me know how to best spend my study time and maximize my ability to pass!
Here is a discount code you can use for the LexBar program if you are interested: VBESUCCES