Over the years, friends, family members and law students have asked me about my experience preparing for the North Carolina Bar Examination (“Bar Exam”). Since today – August 25, 2020 – marks nine years to the day that I learned I passed the Bar Exam, I thought this was a good time to provide a high-level view of my bar preparation journey.
Passing the Bar Exam was truly a culmination
of my dreams. But, in order to truly appreciate
the triumph, it is important to understand that “If there is no struggle, there
is no progress.” There was more than enough
struggle to last a lifetime in that summer.
I remember
summer 2011 like it was yesterday. I
thought about all of the events I would miss because I would be devoting my entire
summer to preparing for the Bar Exam. My
fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, was celebrating 100 years of existence. I knew I would not be able to attend the
celebration. I knew my friends would be enjoying the summer by going to pool parties,
day parties and generally doing whatever they wanted to do. I knew I would be unable to do so. There was so much work to be done and the
stakes were incredibly high. I was
blessed to receive an offer of employment prior to graduating from law school
from a Raleigh law firm. But my offer
was contingent upon me successfully passing the Bar Exam in July 2011. And although firm leadership made it clear
that you could take the test again in February should you not pass, I knew that
I did not want to have that stress on my back.
I knew that I had to pass on my first attempt. I was prepared to give everything I had
inside of me to accomplish this goal.
So, what is
the Bar Exam? It is an entrance
examination administered by states to students who have graduated with a law degree. It tests most of the subjects learned (or should
have learned) during law school. The Bar
Exam is offered two times per year – in July and February. The July examination has historically been
administered on the last Tuesday and Wednesday in July. In North Carolina, it was a two-day
examination with 12 essays and 200 multiple choice questions. Overall, the exam lasted for 12-hours over
the two-day period. It is a beast of an
examination.
What is bar
preparation? It is exactly what it
sounds like. It is the period of time
you spend studying to take the Bar Exam.
Law schools typically advise students to enroll in a formal bar
preparation course. But, as with most
services, it comes with a pretty hefty price tag. Luckily for me, the firm who made a
contingent offer of employment to me was invested in my success. So, they paid for my bar preparation course,
which cost a few thousand dollars. But
for the firm paying for the course, I would have either had to borrow the money
from friends/family, apply for loans, or not enroll in the class at all. Of course, some students studied
independently without taking a formal class. Some students willingly chose this
option, while others were forced to do so because they did not have the funds
to pay for the preparation course.
The bar
preparation class started the Monday after I graduated in mid-May 2011. The class was prerecorded, so you reported to
a classroom in the law school to watch a three-hour video on a legal topic such
as Torts or Criminal Law. The
preparation class provided each student with an outline for each subject to be
covered, which you could fill in as you watched the lectures. At the end of each session, the goal was to
have a nice condensed outline of the subject you studied that day. Some of the
topics we covered were: Criminal law, Criminal Procedure, Civil Procedure, Evidence,
Torts, Contracts, Business Associations, Property, Real Estate Finance and a
host of others. I want to say there were
about 25 topics that could potentially be tested.
After the
first couple of days of class, I knew I needed to maximize my
time. So, I developed a strict study
schedule. I arrived at the law school at
7:00 a.m. I started reviewing the material from the previous day from 7:00 a.m.
until 9:00 a.m., which is when we could watch the pre-recorded lecture for the
day. From 9:00 a.m. until about 12:00
p.m., I sat in the class, took notes, and tried to absorb all of the concepts
that were being thrown at us. At times, I
felt that the lectures were a review of material I learned during my three
years of law school, but other times the material was new.
I usually
ate lunch from 12:00 p.m. until 12:30 or 12:45 p.m. Around 1:00 p.m., I went to my private study
location in the law school. So, this is
where I have to show some love to one of my wonderful professors and acknowledge
the importance of building strong relationships. I had one professor who gave me a key to her
office. She told me I could use her
office to study because she would be away from the law school for about a
month. When she returned, however, she
knew I would not have a silent place to study, so she gave me the keys to another
room in the law school library. This
room was secluded. There were no windows
or students to offer distractions. The
room was equipped with a small couch, good lighting and a nice desk. I spent all of my time in this room. I took naps on the couch. To keep it 100, I even took naps on the floor,
since the couch was so small.
While studying,
I still wanted to take some time to laugh and try to have some semblance of
normalcy. The best way to do this was
through social media. So, I instituted a
very strict break routine. If I started studying
at 1:00 p.m., I would work until 1:50 p.m.
Then, for ten minutes, from 1:50-2:00, I would either take a quick nap, return
text messages, or browse social media. But
no matter what, at 2:00 p.m., I would get back to studying. I repeated this cycle until I finally left
the law school at 7:00 p.m. Once I got
home, I immediately went to the gym to hit the weights and then I would eat
dinner. By 9:00 p.m., I would sit back
down to review topics for another hour or so.
Finally, by 11:00 p.m., I went to bed.
I repeated this cycle every day from mid-May through July 23. At that point, I stopped studying all
together. I knew I would be taking the
examination on July 26-27. I knew that I
was ready. And, if by chance I was not ready, there was nothing I could do, so I decided to relax my mind.
In
hindsight, I believe I over studied for the Bar Exam. I believe I could have passed the examination if
I had studied for 10 hours per day instead of 12-14 hours per day. I’d be lying if I said this period did not
challenge me in just about every conceivable way. There were times when I felt that I was not
doing enough. There were times when I felt incredibly confident. There were times when I was just in a bad mood
because my entire summer was spent holed up in a room with just my thoughts,
faith and books. In an odd way, being
able to endure this process in 2011 has helped me cope with the solitude and
stress of the global pandemic.
To those
who are interested in a career in the law, I would encourage you to really
think about the benefits and the sizeable costs of pursuing a legal
career. Not every lawyer is wealthy. The truth is, the legal field is hard, time
consuming and particularly difficult if you are a minority. African-Americans only make up 5% of the legal
field. But if you want to do it, or want
to speak to someone about this field, I am happy to share my experience.
Peace