The Massachusetts Bar Exam Results Are In and they not pretty

The Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners just released the results of its July 2018 bar exam, and they aren’t pretty. After years of steady improvement,

the state’s passage rate has been steadily decreasing since 2014, with this latest cohort performing at the worst level in nearly 25 years, according to The Boston Globe. Ouch! If you’re preparing to take the bar exam, these results will come as even more sobering news…

Failing the bar exam is not a death sentence

There are over 20,000 new law school graduates each year and only about 16,000 accredited jobs for them. (1) Competition for these positions is fierce.

With the odds stacked against you and so many law school graduates already applying for these positions, you will have to stand out from the crowd to land your dream job.

If you have been prepping for months or years, often passing the bar exam may not be enough. There are plenty of ways that can give you an edge in a competitive legal field where experience is hard to come by.

Why are these results so bad?

According to a post on the State Bar of California’s website, the exam revealed the lowest passage rate in almost 25 years at 31%.

This could be attributed to more people who are applying with extensive knowledge of the law but lack experience with being able to apply this knowledge in practical ways.

The number of applicants is also increasing every year which may be another reason that the passage rates have gone down.

Unfortunately, high levels of stress and a lack of sleep may also account for some bar examinees having a hard time performing their best on the test.

So, you failed. Now what?

It’s always a bummer to fail at something, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. The first thing you should do is be kind to yourself. Self-compassion is good for our physical and mental health and can help alleviate feelings of shame or inadequacy.

Next, take time to process your feelings and evaluate what went wrong so you know what not to do next time. If you keep trying, eventually it will work out, so try again!

Tips for Next Time

If you don’t pass the bar exam in two attempts, your only options for continuing your legal education are to wait six months and then retake the bar exam or go to law school

. The latter is arguably less intimidating and may provide you with a better chance of passing the exam on your first try, as law school will be tailored to you, not any other student.

If a student does not pass after three attempts then that person is no longer eligible to take the bar exam, Shepard told Lawyers Weekly USA.

He or she must instead be admitted to an ABA-accredited law school, pursue a course of study necessary for the eventual admission to practice in another jurisdiction, or stop pursuing a legal career.

Advice from Those Who Failed

The first time I walked into the Mass. Trial Court to take the bar exam, I knew it would be a terrible idea. I was scared out of my mind, and for good reason: The average pass rate in MA is right around 50%. You either pass or fail. It’s that simple.

The absolute worst thing you can do is study two hours the night before as I did, and walk into that exam on June 18th with no clue what the hell you were getting yourself into.

That being said, even if you spend 100% of your time studying, it doesn’t mean you’ll get lucky and pass on your first try (trust me).

But here’s one piece of advice: If you’re planning on taking the Mass.

How does This Affect Law School Applicants?

This morning, the results of the Uniform Bar Examination from the March 2017 administration were released. The results are not what any law school applicant wanted to see: a 12% passage rate,

which is just above last year’s 11% passage rate. That’s even higher than in 1991 when it was 8%. What does this mean for you if you plan on applying to law school? Will it be harder to get into law school?

Is it worth applying these statistics out there? The good news is that there are lots of good and competitive schools where you can apply and still get in,

but you might want to wait before sending off your applications. Either way, we hope that this isn’t a sign of things to come!

What Happens If You Don’t Pass in Two Attempts?

With the dramatic decline in passage rates this year, students will have to think hard about whether or not they want to invest another three years of schooling and $150,000 in a law degree.

There is no third time for the exam in Massachusetts. While most states offer the bar exam twice, there are only four other states that require two tries before giving up – Alabama,

Iowa, Minnesota, and New York. Students who fail the bar can retake it as many times as they would like while they are still out of school,

but after that their only option is to find a graduate program at an accredited law school outside of their home state if they want to avoid retaking it more than once.

Were you surprised by these results? Let us know on Facebook!

We were shocked to see that the passage rate for the July 2018 exam was just 40.8%. For the first time in a quarter of a century, this is the lowest rate that any test-taker has passed since 1993. Let’s break down these numbers.

Out of 1134 test-takers, only 484 succeeded in passing it. That’s just 41%! This means that 582 people didn’t pass at all! We would never have guessed this would happen if we had not seen it with our own eyes!

But even then, after learning about the results of the exam, many people still feel unprepared to take on such a difficult challenge.

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