Failed The Colorado Bar Exam? Here Is What To Do Next…
Failed The Colorado Bar Exam? Here Is What To Do Next...
Failed The Colorado Bar Exam? Here Is What To Do Next: Colorado adopted the UBE in February 2012, so they have our 5 years of results. Typically, the overall passage rate is between 69% and 77%, although this has fallen over recent years. So, if you failed the Colorado bar exam, rest assured you are not the only one! In this article, we outline a step-by-step guide on what to do if you failed the Colorado Bar Exam.
Update: If you failed the Colorado Bar Exam, check out this new, excellent, and free guide on what to do if you failed the Uniform Bar Exam.
Failed The Colorado Bar Exam? Here Is What To Do Next…
Step 1: Give yourself time to accept your results.
Failing the bar exam is like almost nothing else. It manifests in many ways: dread, anxiety, disappointment, anger, frustration — among many other emotions. Unfortunately, there is no quick-fix to getting past these emotions. However, time will dull these feelings!
Give yourself a couple of days to take it all in. We recommend you read this note to those who failed the bar exam. You may even want to read over this list of famous people who failed the bar exam so you know you are not alone! Lastly, you may want to read over some quotes we recommend for those who failed the bar exam.
Sometimes this step takes a day. Sometimes it takes a week…or more! If you find yourself in a deep depression or sadness after too long, it is worth it to seek professional help.
Step 2: Analyze your Colorado Bar Exam score report and request your essays if possible.
Your Score Report:
The minimum passing scaled score on the Colorado bar exam is 276. This is one of the higher UBE scores needed to pass! If you failed the Colorado bar exam, you may be surprised to know that you may have exceeded the passing score in several other states if you scored a 260 or above. Although it won’t help you in Colorado, know that failing the Colorado bar exam does not mean you are a failure. Plenty of licensed lawyers may have scored lower than you in other states!
Since Colorado is a Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) state, the breakdown of your score is as follows:
- the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) is worth 50%,
- the Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) is worth 30% and
- the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) is worth 20%.
To see what your score report means, check out this post called “What does my Uniform Bar Exam Score Report mean?” When looking at your score report, analyze what area you fell short on – the MBE, the MEE, the MPTs, or some combination of them. This will help you decide where you need to change your study strategy.
Colorado scales their MEE scores from 1-6. So, if you notice any low scores (e.g. scores of 1 or 2) you will know what you need to improve on.
Many states have released percentiles for MBE scores. Essentially, see how far away your MBE score was from 138. If you scored a 138 or above, you technically passed the MBE portion of the Colorado bar exam. If you scored significantly lower, you may need help on the MBE portion. See this post on “What does my MBE score mean?“
Warning: Don’t take this step lightly. Some students are convinced that they fell short on the MBE, when really it was the essay portion or MPT which held them back. Make sure to be honest with yourself when you look at your score report! If you need help with this step, feel free to contact us here.
Your essays and MPTs:
Lastly, review your essay and MPT answers. Colorado will post these to your account within ten days of when you receive your score. Nobody likes to relive what they wrote on exam day. However, this information can be invaluable. Perhaps you did not organize your essays well, or you wrote too little, or recalled too little law. You can gather a lot of valuable information by reviewing this written portion!
Step 3: Reflect on your study approach for the Colorado bar exam.
This step is not a “fun” step either, but it is very necessary if you want to pass the Colorado bar exam the next time you take it! You want to collect as much information about your last approach so you can figure out what to change moving forward.
Some questions you should ask if you failed the Colorado bar exam are as follows:
- Did you study effectively and productively?
- How long did you study for? (Was it enough time?)
- Was your bar prep course (if you used one) helpful in preparing you for both the MBE and written portion of the exam?
- Did you practice using real MBE questions and real essay questions?
- Did you practice enough MPTs? (A lot of students don’t!)
- How many timed exams did you take?
- Did you memorize the black letter law for the most highly tested issues?
Taking an inventory of your personal preparation will help you see where you need to improve (in Step 4!)
Step 4: Implement changes to your study approach for the upcoming Colorado bar exam.
Want a different result? Don’t do the same thing twice then! You need to do something different if you want a different (and passing) result on the next bar exam you take. We also do not recommend you take your commercial course again and you can read more about that here . . .)
By now you should have an idea of where you fell short both in terms of the section(s) you fell short on (MBE, MEE, MPT) and in terms of your personal preparation (maybe your outlines did not prepare you well enough, perhaps your bar review course did not fit your study style, perhaps you did not get feedback on enough of your essays, etc.).
In conclusion, consider using a different approach for the next exam. Here are some additional resources worth checking out. We have listed them in order of what you may need help with if you failed the Colorado bar exam. Our resources are extremely high quality and tailored to what is tested!
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