A Guide on What to Do if you Failed the New Hampshire Bar Exam
A Guide on What to Do if you Failed the New Hampshire Bar Exam
A Guide on What to Do if you Failed the New Hampshire Bar Exam: Since adopting the UBE in February 2014, New Hampshire has seen its passage rate fall considerably. Pre-adoption, the overall passage rate was around 80%. Since February 2014, the passage rate has fallen to 68% So, if you failed the New Hampshire bar exam, you are certainly not alone. In this article, we outline a step-by-step guide on what to do if you failed the New Hampshire Bar Exam.
Update: If you failed the New Hampshire Bar Exam, check out this new, excellent, and free guide on what to do if you failed the Uniform Bar Exam.
A Step-by-Step Guide on What to Do if you Failed the New Hampshire Bar Exam
Step 1: Give yourself time to grieve.
There is no feeling like failing the bar exam. It is a combination of dread, anxiety, disappointment, anger, frustration — among many other emotions. Unfortunately, there is no quick-fix to getting past these emotions. However, they will get better in time!
Therefore, give yourself some time to accept your results. 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.
For some, this step takes a day. For others, it takes a little longer. However, if you find yourself in a deep depression or sadness after too long, it is worth it to seek professional help.
Step 2: Study your New Hampshire Bar Exam score report and request your essays if possible.
The minimum passing scaled score on the New Hampshire bar exam is 270. Even if you failed the New Hampshire bar exam, you may have exceeded the passing score in several other states if you scored above a 260.
Since New Hampshire 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.
Warning: This step is hugely important! Some students are convinced that they fell short on the MBE, when really it was the essay portion or MPT which held them back. So, 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.
Lastly, if possible, request your essays and MPTs from the state bar. Nobody likes to look at a low test score. However, this information can be crucial to examining your approach. Maybe you did not organize your essays well, or you wrote too little, or recalled too little law. There’s a lot to gain from reviewing this written portion!
Step 3: Review critically how you studied for the New Hampshire bar exam.
This step is also not very fun or easy, but it is necessary if you want to pass the New Hampshire bar exam the next time you take it! You need as much information about your last approach so you can figure out a new one.
Some questions you should ask if you failed the New Hampshire 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?
Answering these questions will go a long way in helping you improve your bar exam score.
Step 4: Figure out a different approach for the upcoming New Hampshire bar exam.
Don’t do the same thing twice if you want a different result! And we truly do not recommend you take your commercial course again and you can read more about that here . . .) Therefore, you need to change your study approach if you want a different (and passing) result on the next bar exam you take.
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.).
So, 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 New Hampshire bar exam. Our resources are extremely high quality and tailored to what is tested!
Looking to Pass the Bar Exam?
Free or discounted resources
- A five-star UBE course (for as low as $1399.99!) that provides you with the best instruction, outlines, and questions. Preview our course for free here!
- Our new Free Bar Exam Resource Center, which includes our most popular free guides, posts, webinars, and more!
- Free popular bar exam guides (on the MBE, MEE, how to pass the bar exam, and what to do if you failed the bar exam) written by bar exam experts!
- A free Early Bar Prep Course for law students
- Free bar exam webinars taught by top bar exam experts
Other resourcesOur most POPULAR and highly rated bar exam resources are:
- Our On Demand and Premium Bar Exam Courses
- Bar Exam Private Tutoring by bar exam experts
- MBE One-Sheets and MEE One-Sheets, CA One-Sheets—rated five stars! Our customers love these supplements!
- Real MBE questions—the best practice questions available!
- NEW! Mastery Classes for the MBE, MEE, and CA bar exams (these are effective and engaging classes to review the highly tested areas of law!)
We also have several additional MBE, MEE, and MPT products available.