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I Failed the Rhode Island Bar Exam. What Should I Do?

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I Failed the Rhode Island Bar Exam – What Should I Do?

If you failed the Rhode Island bar exam, you are not alone! Bar exam pass rates have been falling nationwide. Here are a few steps to take if you failed the Rhode Island bar exam.

I Failed the Rhode Island Bar Exam – What Should I Do?

First, take a break!

Failing the bar exam is overwhelming. You may be feeling a variety of things – sadness, anger, anxiety, disappointment, frustration, and the list goes on.

It is hard to work so hard for something and then not succeed. Processing your feelings is an important first step that will help you to conquer the next bar exam. Once you have a clear head, you will be able to come up with a plan to adequately prepare for the upcoming bar exam.

Here are a few links you can check out if you failed the Rhode Island bar exam:

If you try to start studying the day you find out you failed, you will not be preparing adequately for the bar exam. So, give yourself some time to let results sink in and to process your emotions.

Second, examine your score report.

Look at your score report to see exactly how well you performed on each portion of the exam. Many students simply assume that they scored low on one portion of the exam, when in reality, feelings often do not correlate with results.

Many students ignore their bar exam score reports. But this is not a winning strategy! Your score report is a valuable source of information for what you can do moving forward.

If you fell short on the MBE check out this blog post or this video on “What does my MBE score mean?” It will tell you how far you have to go to get a passing score.

Third, request your essays.

It is unclear to us if you can request your essays from the Rhode Island Board of Law Examiners (and this may change with the recent adoption of the Uniform Bar Exam). If you can, it is well worth it to request your essays to see where you went wrong.

Ask yourself:

  • Did I state the law well enough?
  • Were my answers organized in IRAC format?
  • Did I have any timing issues? Or anxiety issues?
  • Was my analysis complete or did I miss key facts?
  • Were my conclusions accurate or arguably accurate?

Essays be a great source of information.  There is no sense in repeating the same mistakes twice and reviewing your essays can help you improve your score.

When you read over your Rhode Island bar exam essay answers, instead of just looking at where you need to improve, also examine your strengths. Knowing your strengths is just as important as knowing your weaknesses as this can give you confidence going into the exam and you can even work on capitalizing upon your strengths.

Fourth, reflect on your preparation. 

Ask yourself a few key questions if you failed the Rhode Island bar exam. Asking – and thoughtfully answering – these questions can be very helpful in determining what to do moving forward. Students often find that truly reflecting on their preparation gives them insight into what they did wrong and it also helps show them the path forward. So it can actually be quite a relief to go through this list of questions!

Some important questions are:

  • How much time did you dedicate to studying?
  • Did you know the rules well enough?
  • Did you practice enough essays?
  • Did you answer enough MBE questions? (And if so, were the MBE questions actual released questions or were you using course-invented questions?)
  • Was your study schedule manageable?

Taking time to reflect on these questions will help you come up with a new and efficient approach moving forward!

Fifth, commit to changing your approach. 

Don’t do the same thing again and expect a different result.

This is a common “trap” that students fall into. It is much easier to just, say, sign up for the same course again than it is to do the hard work of switching gears or coming up with a more tailored plan! But doing something different is key to getting a different result! (On a side note, we truly do not recommend you take your commercial course again. You need to do something different if you want a different (and passing) result on the next bar exam you take.)

Another reason you need to do something different if you failed the July 2018 Rhode Island bar exam is because Rhode Island is administering the Uniform Bar Exam beginning February 2019.

Lastly, come up with a plan!

Once you know where you fell short, come up with a plan to conquer your weaknesses. Consider private tutoring if you need a lot of help. Your plan should be tailored to your weaknesses. If you struggled with the MBE, focus on the MBE. If you didn’t practice enough essays, for example, come up with a schedule where you write at least five essays a week. Make sure to tailor your plan to the Uniform Bar Exam. You will not have to know Rhode Island law beginning February 2019.

We have several Uniform Bar Exam services which you may be interested in if you failed the Rhode Island bar exam (including our premium Uniform Bar Exam full-service course which fills up quickly!). We specialize in helping repeat takers pass the bar exam. We list plenty of resources below!

If you are not familiar with the Uniform Bar Exam, we recommend you check out these posts:

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