Should I Feel Like I Failed The Bar Exam?

Should I Feel Like I Failed The Bar Exam?

We often hear from students about anxiety between when they finish the bar and when results come out. For many students, finishing the bar exam does not come with the sense of relief they might expect.  Instead, these students shift their anxiety from the bar exam to bar exam results.  Many question themselves, asking “Should I feel like I failed the bar? Does this mean I really did fail the bar?” In this post, we cover common feelings many students experience after they finish the bar exam but before results are released.

Should I Feel Like I Failed The Bar Exam?

Everyone Feels Differently

People feel differently about almost everything in today’s world. One person’s experience, while seemingly identical to another person’s experience, can result in wildly different impressions. That same reasoning applies to students taking the bar exam. Some students will walk out feeling great about their performance and convince themselves they passed. Other students will walk out of the exam feeling demoralized, emotional over their performance, and convinced that they failed.

Keep in mind, just because you did not feel great walking out of the bar exam does not necessarily mean that you failed.  Successful students are often used to getting really high grades on exams, which means that they probably know the material really well and walked out of the exam thinking that it went well.  You might not feel that same way walking out of the bar exam.  Remember, you don’t need to score 100% to pass the bar exam!  A passing score for most bar exams is the equivalent of somewhere between 65 and 75%.  So, there is plenty of room for error while still achieving a passing score on the bar exam! This brings us to our next point.

Feelings Don’t Equal Reality

Remember, just because you feel a certain way, it doesn’t impact reality. It only impacts your reality. That same logic can be applied to applicants waiting on bar exam results. Up until the last second before you check results, you’ll have convinced yourself one way or the other. Either that you’ve passed or that you’ll have to re-take the exam. It’s unbelievably common to hear students explain that they were shocked to find out they passed. Why shocked? Quite simply, they had convinced themselves that they had failed and didn’t feel like they could have passed!  Just because you feel like you failed the bar exam, doesn’t mean that you actually failed!  We point to some criteria in this blog post if you want more of an objective indicator of whether you passed or failed the bar exam.

Some Common Feelings

It would be a stretch to state that every student feels like they failed the bar exam after exam day. However, what’s not so much of a stretch, are the common feelings shared between test-takers after the exam. Yes, it’s incredibly common amongst test-takers to feel a sense of doubt over academic performance on the exam. It’s also very common for test-takers to obsess over one aspect of the bar exam that gave them trouble, even if they feel like they had a good understanding of every other issue being tested! Replaying how you ran out of time, forgot to go back and answer a question, or cited incorrect law – this is all incredibly common!

If listening to others go through a play-by-play of the bar exam only increases your anxiety, try to stay away from those conversations. Sometimes other students who feel completely confident about a response to a question are not correct which can mean that you have nothing to worry about!

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