When should I start studying for the February bar exam after failing the July bar exam?

When should I start studying for the February bar exam after failing the July bar exam?

If you failed the July bar exam, you are certainly not the only one! You might be wondering when you should start studying for the February bar exam. Is November too early? Is January too late? In this post, we talk about what we have seen work best for students!

When should I start studying for the February bar exam after failing the July bar exam?

Typically, we recommend students start studying in December. This is especially the case:

• if you work full time or have other full-time obligations
• if you failed the bar exam by a significant amount
• if you are prone to anxiety or feeling overwhelmed
• if you need substantial time off of studying for the holidays

However, even if you have time off, you didn’t fail the bar exam by a lot, you aren’t anxious, and you don’t particularly need several days off over the holiday, you still may want to start in December. If you start in December:

• you can move through the material at a slower pace
• you will feel less overwhelmed
• you can take your time to figure out what went wrong in July
• you can take some time off for the holidays without feeling guilty!
• you can begin the review process earlier!

Sample Bar Exam Study Schedule for February Takers

If you are looking for a sample bar exam study schedule for February takers, we have one below. A few things to note about this sample schedule:

• it starts the first week of December, which we recommend as noted above
• it uses Uniform Bar Exam subjects (so please tweak if you are in a non-UBE state!!)
• it allows two weeks of a break for the holidays, which you can use to review, to get ahead, or just as a true break!
• it allows you to complete the subjects in the first week of February, leaving most of February to review!

This schedule is the same schedule that we give to students who opt for a December 1 date in our On Demand Uniform Bar Exam course as well as our live course. We also put our On Demand bar exam course calendar below if it is easier for you to visualize how to approach each subject in a calendar format.

Sample Bar Exam Study Schedule for February Takers – List Form

1: Week 1 of December 

• Real Property

2: Week 2 of December 

• Torts
• Family Law
• MPT review: objective memorandum

3: Week 3 of December

• Evidence
• Corporations & LLCs
• Agency & Partnership

Two-week break for holidays

4: Week 1 of January 

• Constitutional Law
• Conflict of Laws
• MPT review: persuasive brief

5: Week 2 of January 

• Constitutional Law
• Conflict of Laws
• MPT review: opinion and demand letter

6: Week 3 of January 

• Contracts and Sales
• MPT review: wildcard tasks

7: Week 4 of January 

• Civil Procedure

8: Week 5 of January 

• Criminal Law and Procedure

9: Week 1 of February 

• Wills
• Trusts
• Secured Transactions

10: Week 2 and 3 of February 

• Review

Sample Bar Exam Study Schedule for February Takers—Calendar Form

What should I do each week? 

Each week, for every subject you study you should:

• review the outline and make sure you understand it — i.e. can you explain the law back to someone?
• memorize the rules in the outline, focusing on the highly tested issues — this is a must, and the step many students skip!
• apply the law — e.g., practicing essay questions and multiple-choice questions

Are there any modifications I should make to the calendar? 

You will want to personalize this calendar to fit your needs! For example:

• If you struggle with certain subjects, you should allocate even more time to them
• If you struggle with certain skills (e.g., you did not perform highly on the MPT on a past bar exam) you may want to incorporate even more practice into your schedule
• You may want to take more (or less) time off over the holidays

These are just some examples of how you may want to personalize this calendar. The point is that you know yourself better than we know you! So you may want to modify the calendar to suit your needs! Good luck studying for the February bar exam!

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