Washington DC (UBE) & Virginia Bar Exam Tutoring & Self-Study

DC & VA Bar Exam Coaching

  • Anticipated Maryland, DC and Virginia February 2020 bar exam result posting dates

    With many people eagerly anticipating the Feb 2020 bar exam results from the DC area, here are the dates they will be (or are anticipated to be) released:

    Virginia will be posting their Feb 2020 results on April 17, 2020
    Maryland will be posting their February 2020 results on May 1, 2020
    DC should be posting on or around May 15th, 2020

    There is a chance these dates could slip due to Coronavirus but at this time no jurisdictions have indicated that Feb 2020 exam results will be delayed. Much of the grading that takes place is remote, but the coordination of results and postings is another matter all together. I anticipate Virginia and Maryland will post on time, DC is a wild card as always.

  • Coronavirus and the July 2020 bar exam

    I have received a bunch of questions about the July 2020 bar exam, mostly around whether or not there will be one and for strategies in studying before we have an official answer either at the national or state levels. There are a few possible scenarios, the first is to see what the NCBE does. The NCBE has stated that around May 5, 2020 they will announce if there will be a July 2020 bar exam at all. The NCBE does not control whether or not individual states have a bar exam, that is up to the states, but the NCBE does decide if there will be an MBE, MPT or MEE, which means that if they don’t administer it for July 2020, there will be no July 2020 bar exam anywhere (except maybe Louisiana, which is the only state not to use the MBE).

    Regardless of anything, the NCBE has stated that they will do an administration of the MBE, MEE and MPT in the Fall of 2020, even if the July 2020 bar exam still happens. If July does happen, the questions in the Fall will be different. Even if the NCBE decides to administer a July 2020 exam, I suspect many states will choose not to hold a bar exam. This leaves us with what to do.

    I suspect that a majority of states will not have a July 2020 bar exam, and I also suspect that the NCBE will not administer the MBE, MEE and MPT in July, although that depends on how many states have committed to have an exam in the next month or so. The NCBE will likely not administer the exam if only a small number of states can commit to having a bar exam.

    The good news is that we should have an official answer at the NCBE level by May 5, which means that most students don’t need to worry about it or start studying now. If you feel that you need to study sooner than May 5th, feel free to send me a note and we can chat about your specific situation. The NCBE website will always have the latest information at their website here: http://www.ncbex.org/ncbe-covid-19-updates/

  • Website and email back up and running – Hosting issues fixed

    A sincere apology to everyone that has emailed me from a few months ago up until now. I had major web hosting issues and was not receiving emails consistently for a couple months. These emails never made it to me and are not recoverable. If you emailed me and did not get a response, please email me again as the issues are fixed and both this website and my email are working again as of today. I have switched hosting providers and everything is fully migrated. I am accepting a limited number of students for the February 2020 bar exam and will begin tutoring at the end of this month/early January. Happy holidays and happy new year to everyone!

  • Virginia and DC Bar Exam Results for July 2019

    The July 2019 bar exam results for DC and VA have been posted.

    DC had 1,799 total applicants take the bar exam with an overall pass rate of 69%. We are continuing to see a significantly higher trending pass rate for DC now that they have adopted the UBE and have a much larger pool of applicants. The UBE pass rate was an even higher 71%.

    In Virginia, we had an overall pass rate of 75.20% with over 80% (80.04%) of first time takers passing the exam. The biggest congrats goes out to UVA with the highest overall and first time taker rate, both landing at 90.24%!

    To everyone who passed, a well earned congratulations and pat on the back. For everyone that did not pass this time, don’t be discouraged. Take a look at how you studied and reflect back on what you felt worked and didn’t work. Which section gave you the most trouble on the actual exam, the MBE or the essay day? Was time an issue? Did you simply not know the law? Good luck in February!

  • Virginia February 2019 bar exam results released

    Results have been posted for the Feb 2019 Virginia bar exam here. Go check out the results and be sure and look at both pass lists. The numbers look ok for a February exam with some schools doing quite excellent.

    The overall pass rate was 62.64% with first time takers doing a little better at 68.66%. Big kudos go out to UVA for both winning the NCAA and having a 100% pass rate for ALL test takers on this exam! Props also go out to Liberty for a 100% pass rate for all takers and to Appalachian School of law for 100% of their first time takers passing the exam.

    The swearing in ceremony will be on June 5th, get dressed in your best suits and enjoy the celebration! For those of you waiting for DC results, hopefully early May will bring us results but after the pass list debacle last time it may be more delayed this time around, fingers crossed.

  • Tutoring/coaching for the February 2019 exam is full

    Title says it all, no more slots available for the February 2019 exam. I am mostly referral only these days so please keep that in mind. Happy to give tips/advice anytime, cheers!

  • July 2018 Virginia Bar Exam is Over

    After a few weeks off to decompress and enjoy the summer, decided to do a little recap of the July 2018 Virginia bar exam. The morning section was pretty typical, Crim law, Wills, Property/Corporations, Fed Civ Pro, Sales and some VA Civ Pro as always. The afternoon was a little more funky, with more civ pro, creditors rights, PR, and domestic relations. Overall a straightforward, fair yet tough Virginia bar exam as we have come to expect. The MBE was the same as in the past couple of years, no major changes, still the usually favorites and the difficulty/spread of the questions is in line with previous exams. I’ll add a new post when the results are posted in October, until then enjoy the rest of the summer and congratulations to everyone on getting through the exam.

  • Virginia Bar Exam Results for February 2018 are posted

    The VBBE has posted the Feb 2018 Virginia Bar Exam results. The pass percentages are a little discouraging for first time takers with only 60% passing. The overall pass rate was just below 50%. Congratulations to the students from Regent University with the highest pass rate at almost 82% with UVA coming in a close second place at 75%. I felt this exam was slightly harder than usual but this is usually accounted for with the scale and other factors, but the properly prepared students passed. Here is a link to the full results.

    For those of you who passed, congratulations! Your hard work paid off and you are now Virginia licensed attorneys. The swearing in ceremony is Wednesday June 6, 2018 at 10:30AM in Richmond. It’s a great ceremony and well worth attending with friends and family. For those of you who didn’t pass, do not be discourage. Instead, re-evaluate your approach to studying and determine what you could and should do differently next time.

    Hoping for the DC results at the first week in May.

  • Tutoring for the February 2018 bar exam is full

    My roster for the February 2018 bar exam is completely full. If you have emailed me and not received a response then it is unlikely I will be able to secure a spot for you. Each exam that comes I receive more and more requests and this season is no exception. I am going to go through and finish responding to everyone before the end of the year but for all intents and purposes my roster is full. I will resume taking requests for tutoring shortly after the February bar for the July 2018 bar exam with priority given to referrals from previous students as always.

  • VA and DC bar exam results for July 2018 are posted

    Virginia and Washington DC released their bar exam results the same week for the first time I can remember. Here are the stats and my thoughts on each one.

    For Virginia, 71% of all test takers passed the exam with over 76% of first time takers passing. Regent University had the highest overall pass rate at a very impressive 94% followed closely by (more…)