Scott Pearce is an experienced bar examination tutor in Los Angeles.  He provides bar examination tutorial and home study services for bar students throughout the country.  Previously, Pearce lectured and tutored at Bar/Bri, BarPassers, and PMBR.  For more information, visit Pearce’s Web site at http://passthebar.com.

I graduated from law school at USC in May, 1984, and sat for the July California Bar Exam.  I’d always been an idiot savant at standardized tests and I figured the bar exam was no different.  My study partner and I put in the time over that summer and we traveled to San Diego to take the exam.  We wanted to stay out of the way of the’84 Olympics, which were taking place in LA at the same time.  At the end of the third day of the exam, when the proctor called time, the thought that flashed through my mind as I put my pen down was, “If I didn’t pass this bar exam, I’ll never pass it.”

Back in 1984, the California Bar Examiners mailed out bar exam results the day before Thanksgiving.  We all expected to get our results the Friday or Saturday after Turkey Day.  My 26th birthday was a week before Thanksgiving.  I still felt great about the exam, secure in my heart that I had passed.  I thought to myself, “Too bad the results couldn’t arrive on the 19th.  That would be a great birthday present.”

I was working for a boutique entertainment law firm as I awaited bar exam results.  My office had a nicely framed view of the Hollywood Sign.  The cold and rainy day before Thanksgiving, as the Examiners were mailing out the bar results, the boss took me aside.  “Scott,” he said, “We have every confidence in you.  We’re sure you passed the bar exam…but just remember, at this firm, we don’t tolerate failure.”  Somehow this did not reinforce my good feelings about the test.

It was cold and wet on Thanksgiving.  I didn’t feel like eating, however, I did find some solace in a shot glass, which I repeatedly filled and emptied during the evening.  On Friday my phone started ringing early in the day – with bad news.  It seemed everybody was failing the exam, except for my study partner.  I was nervous and hungover, and disgusted with the cold, wet weather.  When I checked the mail I found that the mailbox was wet and empty.  No bar results!  I got even more nervous and unsettled.  I thought to myself, “Oh great, I’m going to kill myself accidentally by alcohol poisoning before I even know if I passed or not.”

Saturday arrived, and I wasn’t looking or feeling very good.  Many of my other classmates got word that they had failed.  I was standing at attention when the mail carrier showed up, and I came outside to let him hand me the large pile of mail that had arrived.  I went through it as he drove off.  No bar exam results!  I thought to myself, “I’m going to have to go to work on Monday, call the State Bar when their office opens, and learn if I’m a new lawyer or newly unemployed!”

I don’t remember the rest of that Saturday or most of the following Sunday, but I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a mirror on Sunday evening and I looked like a cross between Keith Richards and Yasser Arafat. Monday was trash day, so I went out to the garage late Sunday night to take out the cans and make sure everything was in order.  As I wheeled the trash to the curb, I noticed a neat pile of mail just inside the garage, on top of a little table adjacent to the door.  Apparently the rainy weather had flooded the mailbox and the mail carrier had left the Friday mail on the table instead!

The envelope from the State Bar was there.  I opened it and saw the computer-generated form letter.  “The Committee of Bar Examiners is pleased…”

I don’t think I’ve ever been more relieved in my life.  I phoned a couple of friends and went to bed.  The next morning I woke up with a nasty cold – and a date to the swearing-in ceremony!

Copyright 2010 Scott Pearce and passthebar.com.  Reprinted by permission.

Adam Ferber is the former Examinations Director for the State Bar of California and grader of 40 California Bar and First-Year Law Students’ Examinations.  He provides intensive, individualized tutoring and coaching to applicants for both exams at www.ferberbarreview.com

“Based on the results of empirical studies relative to reliability, scores have been established for passing and failing after one reading of the examination. For those applicants whose scores after the first read (Phase I) are near the required passing score, all answer books are read a second time, and the scores of the first and second readings are averaged. The total averaged score after two readings is then used to make a second set of pass/fail decisions, providing there are no grading discrepancies of more than 10 raw points between first and second read grades on any question (Phase II). Any answers with grading discrepancies more than 10 raw points between first and second read grades are read a third time before making the third set of pass/fail decisions.” DESCRIPTION AND GRADING OF THE CALIFORNIA BAR EXAMINATION– GENERAL BAR EXAMINATION AND ATTORNEYS’ EXAMINATION

Here’s how this translates. Based on statistical information, the Committee of Bar Examiners believes that certain combined MBE, essay and written scaled scores reliably indicate performance that is clearly passing or failing, no matter how many times the applicant’s work is graded.  These scaled scores are respectively, relatively far above and relatively far below, the “passing score” of 1440.

Although the Committee would prefer no variations in essay and performance test scores assigned to the same answer by different graders, it allows for them by the device of the “second read.”  Applicants whose scaled scores fall within a specified number points above or below a passing score but who have not clearly passed or failed have their answers read a second time.  The ”first read” and “second read” scores are averaged, scaled and added to the MBE to constitute a total scaled score. If “first” and “second read” graders have differed by more than 10 raw points, the answer is read a third time before the results are totaled up. Applicants whose “second read” scores are above 1440 pass the exam. A “final read”  is provided to applicants who are still under 1440 after second read, but by a narrower margin than previously.  This “reappraisal” can only help an applicant; it will not depress his or her previous score.

Phased grading has at least two implications for your essay and performance test preparation.  One, of course, is that you should write to pass on “first read.”  The other is subtler.  It is that you should expect your writing to be seen by at least two and possibly four separate graders. Write for all of them.

Copyright 2010 Adam Ferber and www.ferberbarreview.com.  Reprinted by permission.

The State Bar of California announced that results from the February 2010 California Bar Examination will be mailed to applicants today,  Friday, May 14th, 2010.  Applicants will be able to access the pass list this evening, beginning at 6:00 p.m. (PST) using their applicant number and file number at the State Bar website.  The pass list will be available to the public beginning Sunday, May 16th, 2010 at 6:00 a.m. (PST). We will update this post once the information is available to the general public.  Good luck to all California applicants!

Adam Ferber is the former Examinations Director for the State Bar of California and grader of 40 California Bar Examinations and First-Year Law Students’ Examinations.  He provides intensive, individualized tutoring and coaching to applicants for both exams at www.ferberbarreview.com.

“Unsuccessful applicants may seek reconsideration of their grades based on arithmetic or transpositional errors in the compiling of their scores or a departure from established procedures.  They may not challenge the evaluation of their answers, although many attempt to do so.”  October 26, 2009 Memorandum to California State Bar Board of Governors

When I was the Examinations Director for the State Bar I received hundreds of letters from unsuccessful applicants requesting reconsideration of their grades.

Most struck me as the applicants’ understandable efforts to “cover their bases;” to assure that their answers were properly graded and the results added up correctly.  The Examinations Department duly checked the results.  Not a single “arithmetic or transpositional” error was discovered while I was Director.

Many were challenges to the grader judgments.  Often they enclosed one of more essay or performance test answers, “regraded” by a favorite professor or tutor, in support of their requests.  Since these were “challenge[s] to the evaluation of their answers” I did not have authority to consider them.  I agreed with this limitation. I believed in the integrity of the bar examination grading system.  I believed in the expertise and professional integrity of the graders, many of whom I’d graded with and known for years.

However, I always felt that one very narrow ground for reconsideration was underutilized and not fully understood by applicants.  “Departure from established procedures” is applicable most often to a disturbance at the applicant’s test site.  Examples are power failures and excessive noise from inside or outside of the test site.  When applicants report these incidents and seek reconsideration, the Committee of Bar Examiners’ pays attention.  It often requests that its psychometrician conduct a statistical study to determine whether the request has merit.  These sorts of studies rarely come down on the applicant’s side. However, one thing that the Committee does not do, is investigate whether, notwithstanding the outcome of the study, the applicant suffered a unique, individual disadvantage.  I always thought that a properly documented request on this ground could succeed.

Test site incidents are rare, but they do happen.  If you believe that your grades suffered as a result, speak up.

Copyright 2010 Adam Ferber and www.ferberbarreview.com.  Reprinted by permission.

The Maryland State Board of Law Examiners will release the unofficial results of the February 2010 Maryland General Bar Examination at 4:30 p.m. today.  The results will be listed by applicant seat number at the State Board of Law Examiners website and remain until June 1, 2010.  Official results  are mailed to examinees by the State Board of Bar Examiners.  This post will be updated once more information is made available to the general public.  Good luck to everyone awaiting the good news!

The District of Columbia Bar released results of the February 2010 D.C. Bar Exam on Friday, April 30th.  The list of those who passed is organized alphabetically by last name and available here at the D.C. Bar website.  224 applicants sat for the exam and 92 passed, a pass rate of 41%.  The oath of admission will take place in a formal ceremony before a panel of Judges of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals on Monday, June 7, 2010, in the Court of Appeals Ceremonial Courtroom located on the Lower Level of the Historic Courthouse at 430 E Street NW.  Congratulations to everyone who passed!

Hawaii has released results of the February 2010 Hawaii Bar Exam.  The results were released Thursday, April 29th, and were posted online today at the official website of the Hawaii State Judiciary.  The pass list is organized alphabetically by last name and available here.  Congratulations to everyone who passed!

The New Jersey Board of Bar Examiners released results of the February 2010 New Jersey Bar Exam today!  The list of those who passed is available here at the Board of Bar Examiners website.  Individuals are listed by their Candidate ID Number.  A list of passing candidates by name will be available online Friday, May 7th at 10:00 a.m.  Of the 935 candidates who sat for the examination, results were mailed to the 871 candidates with complete applications.   498 (57.1%) of these 871 applicants passed.  Congratulations to all who were successful!

The Michigan State Board of Law Examiners released results of the February 2010 Michigan Bar Examination to applicants on
Friday, April 30, 2010.  Most candidates received their scores in the mail on Saturday, May 1st.  The certified passers will be listed by name and posted on the Michigan Supreme Court State Board of Law Examiners website on May 4, 2010 after 12:00 p.m.  We will update this post with more information once it’s available to the general public.  Congratulations to everyone who passed!

The State Bar of California has announced that results from the February 2010 California Bar Examination will be mailed to applicants on Friday, May 14th, 2010.  Applicants will be able to access the pass list that evening, beginning at 6:00 p.m. (PST) using their applicant number and file number at the State Bar website.  The pass list will be available to the public beginning Sunday, May 16th, 2010 at 6:00 a.m. (PST). We will update this post once the information is available to the general public.  Good luck to all California applicants!