Saturday, May 28, 2005

Something To Look Forward To

A company that develops bar exam study tools, BeatTheBar.com, is looking for the most unsuccessful bar exam entrant in the United States as measured by the number of times he or she failed the exam.

"We want the story," says Darren Shuster, the publicist running the contest. "The person who didn't give up for 30 years should get the prize, rather than the one who took it nine times in the same year."

In California, at least, no one's quite that big a loser -- you can only take the exam twice a year.

But chances are, the winning loser will be from the Golden State. BeatTheBar.com founder Michael Lowthorp says California and New York have the lowest pass rates, especially for repeat takers.

"In California, if you get a 145 or better on the multistate, you have less than a 10 percent chance of passing," Lowthorp says.

All I have to do is pass law school first.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

From what I've read, CA passage is low because the state bar allows state bar approved (as well as ABA approved) law students to take the exam, thus dragging down the average. Also, those who failed the exam are unlikely to pass the second time due to poor training. I am not sure about NY bar, but I did hear the state had raised the passing score, thus provoking protests from minority groups.

W said...

A lot of what you say is true and is partially covered in this previous post. If you only consider ABA approved CA law schools then the passage rate jumps to 57.7% and if you removed those who were not taking it for the first time, I'm sure it would jump even higher.