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Study for the Bar exam. Understand that you probably won't pass. Apply to take the Bar exam. Take the Bar exam. Pass the Bar exam.
In addition to your four years of law office study, you should consider taking a Bar prep course to learn how to succeed at the Bar exam itself. Bar prep courses typically offer a combination of in-person and online instruction over several weeks, and cost a few thousand dollars. Bar prep courses boast far higher passage rates than the state averages. For example, Themis states that 75 percent of first-time test takers who completed their program passed the California bar. In July of 2014, four candidates took the California Bar for the first time after completing the four year study program. None of them passed. Of the 23 exam takers who were on their second or third attempt to pass the bar, only one passed. Once you've completed your four years of study, you can apply to take the California Bar exam by filling out the application and paying the $645 fee to take the California Bar as a general applicant. The exam is administered in July and February of each year. If you file your application in April for the July exam, or in November for the February exam, you'll pay an additional $50 late filing fee. Anytime later, up until the final filing deadline, you can only apply if you pay an additional $250. If you want to use a laptop for the exam, you'll pay an additional fee of $146. You should decide if you want to use a laptop when you initially file your application, because if you change your mind and decide later that you want to use one, you'll have to pay an additional $15 late laptop fee. The California General Bar Examination consists of a written section that includes six essay questions and two performance tests along with the 200 multiple-choice questions for the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE). For example, the July 2014 examination included essays on contracts and remedies, evidence, business associations and professional responsibility, criminal law and procedure, trusts and community property, and torts. The two performance tests were writing an objective memorandum and writing a persuasive brief. You will receive an admissions ticket that includes the dates and times of your exam and the location of your assigned testing center. You also will receive a bulletin that describes the schedule for testing each day and provides a list of items prohibited at the testing center. Carefully review the rules regarding items such as mobile phones that are prohibited in the testing center, and make sure you don't bring anything with you that isn't allowed. The California Bar exam takes three days. Each of those days begins at 8:30 a.m. and consists of two three-hour testing sessions broken up by a lunch break. To pass the exam, you must have a total scaled score of 1440 points out of a possible 2000 points. Your result letter will include your raw scores on each of the eight parts of the exam, your total raw and scaled written score, your MBE scaled score, and your total scaled score.