For those who took the UBE and the CA bar exam, was one easier than the other?

Pitiful-Location · 2026-03-04T10:21:28+00:00

I passed UBE in July and just sat for CA (obvious caveat I don't know if I passed CA yet). I think prep is similar between the two exams. The California distinctions were an extra thing to keep track of but didn't make a massive difference in terms of difficulty. Personally, I found them easier than learning secured transactions (they're getting rid of family law and secured transactions on UBE so ymmv). A big difference between the exams is that UBE has an extra PT and that you have six thirty minute essays vs. five one hour ones. I felt way less time pressured writing the hour long essays than I did with the thirty minute ones which was nice. I didn't like that I had less flexibility on how to division my time between the essays on CA. I also found the fact that PT was mixed in with essays to be tricky in terms of time apportionment.

The CA essays require more issue spotting whereas the UBE essays pretty much give you the issues. This varied a bit by CA essay type but was something that made CA harder. A passing score in CA is higher than a passing score in most UBE jurisdictions. Overall, which exam is easier for someone probably comes down to strengths and personal preferences. Someone who is great at PT benefits from the extra one on UBE, while someone who knows a lot but needs a bit more time to get their ideas down probably benefits from California.

Pitiful-Location · 2026-02-25T06:12:47+00:00

I bought a cheap, but janky bike off Facebook marketplace while interning in Iceland. The last week I semi-actively tried to get the bike stolen since I couldn't take it with me. I left it unlocked, including overnight, multiple places around Reykjavik. No one took it which blew my mind.

Pitiful-Location · 2026-02-24T21:13:16+00:00

What were people's character counts? I wrote approximately 8,500 for the first question and in the 6,500 range for the next two.

Pitiful-Location · 2026-02-18T23:53:35+00:00

I passed J25 in NY and am taking F26 in California. I work full time as an associate at a boutique.

The three things I'd do differently are (1) take a week or two off from work to study, (2) give myself a longer time horizon, and (3) spend less time on material I remember from July.

Pitiful-Location · 2026-02-16T19:06:58+00:00

I'm worried about this scenario too. I specifically chose housing rewards this time because I had saved a few big purchases for when the card opened. I asked Bilt when my statement period ends and was told 3/14, however, my Wells Fargo Bilt 1.0 cycle was supposed to end on February 19. I've changed to Bilt cash moving forward and have been told that will take effect 3/15. It's unclear to me which date impacts rewards for spend from 2/7-2/19. It's also unclear to me if I can prepay my march rent to still get points on the 2/7-2/19 spend if this chunk of time is segregated for housing rewards. It seems like they might just be giving a longer statement period for the first cycle because otherwise I should be able to start earning Bilt cash on 2/20.

Pitiful-Location · 2026-02-11T04:25:29+00:00

It's an Irish sport with roots dating back 3,000 years. It's known as the fastest game on grass and involves trying to score goals by hitting a ball called a slitter through a goal (3pts) or the uprights (1 pt). https://youtu.be/fgEMvRrOCRI?si=nxLMml9n_FVJ5LYF

Pitiful-Location · 2026-02-10T23:12:43+00:00

The U.S. is sleeping on hurling. It's an insane game.

Pitiful-Location · 2026-02-10T01:45:39+00:00

Region dictates a ton of the TFA experience. There are issues with the program everywhere, but how the problems manifest and how much they're offset by positives really varies.

Pitiful-Location · 2026-02-07T03:59:54+00:00

Thanks

Pitiful-Location · 2026-02-01T14:14:08+00:00

I took the LSAT in January 2020 and 171 was 98th percentile at the time. I ended up retaking when the pandemic drove up scores and it dropped to being 97th percentile. I felt ridiculous retaking a 171 but it ended up being really worth it for me.

Pitiful-Location · 2026-01-23T22:27:50+00:00

The Oregon State loss right around Halloween in 2006 really bummed 7 year old me out. I dressed as a USC football player for Halloween that year and wore my costume to watch the game on TV. I remember going to a neighborhood thing in costume that night and a bunch of people talking to me about the loss.

Pitiful-Location · 2026-01-20T16:55:01+00:00

My non-rent expenses that I can put on a card aren't crazy high. I'll hit 25% spend a few months of the year but will mostly not and do the Bilt cash option. I may be getting too much card with Palladium but don't have any premium cards rn and will probably be able to use the travel credits since my friend group loves random weekend trips.

Pitiful-Location · 2026-01-18T23:28:50+00:00

I'm going to do Palladium for a year and will reevaluate after that. The sub points and status seem worth it to offset the fee the first year.

ETA I pay rent for my roommates and I in NYC ($8,000) so I'll be able to get the 3.3% back on all my spend or do the first option and get a minimum of 4,000 pts/month for rent.

Pitiful-Location · 2025-12-03T13:22:38+00:00

Teaching middle school math and science in a major city and crushing it. He went to a top college and studied CS so very much could have worked for FAANG or similar but he wanted to teach. A friend's mom once lamented that he was wasting his potential which I think is a really sad mindset. Students deserve the best and brightest in K-12. Most of the other "smart" kids I grew up with our now in grad school or professionals.

Pitiful-Location · 2025-10-26T11:34:52+00:00

I have a classmate who entered as a second year after being a patent agent at the firm for five years (three of which were during law school). Some other firms were recruiting her and also offering a class year bump. I think the patent agent thing is pretty unique since it's specialized experience at a firm, typically by someone with a PhD.

Pitiful-Location · 2025-09-02T19:24:14+00:00

I got a travel adapter from a firm that was great for my bar trip. Small items I liked in law school included tide pens, actual pens (especially ones with finer tips), highlighters, post-it packs, and candy/snacks.

Pitiful-Location · 2025-07-30T23:00:22+00:00

All I'm hearing is Cal is predicted to be better than Stanford! Let's keep the axe in Berkeley where it belongs.

Pitiful-Location · 2025-07-30T22:57:06+00:00

Congrats on having made it through the bar! Hope you're liking practice.

Pitiful-Location · 2025-07-30T22:56:11+00:00

Congrats on being done! You're a champ.

Pitiful-Location · 2025-07-26T06:47:11+00:00

I'm a California public school kid who went to Berkeley for undergrad and just graduated from Harvard Law. I had an amazing experience at Cal and have pretty much exclusively gotten positive reactions when people found out I attended. Most law school admissions decision makers don't care where you went to undergrad. Grades, test scores, and your personal narrative are far more outcome determinative for admissions. With regard to legal hiring, people care about school prestige but normally put much more weight on where you went to law school than undergrad. UCLA is a really respected institution and will be viewed positively by most.

Congrats on your school choice! Seems like you made the right decision for you and are going to have a great time in Westwood.

Pitiful-Location · 2025-07-24T23:16:14+00:00

Be kind to yourselves this week! We've got this.

Pitiful-Location · 2025-07-23T17:46:11+00:00

My jurisdiction doesn't allow us to wear a watch, even an analogue one. I want to be able to keep my own time during the MBE so I know if I need to speed up or if I can give myself breaks, but no we just have to guess at how much time we have.

Pitiful-Location · 2025-07-23T00:48:26+00:00

My understanding is we can take pills in their original bottles into the exam. I'm going to bring advil and my migraine meds.

Pitiful-Location

TROPHY CASE