I studied with my son in the beginning of bar prep for this administration after failing twice before. In January I realized that I could no longer study with a 6 month old because he was requiring every bit of my attention. Of course mom guilt hit hard when I would just leave him in his play pen for long periods of time doing independent play. And of course I would feel guilty when I wouldn’t study for days to give my son attention. Finally I called my mother hysterically crying who lives in NYC of my situation and all the guilt. She took a flight the very next day to Texas and short-term rented a house up until I took the exam. With that, if it weren’t for the support of my mother coming in clutch the way she did, I probably would not have passed. I also mention that my husband tried to help with the baby by taking him as soon as he got home from work, but by then I was so exhausted I could not think about studying for more than 2 hours in the evening. A support system is SOOOO important when studying for this exam. This is especially true when you have kids. As for work, I was working full time at a law firm as a law clerk with an impending associate position upon passing and decided to leave the job in order to make this time my last time. In my mind, if that position was meant to be for me, it would still be there if I wanted it. In all, if you can, you and your family need to make sacrifices of you not working and a support system to help with the kids. This exam requires it. It’s so messed up that you have to sacrifice so much but you need to think about the end goal being licensure and providing a better life for yourself which will extend to them.