Post-Graduate Bar Exam Success Interventions - Literature Review

Jellum and Reeves analyzed Virginia bar passage data from July 1997 through July 2004 (eight administrations before the program was implemented in Spring 2001, and seven administrations after).[294] Richmond also offers a 3L bar success intervention, and the effects of the two interventions were not evaluated separately, but as a full program.

Jellum and Reeves performed proportions tests comparing the bar passage rate of students before and after the program was implemented for the overall classes, as well as for the upper and bottom halves of the classes. They found that bar passage rates improved after the program’s implementation, with especially large improvements in the bottom half of the class.[295]

Jellum and Reeves also found that after the program was implemented, graduates in the bottom half of the class who participated in the program had higher bar passage rates than those who did not (71.6% for participants versus 55.7% for non-participants).[296] “Participation” was defined as attending at least half of the 3L course classes or at least one tutoring session.[297]

Jellum and Reeves note that the University of Richmond enacted an LSAT admission floor of 150 beginning with the class of 2000, but this was unlikely to be the cause of the bar passage rate increase because very students had been admitted below that floor in the past.[298] There was also little change in median LSAT or UGPA over the period.[299]

Scott Johns analyzed bar passage data for 642 Denver students who graduated in May 2008-2010 and immediately took the Colorado bar exam that following July, with 75.2% having participated in the post-graduate Bar Success Program.[304]

Graduates who had a 1L GPA at or below 2.9 and who participated in the post-graduate Bar Success Program passed the bar exam at a higher rate than graduates in that 1L GPA range who did not participate in the intervention.[305]

Johns utilized linear regression analysis to test the relationship between participation in the post-graduate intervention, LSAT score, law school GPAS, and bar exam score. Variables tested were: age, sex, underrepresented minority status, enrollment status, LSAT, 1L GPA, final GPA, and participation in the three interventions.[306] Participation in the post-graduate Bar Success Program was measured by the number of essays submitted. Johns found that each essay submitted in the Bar Success Program increased bar exam score by 1.404 points (or 7.02 points for a full mock bar exam).[307]

The post-graduate program was first offered in a rudimentary form in 2007 and expanded in 2008. Chapman University had a July bar passage rate higher than the California ABA-accredited law school average in 2009 and 2011-2014.[311]

Mainero performed a chi-square analysis to examine the relationship between the number of practice essays written during the post-graduation period and bar passage, looking at data from 2011-2013. He found that writing more essays had a positive and statistically significant relationship with bar passage.[312] There was an especially large jump in pass rate between the students who wrote 0-9 essays and those who wrote 10-14.

The Black bar taker study group was focused on the 3L spring MBE course offered at USD. The study group met weekly over Zoom during 3L spring of 2021, and continued to meet after graduation to focus on essay and MPT practice.[314] Participants also received Adaptibar memberships.[315] The study group had nine participants, with seven students on average attending the weekly meetings.[316]

The school reported that the 2021 study group had an 87.5% bar passage rate, compared to 40% in 2019 and 27.2% in 2018.[317] The report notes that the California bar exam cut score was lowered during that timeframe.[318]

The school is expanding the study group initiative to graduates in the bottom third of the graduating class and students from other underrepresented demographic groups.[319]

The school also analyzed data from 2018 and 2019 bar exam results and found that the following other bar interventions had a positive effect on bar passage: completing the bar exam simulation, submitting practice bar exam essays for grading, attending all the bar essay workshops, using certain commercial bar preparation programs, and scoring over 50% on a mock MBE.[320]

Elon University analyzed data from program participants who graduated in 2021. Of 116 graduates, 102 (88%) participated in the program.[323] Students of color were slightly more likely to participate in the program than White students (94% versus 88%).[324] The first quartile of the class had the highest participation rate (93%), followed by the fourth (89%), third (88%), and then second with the lowest (82%).[325]

Class of 2021 graduates sat for the bar exam for the first time in February 2022 (Elon University has a 2.5-year program). Overall, students who did not participate in the mentorship program had a higher bar passage rate (53% with a mentor versus 57% without a mentor).[326] However, the bar passage rate was higher for program participants in the first, second, and fourth quartiles.[327]

Elon University used a logistic regression model to examine the relationship between bar passage and mentoring program participation. The model included class of 2021 graduates who took the bar exam for the first time in North Carolina in February 2022.[328] The model was limited to the middle two quartiles of class rank because there was not enough variation in bar passage rates and program participation in the first and fourth quartiles.[329] The model included 43 students, seven of whom did not participate in the program.[330] Unfortunately, the small number of non-participants made the model too uncertain to determine a relationship.[331]

Elon University also administered a survey to program participants in March 2022, after the February 2022 bar exam but before results were received, to which half the participants responded.[332] Eighty-five percent of the survey respondents said they were somewhat or extremely satisfied with the program.[333] Respondents who passed the bar exam and those with higher class ranks were more likely to be satisfied.[334] Respondents were also more likely to be satisfied if they had a faculty or staff mentor, as opposed to an alumnus.[335] Participants reported that mentors were most helpful with dealing with anxiety, developing study strategies, increasing confidence, and motivation.[336]