Squeeze Every Drop Out of Your Tutor

If you failed the bar exam after working with a tutor, ask your tutor what happened. Think of it like watching your game footage with the coach. Focus on the details to secure your win next time.

Reaching out to your instructor is proactive. Such initiative sets resilience in motion by taking control over your performance. Post-performance analysis turns painful results into actionable preparation.

Whether you gain reassurance in your instructor’s system or whether you realize that this instructor does not have a system that works for you, this conversation is insightful.

This meeting represents your determination to do what is necessary to achieve your goal of passing the next bar exam.

While confidence is wavering, and the sting of disappointment is still fresh, champions analyze what went wrong to make it right.

How to Get What You Want

Respectfully appreciate their time and ask for their expert insight into your bar exam results.

Make your tutor feel safe to talk with you. If the tutor has a history of failing candidates and angry calls, they are unlikely to be receptive at first to your inquiry. If their defensiveness limits the conversation, try to stay receptive to covert insight.

To avoid defensive remarks like: “my program works for everyone else”, appeal to their ego as an “expert” who can give you insight. Not all experts are emotionally mature. If they feel you are blaming them, they will turn on you.

Allowing your humbleness, sincerity, and determination to shine opens the door to this conversation.

Seeking Clarity from the Person You Already Paid

Give your tutor the opportunity to help you sort out what you need to do to achieve your goal. It may result in your not having to pay for any more help.

The bar exam is a unique breed of exams. You may work without ceasing, do well in practice, think you did well at the exam, and fail. Ask your instructor for clarity.

With the thought of your passing the exam next time, seek their preparation guidance. Give them a chance to evaluate the performance (they prepared you for) and ask how you can stay on track or avoid obstacles.

They may want to hear from you. After all, it is a team loss.

If your tutor is worth their salt, and you had a good working relationship, then the communication channel should be open. Although they may not contractually owe you a follow-up meeting, they may want to know what happened.

A good teacher should want their student to succeed.

This Assessment Assesses Your Tutor Too

You are evaluating your past performance with eyes on your present studies.

Your tutor’s response is limited to their experience and ability to get candidates to pass the bar exam. A qualified instructor should guide this assessment, asking questions to gain insight into what went wrong outside their view. Their focus should be how to tweak your practice for the next performance.

If alternatively the instructor does not handle this sensitive time with sensitivity, nor take this opportunity to help you troubleshoot, this indicates they are likely only qualified to teach bar review. If they are aggressive or make you feel like you fell short, consider the fact that they have no idea how to help at this point.

The point is, at this point, don’t take an aggressive response personally. It is not about you. It is about their shortcoming and the fear of the possibility of it being seen.

Is the Path Right or Needs More Light?

Take what you can get from this conversation with your tutor, and move onward and upward.

If the tutorial was beneficial you may keep going in the right direction on your own without costing you any more money.

If the tutorial was beneficial and participation mutual, you may want to keep the productive rhythm going by arranging practice exams for a minimal amount of money while you get stronger.

Whether it secures your staying on the right path or lights a new path, a conversation with your tutor likely will provide some clarity for your winning performance.

In conclusion, learn why you were thrown off, then grab that bull by the horns and enjoy the ride!

If you need further help assessing your performance and want a game plan, check out how I got CA Bar Exam multi-repeaters to pass the next CA Bar Exam in my book GOT THEM TO PASS: Here, Candor and Conformity.

Your willingness to evaluate your loss, and do what it takes to win, shows you have what it takes to pass this exam.

Best of luck to you.