LexBar was originally designed just for new law graduates taking a bar exam for the first time. And that is still a large part of our student population! Most students who are in that position are also simultaneously enrolled in a Virginia-specific program from Barbri or Themis. LexBar is a perfect add-on to ensure your essay exam skills are on-point, and the LexBar program can be accomplished along with your study schedule in your primary bar prep program.

Each LexBar lesson after the first one takes about one hour to complete, and most students do not find it too difficult to work this into their schedule with another major bar prep program. Most traditional bar exam students start the LexBar program about four weeks prior to their exam, and do one (1-hour) lesson every other day up to their exam.

LexBar is an important add-on because the major programs have adapted their schedules and content to be more focused on students taking the UBE. Therefore, many Virginia students find that the major bar prep programs do not schedule enough time to learn Virginia law for our unique state-specific essays. Many students also find that the major programs’ grading of essays is very hit-or-miss and sometimes not at all accurate for the Virginia exam. LexBar provides that boost for first-time exam takers, and is a great add-on to the materials provided by Barbri, Themis, or Kaplan.

Out-of-state attorneys who wish to get licensed here will benefit from LexBar. The Virginia Bar offers a couple of ways to get licensed here. If you want to know more about how LexBar helps out-of-state attorneys obtain Virginia licensure, see our transferring attorneys page. 

Note that the Virginia Essay Exam is challenging. It is not like the more straightforward state-specific exams “attorneys’ exams” that tend to exist in UBE states. The essay exam is comprehensive, covering 12 different subject areas (depending on exactly how you break them out) and focusing mainly on unique distinctions of Virginia law. LexBar will help you succeed on this challenging exam, but for some students LexBar alone is not enough.

More and more students are using LexBar plus publicly available materials to succeed on the essay exam. Our examiners repeatedly test the same legal rules, just placing them in different factual contexts. So if you go back through the last 10 years of exams or so, you will have seen about 90% of the legal rules they will ever test in the future. So using LexBar along with the free William and Mary essay bank (with sample answers written by local law professors) is a strategy that students are using successfully.

But many LexBar students – and all first-time takers who also are taking the MBE – are also enrolled in a Virginia-specific program from Barbri or Themis. If you’re only taking the essay exam, those programs’ MBE materials will not be very useful at all because our exam tests state-specific distinctions. But those courses also have full outlines of Virginia law and day-by-day study schedules with clearly assigned tasks for each day.

By contrast, LexBar uses interactive practice to help you learn the law and is entirely self-paced. Depending on which LexBar plan you choose, you will use practice essays, flashcards, multiple-choice quizzes, live tutoring classes, and suggested assignments that can be completed using free resources outside of the course, to succeed on the exam. But LexBar does not include full outlines of Virginia law or day-by-day study schedules. If you are a student who feels that you need those things, you will still need to purchase a Virginia-specific course from Barbri or Themis in addition to LexBar.

Bottom line: If you want full outlines of Virginia law or a specific day-by-day agenda, then you will need a program like Themis or Barbri for Virginia to get those resources. If you are an industrious and self-motivated student, you can do it with LexBar plus free materials that we will point you to.

LexBar is just the addition that some students need to pass the exam. It’s designed to give you an added boost on your essay exam. This makes sense as a strategy for passing because your essay exam is worth 60% when taken with the MBE. One of the decisions some eligible retakers need to make is whether to take only the essay exam or repeat the MBE as well. This exam is difficult and many students fail it and have to retake it. Hang in there! You can do it!

Unfortunately, many people do fail the Virginia Bar Exam , so you are not alone. If you scored 137 or higher on the MBE, you probably should not retake it. This is especially true if your essay section score was also in the 130’s or higher. Many students can increase their essay scores dramatically, but their MBE score is relatively more stable from attempt-to-attempt.

The essay exam is comprehensive, covering 12 subject areas (depending on how they are broken out) and focusing mainly on unique distinctions of Virginia law. LexBar will help you succeed on this challenging exam, but for some students, LexBar alone is not enough.

More and more students are using LexBar along with publicly available materials to succeed on the essay exam. Our examiners repeatedly test the same legal rules, just placing them in different factual contexts. So, if you go back through the last 10 years of exams or so, you will have seen about 90% of the legal rules they will ever test in the future. So, using LexBar with the free William and Mary essay bank (with sample answers written by local law professors) is a strategy that students are using successfully.

But many LexBar students – and all first-time takers who are also taking the MBE – are enrolled in a Virginia-specific program from Barbri or Themis. If you’re only taking the essay exam, those programs’ MBE materials will not be very useful because our exam tests state-specific distinctions. But those courses also have full outlines of Virginia law and day-by-day study schedules with clearly assigned tasks for each day.

By contrast, LexBar uses interactive practice to help you learn the law and is entirely self-paced. Depending on which LexBar plan you choose, you will use practice essays, flashcards, multiple-choice quizzes, live tutoring classes, and suggested assignments (which can be completed using free resources outside the course) to succeed on the exam. But LexBar does not include full outlines of Virginia law or day-by-day study schedules. If you are a student who feels you need those resources, you will still need to purchase a Virginia-specific course from Barbri or Themis in addition to LexBar.

Bottom line: If you want full outlines of Virginia law or a specific day-by-day agenda, then you will need a program like Themis or Barbri for Virginia to get those resources. If you are an industrious and self-motivated student, you can succeed with LexBar and the free materials that we will point you to.

Not really. Virginia does offer a process called “Admission Without Examination” but given its many requirements, we wouldn’t call it a waiver. We have written an article that covers all the options for out-of-state attorneys getting admitted in Virginia .

LexBar is self-paced, and you will have access to it for six months from the date you purchase the course. Ideally, we suggest starting the course about 4 to 8 weeks before your exam and doing one lesson every few days. It is possible to complete the course in 2 weeks by doing one lesson per day, but we recommend taking a slower approach, if possible. Note that when you enroll in LexBar, you receive six months of unlimited course access. If you delay taking the exam beyond your LexBar expiration date, you will have to re-enroll to regain access.

LexBar can also be used as a supplemental course alongside one from Barbri or Themis. Each LexBar lesson after the first one takes about one hour to complete, and most students do not find it too difficult to work this into their schedule with another bar prep program.

For the two LexBar plans that include essay grading, as you work through the lessons in LexBar, in most lessons, you will write an answer to a practice essay and then self-grade your answer by watching our short video explanations of the correct answer and reviewing an expertly written LexBar Model Answer. On three specific lessons, you will be prompted to upload a Microsoft Word document of your answer. Within 24 hours of uploading, one of our small team of highly-trained Virginia lawyers will return your essay to you via email with detailed, actionable comments and a score.

Our essay grading is designed to teach you skills that you will carry forward to future essays. Our tips will apply not just to the essay we are grading for you, but will also give insight into how to fix problems across all your future essay answers. Our grading is detailed with complete comments, and if there is ever something you don’t understand, you can just email the grader!

No. All LexBar subscriptions are for a fixed term of 6-months, after which they expire and all your course progress data is automatically deleted. There is no automatic rebilling. If you wish to renew, you would have to purchase again.

LexBar does not include full outlines of Virginia law or day-by-day study schedules. It also includes nothing related to the MBE. Some LexBar students are also enrolled in a Virginia-specific course from one of the big bar prep companies to gain access to the full outlines of Virginia law those companies provide, to have a structured daily study schedule, and/or to have resources to practice for the MBE portion of the exam. LexBar was originally designed as an add-on to a primary bar review course and can be completed in 1 hour per day over the last 14 days of your study period.

In recent years, many students who are only taking the Virginia essay exam have opted to forgo the big bar prep companies entirely and use LexBar along with free publicly available sources, many of which we recommend within our lessons. LexBar uses interactive practice to help you learn the law. Depending on which LexBar plan you choose, that will include practice essays, flashcards for Va Civ Pro, multiple-choice quizzes, live tutoring classes, and suggested assignments that can be completed using free resources outside of the course.

But LexBar does not include full outlines of Virginia law or day-by-day study schedules. If you feel that you need those things, then you will still need to purchase a Virginia-specific course from Barbri or Themis in addition to LexBar.

Your subscription to LexBar includes six months of access. We don’t pause or extend memberships for free, but you can continue to use the course all the way until it expires at the end of six months, even if that is beyond the next bar exam date. After the end of six months, you would then have to purchase the course again to continue using it. We have to do this because seats in the course are limited, and allowing someone to remain in the course for free beyond six months would deprive someone else of the opportunity to enroll.

LexBar students have an average pass rate of 94.3% across all the years of our existence, but whether you pass depends largely on your dedication to using interactive learning techniques and spending your time wisely. LexBar is a tool that will help, but your own study and preparation are still critical to your success. We do not have a guarantee related to passing the bar exam because that would be counter-productive. 

There are no refunds or discounts on LexBar when repeating the course or the bar exam.