I'm spending a lot of my time these days studying for the Virginia bar exam. As well I should. I'm going to be in a lot of trouble with my law firm if I don't pass it (actually, I don't really know what would happen if I didn't--would they let me take it again in February?).

But the thing about the bar exam is that it's a minimum competency exam. About 74% of the people who take the Virginia exam pass it. If you pass, they don't tell you your score--only that it was good enough.

So that means that there is no point in getting 100% on the exam if a 65% will earn a pass. If, say, 65% is indeed the cutoff, the ideal score would be 66%.

There are a lot of things on this exam that either I've never heard of (commercial paper, the crazy Virginia separation of law and equity), heard of but never learned (wills and trusts law, Virginia income tax law) or don't remember well (torts, evidence, contracts, and basically the rest of the first year of law school). Only constitutional law do I feel moderately competent in, and that's only a small fraction of the exam (and I'm still scoring around 70% on practice exams anyway).

So in order to make sure I pass, it's obvious I've got to study. But the really hard question--perhaps the toughest question of the bar exam--is: How much do I need to study, and how much can I get away with not studying?

I know there are people who are studying harder than I am. I know there are people who aren't studying as hard as I am. Some people say don't sweat it; some say we're all gonna die. I imagine the appropriate attitude is somewhere in the middle, but I don't know where it is. I would hate to spend all of July buckling down and studying really, really hard, and get a 90% on the exam when I only needed a 65%. I would consider the extra 25% of studying to be wasted time--time that I could spend working for money, reading, sleeping, blogging, etc.

If anyone knows the answer, let me know. But for now, I'm just winging it.