Stephen Hammer dealt with a few distractions while he studied for the July Texas Bar Examination for six weeks over the summer, namely, taking care of five kids along with his wife and orchestrating a move from Ohio to Washington, D.C.

But Hammer—who served two tours of duty as a U.S. Army officer in Afghanistan before attending Harvard Law School, and is currently on the second of three federal clerkships— earned the highest score on the high-stakes test.