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Hi guys,

I am new here. I took the July 12 CA Bar and did not pass. I took Kaplan for my prep course. I can get a full refund or take the course again for the Feb 13 Bar exam. I just need some advice.

Scores:
Essay 1 60
Essay 2 55
Essay 3 52.5
Essay 4 62.5
Essay 5 57.5
Essay 6 60.0
PT A 60.0
PT B 55.0

Scaled Written: 1352.31

MBE: Scaled MBE: 1507.00

Total: 1406.4484

Obviously, I need help with my essays and PTs. I do not think it is lack of knowledge. During the Kaplan course I was getting Exceeds expectations consistently.

Ive picked up Bar breaker Vol 1 and Bar exam survival kit to start studying again until the next prep course starts.

Im just really at a loss on how to improve my essay scores. Advice? What course is best with essay help? Any other books I should look through?

Does your school offer any bar prep resources (do they have anyone available that could offer free tutoring)? If not, maybe you could use the Kaplan refund to hire a private tutor?

They do offer a bar course. I took that my last semester as a 3l and was also getting exceeds expectations.

Do you think a private tutor is the way to go? As of now I'm playing the waiting game until I get my exact essays I wrote for the bar.

Sorry to hear about this.

Essays:
Don't use Barbri's essay book - it's useless, except the short outlines. The essay questions listed in the book are way too old.
You should go over all the released essay questions and the sample answers.
You can PM me for the old essay questions and the sample answers (2002-2012 Feb). I also have the real graded essay answers. So that you can know what 65, 60, or 55 is like.

A useful book is the Bar Code. It gives you templates and canned paragraphs you can readily use.

PTs:
For the PTs, I think the key point is to have lots of HEADINGS and the CONCLUSION (both the heading and paragraph) even if you don't have anything to say for the conclusion.

When you practice the PTs, you can break down the PT into two parts: reading/heading and the actual writing.
1) Reading/heading: spend 80 minutes reading through the material; make notes; open a word file and write down all the headings.

2) Writing (~80 mins): based on the headings you already have, fill in the details.

You can practice reading/heading on one day and writing on another day with the headings you've already made.

Again, you should practice with the released old PTs.

* * *
You will pass the second time. For sure.

Sorry to hear this... kudos to you for having the courage to do it again!!

Did you receive your raw MBE or only scaled?

Mick Haller wrote:Sorry to hear this... kudos to you for having the courage to do it again!!

Did you receive your raw MBE or only scaled?

My raw mbe was 139 . Could use a little work, but if I got each essay up 5 points I would have passed.

_crystal_m wrote:

Mick Haller wrote:Sorry to hear this... kudos to you for having the courage to do it again!!

Did you receive your raw MBE or only scaled?

My raw mbe was 139 . Could use a little work, but if I got each essay up 5 points I would have passed.

Several of us are trying to hammer out a few theories on Cal bar success. Most of us have assumed that doing well on the MBE = likely passing. But your example kind of runs counter to that. Did they say what the average raw MBE was?

If you don't mind me asking (this is an anonymous forum after all), what was your class rank in law school?

_crystal_m wrote:

Mick Haller wrote:Sorry to hear this... kudos to you for having the courage to do it again!!

Did you receive your raw MBE or only scaled?

My raw mbe was 139 . Could use a little work, but if I got each essay up 5 points I would have passed.

Curious, were you able to complete all of the essays?

Although I'm glad it was offered, I did not find the Kaplan essay grading to be extremely helpful. I thought it was more productive to self-grade the essays based on the model answers. Some of the Kaplan graders provided helpful advice, though.

It sounds like you're really close to a passing score, and since you probably already know most of the law from studying over the summer, you can devote all of your time to essay and MBE questions.

I.P. Daly wrote:

_crystal_m wrote:

Mick Haller wrote:Sorry to hear this... kudos to you for having the courage to do it again!!

Did you receive your raw MBE or only scaled?

My raw mbe was 139 . Could use a little work, but if I got each essay up 5 points I would have passed.

Curious, were you able to complete all of the essays?

Although I'm glad it was offered, I did not find the Kaplan essay grading to be extremely helpful. I thought it was more productive to self-grade the essays based on the model answers. Some of the Kaplan graders provided helpful advice, though.

It sounds like you're really close to a passing score, and since you probably already know most of the law from studying over the summer, you can devote all of your time to essay and MBE questions.

I was actually 30 away form passing.

I did finish all of my essays but I did not get to go back and proof read.

Mick Haller wrote:

_crystal_m wrote:

Mick Haller wrote:Sorry to hear this... kudos to you for having the courage to do it again!!

Did you receive your raw MBE or only scaled?

My raw mbe was 139 . Could use a little work, but if I got each essay up 5 points I would have passed.

Several of us are trying to hammer out a few theories on Cal bar success. Most of us have assumed that doing well on the MBE = likely passing. But your example kind of runs counter to that. Did they say what the average raw MBE was?

If you don't mind me asking (this is an anonymous forum after all), what was your class rank in law school?

USUALLY doing well on the MBE=pass. However, I literally "failed" every essay and PT, which was enough to give me a passing score.

I would have to look at what they sent me to see if has the average for the MBE, ill do that when Im home later or tomorrow.

My rank was 9

_crystal_m wrote:

Mick Haller wrote:

_crystal_m wrote:

Mick Haller wrote:Sorry to hear this... kudos to you for having the courage to do it again!!

Did you receive your raw MBE or only scaled?

My raw mbe was 139 . Could use a little work, but if I got each essay up 5 points I would have passed.

Several of us are trying to hammer out a few theories on Cal bar success. Most of us have assumed that doing well on the MBE = likely passing. But your example kind of runs counter to that. Did they say what the average raw MBE was?

If you don't mind me asking (this is an anonymous forum after all), what was your class rank in law school?

USUALLY doing well on the MBE=pass. However, I literally "failed" every essay and PT, which was enough to give me a passing score.

I would have to look at what they sent me to see if has the average for the MBE, ill do that when Im home later or tomorrow.

My rank was 9

I strongly believe there is no way to study for PTs--they are all so different and don't test anything you can study. They're all about organization and writing ability. I don't know how to improve that other than just practicing legal writing.

As for essays, did you do all the usual tips they tell you to do? Lots of HEADINGS and BOLDED SHIT IN CAPS and so on? I think the vast majority of essays just test formulaic rule application, so as long as you know the rules and state them correctly and succinctly, you should be okay. Relatedly, I think actually writing out whole essays is a gigantic waste of time. Just do thorough (but quick) outlines, think about the problems, and repeat. Go over them multiple times so you REALLY understand them.

Lastly, I would spend ~75% of your time studying the MBE subjects. I would recommend paying the $300 for Adaptibar and doing all 1,500 questions they have released. It's a great way to study and since it collects data on your answers, you can see where you need to focus your studying.

Mod: move thread to Bar Exam thread?

_crystal_m wrote:Hi guys,

I am new here. I took the July 12 CA Bar and did not pass. I took Kaplan for my prep course. I can get a full refund or take the course again for the Feb 13 Bar exam. I just need some advice.

Scores:
Essay 1 60
Essay 2 55
Essay 3 52.5
Essay 4 62.5
Essay 5 57.5
Essay 6 60.0
PT A 60.0
PT B 55.0

Scaled Written: 1352.31

MBE: Scaled MBE: 1507.00

Total: 1406.4484

Obviously, I need help with my essays and PTs. I do not think it is lack of knowledge. During the Kaplan course I was getting Exceeds expectations consistently.

Ive picked up Bar breaker Vol 1 and Bar exam survival kit to start studying again until the next prep course starts.

Im just really at a loss on how to improve my essay scores. Advice? What course is best with essay help? Any other books I should look through?

Do you happen to have the formulas used to convert your raw to scaled score?

PS: I hope you ended up being successful at this exam.