BarBri Thread: People taking Barbri for July 2013 exam Forum

[nevdash]

Still 12%. Haven't tried an essay yet. Going to get more serious next week.

I think the practice essays are mostly flame. I mean, you already know how to write a law school exam, so the only hurdles seem to be 1) learning the BLL, and 2) teaching yourself how to write a simpler, shorter essay than you would write on an exam. Doesn't seem very difficult.

[td6624]

Still 12%. Haven't tried an essay yet. Going to get more serious next week.

I think the practice essays are mostly flame. I mean, you already know how to write a law school exam, so the only hurdles seem to be 1) learning the BLL, and 2) teaching yourself how to write a simpler, shorter essay than you would write on an exam. Doesn't seem very difficult.

the first thing is what's going to give me trouble. memorizing stuff i've never seen or thought about before. i lost that skill somewhere along the line here.

[kaiser]

Still 12%. Haven't tried an essay yet. Going to get more serious next week.

I think the practice essays are mostly flame. I mean, you already know how to write a law school exam, so the only hurdles seem to be 1) learning the BLL, and 2) teaching yourself how to write a simpler, shorter essay than you would write on an exam. Doesn't seem very difficult.

the first thing is what's going to give me trouble. memorizing stuff i've never seen or thought about before. i lost that skill somewhere along the line here.

If you are having trouble with memorization, I'd recommend the flashcard approach with online flashcards that sync to a phone app. Allows you to carry hundreds of cards with you anywhere you go that you can always edit when necessary. By flipping through the cards on the train, on the john, while eating breakfast, etc. I've been able to really drill a lot of law into memory. Takes awhile, but its particularly helpful if you have trouble memorizing simply by reading.

[5ky]

Still 12%. Haven't tried an essay yet. Going to get more serious next week.

I think the practice essays are mostly flame. I mean, you already know how to write a law school exam, so the only hurdles seem to be 1) learning the BLL, and 2) teaching yourself how to write a simpler, shorter essay than you would write on an exam. Doesn't seem very difficult.

I think a bigger flame is doing the practice MPTs. I read over the file and library and then sketch out an outline of what I would talk about, but I see absolutely no reason to actually write out the analysis, which is both relatively straight forward, and not something we actually need to learn. I have 3 years of writing legal analysis, I can do a passable job without more practice.

[legends159]

FWIW a couple of tips for someone who took barbri for the NY bar last June and passed (and scored embarrassingly high on the MBE). I started studying the second to last week of June since I graduated late and had put off research papers (needed for graduation credit) until the end of my 3L year so I needed to work efficiently to cram all this information in a little under 6 weeks.

1. Get a program to download the videos and watch them on 1.5x-2x speed. You can google and find ones that work. I found myself more engaged when I was able to watch them more quickly. Or just ignore the videos all together if you have a good outline from a prior year. I found it strange that some people thought that going to the lectures and taking notes would be enough. That may be for some people who have a ridiculously good memory but I needed to spend less time watching videos and more time memorizing the black letter law.

2. AMP is a waste of time and pretty useless. It's a huge time sink

3. Don't do any MPTs - they're really easy and you can't prepare all the different types. I just spent an hour a few days before the exam to look at the types of MPTs so I wouldn't be blindsided

4. Don't bother writing out essays - just outline them and read answers and take notes - it's more important to try and read the fact pattern of every single essay you can get your hands on, think about them and then read the answers then to try and spend 45 minutes typing out answers to each essay. Make sure to get the real past NY essays from the nys bole website and read those as well as the barbri ones.

5. Get a good outline from a friend or online as a baseline or make your own and then just plug in as much law as you can from the videos and from reviewing old essays. I would highlight NY distinctions in the outline b/c there are times when the NY and MBE rules are complete opposites.

6. the NY multiple choice questions are a shitshow - they are worth very little and ridiculously nuanced. I wouldn't waste time studying them or doing the barbri practice questions as they will just discourage you.

7. focus on the BIG picture - you just need a 5 on each NY essay to pass assuming you get 60% on the MBE - focus on the large subjects. Barbri will give you a sheet with frequency of question types asked - just use that as a framework for studying. For example, wills will always be on the exam - so know wills really well. Secured transactions or choice of law are rarely on the exam, and if so are an ancillary issue - so don't spend too much time knowing them.

8. Studying for the bar is really just one big memorization exercise. Use mnemonics if that's helpful or flashcards or outlines. I wouldn't create anything from scratch if you can help it as that would be a big time sink. Do whatever worked for you in law school and don't reinvent your study habits now.

9. The progress bar (if they still have it) is a huge flame. I never got past 30% on that thing even towards the end. There simply is not enough hours in the day. I just gave up trying to do all the work and just focused on making sure I had a great concise outline with all the relevant law under the sun so that 1-2 weeks out I can just read the outline over and over again until I memorized everything. I think my total outline was about 150 pages - which included every single subject.

10. Do practice MBE questions and review them. The ones you get wrong - you just didn't know the law - so add that piece of information into your outline.

[TheReignmaker]

Getting like 50% on these MBE quizzes. And anything to do with property straight up murders me. Starting to feel freaked-out midway through June.

Guess this expensive program is working as intended. Anyone else taking the Washington state bar?

[NinerFan]

Still 12%. Haven't tried an essay yet. Going to get more serious next week.

I think the practice essays are mostly flame. I mean, you already know how to write a law school exam, so the only hurdles seem to be 1) learning the BLL, and 2) teaching yourself how to write a simpler, shorter essay than you would write on an exam. Doesn't seem very difficult.

the first thing is what's going to give me trouble. memorizing stuff i've never seen or thought about before. i lost that skill somewhere along the line here.

If you are having trouble with memorization, I'd recommend the flashcard approach with online flashcards that sync to a phone app. Allows you to carry hundreds of cards with you anywhere you go that you can always edit when necessary. By flipping through the cards on the train, on the john, while eating breakfast, etc. I've been able to really drill a lot of law into memory. Takes awhile, but its particularly helpful if you have trouble memorizing simply by reading.

Any rec's on good apps for this?

[kaiser]

Any rec's on good apps for this?

I've been using StudyDroid.com and the corresponding Android app. Quizzlet is another one I've used in the past. With StudyDroid, you can search archives of public flashcard packs, and I believe there were quite a few on bar exam stuff. So that can help for quizzing yourself on BLL if you don't have time to make your own. But I found the process of making the cards an effective form of review.

[anonymcoffee]

it may be too early for this, but I would like some recommendations on how to memorize efficiently - all the exams in law school have been open book. I'll do flashcards ...read over and over the handouts, anything else?

[NinerFan]

Any rec's on good apps for this?

I've been using StudyDroid.com and the corresponding Android app. Quizzlet is another one I've used in the past. With StudyDroid, you can search archives of public flashcard packs, and I believe there were quite a few on bar exam stuff. So that can help for quizzing yourself on BLL if you don't have time to make your own. But I found the process of making the cards an effective form of review.

Ah thanks. Unfortunately I've got an iphone so that probably won't work. I'll look into what's available on the app store.

[Green Crayons]

it may be too early for this, but I would like some recommendations on how to memorize efficiently - all the exams in law school have been open book. I'll do flashcards ...read over and over the handouts, anything else?

Memorizing abstractly never helps me. What works for me is writing and rewriting each BLL rule, peaking at the source material only at the beginning. After having written a BLL rule about 10 times without looking, it's more or less stuck and I move to the next rule. At breaking points between topics, I will retype from memory everything I've learned up to that point. I will switch up the order of BLL rules when I retype so I'm not simply memorizing the order.

It's boring. It takes a while. But it's what works for me.

[Joe Quincy]

Any rec's on good apps for this?

I've been using StudyDroid.com and the corresponding Android app. Quizzlet is another one I've used in the past. With StudyDroid, you can search archives of public flashcard packs, and I believe there were quite a few on bar exam stuff. So that can help for quizzing yourself on BLL if you don't have time to make your own. But I found the process of making the cards an effective form of review.

Ah thanks. Unfortunately I've got an iphone so that probably won't work. I'll look into what's available on the app store.

Flashcard Deluxe. Downloads from Quizlet/Flashcard Exchange and you can sync to dropbox and edit them in Excel if you want to make your own.

[Tangerine Gleam]

What's the verdict on the "Essay Writing Approach" videos for each of the subjects? Helpful? Redundant?

EDIT: More specifically, are they redundant as compared to the essay-writing outlines that are already in the essay practice book?

[spaacecdt]

What's the verdict on the "Essay Writing Approach" videos for each of the subjects? Helpful? Redundant?

EDIT: More specifically, are they redundant as compared to the essay-writing outlines that are already in the essay practice book?

The worst answer: for CA-- it depends. Some are useful and Sakai gives more info than provided on the bare bones handout. Others he just reads the handout.

[DwightSchruteFarms]

3. Don't do any MPTs - they're really easy and you can't prepare all the different types. I just spent an hour a few days before the exam to look at the types of MPTs so I wouldn't be blindsided

4. Don't bother writing out essays - just outline them and read answers and take notes - it's more important to try and read the fact pattern of every single essay you can get your hands on, think about them and then read the answers then to try and spend 45 minutes typing out answers to each essay. Make sure to get the real past NY essays from the nys bole website and read those as well as the barbri ones.

Great post. I agreed with everything, except the quoted statements. I've heard that doing MPTs is the only way to speed up your MPT skills, since its a huge time crush. Also, I'ev heard that we should be trying to right out as many essays as possible. Either way, thanks for the post! I found it quite helpful and reassuring (esp about the AMPs).

Edit: Im also taking the CA Bar

[nevdash]

What's the verdict on the "Essay Writing Approach" videos for each of the subjects? Helpful? Redundant?

EDIT: More specifically, are they redundant as compared to the essay-writing outlines that are already in the essay practice book?

The worst answer: for CA-- it depends. Some are useful and Sakai gives more info than provided on the bare bones handout. Others he just reads the handout.

Which ones have you found useful? I watched Torts and Con Law and he seemed like a straight idiot in both, so I haven't watched any others.

[Tangerine Gleam]

What's the verdict on the "Essay Writing Approach" videos for each of the subjects? Helpful? Redundant?

EDIT: More specifically, are they redundant as compared to the essay-writing outlines that are already in the essay practice book?

The worst answer: for CA-- it depends. Some are useful and Sakai gives more info than provided on the bare bones handout. Others he just reads the handout.

Thanks for the info. How about the MBE workshops? I've missed the first few and am wondering if going through the videos is necessary, or if I should just do the problems. For some reason, I can't download/speed up the MBE workshops (unlike all the other BarBri videos).

[AntiHuman]

I am like 2 weeks behind. I think I'm going to skip the essay writing approach videos, essay analysis videos for each essay, and the mbe workshop videos...just do as many MBE questions as possible and outline as many essays as possible(don't write them out completely?) Thoughts?

General tips on what to skip on the paced program would be greatly appreciated. I am falling behind and feel like I should only do whats necessary. Already skipping on AMPS.

[spaacecdt]

What's the verdict on the "Essay Writing Approach" videos for each of the subjects? Helpful? Redundant?

EDIT: More specifically, are they redundant as compared to the essay-writing outlines that are already in the essay practice book?

The worst answer: for CA-- it depends. Some are useful and Sakai gives more info than provided on the bare bones handout. Others he just reads the handout.

Thanks for the info. How about the MBE workshops? I've missed the first few and am wondering if going through the videos is necessary, or if I should just do the problems. For some reason, I can't download/speed up the MBE workshops (unlike all the other BarBri videos).

Most of the MBE video is covered in the "answers and analysis" portion of the MBE workbook. The first few minutes (10-15?), however, gives an overview of % of types of questions within the subject that show up on the MBE and also how many questions, overall, from the subject show up on the MBE-- that could be useful for perspective.

Intermingled in the MBE videos are little strategy hints for answering certain types of questions. I think, then, it's a balancing question-- should you waste many minutes of your life to find a few golden nuggets?

[Tangerine Gleam]

I am like 2 weeks behind. I think I'm going to skip the essay writing approach videos, essay analysis videos for each essay, and the mbe workshop videos...just do as many MBE questions as possible and outline as many essays as possible(don't write them out completely?) Thoughts?

General tips on what to skip on the paced program would be greatly appreciated. I am falling behind and feel like I should only do whats necessary. Already skipping on AMPS.

This sounds a lot like me.

I've heard that we can call BarBri and they can retool our Paced programs to reflect how much time we have. I was thinking about doing that myself.

[dunkin]

Does anyone know anything about the BARBRI Mini Review program - whether it's worth it to sign up or if it's essentially the same lectures we already heard? It's $99 in California if we register by June 30, and I can't decide whether to sign up. As awful as 8 hours of more video lectures sound, I'll probably be in full-on panic mode by then and might be wishing I had.

[BCLS]

Does anyone know anything about the BARBRI Mini Review program - whether it's worth it to sign up or if it's essentially the same lectures we already heard? It's $99 in California if we register by June 30, and I can't decide whether to sign up. As awful as 8 hours of more video lectures sound, I'll probably be in full-on panic mode by then and might be wishing I had.

Yeah I'm thinking about doing this as well.

[Stinson]

Can we change the title to something more reflective of the BarBri experience, like "People Suffering From Barbri for July 2013 exam" or "Support Group for those Affected By Barbri July 2013?"

[DwightSchruteFarms]

Can we change the title to something more reflective of the BarBri experience, like "People Suffering From Barbri for July 2013 exam" or "Support Group for those Affected By Barbri July 2013?"

LOLBri

or perhaps TTTrollBri

[Tangerine Gleam]

Just did my first practice CA Performance Test. Pretty damn tough.