CA July 2015 - Themis Study Buddies

[Pleasye]

Anyone else wake up hungover and not start today? I'm watching the intro videos right now.

[sopranorleone]

Also in on the hangover fun.

What's everyone's plan? Directed or flex study? I'm going on a week-long cruise in June, so flex for me.

[TheLegalOne]

Also in on the hangover fun.

What's everyone's plan? Directed or flex study? I'm going on a week-long cruise in June, so flex for me.

I'm going to do Flex study. I'm waiting on my scores and will be working with a tutor. I will have to coordinate his suggested schedule w/Themis' schedule.

[Pleasye]

I'm gonna Directed study for now and see how it goes. Although my tasks are already messed up because I forgot to click complete on something from yesterday.

[Underoath]

I'm using directed study for now and as of now I am on target with where I should be, but it's Ks my highest grade in law school that is tested on the exam. Wills&Trusts I am going to have problems...haha

[sopranorleone]

I'm using directed study for now and as of now I am on target with where I should be, but it's Ks my highest grade in law school that is tested on the exam. Wills&Trusts I am going to have problems...haha

SAME, so not looking forward to that...or anything with "property" in the title

Side note: it's hilarious to play the lecture videos on half-speed. The lecturers sound drunk

[Underoath]

I'm using directed study for now and as of now I am on target with where I should be, but it's Ks my highest grade in law school that is tested on the exam. Wills&Trusts I am going to have problems...haha

SAME, so not looking forward to that...or anything with "property" in the title

Side note: it's hilarious to play the lecture videos on half-speed. The lecturers sound drunk

HAHAHAHAHA thanks I am about to check that out now.

[Worker and Parasite]

Just started but not really sure how this program is going to take 8-10 hours per day...probably naive of me

[magr33n]

Just started but not really sure how this program is going to take 8-10 hours per day...probably naive of me

Same for me...I've been watching the videos at 2x speed, but it is still only taking me around 5-6 hours to get through all the daily assignments. I'm not sure if I should continue reviewing, or trust in Themis's Directed Study.

[MarcZero]

I'm getting a little frustrated at all of the auction related practice MBE questions so far when there isn't any material to teach us the rules. I'm not sure about everyone else, but our first year contracts class never discussed auctions and the rules related to reserves, lots, and gavel-banging.

[101670944]

I'm getting a little frustrated at all of the auction related practice MBE questions so far when there isn't any material to teach us the rules. I'm not sure about everyone else, but our first year contracts class never discussed auctions and the rules related to reserves, lots, and gavel-banging.

YES. I also found this to be very fucked up. Never knew about auction rules until I read the long outline. I also didn't expect to be tested on that for our first round of MBEs.

[arizzle]

I used Themis for the February exam and passed (I was a first timer). I just thought I'd offer my two cents.

First, I should note I studied while also working full time....at night. So I would work 8:30pm until 5am, sleep till around 11am, and then study from about noon to 5pm every day.

For the first three weeks or so I followed the directed study, watching the lectures at 2x. After three weeks I completely abandoned this approach as I found it to be a waste of time. Even though I eventually stopped watching the lectures, I did speed through all of them and answer the review questions. I also ditched the long form outlines.

In a nutshell, my daily routine became: set of MBE problems, read short-form outline , another MBE set, practice essay.

I would do this for each subject until I felt I had a decent grasp on the major topics. So basically 3-4 days on each MBE subject. I would then start doing mixed-set MBEs. The crucial part of this process is reviewing the answers to MBE questions you got wrong and figuring out why you were wrong.

For the essays and PTs, focus on practicing your formatting. Obviously substance and analysis is crucial, but the actual format of your answer (headings, sub-headings, use of italics, bold, underline, etc.) is equally important. There is no doubt in my mind that answers with the exact same substance and analysis, but different formatting, can get wildly divergent scores. Remember, the exam graders spend AT MOST two minutes reading your answer. You have to make it easy on them.


So my final tips:

Skip the lectures and long outlines

Do as many MBE questions as possible, making sure you review the answers

Practice essay formatting

Do not study the day before the exam. Get to your hotel early and just relax.

Good luck.

[paulshortys10]

Was away on a clinic trip for the past week, so i'm barely starting with the lectures today. Is everyone ONLY using the Themis materials, or are some of you buying practice tests and questions to do on the side? Also, is everyone following the 5 days a week schedule? How long is each day supposed to take (i'm assuming 6-8 hours?)

[Pleasye]

Was away on a clinic trip for the past week, so i'm barely starting with the lectures today. Is everyone ONLY using the Themis materials, or are some of you buying practice tests and questions to do on the side? Also, is everyone following the 5 days a week schedule? How long is each day supposed to take (i'm assuming 6-8 hours?)

I'm only using Themis for now (it's overwhelming enough already). I'll probably reevaluate later on. The directed study schedule is 7 days a week so I'm trying to stick to that for now (it's pretty light on Sundays at first). The days have been taking me about 6-7 hours so far but they are already getting longer as more tasks and practice type stuff is added on.

[101670944]

Was away on a clinic trip for the past week, so i'm barely starting with the lectures today. Is everyone ONLY using the Themis materials, or are some of you buying practice tests and questions to do on the side? Also, is everyone following the 5 days a week schedule? How long is each day supposed to take (i'm assuming 6-8 hours?)

My Themis schedule is 7 days, with some flexibility on the weekends (I'm assuming this will soon change). I'm thinking about doing the 3-day PMBR on demand toward the end of Themis, at least after I've finished over 75% of the course. For now, Themis is giving me plenty to do and I feel like I am improving my performance enough that PMBR and other supplements aren't immediate needs.

Good luck!

[paulshortys10]

Was away on a clinic trip for the past week, so i'm barely starting with the lectures today. Is everyone ONLY using the Themis materials, or are some of you buying practice tests and questions to do on the side? Also, is everyone following the 5 days a week schedule? How long is each day supposed to take (i'm assuming 6-8 hours?)

My Themis schedule is 7 days, with some flexibility on the weekends (I'm assuming this will soon change). I'm thinking about doing the 3-day PMBR on demand toward the end of Themis, at least after I've finished over 75% of the course. For now, Themis is giving me plenty to do and I feel like I am improving my performance enough that PMBR and other supplements aren't immediate needs.

Good luck!

One last thing. Did you all get 4 books total? I had my books shipped to my mom, who only gave me 4 books...just want to make sure I'm not missing anything. Also, where in the books are the shorter outlines located?

Good Luck to you too!

[101670944]

One last thing. Did you all get 4 books total? I had my books shipped to my mom, who only gave me 4 books...just want to make sure I'm not missing anything. Also, where in the books are the shorter outlines located?

Good Luck to you too!

4 books is all you get for California: Multistate Practice, California Performance, MBE Practice, and California. The short outlines are in the smaller Multistate book. Also, they were sent in PDF. Check the "Message Center" section of your front page and look for the Final Outlines.

[hopefulIPgirl]

Anyone doing or thinking about Adaptibar as a supplement to Themis?

I've been doing pretty badly in the Contracts MBEs and wondering if I should look for supplemental help.

[Worker and Parasite]

Anyone doing or thinking about Adaptibar as a supplement to Themis?

I've been doing pretty badly in the Contracts MBEs and wondering if I should look for supplemental help.

There's a thread on this forum about cheaper alternatives to Adaptibar but yeah I'll be looking for additional MBE questions soon.

[paulshortys10]

Anyone doing or thinking about Adaptibar as a supplement to Themis?

I've been doing pretty badly in the Contracts MBEs and wondering if I should look for supplemental help.

Just wondering, are the themis questions past released questions or are they made up by themis?

[Pleasye]

Anyone doing or thinking about Adaptibar as a supplement to Themis?

I've been doing pretty badly in the Contracts MBEs and wondering if I should look for supplemental help.

Just wondering, are the themis questions past released questions or are they made up by themis?

I think they are a mix of both. I've gotten some where they say they "modified" the question to match the NCBE's new style (whatever that means). Coincidentally those are the ones I've found most frustrating and gotten the most wrong on lol.

[MarcZero]

OK. I'm getting a bit tired of the model essay answers. I am picturing a perfect gunner happily typing these answers away and getting 80s on everything. Anybody know where we can see a real essay of someone who really fucked up and got a 50? Or of someone who barely passed with a 65? Seeing all of these perfect answers is making me feel nervous and inadequate.

[sopranorleone]

OK. I'm getting a bit tired of the model essay answers. I am picturing a perfect gunner happily typing these answers away and getting 80s on everything. Anybody know where we can see a real essay of someone who really fucked up and got a 50? Or of someone who barely passed with a 65? Seeing all of these perfect answers is making me feel nervous and inadequate.

You can't on Themis, but I paid for BarEssays.com. That's a searchable database of real, actual test-takers' CA essays. You can search for them by topic and by score. So, that's exactly what you're looking for...but you have to pay like $160 for it (using a coupon code, too)

[MarcZero]

OK. I'm getting a bit tired of the model essay answers. I am picturing a perfect gunner happily typing these answers away and getting 80s on everything. Anybody know where we can see a real essay of someone who really fucked up and got a 50? Or of someone who barely passed with a 65? Seeing all of these perfect answers is making me feel nervous and inadequate.

You can't on Themis, but I paid for BarEssays.com. That's a searchable database of real, actual test-takers' CA essays. You can search for them by topic and by score. So, that's exactly what you're looking for...but you have to pay like $160 for it (using a coupon code, too)

Thanks. I've been debating getting that, but I think I'll pull the trigger tomorrow.

[paulshortys10]

OK. I'm getting a bit tired of the model essay answers. I am picturing a perfect gunner happily typing these answers away and getting 80s on everything. Anybody know where we can see a real essay of someone who really fucked up and got a 50? Or of someone who barely passed with a 65? Seeing all of these perfect answers is making me feel nervous and inadequate.

You can't on Themis, but I paid for BarEssays.com. That's a searchable database of real, actual test-takers' CA essays. You can search for them by topic and by score. So, that's exactly what you're looking for...but you have to pay like $160 for it (using a coupon code, too)

Thanks. I've been debating getting that, but I think I'll pull the trigger tomorrow.

Is anyone getting flashcards or online outlines?