727FLBar wrote:Just wanted to pop in and write some stuff that may help any future FL takers:
1) If you're doing Themis, buy someone's old bar bri FL MCQ questions. The Themis FL MCQ questions are just awful. Bar Bri's were right on the money
2) No reason to be at the convention center before 8 am
3) Taking the bar really isn't that bad. The tough part is putting in the long hours of studying
4) If I could go back in time I would have spent just about all my time doing MCQ questions over and over again. I thought the lectures were great while I was watching them, but I didn't realize until later that I actually learned the material by doing the MCQ questions.
5) If you like flash cards, the critical pass flash cards are awesome for the MBE. You could easily pass just by using the critical pass flash cards and doing a bunch of MCQ questions.
6) Themis far exceeded my expectations. Just make sure you get your hands on bar bri's FL MCQ questions. I would have been up a creek without a paddle if I just relied on Themis' questions
Overall, I thought the bar was pretty fair. I was definitely freaked out going in, but it really isn't that bad. And this was all said before I got my results (pretty sure I passed).
FWIW - I used only Themis to prepare for the Feb 2015 exam and passed by a wide margin (+24 points over passing for FL portion). I felt the Themis FL MQ questions prepared me well for the actual exam. Other than the Themis questions I did the practice questions provided by the FL Bar examiners in the study materials. I did all of the practice questions and fully read the associated outlines and reviewed said outlines regularly. Taking the time to read the answer explanations is perhaps the most important thing you can do with any review course. The explanations many times provide information about the answer choices which would apply under slightly different fact pattern. So many questions are essentially the same, but vary fact patterns slightly change which changes the correct answer choice. It's not every question explanation that provides this extra info but it helped me see how the same answer choices can apply to different fact patterns.
Granted, the FL MQ questions are tricky and many times you either know the correct answer or don't and there is not really a way to work your way through to the right answer choice. I felt prepared for the MQ questions I got with the Feb 2015 exam having done Themis. When in doubt go with your gut answer response and move on! Overall, I felt the questions were fair as did the original poster. I firmly believe that putting in a genuine study effort will result in a passing score on the bar exam. The review courses provide all the materials you need to pass, but it is your job to actually study and digest the materials. If you truly study the exam questions will seem fair, but if you only put in a half-hearted study effort the exam questions will seem very difficult.
