Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2015 Exam Forum

[zot1]

Anyone started con law yet? It seems everyone went into family or civ pro, which my program isn't doing yet.

[gr8scOtt!]

Anyone started con law yet? It seems everyone went into family or civ pro, which my program isn't doing yet.

Mine went Contracts -> Property -> PR ->Torts -> Evidence.

[MrMustache]

This may sound like a stupid question, but are we supposed to be doing our graded essays closed-book or open-book?

Edit: I remember them saying that we should first do practice essays open book and then do them closed book, but I can't remember what they said about graded essays.

[zot1]

Got my second graded essay back. Grader: Don't rush through the analysis, take your time because this is where you get the most points. Me: I was writing up until the last second .

[zot1]

This may sound like a stupid question, but are we supposed to be doing our graded essays closed-book or open-book?

Edit: I remember them saying that we should first do practice essays open book and then do them closed book, but I can't remember what they said about graded essays.

I have always done them closed-book, partially because I feel it tells me whether I'm retaining stuff or not.

[zot1]

This may sound like a stupid question, but are we supposed to be doing our graded essays closed-book or open-book?

Edit: I remember them saying that we should first do practice essays open book and then do them closed book, but I can't remember what they said about graded essays.

I have always done them closed-book, partially because I feel it tells me whether I'm retaining stuff or not.

EDIT: oh wait, I just realized I didn't read your post correctly. I believe graded essays are closed-book because you want to simulate real testing conditions.

[FallonJ]

I am having the hardest time ever getting through this Property material. How could something in life be so boring? I think I'll skip the long outlines here and go straight to lectures/handouts. I seriously cannot read this stuff anymore.

[smalogna]

Welp. I regressed in property to 58% and I am really getting frustrated with the almost identical fact patterns with different correct answers because I recognize the fact pattern from a previous question and psyche myself out by looking for what's different about this one. You would think almost $2000 would get us questions that are all unique.

[zot1]

Welp. I regressed in property to 58% and I am really getting frustrated with the almost identical fact patterns with different correct answers because I recognize the fact pattern from a previous question and psyche myself out by looking for what's different about this one. You would think almost $2000 would get us questions that are all unique.

Property is just sad because it's complicated and some of the fact patterns are long and boring.

[zot1]

Anyone started con law yet? It seems everyone went into family or civ pro, which my program isn't doing yet.

Mine went Contracts -> Property -> PR ->Torts -> Evidence.

Wow, you're ahead! Mine, so far, K -> torts -> prop -> con law. Up to now, I've liked the order because each has built on the previous one (does not include con law).

[sd5289]

I believe graded essays are closed-book because you want to simulate real testing conditions.

Really? I missed that memo (though with the time constraints, I've really only had time to outline the answers and then type them out). I had a mere 10 seconds left on the last one.

ETA: on that note, I'm guessing the "Milestone Exam" tomorrow (at least, #1 is on my schedule tomorrow) is closed book?

[gr8scOtt!]

Anyone started con law yet? It seems everyone went into family or civ pro, which my program isn't doing yet.

Mine went Contracts -> Property -> PR ->Torts -> Evidence.

Wow, you're ahead! Mine, so far, K -> torts -> prop -> con law. Up to now, I've liked the order because each has built on the previous one (does not include con law).

I don't think I'm really ahead! I'm sitting at ~26 percent right now, with an essay and problem set (and of course, review review review) left to do today.

[milesdavisjd]

Am I the only one really struggling to get through the Property section? It is just so uninteresting, and I'm consistently getting just about 40-50% of the MBE questions right. I know they mentioned this was an issue for a lot of students in the Property MBE Lecture, but I just wanted to confirm that I'm not alone in this.

I just barely made 52% in property. It was horrible. 90% mortgage questions, and I wanted to die. I still have more stuff left for today, but that last MBE set was so bad, I need a break. You're not alone.

EDIT: forgot to mention--although this has been discussed before, this last set tested exceptions and obscure rules not mentioned in lecture. Although I know the MBE practice sets are supposed to help us with those, it was incredibly frustrating because Themis made it seem like mortgages are tested but not as much or in this much depth.

I came to that same conclusion. I made a short outline using the book outline and focused heavily on mortgages and recording rules. My MBE went from 52% to 70%. Honestly, the lectures are only good for general overview whereas the book outline contains the details being tested.

Yeah, that makes sense. I think the general consensus that MBEs help you memorizing held true again because I did better on my last set when it came to mortgages. It was also not as painful to read as it was yesterday.

I think it's frustrating to deal with missing exceptions to the exceptions, but I keep trying to remind myself that I'm trying to pass this test, not ace it.

Hearing this just makes me feel better. I also feel like property has been a huge time suck for me, I haven't even been able to move on to Torts because I'm struggling to re-learn/remember everything.

[smalogna]

I believe graded essays are closed-book because you want to simulate real testing conditions.

Really? I missed that memo (though with the time constraints, I've really only had time to outline the answers and then type them out). I had a mere 10 seconds left on the last one.

ETA: on that note, I'm guessing the "Milestone Exam" tomorrow (at least, #1 is on my schedule tomorrow) is closed book?

Milestone exam is definitely supposed to be closed book, it's encouraged to do it under real testing conditions so out of the physical book on paper and under time pressure. You click on the link and report your answers after you complete it on paper. Looks like a lot of studying of Ks, Torts, and Property tonight.

[MrMustache]

Just got my torts essay back. I want to know how Themis grades our essays.

I wrote my property essay closed-book, ended up using incomplete rules because I couldn't remember them, missed some issues (the whole commercial v. residential lease thing, among other things) and got a 60.

Then, when it was time for torts, I wrote the essay open-book, because I wanted to see how well I could write the essay if I had memorized the entire outline word for word. Wrote all the rules out, discussed issues in more detail than I did on property, and hit every issue. And I STILL got a 60.

WHAT THE @#$%!?

[anon sequitur]

I don't know how it's really done, but having read previous themis and kaplan threads, there were very consistent complaints about the usefulness of the essay grading. I think comparison with model answer will give you most of what you need to know, unless you have particular reason to think that your overall approach is off.

[GULCPerson]

Feedback on my second graded essay was completely worthless. 5/10 on structure, 6/10 on analysis, and no comments at all other than "good analysis" at the end of each paragraph. Has anyone tried to complain/push for more detailed feedback?

[kjartan]

Just got my torts essay back. I want to know how Themis grades our essays.

I wrote my property essay closed-book, ended up using incomplete rules because I couldn't remember them, missed some issues (the whole commercial v. residential lease thing, among other things) and got a 60.

Then, when it was time for torts, I wrote the essay open-book, because I wanted to see how well I could write the essay if I had memorized the entire outline word for word. Wrote all the rules out, discussed issues in more detail than I did on property, and hit every issue. And I STILL got a 60.

WHAT THE @#$%!?

They're full of shit, dude. The graders probably aren't even allowed to give passing scores at this point.

[Mad Hatter]

Just got my torts essay back. I want to know how Themis grades our essays.

I wrote my property essay closed-book, ended up using incomplete rules because I couldn't remember them, missed some issues (the whole commercial v. residential lease thing, among other things) and got a 60.

Then, when it was time for torts, I wrote the essay open-book, because I wanted to see how well I could write the essay if I had memorized the entire outline word for word. Wrote all the rules out, discussed issues in more detail than I did on property, and hit every issue. And I STILL got a 60.

WHAT THE @#$%!?

They're full of shit, dude. The graders probably aren't even allowed to give passing scores at this point.

I don't know if you're joking, but you're probably right. A huge part of their strategy is to make you feel like you need to do more (i.e., over-preparing you), so there's a good chance they tell the graders not to give anything above a 70% or whatever until further down the road.

[smalogna]

Just got my torts essay back. I want to know how Themis grades our essays.

I wrote my property essay closed-book, ended up using incomplete rules because I couldn't remember them, missed some issues (the whole commercial v. residential lease thing, among other things) and got a 60.

Then, when it was time for torts, I wrote the essay open-book, because I wanted to see how well I could write the essay if I had memorized the entire outline word for word. Wrote all the rules out, discussed issues in more detail than I did on property, and hit every issue. And I STILL got a 60.

WHAT THE @#$%!?

They're full of shit, dude. The graders probably aren't even allowed to give passing scores at this point.

I don't know if you're joking, but you're probably right. A huge part of their strategy is to make you feel like you need to do more (i.e., over-preparing you), so there's a good chance they tell the graders not to give anything above a 70% or whatever until further down the road.

I've received two 70s which I balked at because I completely messed up this second essay so I'm ignoring the grading. The comments are somewhat helpful but the scoring is worthless.

[gr8scOtt!]

Maybe I'm going crazy, but one of the assignments for me today is view the 'Introduction to the MBE Practice Exam' and it's the exact same video we had to watch a few weeks ago called 'Introduction to the MBE'. I even tried to access it through flex study, just in case the assignment link was incorrect.

[sd5289]

Just got my torts essay back. I want to know how Themis grades our essays.

I wrote my property essay closed-book, ended up using incomplete rules because I couldn't remember them, missed some issues (the whole commercial v. residential lease thing, among other things) and got a 60.

Then, when it was time for torts, I wrote the essay open-book, because I wanted to see how well I could write the essay if I had memorized the entire outline word for word. Wrote all the rules out, discussed issues in more detail than I did on property, and hit every issue. And I STILL got a 60.

WHAT THE @#$%!?

They're full of shit, dude. The graders probably aren't even allowed to give passing scores at this point.

I don't know if you're joking, but you're probably right. A huge part of their strategy is to make you feel like you need to do more (i.e., over-preparing you), so there's a good chance they tell the graders not to give anything above a 70% or whatever until further down the road.

That's not true for my grader. I knew I'd bombed the K's one, and got an appropriately shit grade for that (a little higher than I thought I should've gotten since I missed 2 of the 3 big issues). But when I did the second one (the Property/Family Law one), I felt really good about it and the model answer was pretty damn close to mine. When I got it back last night, he'd given me an 80. So as far as my grader goes, I think he's doing a great job.

He also got it back "early," in that I didn't do it until Saturday because I had to take Thursday off, and he still got it back to me on Sunday night.

[Mad Hatter]

I stand corrected.

[sd5289]

Maybe I'm going crazy, but one of the assignments for me today is view the 'Introduction to the MBE Practice Exam' and it's the exact same video we had to watch a few weeks ago called 'Introduction to the MBE'. I even tried to access it through flex study, just in case the assignment link was incorrect.

I just watched it. Worthless video, but not the same as the first introductory video he did.

[gr8scOtt!]

Maybe I'm going crazy, but one of the assignments for me today is view the 'Introduction to the MBE Practice Exam' and it's the exact same video we had to watch a few weeks ago called 'Introduction to the MBE'. I even tried to access it through flex study, just in case the assignment link was incorrect.

I just watched it. Worthless video, but not the same as the first introductory video he did.

Oh, both of mine are of the Drexel lady!