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michael2015

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by michael2015 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:24 pm

I keep having moments of panic where I get an essay topic and just have no idea.

I blanked completely on the specific rules for stuff ranging from: criminal possession of handguns to how to treat certain testamentary substitutes to the date by which a prosecutor needs to dsiclose the use of a criminal defendant's confession.

Are these things that everyone else has already locked in, or when are we supposed to know that shit by. I've stayed on top of barbri and everything but I feel like there's just so much I don't know.

orangecup

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by orangecup » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:31 pm

michael2015 wrote:I keep having moments of panic where I get an essay topic and just have no idea.

I blanked completely on the specific rules for stuff ranging from: criminal possession of handguns to how to treat certain testamentary substitutes to the date by which a prosecutor needs to dsiclose the use of a criminal defendant's confession.

Are these things that everyone else has already locked in, or when are we supposed to know that shit by. I've stayed on top of barbri and everything but I feel like there's just so much I don't know.
The handgun possession issue and prosecution disclosure issues were both random, I wouldn't worry about it. Those are the kind of things that lectures don't cover. I wouldn't sweat learning small things like that. Go big picture and make something up if needed.

summeisruined

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by summeisruined » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:32 pm

Hi everyone 8)
First question :
Does anyone know what would be a passing score for the MBE assuming you don't bomb the essays part and you do OK on that part?

110 ? 120 ? 130?

I'm asking because i feel like i can"t do better than 115/120 :( :( :(


Second question :

Do you think we are going to get an essay on administrative law?

Third question :

I thought that the sample civ pro questions given on the NCBE are quite easy but those on adaptibar are insanely hard and i fail most of them which will affect my mbe score... :roll:

What do you think of the lvl of the questions?

Thanks.

michael2015

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by michael2015 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:37 pm

I've been skipping adaptibar Civpro
They don't seem reflective of either barbri ncbe or kaplan

somedude

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by somedude » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:40 pm

michael2015 wrote:I keep having moments of panic where I get an essay topic and just have no idea.

I blanked completely on the specific rules for stuff ranging from: criminal possession of handguns to how to treat certain testamentary substitutes to the date by which a prosecutor needs to disclose the use of a criminal defendant's confession.

Are these things that everyone else has already locked in, or when are we supposed to know that shit by. I've stayed on top of barbri and everything but I feel like there's just so much I don't know.
To me, none of those examples are reasons to panic. You can make up an answer for possession and get very, very close to the right answer. Testamentary substitutes...you should probably know, but you can easily make up a close rule here. An essay question turning on whether the prosecutor made this particular disclosure in time...I find that very unlikely on an essay, but if it happens, you make a decision about whether it's timely or not, pick a timeframe, and quickly move on, picking up points elsewhere in the essay where you do have true things to say. If an essay question turns on something that specific---and it's not a topic that we know, in advance, can easily be tested on an essay, e.g. SOL's---I would expect that 10 % or less of takers nail the question.

I've only looked at one barbri essay so far where I thought "I can't even make up a reasonable answer for that sub-question" and it was much more open ended. The question was: what kind of action can the shareholder bring? Answer: dissolution. I had no recollection of that concept whatsoever. That could be bad. But I suspect that, if the worst thing that happens is that you have to make some rules for issues that you are actually aware of, and you also know the law for a decent amount of the other questions, then you will write passing essays.

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michael2015

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by michael2015 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:51 pm

That's what I'm hoping.

MBE wise I was at: 146/200 for the MBE Simulated and 64/100 for the Refresher. I finished both with about 1/2 time remaining (1 hour on each half of the simulated and 1:30 remaining on the Refresher).

I just keep freaking out about these essays.

HLBE689

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by HLBE689 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:53 pm

ugh wish I could memorize this crap. Feeling hopeless on NY stuff

michael2015

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by michael2015 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:55 pm

You're not alone.

Hope the 3rd Degree Arson Affirmative Defense doesn't come up!

f.this.

somedude

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by somedude » Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:03 pm

michael2015 wrote:That's what I'm hoping.

MBE wise I was at: 146/200 for the MBE Simulated and 64/100 for the Refresher. I finished both with about 1/2 time remaining (1 hour on each half of the simulated and 1:30 remaining on the Refresher).

I just keep freaking out about these essays.
I was 134 / 200 on sim mbe and 75 / 100 on refresher. There is just literally no way that (more than a small minority of) barbri students scoring 30 points lower than you on the Sim (which is still above average) are going to remember the kinds of rules you're worried about. Don't overestimate the average test takers knowledge. Seriously, the mere fact that you are worried that you aren't going to remember one of the most random timeframes in our materials...just study a normal amount for the next week and then pass it :)

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bluewin888

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by bluewin888 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:15 pm

During day 1 and day 2 of NY bar, there are scratch paper you can get during exam?

or how much blank space you can write on test booklet?

jamesm722

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by jamesm722 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:35 pm

If you don't think you know NY stuff well do a lot of the essays that are released. If you suck at MBE, do more. It's not rocket science. Calm down, the passage rate is still pretty high. Just work until the exam on whatever you're not good at, its all you can do with a week left. If you've put them time in you'll be fine. I don't know anyone who has gone into a bar exam completely confident.

My bar prep program was heavily on NY law and all of its distinctions, probably too much. Just make lists or charts

freestallion

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by freestallion » Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:26 pm

somedude wrote:Does anyone have any useful information, of any kind, concerning the NYMC? As many people say on this forum, it's a total mystery what these questions are going to be like. It would be great to know, for example, some sort of ballpark estimates as to how many questions for a given subject appear. Like, are there normally 8 NY Practice questions or 2? Are there lots of questions that ask about very specific things, like dates / timeframes to file / SOL? Does getting the right answer often require, for example, that I be able to distinguish between the 15 degrees of larceny...or is basic non-idiocy totally sufficient for getting a passing score (i.e. about 50 %)? Is the NYMC supposed to be about specific NY distinctions to traditional, common law rules or are the majority of evidence questions usually just normal evidence questions (for which, at least typically, there is not some magic NY exception)? Are the Barbri questions at all representative or is Barbri just pulling questions out of thin air?

It seems that everyone has this attitude: "well, ya, it's a total mystery....and we're all in the same boat." This is just completely unacceptable. If the NYMC requires knowing lots of NY distinctions, then we can decide to suck it up, drill the distinctions, and ensure that an unlucky string of guesses doesn't sabotage our scores. But, in fact, we have literally no clue (at least I don't) whether this strategy would pay off. So, what to do? Nobody knows and so everyone blows it off. It's absolutely mind-blowing that they allow this feature of the test to remain so opaque.
I did a bunch of NYMC and can only get about 50% right. I found that there were a good number on very specific NY Practice distinctions including SOL but also other dates and things... There were also things I have literally never heard of. It's just WAY too detailed. I think it's only worth 10% so I just don't think it's worth anyone's time to freak out about it. Memorize all that you can, and it'll help on the essays as well as NYMC but of that stuff is just so specific. Do a few more practice questions if that helps but don't waste too much time, TBH. I just don't think it's doable in the limited time we have to actually learn this stuff in detail.

freestallion

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by freestallion » Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:29 pm

somedude wrote:
michael2015 wrote:That's what I'm hoping.

MBE wise I was at: 146/200 for the MBE Simulated and 64/100 for the Refresher. I finished both with about 1/2 time remaining (1 hour on each half of the simulated and 1:30 remaining on the Refresher).

I just keep freaking out about these essays.
I was 134 / 200 on sim mbe and 75 / 100 on refresher. There is just literally no way that (more than a small minority of) barbri students scoring 30 points lower than you on the Sim (which is still above average) are going to remember the kinds of rules you're worried about. Don't overestimate the average test takers knowledge. Seriously, the mere fact that you are worried that you aren't going to remember one of the most random timeframes in our materials...just study a normal amount for the next week and then pass it :)
This is true. The exam sample answers NY puts on their website are like 7, the highest possible score you can get right? I don't even feel I can get to that level of detail or even close on half my essay answers... :(

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michael2015

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by michael2015 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:30 pm

I hope those are 7s as I've been trying to study from those and feel inadequate.

Also how exactly are these scored? Barbri has this 30-80+ scale but other places mention the 3-7 point scale. What exactly are we supposed/passing score to be?

toplawnerd

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by toplawnerd » Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:33 pm

summeisruined wrote:Hi everyone 8)
First question :
Does anyone know what would be a passing score for the MBE assuming you don't bomb the essays part and you do OK on that part?

110 ? 120 ? 130?

I'm asking because i feel like i can"t do better than 115/120 :( :( :(


Second question :

Do you think we are going to get an essay on administrative law?

Third question :

I thought that the sample civ pro questions given on the NCBE are quite easy but those on adaptibar are insanely hard and i fail most of them which will affect my mbe score... :roll:

What do you think of the lvl of the questions?

Thanks.
also interested in all of these questions haha.

jamesm722

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by jamesm722 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:43 pm

michael2015 wrote:I hope those are 7s as I've been trying to study from those and feel inadequate.

Also how exactly are these scored? Barbri has this 30-80+ scale but other places mention the 3-7 point scale. What exactly are we supposed/passing score to be?
I'm pretty sure the essays are given a 1-10 score then scaled according to the mean. That's how all of my essays have been graded.

Hutz_and_Goodman

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by Hutz_and_Goodman » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:30 pm

jamesm722 wrote:
michael2015 wrote:I hope those are 7s as I've been trying to study from those and feel inadequate.

Also how exactly are these scored? Barbri has this 30-80+ scale but other places mention the 3-7 point scale. What exactly are we supposed/passing score to be?
I'm pretty sure the essays are given a 1-10 score then scaled according to the mean. That's how all of my essays have been graded.
I can't understand how this works. I know that doing median/slightly above median on MBE makes it very hard to fail, but I cannot figure out the numbers. Also, is the 30-80+ scale from Barbri a real scale used or something they made up?

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Hutz_and_Goodman

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by Hutz_and_Goodman » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:32 pm

I predict that there will be an administrative law essay. If anyone has ideas about what they think will be tested I'm all ears.

I can imagine:
1. issue involves open meetings law
2. issue involves FOIL
3. issue involves 4th amendment rights and agency, possibly a heavily regulated business****

***=most likely

Would be interested to hear from others their ideas.

orangecup

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by orangecup » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:34 pm

I honestly have no idea. I'm learning the bare-bones, and hoping everyone else punts it. I have no idea how they'd even fit it into a fact pattern.

The flashcards I made were particularly sparse for FOIL, so I hope that's not tested lol.

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SemperLegal

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by SemperLegal » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:49 pm

I just memorized NYs APA act and then answer the rest of the questions like its the MBE. That seems to be enough to pass. Also, NY loves.defendant rights, procedurally, values written Contracts more than UCC (ie writing replaces consideration), and combines all theft.

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sd5289

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by sd5289 » Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:13 pm

Hutz_and_Goodman wrote:I predict that there will be an administrative law essay. If anyone has ideas about what they think will be tested I'm all ears.

I can imagine:
1. issue involves open meetings law
2. issue involves FOIL
3. issue involves 4th amendment rights and agency, possibly a heavily regulated business****

***=most likely

Would be interested to hear from others their ideas.
I was actually leaning toward adjudicative proceedings since those are ripe for all kinds of due process and evidentiary issues.

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victortsoi

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by victortsoi » Wed Jul 22, 2015 8:19 pm

I was using seperac's calculator...how bad do you have to do on the essays to get a 45? What about the mpt?

orangecup

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by orangecup » Wed Jul 22, 2015 8:37 pm

victortsoi wrote:I was using seperac's calculator...how bad do you have to do on the essays to get a 45? What about the mpt?
I may be 100% wrong because I know nothing about math, but using the calculator here: http://www.seperac.com/calc-raw-scaled.php

A 45 would be a 3.03 raw score. If the mean is 4.2, and the SD is 0.7, then this is 1.67 SDs from the mean (4.2 - 3.03 = 1.17; 1.17 - .7 = .47; .47 / .7 = .67). This would mean that you are performing better than only ~5% of test takers according to a z-chart: http://www.sixsigmastudyguide.com/wp-co ... -table.jpg

Of course, that's based on his assumptions, and he said he had to guesttimate those values.

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by InternationalShoe » Wed Jul 22, 2015 8:39 pm

victortsoi wrote:I was using seperac's calculator...how bad do you have to do on the essays to get a 45? What about the mpt?
I've been wondering this too. Does 45 mean 45 out of 100? It's pretty amazing how confused I am on how this exam is graded.

I found this chart a few minutes ago which I think is somewhat helpful from the July 2014 exam: http://www.jgpwillis.com/pdf/July_2014_Stat_Sheet.pdf

victortsoi

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Re: NY July 2015 Support Group

Post by victortsoi » Wed Jul 22, 2015 8:48 pm

InternationalShoe wrote:
victortsoi wrote:I was using seperac's calculator...how bad do you have to do on the essays to get a 45? What about the mpt?
I've been wondering this too. Does 45 mean 45 out of 100? It's pretty amazing how confused I am on how this exam is graded.

I found this chart a few minutes ago which I think is somewhat helpful from the July 2014 exam: http://www.jgpwillis.com/pdf/July_2014_Stat_Sheet.pdf

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