July 2015 Texas Bar Exam Forum

[Devlin]

A friend of mine told me a story of looking over at the girl next to her and seeing that she hadn't started writing 80 minutes into the MPT.

I bet she had sick outline though.

[3L Student]

The Houston location was a joke. Parking was horrible. And the proctors took more than 30 mins after each section to count the tests and get started again. That essentially meant 8:30am to 1:10pm without food, water or bathroom breaks (unless you wanted to take 5+ minutes out of the MPT or P&E part). And I couldn't understand a word that the proctor was saying during the instructions that lasted forever!! Anyways, other than that things were fine.

[jamescastle]

A friend of mine told me a story of looking over at the girl next to her and seeing that she hadn't started writing 80 minutes into the MPT.

I hear these stories but I wish I could see it happen just once so that I could feel even better about myself and performance.
Before the whole thing started I did look at one quarter of the room and thought "I just have to do better than about that many people in this room" and that helped some.

[dsb83]

I heard two of them today. Second person and anecdotes, but definitely happened. Also looked at the statistical analysis from 2013 on the TBLE site to make myself feel better. Interestingly, the mean MPT score was 3.13. Then they curve it to match the distribution from the MBE. Not sure what to make of it entirely, but it made me feel better about my self estimate of a 2 on the thing today. A 2 would get you over 50 points out of it, I believe.

[BVest]

I had no time to notice what other people were doing. Barely had time to notice what I was doing.

[Devlin]

The Houston location was a joke. Parking was horrible. And the proctors took more than 30 mins after each section to count the tests and get started again. That essentially meant 8:30am to 1:10pm without food, water or bathroom breaks (unless you wanted to take 5+ minutes out of the MPT or P&E part). And I couldn't understand a word that the proctor was saying during the instructions that lasted forever!! Anyways, other than that things were fine.

I hope every single person that cut the line on Kirby fails the Bar.

[Neff]

Still don't know anything about commercial paper. What are the three or four most common tests/rules I should regurgitate just so I'll have something to write? You don't have to recite everything. Just name it and I'll go look it up. Thanks in advance.

[Devlin]

Know what makes an instrument negotiable, know elements of being a HDC, know the defenses they are susceptible to, know the two warranties. All of these have mnemonics floating around.

That should cover most.

[dsb83]

Not much for the whole topic...

1. Requirements for Negotiability.

2. Contract Liability (Basically if you signed something, you're liable)

3. Warranty Liability (who's making the warranty and to whom?):
a. Transfer Warranty- what it sounds like, when you transfer a negotiable instrument by indorsing it, you make certain warranties. Most importantly that you're entitled to enforce it.
b. Presentment Warranties - Most important is that you're entitled to enforce/obtain payment and that it's not forged or altered. These are made to the bank who can sue.

4. Forgery: Forger liable because he signed. Maker/Drawer not liable since he didn't sign, unless he was negligent or his employee was.

5. A holder in due course is a holder who takes in good faith for value and without notice of any defect with the instrument. They're protected against personal defenses (lack of consideration, warranty) but not protected from real differences. (key mnemonic: FFAIIIDDSS: forgery/fraud, alteration, infancy/illegality/incapacity, duress/discharge bnkrptcy, surety/SoL)

[kiwi4president]

I wouldn't assume that everyone feels great about today. I fucked up the MPT bad. Really thin analysis and left it unfinished. No sleep and such. A friend of mine told me a story of looking over at the girl next to her and seeing that she hadn't started writing 80 minutes into the MPT.

Yeah not everybody feels good about today. I felt good about the test itself but... I uploaded the test 45 minutes after the deadline. I'm feeling extremely bummed and don't know what to do.

[dsb83]

Yeah not everybody feels good about today. I felt good about the test itself but... I uploaded the test 45 minutes after the deadline. I'm feeling extremely bummed and don't know what to do.

If it's just submitting late, I wouldn't be too bummed. It's all encrypted, I don't see them punishing someone for submitting late, and I'm sure technical issues crop up all the time and the tests come in late. They put deadlines for their own convenience, so they can check to make sure all the tests are coming in.

Don't sweat it...but remember to submit on time tomorrow.

[Neff]

Thanks for the above explanations of commercial paper. I didn't take commercial paper or secured transactions in LS. Somehow secured transactions clicked during Barbri while commercial paper never did -- I just didn't understand the notes. I'll see if I can salvage a tiny bit of it before Thursday.

[Neff]

Yeah not everybody feels good about today. I felt good about the test itself but... I uploaded the test 45 minutes after the deadline. I'm feeling extremely bummed and don't know what to do.

If it's just submitting late, I wouldn't be too bummed. It's all encrypted, I don't see them punishing someone for submitting late, and I'm sure technical issues crop up all the time and the tests come in late. They put deadlines for their own convenience, so they can check to make sure all the tests are coming in.

Don't sweat it...but remember to submit on time tomorrow.

After ExamSoft's bargate scandal last year, with people not being able to upload until the next day, there's no way they could punish you for being 45 minutes late.

[kiwi4president]

Yeah not everybody feels good about today. I felt good about the test itself but... I uploaded the test 45 minutes after the deadline. I'm feeling extremely bummed and don't know what to do.

If it's just submitting late, I wouldn't be too bummed. It's all encrypted, I don't see them punishing someone for submitting late, and I'm sure technical issues crop up all the time and the tests come in late. They put deadlines for their own convenience, so they can check to make sure all the tests are coming in.

Don't sweat it...but remember to submit on time tomorrow.

I emailed the Texas Bar Examiners (their office is closed pending the bar) and talked to the Examsoft folks. Hopefully it will blow over. I think I'm going to let the proctor know about it tomorrow to see what I can do / if this is a big deal.

[Neff]

Yeah not everybody feels good about today. I felt good about the test itself but... I uploaded the test 45 minutes after the deadline. I'm feeling extremely bummed and don't know what to do.

If it's just submitting late, I wouldn't be too bummed. It's all encrypted, I don't see them punishing someone for submitting late, and I'm sure technical issues crop up all the time and the tests come in late. They put deadlines for their own convenience, so they can check to make sure all the tests are coming in.

Don't sweat it...but remember to submit on time tomorrow.

I emailed the Texas Bar Examiners (their office is closed pending the bar) and talked to the Examsoft folks. Hopefully it will blow over. I think I'm going to let the proctor know about it tomorrow to see what I can do / if this is a big deal.

Surprised they didn't send a text/email reminder this afternoon. It's gotta be a soft deadline. You can't be the only one.

[BVest]

You're not alone. I know at least one other person who submitted late. Unless you're that person.

[kiwi4president]

You're not alone. I know at least one other person who submitted late. Unless you're that person.

Haha, its not me. Good to know I'm not the only one. Wish us luck!

[3L Student]

The Houston location was a joke. Parking was horrible. And the proctors took more than 30 mins after each section to count the tests and get started again. That essentially meant 8:30am to 1:10pm without food, water or bathroom breaks (unless you wanted to take 5+ minutes out of the MPT or P&E part). And I couldn't understand a word that the proctor was saying during the instructions that lasted forever!! Anyways, other than that things were fine.

I hope every single person that cut the line on Kirby fails the Bar.

Yes!!

[jwe-houston]

The Houston location was a joke. Parking was horrible. And the proctors took more than 30 mins after each section to count the tests and get started again. That essentially meant 8:30am to 1:10pm without food, water or bathroom breaks (unless you wanted to take 5+ minutes out of the MPT or P&E part). And I couldn't understand a word that the proctor was saying during the instructions that lasted forever!! Anyways, other than that things were fine.

I hope every single person that cut the line on Kirby fails the Bar.

Yes!!

Agree on general principle. I walked the mile from hotel to door. Np.

[Stevoman]

I feel a lot better than I thought I would about the MPT and civ pro, but I feel that barbri did a poor job preparing me for the crim pro. There were 2-3 questions that I flat out had no idea and had never seen.

[jwe-houston]

Surprised that I had extra time on the MPT to flesh out a decent response. Caught the "non-law" response. The few practice ones I did was always pressed to get a bare bones answer. Feel like more in the 5-5.5 range.

Proctors were nice. Guy running the show hopefully had a bad morning. I could have coordinated a better system on 3days no sleep.

P-E was good overall. Concur with most. There was one memorable WTF moment. Finished just before the 15 min cutoff for early dismiss. Not a topic to try to backfill answers for me.

[TXLawHopeful15]

The Houston location was a joke. Parking was horrible. And the proctors took more than 30 mins after each section to count the tests and get started again. That essentially meant 8:30am to 1:10pm without food, water or bathroom breaks (unless you wanted to take 5+ minutes out of the MPT or P&E part). And I couldn't understand a word that the proctor was saying during the instructions that lasted forever!! Anyways, other than that things were fine.

I hope every single person that cut the line on Kirby fails the Bar.

Yes!!

Agree on general principle. I walked the mile from hotel to door. Np.

While I don't wish that evil on anyone (bad karma) ; it COULD help the rest of us....just saying....

[Devlin]

I honestly think that the examiners tried to pull a question out of the sky that they knew no test prep company prepares for.

[frostmo]

I wouldn't assume that everyone feels great about today. I fucked up the MPT bad. Really thin analysis and left it unfinished. No sleep and such. A friend of mine told me a story of looking over at the girl next to her and seeing that she hadn't started writing 80 minutes into the MPT.

Yeah not everybody feels good about today. I felt good about the test itself but... I uploaded the test 45 minutes after the deadline. I'm feeling extremely bummed and don't know what to do.

Well, if it makes you feel better I submitted late as well. Hoping it's alright myself...

[februarybartaker]

Good luck all. I took the TX February bar and passed, despite not studying until the last 1.5 week mark.

My advice for you crammers tonight - try to look over MBE flashcards if you have them and get the rules in your short term memory. Make sure to finish the test, and don't let the time sneak up on you. Also, you're going to feel like you performed poorly tomorrow, but that's par for the course across the board. So did I and it all worked out.

Also to those of you who submitted late, you aren't the first. Look at the February 2015 thread for precedent (one person did that and was told it was fine). TBE is new to the process, as are students, and they are understanding about genuine mistakes.

P.S. Also look at the February 2015 TX bar thread for interesting statistics regarding minimum passing score for comfort (probably a Thursday thing though)