July 2016 California Bar Exam Forum

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2TimesTheCharm

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by 2TimesTheCharm » Sat Nov 19, 2016 5:31 am

To be incredibly petty for a moment:
plurilingue wrote:
Despite this hypertechnical argument, I hope the graders don't reward the test takers who screwed this up and lacked the basic judgment to answer according to the California rules. It's just common sense.
This guy, I hope you passed... that way you won't be around to annoy future test takers.

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Raiden

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by Raiden » Sat Nov 19, 2016 10:10 am

Baller31 wrote:
Raiden wrote:For those of you who didn't pass, remember that so much can be out of your hands, the topics you receive and the graders who grade your essays can make a difference on whether you pass or not. Don't let this time of bitterness bring your down when its time to study again. Take some time off for yourself, but remember that the bar is beatable and there is no reason why you cannot beat it.

I am a bar tutor, so feel free to reach out to me to anyone that wants to have 1-on-1 review of your score report.
Where are you located?

NorCal, but I am available via Skype and over the phone as well. Shoot me a DM, or you can contact me via my website: barexambeast.com

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rcharter1978

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by rcharter1978 » Sat Nov 19, 2016 10:30 am

LockBox wrote:
rcharter1978 wrote:
LockBox wrote:Passed!!
Yea!! And that's after you used the FRCP instead of .CA civ pro. You must have crushed the rest of the test
I was a repeater so it was still a shock, though I didn't apply FRCP - I applied CA Civ pro where needed. Any reason you thought I applied FRCP instead of CA Civ Pro? Anyone apply FRCP exclusively and pass?
Sorry, there was someone who did, and they were freaking out. I thought it was you. My bad, and congrats!

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rcharter1978

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by rcharter1978 » Sat Nov 19, 2016 10:34 am

LurkerTurnedMember wrote:
a male human wrote:
LurkerTurnedMember wrote:For those of us who passed, where do we het our specific score? I read that we can transfer the mbe score but my result page just said my name is on the list with no specific break down..
If you passed, your scores remain a mystery. You only get a breakdown of raw essay scores and a scaled MBE score if you did not pass the bar (in which case you get a packet postal mailed to you in about 3-4 weeks)
Then how does "waiving" into other jurisdictions work? How do we figure out if our score is high enough to waive into another jx in the first place?
I don't believe CA has any reciprocity, so you can't automatically waive into other JX's. I think DC is the only one. But as someone else said you may be able to transfer your MBE score, but you have to order the score report from the NCBE and have it sent to the other jx.

After that, you would only do the essay day if your MBE scores were accepted. The same way in CA, attorneys that take the bar in CA only take the first and third days (essays and PTs) but get to skip the second day (MBE)

Spartan_Alum_12

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by Spartan_Alum_12 » Sat Nov 19, 2016 10:40 am

rcharter1978 wrote:
LurkerTurnedMember wrote:
a male human wrote:
LurkerTurnedMember wrote:For those of us who passed, where do we het our specific score? I read that we can transfer the mbe score but my result page just said my name is on the list with no specific break down..
If you passed, your scores remain a mystery. You only get a breakdown of raw essay scores and a scaled MBE score if you did not pass the bar (in which case you get a packet postal mailed to you in about 3-4 weeks)
Then how does "waiving" into other jurisdictions work? How do we figure out if our score is high enough to waive into another jx in the first place?
I don't believe CA has any reciprocity, so you can't automatically waive into other JX's. I think DC is the only one. But as someone else said you may be able to transfer your MBE score, but you have to order the score report from the NCBE and have it sent to the other jx.

After that, you would only do the essay day if your MBE scores were accepted. The same way in CA, attorneys that take the bar in CA only take the first and third days (essays and PTs) but get to skip the second day (MBE)
Yeah, no reciprocity that I know of. Luckily, the only other state I may practice in is my home state of MI which only requires like 3 years of experience in another jx to be admitted.

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LockBox

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by LockBox » Sat Nov 19, 2016 10:49 am

rcharter1978 wrote:
LockBox wrote:
rcharter1978 wrote:
LockBox wrote:Passed!!
Yea!! And that's after you used the FRCP instead of .CA civ pro. You must have crushed the rest of the test
I was a repeater so it was still a shock, though I didn't apply FRCP - I applied CA Civ pro where needed. Any reason you thought I applied FRCP instead of CA Civ Pro? Anyone apply FRCP exclusively and pass?
Sorry, there was someone who did, and they were freaking out. I thought it was you. My bad, and congrats!
No worries! I was going to edit my post but saw you replied - I did respond to someone earlier in the thread when they were wondering why this debate was going on in the first place.

As a repeater this site has been invaluable to me and I hope I can jot my thoughts down as to what I think made a difference for me. In any event, I still had my books ready to go for Monday morning should the results have come out differently.

Jchance

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by Jchance » Sat Nov 19, 2016 10:50 am

California July bar exam overall pass rates:
2012: 55%
2013: 56%
2014: 49%
2015: 47%
2016: 43%
http://www.calbar.ca.gov/AboutUs/News/T ... 01645.aspx

Congrats to those who passed!

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Yukos

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by Yukos » Sat Nov 19, 2016 10:53 am

Here's what CalBar says about transferring your MBE score:
The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) will transfer your Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) score to admitting authorities in other jurisdictions. A form for facilitating the transfer can be accessed online through the NCBE’s website at http://www.ncbex.org. In accordance with Chapter 5, Rule 4.62(B) of the Admissions Rules, applicants who pass the California Bar Examination are not entitled to receive their answers or to see their scores from the examination. The NCBE will advise applicants whether their scores meet other jurisdictions’ minimum requirements and will transfer the score upon request and payment of a fee.
So if you passed your MBE score will forever remain a mystery.

Slickrick90

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by Slickrick90 » Sat Nov 19, 2016 11:50 am

Congrats to everyone that passed. Unfortunately I was not one of them.

I originally signed up to take the exam and then ended up lateraling to a different jurisdiction. Even though I always wanted to work in California (and still want to work in California), no one knew that I took the California bar and my job had no bearing on whether I passed the bar. I had about 4 weeks between jobs and instead of studying hard for the exam, I went on a backpacking trip through Europe, tried to half ass the exam and had the nerve to think that I would pass.

That failed spectacularly like the Iraq War. Do not underestimate this exam. I graduated top 15% from a T20 and I thought I could just waltz in and pass. This was a wakeup call and I will retake the exam in July 2017 (1 day attorneys' exam).

I felt I needed to write this just to shame myself (at least online) so I don't make the same mistake again.
Last edited by Slickrick90 on Tue Dec 27, 2016 3:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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a male human

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by a male human » Sat Nov 19, 2016 12:52 pm

Slickrick, this is definitely a humbling experience. I was a changed man after my first failure. It was a failure of myself, not the exam I had underestimated. Given your top-notch academics and self-awareness, you're in a good position to pass the next one (if not, the exam's not going away! it's an inevitability).


BTW, is there a general thread for the 2017 February CBX yet? If no one wants to make it, I guess I can although I'm not sure if I'm best suited for it (having passed in 2014 Feb).

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Nauzie

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by Nauzie » Sat Nov 19, 2016 1:45 pm

a male human wrote:Slickrick, this is definitely a humbling experience. I was a changed man after my first failure. It was a failure of myself, not the exam I had underestimated. Given your top-notch academics and self-awareness, you're in a good position to pass the next one (if not, the exam's not going away! it's an inevitability).


BTW, is there a general thread for the 2017 February CBX yet? If no one wants to make it, I guess I can although I'm not sure if I'm best suited for it (having passed in 2014 Feb).

Do it! 8)

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rcharter1978

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by rcharter1978 » Sat Nov 19, 2016 2:26 pm

Slick -- don't beat yourself up. It's good to acknowledge what went wrong and keep it moving. I had so many professors make it sound like I, too, could waltz in and pass due to my class rank. They were wrong and so was I. Taking the exam the first time really taught me a lot about the exam.

plurilingue

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by plurilingue » Sat Nov 19, 2016 2:35 pm

2TimesTheCharm wrote:To be incredibly petty for a moment:

This guy, I hope you passed... that way you won't be around to annoy future test takers.
I passed, and I'm glad you and many others (Zazei; teabreeze) did too. Best of luck next time to those who did not.

I think 2Times' sixth point, about doing well on the performance tests, is the key to crushing the exam. If you can obtain very high scores on those two sections, your don't need to know many nuances of the law for the MBE and the essays in order to pass. In that sense, the current exam format, with two lengthy performance tests, arguably makes the exam easier than the new one will be.

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optimistic_owl

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by optimistic_owl » Sat Nov 19, 2016 3:15 pm

I also failed. Very disappointing, of course, but I am hoping to retool my approach because I know there are many areas where I can find improvements.

Fortunately, I don't yet have a full-time job and I have the means to take time off until February.

A couple questions to others who have failed before:

(1) When should we expect to receive official notification that we didn't pass?
(2) When should we expect to receive our diagnostic? A male human said it was 3-4 weeks. Does it really take that long??

Thanks everyone!

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rcharter1978

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by rcharter1978 » Sat Nov 19, 2016 3:16 pm

plurilingue wrote:
2TimesTheCharm wrote:To be incredibly petty for a moment:

This guy, I hope you passed... that way you won't be around to annoy future test takers.
I passed, and I'm glad you and many others (Zazei; teabreeze) did too. Best of luck next time to those who did not.

I think 2Times' sixth point, about doing well on the performance tests, is the key to crushing the exam. If you can obtain very high scores on those two sections, your don't need to know many nuances of the law for the MBE and the essays in order to pass. In that sense, the current exam format, with two lengthy performance tests, arguably makes the exam easier than the new one will be.
I agree. The new format is supposed to be like 5 essays and 1 PT. Whereas now you have 2 PT, each of which hold the same weight as like 1.5-2 essays.

So, you could conceivably bolster shitty scores on 4 essays out of 6 with strong PTs. In the new format, you can only bolster 2 essays out of 5.

BUT, essays overall will weigh a lot less, so if you can do well with MBEs the test may end up being easier. (I think MBEs are easier)

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rcharter1978

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by rcharter1978 » Sat Nov 19, 2016 3:18 pm

optimistic_owl wrote:I also failed. Very disappointing, of course, but I am hoping to retool my approach because I know there are many areas where I can find improvements.

Fortunately, I don't yet have a full-time job and I have the means to take time off until February.

A couple questions to others who have failed before:

(1) When should we expect to receive official notification that we didn't pass?
(2) When should we expect to receive our diagnostic? A male human said it was 3-4 weeks. Does it really take that long??

Thanks everyone!
1) Monday
2) I felt it arrived about 2 weeks later
3) its good you're starting to think about studying now. No time to do anything else. Focus on how happy you'll be when you walk out of the February exam

LurkerTurnedMember

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by LurkerTurnedMember » Sat Nov 19, 2016 5:12 pm

Yukos wrote:Here's what CalBar says about transferring your MBE score:
The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) will transfer your Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) score to admitting authorities in other jurisdictions. A form for facilitating the transfer can be accessed online through the NCBE’s website at http://www.ncbex.org. In accordance with Chapter 5, Rule 4.62(B) of the Admissions Rules, applicants who pass the California Bar Examination are not entitled to receive their answers or to see their scores from the examination. The NCBE will advise applicants whether their scores meet other jurisdictions’ minimum requirements and will transfer the score upon request and payment of a fee.
So if you passed your MBE score will forever remain a mystery.
That's fine. I don't wanna touch the bar exam or any part of it with a ten foot pole ever again. So as long as there's a way to waive into other jx or waive part of their exams, that's fine. I did read that you can get into the DC jx so long as you have a high enough mbe score, passed the bar exam from which the mbe is coming from, and graduated from an ABA accredited school. And the whole exam is waived, not just the MBE. And it looks like it's possible with a Cali bar pass since NCBE will send the score if it's high enough.

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by a male human » Sat Nov 19, 2016 6:37 pm

Nauzie wrote:
a male human wrote:Slickrick, this is definitely a humbling experience. I was a changed man after my first failure. It was a failure of myself, not the exam I had underestimated. Given your top-notch academics and self-awareness, you're in a good position to pass the next one (if not, the exam's not going away! it's an inevitability).


BTW, is there a general thread for the 2017 February CBX yet? If no one wants to make it, I guess I can although I'm not sure if I'm best suited for it (having passed in 2014 Feb).

Do it! 8)
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=271217

The thread to discuss the next exam. I will be collecting some useful information in the first couple posts.

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by ur_hero » Sat Nov 19, 2016 6:59 pm

First-time CBX taker -was unfortunately unsuccessful.

For those interested: I did Themis and finished about 60%, then focusing on MBE and BarEssays practice for the last month. My main regret is perhaps all the time wasted on lectures that could have been spent practicing, as I'm not much of an auditory learner. I'm pretty surprised at the result, although I can think of a lot of things I could have done better.

I've been a long-time lurker here, and appreciate all the support and advice I've received. Hopefully I can learn something these next three months and pay it forward.

See you all in the February 2017 thread.

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by poundcr » Sat Nov 19, 2016 11:09 pm

I passed! First time test taker and I am still in a bit of shock about it. It really is a crap shoot I feel like. With so many hardworking people I felt like a bit of a slacker but I really couldn't have studied more than I did (I just needed to go out and cut loose more than most). I think what may have really saved me were the PTs. I got really good feedback from Barbri on my first try at one and I felt like I dominated the shit out of PTA. I felt really fortunately that the essays tested what they did. Certain subject would have KILLED ME, in fact certain sub subjects would have killed me. I had no clue about the MBE's but when I saw my friends scores from other jurisdictions I felt a lot better (friends i had studied with and had similar practice scores).

Anyways I don't have any great advice to offer except just try to remain sane. Yes I probably went out more than I should have but it was what I needed at the time.

Super bummed for those who weren't successful. Best of luck to you next time and keep your head up!

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by jbagelboy » Sat Nov 19, 2016 11:34 pm

I know this is a bit of a petty grievance, but I really do think successful bar takers should be able to see the breakdowns of their scores. We paid hundreds of dollars to take the test, it's not like the state bar is performing a free service; is it just laziness/bad value that they do not produce itemized score reports for everyone, or is there some extraneous justification?

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by LurkerTurnedMember » Sat Nov 19, 2016 11:55 pm

jbagelboy wrote:I know this is a bit of a petty grievance, but I really do think successful bar takers should be able to see the breakdowns of their scores. We paid hundreds of dollars to take the test, it's not like the state bar is performing a free service; is it just laziness/bad value that they do not produce itemized score reports for everyone, or is there some extraneous justification?

Why does it matter? If you passed, you passed. The only reason it might matter is if you're trying to transfer your score to another Jx but they let you do it and will tell you if your score is high enough. So there really isn't any point in knowing the breakdown of your score.. Unless you're one of those people who wants to use your individual score to rank yourself with other test takers cause passing isn't enough for you, you wanna make sure you beat other people... that's just stupid. All that'll do is show that a ton of rich, white guys are good at paying for bar prep and have enough free time to study (and aren't affected by test-taking psych effects) to fill up the higher part of the rankings, and it'll give false evidence to racists to say "look at how people of color don't do as well on the bar, they should go to lower ranked schools" (a popular new racist thing to say in education). Whoa... sorry.. dunno where that came from. probably has nothing to do with you. I'm just happy I passed.

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TFALAWL

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by TFALAWL » Sun Nov 20, 2016 12:17 am

Congrats to everyone who passed! I was not one of them. Let this be a reminder to future bar takers: anyone can fail. I work at a V20 and graduated top 1/4 at T-10.

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by Notorious RBG » Sun Nov 20, 2016 12:29 am

a male human wrote:
LurkerTurnedMember wrote:
a male human wrote:
LurkerTurnedMember wrote:For those of us who passed, where do we het our specific score? I read that we can transfer the mbe score but my result page just said my name is on the list with no specific break down..
If you passed, your scores remain a mystery. You only get a breakdown of raw essay scores and a scaled MBE score if you did not pass the bar (in which case you get a packet postal mailed to you in about 3-4 weeks)
Then how does "waiving" into other jurisdictions work? How do we figure out if our score is high enough to waive into another jx in the first place?
I hear that you can request a score report to be sent to a given jurisdiction and that jx will either accept or reject based on the score you send over. I don't believe you know your exact score even if you pay to send it to other jurisdictions.

This is based on hearsay and memory. If someone else could confirm...
You can go to NCBE and request to know which jurisdictions you can waive into. From there you can usually deduce a range so you will at least know how you did on the MBE. For example if you get confirmation you can waive into DC (requires 133) but cannot waive into Minnesota (145) then you know you got between 133 and 145. That's the closest you'll get to knowing.

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Re: July 2016 California Bar Exam

Post by Notorious RBG » Sun Nov 20, 2016 12:39 am

jbagelboy wrote:I know this is a bit of a petty grievance, but I really do think successful bar takers should be able to see the breakdowns of their scores. We paid hundreds of dollars to take the test, it's not like the state bar is performing a free service; is it just laziness/bad value that they do not produce itemized score reports for everyone, or is there some extraneous justification?
No way, lawyers have enough barely relevant criteria on which to neurotically judge each other and ourselves. Imagine a world where law firm hiring were based on not just your law school, class rank, and whether you passed the bar right away, but also your actual score on the bar? Eff that noise. Most people who fail barely fail, and most who pass barely pass. And a lot of it is subjective and imperfect anyway. Assume you got a 1410 and move on.

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

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