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anfrantz

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Self Study Pa Bar

Post by anfrantz » Thu Mar 10, 2016 10:49 am

I am taking the PA bar in July. I am doing a self-study method using Themis books and Kaplan's PMBR. Does anyone have any advice on how to study for the state specific portion of the exam? I have the Themis PA outline book but I am looking for additional resources to practice writing essays or any other PA materials. Any Recommendations?

Thanks!

caveman2

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Re: Self Study Pa Bar

Post by caveman2 » Thu Mar 10, 2016 2:31 pm

anfrantz wrote:I am taking the PA bar in July. I am doing a self-study method using Themis books and Kaplan's PMBR. Does anyone have any advice on how to study for the state specific portion of the exam? I have the Themis PA outline book but I am looking for additional resources to practice writing essays or any other PA materials. Any Recommendations?

Thanks!
I did the exact same thing just barely with the Feb exam. I used the Themis outlines and bought the Kaplan Qbank. I don't know how much I liked the Kaplan Qbank--part of me wishes I had bought adaptibar instead. But who knows, maybe that's just a grass is greener type of thing. We'll see if I passed. As for the essays, the absolute best thing you can do is just to look at the past actual essay questions. I made lists and lists of all the topics they tested for every subject for the past like 10 years, and they DO NOT repeat stuff very often, maybe only like every 6 years or so. So you can't really try to "game" your studying very much, you just have to know everything. The only thing I can tell you with something next to certainty is that if they've tested it in the past 2-3 tests, there's a strong chance they won't test it again. Also, they tested conflict of laws on the Feb exam, so I can tell you with certainty it won't be on the July exam. The PA Bar website only has essays for the past three years, but I did a bit of sleuthing and was able to track down all of the other past tests, with the exception of 2009 and 2010.

Essays and answers 2014 - 2016: http://www.pabarexam.org/bar_exam_information/essay.htm

July 2013 essays: http://www.pabarexam.org/pdf/qa/qa713.pdf
July 2013 sample answers: http://www.pabarexam.org/pdf/sample_answers/sa713.pdf
Feb 2013 essays: http://www.pabarexam.org/pdf/qa/qa213.pdf
Feb 2013 sample answers: http://www.pabarexam.org/pdf/sample_answers/sa213.pdf
July 2012 essays: http://www.pabarexam.org/pdf/qa/qa712.pdf
July 2012 sample answers: http://www.pabarexam.org/pdf/sample_answers/sa712.pdf
Feb 2012 essays: http://www.pabarexam.org/pdf/qa/qa212.pdf
Feb 2012 sample answers: http://www.pabarexam.org/pdf/sample_answers/sa212.pdf
July 2011 sample answers: http://www.pabarexam.org/pdf/sample_answers/sa711.pdf -->couldn't find the questions
Feb 2011 sample answers: http://www.pabarexam.org/pdf/sample_answers/sa211.pdf -->couldn't find the questions

Essays and answers 1995 - 2008: http://www.passthebar.com/states/pennsylvania/

Also, for the past few years, the essay pattern almost always looks like this:
1. Decedents' Estates
Federal Income Tax
Prof. Responsibility

2. Torts
Evidence
Civil Procedure

3. Criminal Law
Family Law
Evidence

4. Civil Procedure
Con Law
Employment Discrimination

5. Property
Contracts

6. Corporations
Sales

If you need any other help, I'm here for you. I wish someone had given me all this stuff, it took awhile for me to put it all together. I just want to pay it forward how I can.

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