2018 February CA Bar Forum

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PorscheFanatic

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by PorscheFanatic » Wed Nov 22, 2017 8:21 pm

AntiHumanJr wrote:Missed the bar by about 100 points. Anyone know how difficult it is to close the gap on this and how significant 100 points is for CA?
I too am curious, as someone who missed by 129.

Got'eem

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by Got'eem » Wed Nov 22, 2017 9:08 pm

It’s possible to make a 100+ point improvement in three months. I improved 112 points with the help of my tutor. If it wasn’t for the examsoft malfunctioning during my PT, I would’ve passed.

FinallyPassedTheBar

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by FinallyPassedTheBar » Wed Nov 22, 2017 9:13 pm

The last time I failed I got a total scaled score of 1310. (MY MBE was 153 aprox).

So yes it is possible to make up 100+ point deficit. Now that the MBE is worth 50%, I think it can evenly offset a weak essay score. According to my estimate, I got a 160+ MBE score last July 17. I didn't gain any significant black letter law knowledge between the dates I failed the exam and passed the exam.. And I highly doubt I learned how to write "better" essays. I just concentrated on Adaptibar mostly.

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cheme2014

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by cheme2014 » Wed Nov 22, 2017 11:30 pm

Also checking in. Waiting for score breakdown to see how bad it is :(

No clue how I'm going to handle prepping for the retake while working full-time... #freakingout

Call2222222

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by Call2222222 » Thu Nov 23, 2017 1:17 am

Keep your head up guys. You got this! I passed on the first time and want to give you what worked for me. I treated the bar exam like a job. I woke up, ate breakfast, started working at 8am, took a lunch break at 1, and finished around 5pm to spend time with family and friends. YOU need balance. Go out and have a beer with friends. Go out to the movies. Have dinner with your family. Don’t stop doing what you love.

I understand people have jobs and need to work and study at the same time. For those of you who don’t, there’s no excuse. Put the time in and work smarter.

I averaged 50 mbe a day and did just over 2k on AdaptiBar, all of the barbri mbe (up to set 4 n every subject) and used Emanuel’s. STUDY both the questions you got right and wrong!!

You also need to rotate your matieral. I was scoring 65-70% on barbri and when i switched over tm AdaptiBar is was in the low 60%. By 1 week prior to the exam my last 500 questions were being scored at 70% accuracy (this is where you want to be).

Essays
I really pushed the essays to the side honestly. Keep in mind the mbe and pt are where the Big points are. You can bomb an essay and still pass with solid mbes. We have all written essays in law school and know how to articulate arguments. All i did was read every single barbri essay, and issue spotted 10-15 essays of each subject. Write the rules down after issue spotting! If you can spot the issues, you can make arguments to support them and USE the facts!!!! Like all of them!!

Mary Basick makes a great bar essay book that i swear by. She breaks down frequently tested essay subjects.

Performance test
I think the performance test is VERY overlooked. You don’t need to do 10000 of them but you neeed a strategy! I took a 2 day course with professor Holtz for the pt and that’s all i needed

Predictions

You have to play the odds. There’s no way you can know everything. I looked at the previous bar exam essay tested subjects and saw that real prop and wills were tested the previous exam. Therefore i didn’t pay much attention to those subjects (i still looked at essays, but they were not my priority. Dr Dennis sacuzzo Has been very spot on with his predictions. Just look up “bar secrets” and his info is free

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dredd16

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by dredd16 » Thu Nov 23, 2017 7:14 am

AntiHumanJr wrote:Missed the bar by about 100 points. Anyone know how difficult it is to close the gap on this and how significant 100 points is for CA?
I failed the first time by 99 pts.
I passed the second time.

You can do it.

justanotheruser

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by justanotheruser » Fri Nov 24, 2017 12:32 am

Failed February 2017 with a score of 1290.
Improved significantly in July 2017, but still failed with a score of 1410.
Running out of time and getting a 50 on the PT really killed me. If I got 60 on the PT, I think I might have passed.
That said, it's all about the written portion for me. My MBE scaled was 1490 and written scaled was 1330.

scard

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by scard » Fri Nov 24, 2017 2:23 pm

just got my scorecard.

first read. /. second read. /. operant
essay 1: 65 60 62.5
essay 2: 55 55 55
essay 3: 65 65 65
essay 4: 65 50 65
essay 5: 60 55 57.5
PT: 55 60 57.5

raw written: 420.0
scaled written: 1387.0307
scaled MBE: 1434.0000

Total scaled score: 1410.5154

thecogito

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by thecogito » Fri Nov 24, 2017 6:19 pm

I don't understand how people get such low scores on the PTs. It's just writing a memo/letter/argument section for some legal issue, and you don't need to memorize any outside law. Can't imagine how someone who attends a top law school would ever get a "failing" score.

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a male human

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by a male human » Fri Nov 24, 2017 6:50 pm

Not sure why you care so much about this "too easy" "TTT exam" to stick around after passing just to antagonize people.

Please keep in mind the post history of user "thecogito" before deciding to waste your time getting triggered by his troll posts.

Pema

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by Pema » Fri Nov 24, 2017 6:57 pm

scard wrote:just got my scorecard.

first read. /. second read. /. operant
essay 1: 65 60 62.5
essay 2: 55 55 55
essay 3: 65 65 65
essay 4: 65 50 65
essay 5: 60 55 57.5
PT: 55 60 57.5

raw written: 420.0
scaled written: 1387.0307
scaled MBE: 1434.0000

Total scaled score: 1410.5154

I don't know much about CA bar scoring. What is your raw MBE? What would you need to score on the MBE raw to pass with those written scores? Thanks.

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a male human

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by a male human » Fri Nov 24, 2017 7:03 pm

Pema wrote:
scard wrote:just got my scorecard.

first read. /. second read. /. operant
essay 1: 65 60 62.5
essay 2: 55 55 55
essay 3: 65 65 65
essay 4: 65 50 65
essay 5: 60 55 57.5
PT: 55 60 57.5

raw written: 420.0
scaled written: 1387.0307
scaled MBE: 1434.0000

Total scaled score: 1410.5154

I don't know much about CA bar scoring. What is your raw MBE? What would you need to score on the MBE raw to pass with those written scores? Thanks.
CA no longer gives your raw score, but rather, your percentile relative to other test takers. These percentiles are broken down into subjects, so it gives you some idea on which subjects need more work.

As a rough estimate, 130+ out of 200 would give you a score that would put you on track with the passing score, maybe lower with the 2-day format.

thecogito

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by thecogito » Fri Nov 24, 2017 8:29 pm

a male human wrote:Please keep in mind the post history of user "thecogito" before deciding to waste your time getting triggered by his troll posts.

lol what are you crying about? my posting history is i took the july cali bar and posted here when results came out after lurking. Chill out guy.

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a male human

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by a male human » Fri Nov 24, 2017 8:47 pm

thecogito wrote:
a male human wrote:Please keep in mind the post history of user "thecogito" before deciding to waste your time getting triggered by his troll posts.

lol what are you crying about? my posting history is i took the july cali bar and posted here when results came out after lurking. Chill out guy.
See:
a male human wrote:Not sure why you care so much about this "too easy" "TTT exam" to stick around after passing just to antagonize people.
Also, you don't seem that experienced with trolling when you just give it away like that without any subtlety. You're about 10 years too late to use the "u mad" approach. This would suggest you actually have a life outside of the Internet, but maybe we're more similar than I thought given that you're here shitposting with me on this Thanksgiving weekend.

maxmartin

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by maxmartin » Fri Nov 24, 2017 9:23 pm

scard wrote:just got my scorecard.

first read. /. second read. /. operant
essay 1: 65 60 62.5
essay 2: 55 55 55
essay 3: 65 65 65
essay 4: 65 50 65
essay 5: 60 55 57.5
PT: 55 60 57.5

raw written: 420.0
scaled written: 1387.0307
scaled MBE: 1434.0000

Total scaled score: 1410.5154
What happens to essay 4? Did they give you 65 as average since it deviates more than 10 points? I think your written score is very decent, you definitely can increase your MBE to 1490.

scard

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by scard » Fri Nov 24, 2017 10:11 pm

maxmartin wrote:
scard wrote:just got my scorecard.

first read. /. second read. /. operant
essay 1: 65 60 62.5
essay 2: 55 55 55
essay 3: 65 65 65
essay 4: 65 50 65
essay 5: 60 55 57.5
PT: 55 60 57.5

raw written: 420.0
scaled written: 1387.0307
scaled MBE: 1434.0000

Total scaled score: 1410.5154
What happens to essay 4? Did they give you 65 as average since it deviates more than 10 points? I think your written score is very decent, you definitely can increase your MBE to 1490.
when it deviates more than 10 points a supervisor reviews it and gives their own score without any consideration to the previous scores. so first grader thought 65, second grader thought 50, supervisor also thought 65 so I got a 65.

if it was less than 10 points difference, they take the average. from my calculations, I needed 5 more points on my PT and 5 more points on one of my essays to have passed. or with the same writing score, I think 5 more right answers would've passed me.

thecogito

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by thecogito » Sat Nov 25, 2017 5:19 am

a male human wrote: Also, you don't seem that experienced with trolling when you just give it away like that without any subtlety. You're about 10 years too late to use the "u mad" approach. This would suggest you actually have a life outside of the Internet, but maybe we're more similar than I thought given that you're here shitposting with me on this Thanksgiving weekend.
lol "a male human" what are you crying about now breh? you want me to post my test-taker score lookup breh? i'll poast an imgur with my name blocked out. sorry i passed this TTTTTT easy as fuck test on my first try. r u even a lawyer breh? have u even passed the CA bar? if ur "claiming" u passed do u just hang around making 30% of the poasts in each year's bar-taker thread b/c your biggest life accomplishment is grinding ur way to a 144 cut score on the TTTTTTTTTT california bar exam breh?

https://imgur.com/a/QYEgM

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goldenflash19

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by goldenflash19 » Sat Nov 25, 2017 12:12 pm

thecogito wrote:
a male human wrote: Also, you don't seem that experienced with trolling when you just give it away like that without any subtlety. You're about 10 years too late to use the "u mad" approach. This would suggest you actually have a life outside of the Internet, but maybe we're more similar than I thought given that you're here shitposting with me on this Thanksgiving weekend.
lol "a male human" what are you crying about now breh? you want me to post my test-taker score lookup breh? i'll poast an imgur with my name blocked out. sorry i passed this TTTTTT easy as fuck test on my first try. r u even a lawyer breh? have u even passed the CA bar? if ur "claiming" u passed do u just hang around making 30% of the poasts in each year's bar-taker thread b/c your biggest life accomplishment is grinding ur way to a 144 cut score on the TTTTTTTTTT california bar exam breh?

https://imgur.com/a/QYEgM
Get a life, loser. Nobody on this website cares that you passed the bar exam. It’s weird that you (1) care so much about how other people did and (2) feel the need to brag that you passed the exam. I get the impression you are really insecure about something, whether it be your school rank, grades, employment, or something personal to you.

Snowflake1

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by Snowflake1 » Sat Nov 25, 2017 2:18 pm

Second time taker here. I did pretty well on the MBE (over 1500) but failed every essay. Not a huge surprise being that I focused way too much on MBE this last time around and ignored essay practice. Any recommendations for an essay tutor? I also subscribed to BarEssays.com.

onlythreemonths

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by onlythreemonths » Sat Nov 25, 2017 3:01 pm

Can someone remind me what a "failing" and "passing" score on the essays are? 55 and 65?

onlythreemonths

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by onlythreemonths » Sat Nov 25, 2017 3:08 pm

thecogito wrote:
a male human wrote: Also, you don't seem that experienced with trolling when you just give it away like that without any subtlety. You're about 10 years too late to use the "u mad" approach. This would suggest you actually have a life outside of the Internet, but maybe we're more similar than I thought given that you're here shitposting with me on this Thanksgiving weekend.
lol "a male human" what are you crying about now breh? you want me to post my test-taker score lookup breh? i'll poast an imgur with my name blocked out. sorry i passed this TTTTTT easy as fuck test on my first try. r u even a lawyer breh? have u even passed the CA bar? if ur "claiming" u passed do u just hang around making 30% of the poasts in each year's bar-taker thread b/c your biggest life accomplishment is grinding ur way to a 144 cut score on the TTTTTTTTTT california bar exam breh?

https://imgur.com/a/QYEgM

user has been banned for trolling.
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a male human

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by a male human » Sat Nov 25, 2017 4:17 pm

Jeez, 30%? I thought I'd dialed back on the posting over time to not get in the way of other people's conversations.

Snowflake1

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by Snowflake1 » Sat Nov 25, 2017 4:54 pm

onlythreemonths wrote:Can someone remind me what a "failing" and "passing" score on the essays are? 55 and 65?
65 or above is a pass.

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a male human

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by a male human » Sat Nov 25, 2017 5:14 pm

There's a misconception that 65 is a passing score. You don't pass an essay or PT. You pass the exam.

It varies slightly depending on the exam, but in general, getting about a 62.5 or so put you on track to pass (1440 scaled written score). A raw score of 65 is a good indication that you're on the right track. You want to aim to get your essays to a 65 or higher. You could also say that an average raw score of 65 would most likely put your scaled score above 1440.

With the two-day exam where (i) the written portion is now worth 50% instead of 65% and (ii) essays are worth 5/7 of that half instead of 3/5, this "passing" score might be a tad lower. Maybe higher. In any case, yes, a 65 is a good benchmark to hit.

onlythreemonths

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Re: 2018 February CA Bar

Post by onlythreemonths » Sat Nov 25, 2017 6:05 pm

a male human wrote:There's a misconception that 65 is a passing score. You don't pass an essay or PT. You pass the exam.

It varies slightly depending on the exam, but in general, getting about a 62.5 or so put you on track to pass (1440 scaled written score). A raw score of 65 is a good indication that you're on the right track. You want to aim to get your essays to a 65 or higher. You could also say that an average raw score of 65 would most likely put your scaled score above 1440.

With the two-day exam where (i) the written portion is now worth 50% instead of 65% and (ii) essays are worth 5/7 of that half instead of 3/5, this "passing" score might be a tad lower. Maybe higher. In any case, yes, a 65 is a good benchmark to hit.
Good to know! Thanks!

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