2018 February CA Bar Forum

[LawIQ45]

Is it too soon to freak out...? I haven't done any practice essays... Been able to do only about 10-20 MBE per day because I'm reviewing each answer. Where did December go? I took last weekend off because I was already burned out. Now 8 weeks out, and I'm just freaking out!!!

Hello rationaljd. I don't think you should be freaking out yet. I would, however, encourage you to start kicking up the number of MBEs you do per day. Maybe shoot for 25-50. I just took and passed the July exam and there were definitely days were I did not get around to doing any extra MBEs aside from what Barbri had us do. It just happens sometimes. Dont let it discourage you. With respect to essays, if you are feeling extra burnt out, try just issue spotting the essays and reading through the model answer. See how many issues you got, because that is half the battle! The last month I did A LOT of essays because that is how I can remember things the best. Again, you have PLENTY of time to do all the extra work you need to do to be ready for the exam! I would also encourage you to not take whole weekends off at this point. I am not trying to put you down, you are just at the turning point here, so turn that corner and tackle this thing! Let me know if you have any additional questions, I would love to help. Wishing you the best of luck!

[onlythreemonths]

You guys... I am again starting to break down and get sad about failing to bar... but everything is going to be fine, right? I just need to keep pushing?

[mcmand]

You guys... I am again starting to break down and get sad about failing to bar... but everything is going to be fine, right? I just need to keep pushing?

You will be fine. Take a few hours today for your mental health. Watch a movie or something. Then get back to it.

[onlythreemonths]

You guys... I am again starting to break down and get sad about failing to bar... but everything is going to be fine, right? I just need to keep pushing?

You will be fine. Take a few hours today for your mental health. Watch a movie or something. Then get back to it.

Thanks, man. I really needed to hear these words today!

[rationaljd]

Is it too soon to freak out...? I haven't done any practice essays... Been able to do only about 10-20 MBE per day because I'm reviewing each answer. Where did December go? I took last weekend off because I was already burned out. Now 8 weeks out, and I'm just freaking out!!!

Hello rationaljd. I don't think you should be freaking out yet. I would, however, encourage you to start kicking up the number of MBEs you do per day. Maybe shoot for 25-50. I just took and passed the July exam and there were definitely days were I did not get around to doing any extra MBEs aside from what Barbri had us do. It just happens sometimes. Dont let it discourage you. With respect to essays, if you are feeling extra burnt out, try just issue spotting the essays and reading through the model answer. See how many issues you got, because that is half the battle! The last month I did A LOT of essays because that is how I can remember things the best. Again, you have PLENTY of time to do all the extra work you need to do to be ready for the exam! I would also encourage you to not take whole weekends off at this point. I am not trying to put you down, you are just at the turning point here, so turn that corner and tackle this thing! Let me know if you have any additional questions, I would love to help. Wishing you the best of luck!

Thank you so much...............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!................ (and congrats on passing!) . Dang, this battle is hard when you are surrounded by people who have no idea what you're going through..........

[mcmand]

You guys... I am again starting to break down and get sad about failing to bar... but everything is going to be fine, right? I just need to keep pushing?

You will be fine. Take a few hours today for your mental health. Watch a movie or something. Then get back to it.

Thanks, man. I really needed to hear these words today!

No problem. Everyone has a breakdown or two during bar prep. It's mentally and emotionally draining. When you feel like that, give yourself a few hours to recover/rejuvenate. Once you reset, you'll be much better at studying.

[justanotheruser]

A defendant held up a drugstore at 10:30 at night and drove away. His car broke down in an isolated area just outside the small city in which the crime occurred. The defendant walked to the nearest house and asked the homeowner if he could stay until the next morning, explaining that he had been searching for his sister's home and had run out of gas. The homeowner agreed to let him sleep on a couch in the basement. During the course of the night, the homeowner began to doubt the story the defendant had told him. Early the next morning, the homeowner called the police and said he was suspicious and frightened of a stranger whom he had allowed to stay the night. The police went immediately to the house to assist the homeowner and walked through the open front door. They found the defendant and the homeowner drinking coffee in the kitchen. When they saw the defendant, they realized he matched the description of the drugstore robber. They arrested the defendant and in his jacket they found drugs taken during the robbery.

So, I get the plain view part once the officer entered the house and saw defendant face-to-face + matching the descriptions.

I got the question wrong because I kept thinking about the defendant's standing because of his reasonable expectation of privacy as an overnight guest. Is it that the homeowner's permission = carte blanche? Would it even have mattered if defendant spoke up against the officer entering the home? I feel like I'm confusing this for the consent doctrine in Crim Law where no search may be allowed if two persons with apparent/equal right of possession of premises disagree on whether to allow an officer to search or not.

Some help/clarification would be very helpful. Thanks!

[LawIQ45]

Is it too soon to freak out...? I haven't done any practice essays... Been able to do only about 10-20 MBE per day because I'm reviewing each answer. Where did December go? I took last weekend off because I was already burned out. Now 8 weeks out, and I'm just freaking out!!!

Hello rationaljd. I don't think you should be freaking out yet. I would, however, encourage you to start kicking up the number of MBEs you do per day. Maybe shoot for 25-50. I just took and passed the July exam and there were definitely days were I did not get around to doing any extra MBEs aside from what Barbri had us do. It just happens sometimes. Dont let it discourage you. With respect to essays, if you are feeling extra burnt out, try just issue spotting the essays and reading through the model answer. See how many issues you got, because that is half the battle! The last month I did A LOT of essays because that is how I can remember things the best. Again, you have PLENTY of time to do all the extra work you need to do to be ready for the exam! I would also encourage you to not take whole weekends off at this point. I am not trying to put you down, you are just at the turning point here, so turn that corner and tackle this thing! Let me know if you have any additional questions, I would love to help. Wishing you the best of luck!

Thank you so much...............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!................ (and congrats on passing!) . Dang, this battle is hard when you are surrounded by people who have no idea what you're going through..........

I completely understand. I had a similar problem throughout law school. My friends thought that it was just like undergrad, and that I didnt need to study THAT much. It honestly just takes a conversation to explain how important this is and how they need to respect you during this time. At the end of the day, you need to be extremely selfish.

[mimim8]

Is the premium baressays account worth it?

[YuckNotTheBar]

A few random Q's I am considering today?

1. What is the best resource for old essays/sample answers? I have Barbri but will soon run out of their examples. Is anything better than Baressays.com? I assume not.
2. How do people prioritize essays? Do you start with the most recent ones and work backwards, or work with even the older ones on baressays.com?
3. Has anyone received the Barbri "LawMaster" study keys? I broke it open yesterday and see limited utility but maybe I am doing it wrong.

[mimim8]

A few random Q's I am considering today?

1. What is the best resource for old essays/sample answers? I have Barbri but will soon run out of their examples. Is anything better than Baressays.com? I assume not.
2. How do people prioritize essays? Do you start with the most recent ones and work backwards, or work with even the older ones on baressays.com?
3. Has anyone received the Barbri "LawMaster" study keys? I broke it open yesterday and see limited utility but maybe I am doing it wrong.

i am also curious about the law master study keys. are they essentially rule statement flashcards?

[LawIQ45]

A few random Q's I am considering today?

1. What is the best resource for old essays/sample answers? I have Barbri but will soon run out of their examples. Is anything better than Baressays.com? I assume not.
2. How do people prioritize essays? Do you start with the most recent ones and work backwards, or work with even the older ones on baressays.com?
3. Has anyone received the Barbri "LawMaster" study keys? I broke it open yesterday and see limited utility but maybe I am doing it wrong.

Hello, I did not use baressays.com, but instead only looked at past exams and model answers. Based on the site, it looks like that is your best bet. In terms of prioritizing essays, I split them into topic and worked oldest to the most recent. I wanted to be as familiar as possible with how they were testing certain topics.

[YuckNotTheBar]

A few random Q's I am considering today?

1. What is the best resource for old essays/sample answers? I have Barbri but will soon run out of their examples. Is anything better than Baressays.com? I assume not.
2. How do people prioritize essays? Do you start with the most recent ones and work backwards, or work with even the older ones on baressays.com?
3. Has anyone received the Barbri "LawMaster" study keys? I broke it open yesterday and see limited utility but maybe I am doing it wrong.

i am also curious about the law master study keys. are they essentially rule statement flashcards?

It is a long skinny bound "booklet" for each subject. It is essentially rule statement flashcards, but the answers are not printed at the back. They are in a different section of the bound booklet and it is quite annoying to flip back and forth. The only thing that seems to be interesting is every so often there is a bar code to scan, and when you scan it, there is a relevant video via the Barbri app about the topic in question.

[a male human]

A few random Q's I am considering today?

1. What is the best resource for old essays/sample answers? I have Barbri but will soon run out of their examples. Is anything better than Baressays.com? I assume not.
2. How do people prioritize essays? Do you start with the most recent ones and work backwards, or work with even the older ones on baressays.com?
3. Has anyone received the Barbri "LawMaster" study keys? I broke it open yesterday and see limited utility but maybe I am doing it wrong.

1. You can consider different resources:

- Barbri's essay book actually has really good answers. There's a difference between what you're expected to produce on the exam and what you can learn from. I definitely learned from their model answers, particularly the way they set up issues and rules.
- Selected answers from the state bar can help as well, but I found them more helpful for learning how to apply the law. For example, I had no idea what a 12(b)(6) MTD was until some nerd wrote a damn treatise on the subject in one of the sample answers.
- BarEssays is a must (as long as you have the budget... you can save $25 with a coupon) because you can see how students actually did and the scores they got. As you look at sub-65, 65, and over-65 answers, you see what gets points and what doesn't. You develop an intuition.

There's nothing stopping you from just using the "best"; you can use all of them and fill in blind spots that one single resource may not have.

2. I generally did older, then newer, to become more familiar as I got better. But whether they were from 10 years ago or 1 year ago, the essays were generally similar in terms of how they want you to answer them. The questions might feel different, but the answers are generally similar (again, the way issues and rules are set up).

I would first and foremost prioritize the broad coverage of issues. That is, are you working on the different ways they can test you in each subject? You want to see the ways to approach the different issues in a subject because the issues are where everything starts.

Generally, 4-10 essays will give you good coverage. Does that sound like too little? You can always redo them and learn something new every time. If you actually "got" it, you should be knocking them out of the park.

[chicoalto0649]

A few random Q's I am considering today?

1. What is the best resource for old essays/sample answers? I have Barbri but will soon run out of their examples. Is anything better than Baressays.com? I assume not.
2. How do people prioritize essays? Do you start with the most recent ones and work backwards, or work with even the older ones on baressays.com?
3. Has anyone received the Barbri "LawMaster" study keys? I broke it open yesterday and see limited utility but maybe I am doing it wrong.

1. You can consider different resources:

- Barbri's essay book actually has really good answers. There's a difference between what you're expected to produce on the exam and what you can learn from. I definitely learned from their model answers, particularly the way they set up issues and rules.
- Selected answers from the state bar can help as well, but I found them more helpful for learning how to apply the law. For example, I had no idea what a 12(b)(6) MTD was until some nerd wrote a damn treatise on the subject in one of the sample answers.
- BarEssays is a must (as long as you have the budget... you can save $25 with a coupon) because you can see how students actually did and the scores they got. As you look at sub-65, 65, and over-65 answers, you see what gets points and what doesn't. You develop an intuition.

There's nothing stopping you from just using the "best"; you can use all of them and fill in blind spots that one single resource may not have.

2. I generally did older, then newer, to become more familiar as I got better. But whether they were from 10 years ago or 1 year ago, the essays were generally similar in terms of how they want you to answer them. The questions might feel different, but the answers are generally similar (again, the way issues and rules are set up).

I would first and foremost prioritize the broad coverage of issues. That is, are you working on the different ways they can test you in each subject? You want to see the ways to approach the different issues in a subject because the issues are where everything starts.

Generally, 4-10 essays will give you good coverage. Does that sound like too little? You can always redo them and learn something new every time. If you actually "got" it, you should be knocking them out of the park.

Do you have any advice as to how to approach the new 90 minute performance exam? I think there are only 2 samples out there. I assume the old ones are worth reviewing just to see how to structure your responses, but would like to replicate actual testing conditions as I practice these. Are the UBE ones similar?

[a male human]

A few random Q's I am considering today?

1. What is the best resource for old essays/sample answers? I have Barbri but will soon run out of their examples. Is anything better than Baressays.com? I assume not.
2. How do people prioritize essays? Do you start with the most recent ones and work backwards, or work with even the older ones on baressays.com?
3. Has anyone received the Barbri "LawMaster" study keys? I broke it open yesterday and see limited utility but maybe I am doing it wrong.

1. You can consider different resources:

- Barbri's essay book actually has really good answers. There's a difference between what you're expected to produce on the exam and what you can learn from. I definitely learned from their model answers, particularly the way they set up issues and rules.
- Selected answers from the state bar can help as well, but I found them more helpful for learning how to apply the law. For example, I had no idea what a 12(b)(6) MTD was until some nerd wrote a damn treatise on the subject in one of the sample answers.
- BarEssays is a must (as long as you have the budget... you can save $25 with a coupon) because you can see how students actually did and the scores they got. As you look at sub-65, 65, and over-65 answers, you see what gets points and what doesn't. You develop an intuition.

There's nothing stopping you from just using the "best"; you can use all of them and fill in blind spots that one single resource may not have.

2. I generally did older, then newer, to become more familiar as I got better. But whether they were from 10 years ago or 1 year ago, the essays were generally similar in terms of how they want you to answer them. The questions might feel different, but the answers are generally similar (again, the way issues and rules are set up).

I would first and foremost prioritize the broad coverage of issues. That is, are you working on the different ways they can test you in each subject? You want to see the ways to approach the different issues in a subject because the issues are where everything starts.

Generally, 4-10 essays will give you good coverage. Does that sound like too little? You can always redo them and learn something new every time. If you actually "got" it, you should be knocking them out of the park.

Do you have any advice as to how to approach the new 90 minute performance exam? I think there are only 2 samples out there. I assume the old ones are worth reviewing just to see how to structure your responses, but would like to replicate actual testing conditions as I practice these. Are the UBE ones similar?

So I used to suggest doing the 3-hour legacy PTs because there weren't enough samples and I wasn't sure whether MPTs (widely tested in other states) were similar enough.

Since then, I've found that the MPTs are pretty similar. Legacy PTs can be good for endurance training, but I'd mostly focus on MPTs, the sample PT, and the one PT that's released on the CalBar website. There’s plenty of MPTs to practice with:

http://www.ncbex.org/exams/mpt/preparing/
Point Sheets from older administrations

https://www.gabaradmissions.org/essay-a ... ed-answers
MPT assignments and sample answers since 2000

https://www.nybarexam.org/ExamQuestions ... stions.htm
Includes different sample answers to same MPTs from 2005

Check page 20 from my PT guide for more discussion: https://[link redacted]/YjXf1S (updated to 1.5c on NYE for anyone with an older copy)

[Feb2018Taker]

I know Dr. Saccuzzo is pretty good at his predictions, but does anyone think civ pro will be on Feb's exam again?


Also, can anyone recommend how to improve in MBE? I have seen an improvement since my summer session for sure, but I am open to any advice. I have been using Emanuel and Adaptibar.

Thanks!

[a male human]

I know Dr. Saccuzzo is pretty good at his predictions, but does anyone think civ pro will be on Feb's exam again?


Also, can anyone recommend how to improve in MBE? I have seen an improvement since my summer session for sure, but I am open to any advice. I have been using Emanuel and Adaptibar.

Thanks!

One thing I found helpful (other than using real questions like you have) is to focus more on quality than quantity. The learning happens when you review the answer explanation and fully understand the concept, not when you do the questions. Further learning may happen after you redo the question sometime later.

S&T has great explanations for correct and wrong answers. I reviewed all of them, whether I got the question right or wrong. Basically, I read the book cover to cover.

Another thing was to track my correct rate for each subject and topics (e.g., negligence) and focus on my worst 3. And as my worst 3 changed, I'd do more questions there. I probably did at most 800 questions, mostly from the S&T and some from Barbri.

[needbreak]

I heard the bar is going to start expediting pretty much everything now that it's a 2 day exam. Is there a date yet as to the Feb 18 results?

[YuckNotTheBar]

I heard the bar is going to start expediting pretty much everything now that it's a 2 day exam. Is there a date yet as to the Feb 18 results?

I just received my ticket today and it says results will be available online on 5/11/18.

[needbreak]

I heard the bar is going to start expediting pretty much everything now that it's a 2 day exam. Is there a date yet as to the Feb 18 results?

I just received my ticket today and it says results will be available online on 5/11/18.

Thank you Yuck.

[LawIQ45]

I know Dr. Saccuzzo is pretty good at his predictions, but does anyone think civ pro will be on Feb's exam again?


Also, can anyone recommend how to improve in MBE? I have seen an improvement since my summer session for sure, but I am open to any advice. I have been using Emanuel and Adaptibar.

Thanks!

Hello! As I am sure you aware, they just tested Federal Civ Pro on the July bar. If anything, they could do California Civil Procedure. I believe the last time they tested that was in July 2016. The thing with predicting the bar is that it is VERY difficult to do. A straight torts and federal civil procedure were not popular predictions for the July 2017 bar exam. Of course, the only one you can count on is PR. I took the July 2017 bar and the topics that were due then were con law (either interstate commerce/speech), agency and partnership, I believe criminal murder is due, maybe property. But again, it is really had to predict.

With respect to multiple choice, I used S&T and Adaptibar. I think I did most of Adaptibar. I agree with the response below. It is way more than quantity. You need to make sure that you are understanding why you are getting questions wrong/right. I remember the MBE guy for Barbri (Chuck?) stated that you need to do your absolute best to narrow your answers to two. I remember I really tried to do that and say that I was getting a lot more right and the ones that I did not get right - the other answer choice that I did not select ended up being the correct answer. It is really just a practice in identifying why certain answer choices are NOT correct. Once you get better and better at doing that, you will be in prime shape.

[LastTimePls]

Is the premium baressays account worth it?

Hey mimim8!

To my understanding, the big difference between the two accounts is that a premium account will let you access model answers written by BarEssays. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong!)

Here's what they provided as their sample model answer to show what you're getting from a premium account: http://baressays.com/sample.aspx?t=Samp ... Answer.pdf

I do recall that I did end up getting the premium account. While I was preparing, I actually did not use the BarEssays model answers that much - instead opting to use the user submitted essays so that I could learn the gist of how to write above "65" scoring essays. Concurrently, I ended up finding a bar grader who assisted me in learning how to write the essay sections properly.

In short, I got the premium account, but did not use the touted features of said account. For me it was not worth the upgrade. You, however, may find that the BarEssays provided models might help you understand writing the essays better.

Cheers!

[jellybelly13]

I had some setbacks and so I started today. Is it possible?

[a male human]

I had some setbacks and so I started today. Is it possible?

Of course! See if these sample study schedules seem doable to you (maybe check the 8-week or 6-week one): https://www.dropbox.com/s/vmkaorxv44y5z ... 2.pdf?dl=0