July 2018 Texas Bar Exam Forum

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MBernard

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by MBernard » Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:44 pm

Blackacrediznuts2018 wrote: ANY tips, recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated.
I was in a similar situation when I took Texas this past February. I was an out of stater, went to school in Indiana and had no familiarity with the Texas specifics. I’m currently taking Ca in July and I’ve gone through almost all the Ca essay subjects so I believe I might be able to lend some input in how things compare. As you mentioned, TX only offers a 30 min allowance per essay. I’d advise looking at past responses on the Texas Board of Law Examiners Thread. The universe of what is asked for some of the seemingly difficult topics is sometimes very limited. You’ll find board of Law Examiners repeats certain questions, sometimes almost verbatim. As for format, I used the CREAC format and submitted passing essays.

You should find the topics of Wills, Trusts and Business Associations very familiar. Similar concepts and rules tested on, very close to the Ca subjects (some slight tweaks and distinctions). Which means you already have a fair degree of knowledge in 4 subjects guaranteed to be tested on. TX rotates between Trusts and Guardianships, this time they “might” do guardianships (they’ve tested on Trusts like 4 Times now). The subjects that were foreign to me were Commercial Papers, Texas Consumer Law, Oil and Gas, and Secured Transactions. Income Tax and Bankruptcy could possibly comes up as cross over topics but it’s on the less likely side, prioritize subjects guaranteed to be there.

TX is a community property state like CA but it is far easier, Ca is more formulaic whereas TX is more about the basics in my opinion. TX will test on the Texas Family Code as well which I don’t believe is that challenging. Consumer law is almost always Deceptive Trade Practices, Insurance, and Debt Collection (both federal and State). Sometimes the examiners like to squeeze in a trick into Secured (e.g. goods moving to a different state, name change of a debtor, fixture filings, etc.). For Oil and Gas make sure you know how to figure out fractional royalty interests and the terminology (Duhig Doctrine, Pugh Clause, Mother Hubbard Clause). TX will also give you another property question usually focusing Landlord-Tenant, a conveyance of land (just like CA both spouses have to agree to the transfer), rural vs urban homestead, etc. (there really is a limited set of questions they have for this one).

The TX CIV and CRIM portion is worth 10% and a short sentence answer will suffice. TX CRIM is becoming more difficult and I don’t think I’d be able to offer much advise there. As for TX CIV, the examiners recycle old questions.

As for study strategy, I think similar to Ca the trick is to dive-into the essays as soon as possible. You’re definitely at an advantage as you’ll have some familiarity with certain Essay subjects and you can pull off a good MBE (TX passing is 135 I believe whereas CA is 144). Overall, my impression from reviewing the material for both I believe Ca is slightly more difficult.

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by TXBoundJD » Fri Jun 08, 2018 5:12 pm

I am taking the July Texas bar exam and am from out of state (so I am flying in regardless to take the exam). When submitting my application I ranked Waco as first and Lubbock as second thinking that because these are law school sites the actual facilities will be better equipped for test taking conditions. Unfortunately the BLE just told me they are both filled up! My options are Houston (NRG Center), Austin (Palmer Events Center), or DFW (Arlington Convention Center). Anyone have any experience/feedback about any of the exam sites for the Texas bar that would provide any benefit. As I mentioned, I am flying in anyway so it does not really matter much to me which city I take it in.

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by Chill_Out » Tue Jun 12, 2018 5:29 pm

I don't have feedback on specific exam sites (first time bar taker), but as a TX resident quite familiar with each of those locations, I would recommend them in the following order (for testing purposes): #1 Arlington; #2 Houston; then #3 Austin.

I rank Arlington first for price reasons. You would have plenty of options for nice, relatively cheap hotel rooms in the area but its a large enough city to get food and stuff during the evenings (probably won't have much time for fun, though).

I rank Houston second b/c hotel rooms are probably more expensive and traffic is always rough. Houston is a close second, though.

I guess it would depend on how much you wanna spend/how close you need to be to exam site.
TXBoundJD wrote:I am taking the July Texas bar exam and am from out of state (so I am flying in regardless to take the exam). When submitting my application I ranked Waco as first and Lubbock as second thinking that because these are law school sites the actual facilities will be better equipped for test taking conditions. Unfortunately the BLE just told me they are both filled up! My options are Houston (NRG Center), Austin (Palmer Events Center), or DFW (Arlington Convention Center). Anyone have any experience/feedback about any of the exam sites for the Texas bar that would provide any benefit. As I mentioned, I am flying in anyway so it does not really matter much to me which city I take it in.

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by Robert21 » Sun Jun 17, 2018 12:07 am

How is everyone preparing for the Crim P&E questions?
The answers posted online on the TX bar site all say what the most common incorrect answer is. How can I find the correct answer? I went to law school in CA, so I am trying to learn TX law from the past exams. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by OMLS48 » Sun Jun 17, 2018 12:16 am

Depending on which study course you're doing, they should be able to provide you with questions and model answers that serve as great tools on how to craft answers to questions to those regularly asked on the P&E.

If you don't have access to those, then looking at the answers to the P&E online, should give you a decent enough assessment of what they are asking. I know the more recent criminal procedure answers online are trash, as the examiner didn't give much up. But if you look at older exam answers online, they're much better. Civ pro answers throughout are all pretty good online. Given that they tend to repeat the questions, having the answers from even 8-10 years ago should be fine save for subtle changes in the law. Crim pro is always going to have a few questions that are out of left field.

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Big Red

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by Big Red » Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:19 pm

have people gotten their locations yet?

TXBoundJD

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by TXBoundJD » Thu Jun 21, 2018 12:06 am

Big Red wrote:have people gotten their locations yet?
In my message from BLE (received through ATLAS) regarding requiring me to select an alternative exam site (because my top 2--Waco and Lubbock---filled up) they said "Admission Tickets will be delivered to eligible applicants, through ATLAS, beginning July 1."

FYI when making me select an alternate site they offered me Austin, DFW, or Houston. Thus, while I can't make any guarantees, my guess would be that if you put either Austin, DFW, or Houston as your #1 you probably got it.

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by Big Red » Thu Jun 21, 2018 11:36 am

TXBoundJD wrote:
Big Red wrote:have people gotten their locations yet?
In my message from BLE (received through ATLAS) regarding requiring me to select an alternative exam site (because my top 2--Waco and Lubbock---filled up) they said "Admission Tickets will be delivered to eligible applicants, through ATLAS, beginning July 1."

FYI when making me select an alternate site they offered me Austin, DFW, or Houston. Thus, while I can't make any guarantees, my guess would be that if you put either Austin, DFW, or Houston as your #1 you probably got it.
Thanks, appreciated. They are kind of screwing their out of staters by waiting this long though :roll:

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by TXBoundJD » Thu Jun 21, 2018 12:16 pm

Big Red wrote:
Thanks, appreciated. They are kind of screwing their out of staters by waiting this long though :roll:
Agreed. I do not get why Texas can't just first come first served sign ups for exam locations once the applications open at the beginning of the year. That is how most other states do it I understand. They already know the exam sites and their capacities well in advance and by now registration has been closed since May 1. I get waiting until July 1 to issue admission tickets (they need to receive and process your JD Certification to make sure you are "eligible" to take the exam), but no reason for them to holdout on exam sites until then.

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by hello787 » Fri Jun 29, 2018 10:20 am

I realize a few people have posted regarding the Texas Criminal Procedure portion, as being rather difficult. It does seem that the examiner changed course the past couple years, on the types of questions being asked. Does anyone have a strategy, other than pouring over recent past years exams, to study for Texas Criminal Proc.? Is there a particular outline that seems to have the answers the examiner is looking for (Themis, Barbri, Kaplan, etc)? I even took Tex. Criminal Proc. as a class in law school, and don't recognize some of the questions. Just wondering what everyone is doing to study for these, as it seems I am not the only one that wonders about the "outside questions" for Tex Criminal Proc. that have shown up on recent exams.

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by NonbindingPrecedent » Fri Jun 29, 2018 1:04 pm

hello787 wrote:I realize a few people have posted regarding the Texas Criminal Procedure portion, as being rather difficult. It does seem that the examiner changed course the past couple years, on the types of questions being asked. Does anyone have a strategy, other than pouring over recent past years exams, to study for Texas Criminal Proc.? Is there a particular outline that seems to have the answers the examiner is looking for (Themis, Barbri, Kaplan, etc)? I even took Tex. Criminal Proc. as a class in law school, and don't recognize some of the questions. Just wondering what everyone is doing to study for these, as it seems I am not the only one that wonders about the "outside questions" for Tex Criminal Proc. that have shown up on recent exams.
As practical advise all I can really give you is to look at past exams, as questions tend to repeat.

Going a little off topic, it appears that Board Members will rotate question assignments every "few years" however a specific time period is not specified. (See Page 10 at https://www.sunset.texas.gov/public/upl ... Report.pdf ).

While maybe a bit of extrapolation, I am under the impression at least for the July 2016 exam that Cynthia Orr was board member responsible for overseeing the P&E questions or grading. (See https://ble.texas.gov/Board_Mins_20161104 at Page 2). Based on here background this is not too surprising, as she appears to be the most experienced criminal law lawyer on the board (see https://ble.texas.gov/about). I am not sure how much insight this necessarily gives into the questions itself, but may give some insight into the mystery question writer behind the curtain.

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Superbeast

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by Superbeast » Fri Jun 29, 2018 3:22 pm

Anyone else in TX NOT get their admission ticket today? I know they say not to contact until the 6th, but everyone I know got theirs today except me...

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by OMLS48 » Fri Jun 29, 2018 3:27 pm

Got my admission ticket today. was surprised to see it so early

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cutieluby

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by cutieluby » Mon Jul 02, 2018 1:39 am

Superbeast wrote:Anyone else in TX NOT get their admission ticket today? I know they say not to contact until the 6th, but everyone I know got theirs today except me...

Is the admission ticket electronic? I have not received mine, unless it was snail-mailed to my hometown address. However, I did sign up late on April 1, so that may be why.

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by OMLS48 » Mon Jul 02, 2018 1:52 am

Signed up on March 29th, and got mine electronically last Friday.

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by washed out » Mon Jul 02, 2018 12:44 pm

I took the bar at the Palmer location in Austin. It was okay. If you have a choice, then avoid the Austin location for the February 2019 exam. The 86th Texas legislature will be in session and hotel/motel capacity will be limited. Otherwise, book early. Real early.

I was licensed in another state and took and passed the February 2016 Texas exam. Follow your prep course, read the past P&E questions and answers, and read the past essay model answers. Those were the only advice people gave me and I would provide the same.

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by Superbeast » Mon Jul 02, 2018 4:38 pm

cutieluby wrote:
Superbeast wrote:Anyone else in TX NOT get their admission ticket today? I know they say not to contact until the 6th, but everyone I know got theirs today except me...

Is the admission ticket electronic? I have not received mine, unless it was snail-mailed to my hometown address. However, I did sign up late on April 1, so that may be why.
everyone i know got notice by email last friday...still nothing for me yet

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by Itwasascam » Mon Jul 02, 2018 6:53 pm

What do you guys think of learning the Texas distinctions for evidence? I’m worried it’ll just confuse me on the actual exam. Would it be crazy to just take the hit on on Texas evidence to avoid the risk of getting confused and missing points on the mbe

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by NonbindingPrecedent » Mon Jul 02, 2018 9:43 pm

Itwasascam wrote:What do you guys think of learning the Texas distinctions for evidence? I’m worried it’ll just confuse me on the actual exam. Would it be crazy to just take the hit on on Texas evidence to avoid the risk of getting confused and missing points on the mbe
Honestly 90%+ of the Texas rules seem to parallel the Federal Rules. Sure, there are distinctions, but most of them seem quite hyper-technical. I think Texas privileges is worth learning however. This is an area unique to Texas, yet still fertile testing ground. The federal rules just punt to state common law.

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by cutieluby » Tue Jul 03, 2018 12:53 am

Superbeast wrote:
cutieluby wrote:
Superbeast wrote:Anyone else in TX NOT get their admission ticket today? I know they say not to contact until the 6th, but everyone I know got theirs today except me...

Is the admission ticket electronic? I have not received mine, unless it was snail-mailed to my hometown address. However, I did sign up late on April 1, so that may be why.
everyone i know got notice by email last friday...still nothing for me yet
ditto, I did not receive anything today and all of my classmates I talked to have theirs. I will update here or message you when I get mine. My preferences were 1. DFW, 2. Lubbock, 3. Austin. I already made my hotel reservation in Arlington because I heard the DFW option doesnt typically fill up, so hopefully I dont get pushed to Austin because it looks like Lubbock is already full.

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by ChiliBowlWonder » Sat Jul 07, 2018 4:21 pm

Is there a resource for a lean sheet or similar for all Texas essay topics? I have model answers and Barbri, but when crunch time comes I want a lean or magic sheet. I am willing to pay for something like this and do not see it in my Barbri materials. Thanks

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by NonbindingPrecedent » Sun Jul 08, 2018 11:58 am

ChiliBowlWonder wrote:Is there a resource for a lean sheet or similar for all Texas essay topics? I have model answers and Barbri, but when crunch time comes I want a lean or magic sheet. I am willing to pay for something like this and do not see it in my Barbri materials. Thanks

Cheers.
Check out "Tackling the Texas Essays" by Catherine Martin Christopher (Texas Tech's "bar prep" assistant dean) (https://www.amazon.com/Tackling-Texas-E ... 611638542/)

It is nothing groundbreaking to be honest but includes nice very condensed black letter outlines (as is a lot shorter than Barbri CMR) for all of the Texas Essay topics. The outlines are written with a "bar exam" focus in mind. It was just published in January too so its fairly up to date. I am not sure what else is out there online, but as far as I know it is the only published book specific to the Texas Bar exam.

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by SloppyHandwriting » Mon Jul 09, 2018 10:21 am

NonbindingPrecedent wrote:
ChiliBowlWonder wrote:Is there a resource for a lean sheet or similar for all Texas essay topics? I have model answers and Barbri, but when crunch time comes I want a lean or magic sheet. I am willing to pay for something like this and do not see it in my Barbri materials. Thanks

Cheers.
Check out "Tackling the Texas Essays" by Catherine Martin Christopher (Texas Tech's "bar prep" assistant dean) (https://www.amazon.com/Tackling-Texas-E ... 611638542/)

It is nothing groundbreaking to be honest but includes nice very condensed black letter outlines (as is a lot shorter than Barbri CMR) for all of the Texas Essay topics. The outlines are written with a "bar exam" focus in mind. It was just published in January too so its fairly up to date. I am not sure what else is out there online, but as far as I know it is the only published book specific to the Texas Bar exam.
I just bought the book. At this point, I'm desperate for anything that might help me actually learn wtf is in these TX essays.

Also, do I really need to spend time and review Federal Corp Taxation, Federal Estate and Gift Tax, and Fed Income Tax? What are the chances these will be on the bar? I'd rather spend my time on other shit.

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MBernard

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by MBernard » Mon Jul 09, 2018 3:54 pm

SloppyHandwriting wrote:
I just bought the book. At this point, I'm desperate for anything that might help me actually learn wtf is in these TX essays.

Also, do I really need to spend time and review Federal Corp Taxation, Federal Estate and Gift Tax, and Fed Income Tax? What are the chances these will be on the bar? I'd rather spend my time on other shit.
Skip those. Those topics are ancillary and as such are way less likely to appear. When I studied for the TBX I went over every exam year that was posted, cross-over topics rarely appear. If they do appear, likely it’ll be bankruptcy w/family law and Business Associations w/Tax. Again, this rarely happens.

It’s way more important that you home in on the core topics (Property, UCC stuff, Wills, Family + CP, etc). Good luck!

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Re: July 2018 Texas Bar Exam

Post by OMLS48 » Mon Jul 09, 2018 5:35 pm

Did what I would consider a solid effort throughout my lectures in learning the essay subjects and reviewed the materials pretty thoroughly, but now having gone through years of essays, there are mountains of rules we definitely didn't cover. Pretty frustrating, but at least I'm learning them now. :|

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

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