Strategies & Tactics for MBE/Critical Pass/Adaptibar - Bar July 2019 Forum

[SoScrewed6]

Couple quick questions - would love to hear some input!

1) Don't stop hearing about Strategies & Tactics for MBE (Emanuel) being the "MBE Bible." Was about to buy it - but I found the publishers site which suggests they're releasing a 7th edition (https://www.wklegaledu.com/emanuel-mbe7) in May. A lot of the complaints I've heard online is that the Civ Pro sections on S&T have been shit - and I'm curious if this edition will be worth waiting for. On the link it says the new edition has new updates for Civ Pro - but just curious if waiting until mid-May is worth it.

2) I've bought the Critical Pass Flashcards - would love to hear anyones feedback on how best to use them in conjunction with S&T and a standard Bar Prep course. I know I'm going overboard - but I want to have a couple different resources available to me from day 1 - so if I see that one just isn't working/sticking - then I can immediately try something else. I don't care (at this point) about spending a couple hundred dollars to have these available to me.

3) Adaptibar. Ok - I know the idea of having a bar course (even though I got it at a steep discount) and S&T, Critical Pass, and possibly Adaptibar is just overkill. But I really like the idea of being able to do practice questions non-stop on my phone when I'm walking my dog/at the gym/before sleep. And I love how Adaptibar really hammers down the details of what niches of sections you're weak at - so I can use that info to practice those questions specifically, and use the flashcards/lecture videos/read S&T explanations to improve on those sections. Thoughts?


Thanks!

[a male human]

Regarding your first question, it says this on the website you linked:

New to the Seventh Edition:

30 additional Civil Procedure questions, all recently asked on the MBE and released by examiners, with detailed answers by Steve Emanuel

So this is going to be helpful for Civ Pro because the author's explanations are usually very good.

[SilvermanBarPrep]

A pain to have to buy the S&T twice for sure. But May is a while off; I might consider buying the book to begin working through all the other subjects and then buy the new one for Civ Pro and whatever else they decide to add. Fully understand this is not ideal but it might be the only solution since they aren't releasing till May. :/

Sean (Silverman Bar Exam Tutoring)

[SoScrewed6]

A pain to have to buy the S&T twice for sure. But May is a while off; I might consider buying the book to begin working through all the other subjects and then buy the new one for Civ Pro and whatever else they decide to add. Fully understand this is not ideal but it might be the only solution since they aren't releasing till May. :/

Sean (Silverman Bar Exam Tutoring)

Ah good point. I'm not trying to be reckless with money (I have none) - but spending an extra couple hundred dollars to ensure I have every resource I may need just seems worth it.

I feel like after reading way too many posts - using Adaptibar in conjunction with the explanations/strategies in S&T is a good approach. I also am using Themis (got a great price on it - so didn't totally bankrupt myself) and have the Critical Pass Flashcards. Any suggestions on how to use all of these in an organized/strategic way?

[Smiddywesson]

A pain to have to buy the S&T twice for sure. But May is a while off; I might consider buying the book to begin working through all the other subjects and then buy the new one for Civ Pro and whatever else they decide to add. Fully understand this is not ideal but it might be the only solution since they aren't releasing till May. :/

Sean (Silverman Bar Exam Tutoring)

Ah good point. I'm not trying to be reckless with money (I have none) - but spending an extra couple hundred dollars to ensure I have every resource I may need just seems worth it.

I feel like after reading way too many posts - using Adaptibar in conjunction with the explanations/strategies in S&T is a good approach. I also am using Themis (got a great price on it - so didn't totally bankrupt myself) and have the Critical Pass Flashcards. Any suggestions on how to use all of these in an organized/strategic way?

Focus like a laser beam on the four OPE Exams and the Study Aids. The NCBE says they contain all the law you need. Now you have to focus on the game of testing, the phraseology and trickery of the MBE. Understand that there are three types of questions, easy, middle difficulty, and hard. Inasmuch as the 60 equators used to compare your test to the previous two administrations are hard, and there's only 175 scored questions, you have to conclude ALL the hard questions are equators. Unfortunately, equators are never released, Adaptibar, BarMax, Themis, do not have them. If that's all you use, you are only studying 2/3 of the gamesmanship side of the house. The law of the equators is out there, but not the enlightening advanced trickery of the actual questions.

Advice: I would heed the NCBE advice and sign up for their learning platform when it's available on March 25th. That takes care of the law. I'd get a Barbri book, because their company written questions try to replicate the gamesmanship of the equators. As for the remaining 2/3 of the test, Strategies and Tactics is much cheaper than Adaptibar, and it has much better explanations. However, without Adaptibar's analytics, you will waste time to track your progress and identify weak subjects. More importantly, you won't have the calming effects of knowing how other students in your state and across the nation are doing. That helps a lot trying to sleep at night during prep. It GREATLY helps during the test when your computer melts down like mine did. I held it all together because of confidence I earned through Adaptibar. More is not better. Start by learning the law in the NCBE OPE Exams, all of it, backwards and forwards, because that's what's being tested. You CAN sit down with the Subject Matter Outline and your Barbri outlines and cross out what's no longer tested, things like Riparian Rights, or you can just let the NCBE do it for you. They are being revised for the third time for a reason. Take the hint, focus.

[Neve]

I would review the CMR and then a stack or two of Critical Pass flash cards before doing a practice drill of MBE questions on a single subject or mixed subjects (referral link for a discount - http://criticalpass.refr.cc/VS3TS7D). After that, I would review every question in detail even if I got the question right. After doing this every day, you should notice progress. Repetition is key.

[Law&coffee]

I used Critical Pass during my prep period for the bar exam and I loved it! It's a great tool and a massive time saver over making your own flash cards.

Barmax MBE questions is a great alternative and cost saver to Adaptibar. I haven't personally used either but u hear great reviews.

S&T is a very helpful and affordable tool with tips and practice questions. Easily ordered off of Amazon.

[FutureLawyer2]

I used strategies and tactics, which I felt were helpful since they were similar to the actual bar exam questions. More helpful, however, were the critical pass mbe flashcards. I am the type of guy that like to take lots of walking breaks to coffee shops, random errands and can take them with me in my pocket. They helped me prepare as well for the written component of the bar exam as well.

I have attached a discount code below for critical pass flashcards here for everyone who is interested:

http://criticalpass.refr.cc/barpass

[gopurp333]

Does anyone know if the subject-specific MBE questions in S&T are a selection of the most difficult (I.e 7-10 difficulty?) there do not seem to be many “softballs” like in the NCBE-released 100 question set. Thanks!