United States Patent and Trademark Office Patent Bar Exam Forum

[BSEE]

I was a bit late in planning for law school admissions, and as such I will be taking the next year off to accomplish a few things:

1. Score decently on the LSAT in September.

2. Take the Patent Bar Exam.

3. Intern at a law firm over the summer.

I have a few questions related to these goals; specifically, when can you take the Patent Bar exam? Can you take it whenever you want? Furthermore, once you pass the patent bar exam can you intern at a law firm as a 'patent agent' during your 0L summer before law school? Can you intern at a law firm as a patent agent with just a B.S. in EE without passing the patent bar?

Thanks in advance.

[hasmith]

You can take the Patent Bar whenever you want, once you have the necessary prerequisities, which in your case would be the BSEE.

You could try to intern at a law firm without having taken the Patent Bar, but usually the technical advisors have Masters or above degrees.

The 2nd piece of info was derived purely from reading various web pages of Patent Law companies and looking at the qualifications of their technical specialists.

[BSEE]

Thanks. I figured that the Patent Bar was only administered a few times a year. This allows me to take it a bit earlier if I so desire.

[patten]

Do yourself a favor and don't under estimate the time required to study adequately for the patent bar exam. Set aside 150 - 200 hours in a 3 - 6 month period and you'll do great.

[nonunique]

Looks like it hasn't been mentioned yet. You should definitely check out the forums at intelproplaw.

[BSEE]

Do yourself a favor and don't under estimate the time required to study adequately for the patent bar exam. Set aside 150 - 200 hours in a 3 - 6 month period and you'll do great.

Thanks. I really have no idea what I'm getting myself into, but I will have a ton of free time after October once I go complete for studying the Patent Bar exam. I'm going to allocate exactly 6 months time, and will only decide to take it earlier if I have confidence that I'll do well on the exam.

I have heard that law firms compensate you for study materials if you haven't taken the Patent Bar yet. I'm wondering if you pass the patent bar before signing on full time whether or not they will factor those costs into their singing bonus? Would be nice.

[patentlaw]

Some firms will reimburse you even if you took the exam in the middle of law school. I don't know about before law school but I would imagine it varies firm to firm.

[seanpatin]

Would a Political Science degree qualify as science to enable me to take the patent bar exam?

[nonunique]

errr...NO!

[seanpatin]

haha... I was pretty sure that was the answer, but thought I'd try my luck.

[patten]

Does anyone know if practice exam scores translate to an actual exam score?

I've scored 73 and 80 on my last two practice tests under "real test conditions" and I'm wondering if I can count on performing similarly on the actual test.

Thanks.

[patten]

I am taking the exam tomorrow, Thursday the 14th of June.

Should be interesting.

[patentlaw]

From what I've heard your practice test scores should be close. Also, apparently the newer tests have a lot of questions (30% or so) dealing with Appeals and PCT, which the older tests don't really touch on much at all so study up on those sections.

[patten]

Well I took the exam yesterday, Thursday June 14th.

The morning portion was difficult. I felt rushed and a little confused. At break I was worried that I hadn't pulled off 70% or better on the morning portion.

The afternoon portion was more what I expected. I found more questions which I knew from practice tests and by the end felt confident regarding 43 or so of my 50 answers.

If you haven't heard the USPTO is having technical difficulties with the preliminary score report. In other words if you take the exam soon you won't receive a preliminary score, I didn't receive one. I hear they will send me an official score in the mail in about week.

[thegor1987]

It looks like an employer paying for study
materials/exam administration cost would be great for morale
especially in today's legal market.

However, I am still looking at taking the exam before applying
to law school. Does passing the exam before applying
give you any advantage to acceptance?

[hipstermafia]

It looks like an employer paying for study
materials/exam administration cost would be great for morale
especially in today's legal market.

However, I am still looking at taking the exam before applying
to law school. Does passing the exam before applying
give you any advantage to acceptance?

PMed ya.

[smc44]

It looks like an employer paying for study
materials/exam administration cost would be great for morale
especially in today's legal market.

However, I am still looking at taking the exam before applying
to law school. Does passing the exam before applying
give you any advantage to acceptance?

Did you find out if there is any advantage? My guess is no, but I'm wondering if it would be worth taking before applying to law school.

[thegor1987]

It looks like an employer paying for study
materials/exam administration cost would be great for morale
especially in today's legal market.

However, I am still looking at taking the exam before applying
to law school. Does passing the exam before applying
give you any advantage to acceptance?

Did you find out if there is any advantage? My guess is no, but I'm wondering if it would be worth taking before applying to law school.

Yea. It will help you getting into law schools where your numbers
are borderline. it could even help you get into a reach.

I mean if you have the cash you might as well take it before 1L to
increase your probability of getting a 1L internship.

In just curious, what is your science background if you don't mind sharing?

[smc44]

It looks like an employer paying for study
materials/exam administration cost would be great for morale
especially in today's legal market.

However, I am still looking at taking the exam before applying
to law school. Does passing the exam before applying
give you any advantage to acceptance?

Did you find out if there is any advantage? My guess is no, but I'm wondering if it would be worth taking before applying to law school.

Yea. It will help you getting into law schools where your numbers
are borderline. it could even help you get into a reach.

I mean if you have the cash you might as well take it before 1L to
increase your probability of getting a 1L internship.

In just curious, what is your science background if you don't mind sharing?

Thanks for your reply. I have B.A. in English and a M.S. in Computer Science and I have been working for a defense contractor for the past 5 years.

[LockBox]

So to those who have already finished 1L or law school in general for that matter, is the consensus that you SHOULD take this exam prior to law school? Or is it best to take it after law school (or during if that's even possible). I have a BS in chem with enough physics to qualify myself and am looking to go into patent/IP law. Thanks

[silly101]

So to those who have already finished 1L or law school in general for that matter, is the consensus that you SHOULD take this exam prior to law school? Or is it best to take it after law school (or during if that's even possible). I have a BS in chem with enough physics to qualify myself and am looking to go into patent/IP law. Thanks

love your avatar

and also curious about this question as well

[eternallearner]

Thank you for this thread. Immensely helpful

[thegor1987]

Does anyone know if patent attorneys spend an adequate amount of time in flurescently lit laboratories overseeing the running of chemical reactions and such.

Or does going into pat law mean goodbye to science forever?

[androstan]

Does anyone know if patent attorneys spend an adequate amount of time in flurescently lit laboratories overseeing the running of chemical reactions and such.

Or does going into pat law mean goodbye to science forever?

Patent attorneys don't really spend any time in laboratories. It's reading/writing like all attorneys do.

[nerdherder]

So to those who have already finished 1L or law school in general for that matter, is the consensus that you SHOULD take this exam prior to law school? Or is it best to take it after law school (or during if that's even possible). I have a BS in chem with enough physics to qualify myself and am looking to go into patent/IP law. Thanks

love your avatar

and also curious about this question as well

Bump this question.