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I was wondering if anyone here has passed the Patent Bar Exam. I am about to enter Law School and would like to prepare to take the exam at the end of the summer to try and get it out of the way. Let me know what worked for you in terms of preparing

thanks

i'm taking it next month, but here's some materials i'm using:

for basic prep i bought this: http://www.patentbarexamprep.com/ (it's called Bullseye patent bar exam prep or something). it's super cheap, like $30, and it has an outline of every MPEP chapter, a couple other study aids, and a bunch of practice tests w/ answer explanations. you could probably find most of that stuff for free, but whatever, it's $30.

for past questions and some other general exam stuff, there are great free sites:

http://mypatentbar.com/

http://patentbarquestions.com/Main_Page

and the forums at intelproplaw

you can also use this program: http://www.catprep.com/exams/patent-bar/index.html
it's an exam simulator that you can use to take practice tests. they charge you $5 or something per exam to grade it, but they are the same practice exams as you have in the bullseye materials, so you can just keep track of your answers on paper and grade it yourself.

there's also an open google docs folder with some pdfs of past questions and an mpep (although i think the test has switched over to mpep e8r8 so you probably wanna google and find that): https://docs.google.com/#folders/folder ... M3MTJhMWNk (i think i found that on tls somewhere)

thanks for your very detailed and quick response. you've given me some really great resources for Preparing for the Patent Bar. good luck next month let me know how it goes.

im also trying to prepare
using mostly PLI materials at the moment

have either of you applied to take the test yet with the PTO?

silly101 wrote:im also trying to prepare
using mostly PLI materials at the moment

have either of you applied to take the test yet with the PTO?

yes. it took about 5 weeks to get my letter of approval back.

I heard it takes about a month. I have not yet applied. Have you had a chance to look over your PLI materials yet? I'm not sure what exactly it is that they offer just a summary of MPEP?

I am Preparing for the Patent Bar with 2010 PLI materials. They are extensive and well organized and I'm feeling good about my pace through the course and retention of the material. The course I bought has 8 DVDs with lectures, 36 CDs with the same material (which I like bc I can listen repeatedly to lectures to reinforce learning). There are also many questions including actual exam questions and some written just for the course to teach tricky concepts. You also get a copy of the exam software with practice tests but I haven't used that yet as I am a week or so from finishig the prep work. I paid $500 for the course on Amazon.

Thanks for the heads up about how long it takes to get approved to sit for the exam. I haven't applied yet bc I wanted to make a dent in the course first, but it sounds like if I want to sit for the test in August, I need to apply soon.

Good luck to everyone.

skw wrote: Thanks for the heads up about how long it takes to get approved to sit for the exam. I haven't applied yet bc I wanted to make a dent in the course first, but it sounds like if I want to sit for the test in August, I need to apply soon.

you should apply asap. you get a 3 month window to take the exam once you're approved.

This is relevant to my interests.

fatduck wrote:

silly101 wrote:im also trying to prepare
using mostly PLI materials at the moment

have either of you applied to take the test yet with the PTO?

yes. it took about 5 weeks to get my letter of approval back.

I am surprised it took that long. Are you a non-Cat A by any chance?

tea_drinker wrote:

fatduck wrote:

silly101 wrote:im also trying to prepare
using mostly PLI materials at the moment

have either of you applied to take the test yet with the PTO?

yes. it took about 5 weeks to get my letter of approval back.

I am surprised it took that long. Are you a non-Cat A by any chance?

i applied as cat A, but my major doesn't exactly match any of the cat A majors. my diploma reads "Electrical and Computer Engineering." could have caused some delay, i dunno. it might have been closer to 4 weeks, as well.

Duck, I'm interested to know if you are also using the PLI materials... or are you just sticking with the cheaper/free materials you had posted earlier?

Lycurgus wrote:Duck, I'm interested to know if you are also using the PLI materials... or are you just sticking with the cheaper/free materials you had posted earlier?

so far i'm just using the materials i posted. i don't plan to buy anything else.

fatduck wrote: i applied as cat A, but my major doesn't exactly match any of the cat A majors. my diploma reads "Electrical and Computer Engineering." could have caused some delay, i dunno. it might have been closer to 4 weeks, as well.

This is helpful. I plan to apply as a Cat A, and hope it takes less than yours. Otherwise, my plan to take the exam this Aug is not happening.

i plan on taking mine in aug as well

so to apply we just need official transcripts and $$ right? am i missing anything else

For those using the PLI materials.. I just checked the PLI website and they claim that:

The Patent Office announced at the beginning of this year that they’d be dramatically updating and expanding the testable material on the Exam as of April 12, 2011. PLI has been preparing for this change for years. We’ve not only updated and expanded our course to reflect the newly testable materials, but have reimagined our course from start to finish, top to bottom:

Did you guys plan on buying the materials on ebay? It seems like perhaps there might be somethings you could miss out on from older versions.

It can take a month or so to actually schedule the exam with prometric so keep that in mind as well. i had to wait six weeks (i think?) from when i tried to sign up for an exam slot, but this probably varies from testing center to testing center.

I've also heard there is a back up right now because of the break they took to make the changes, hopefully this wont last too long.

Good luck!

Do you know how major the changes are?

Phew, glad I got the exam out of the way when I did. Before, literally half the questions were repeats that you could find online verbatim

hipstermafia wrote:It can take a month or so to actually schedule the exam with prometric so keep that in mind as well. i had to wait six weeks (i think?) from when i tried to sign up for an exam slot, but this probably varies from testing center to testing center.

I've also heard there is a back up right now because of the break they took to make the changes, hopefully this wont last too long.

Good luck!

Can I ask where did you take your exam?

silly101 wrote:i plan on taking mine in aug as well

so to apply we just need official transcripts and $$ right? am i missing anything else

I think so unless you got traffic tickets or other violations, in which cases you will need a court record.

Lycurgus wrote:Do you know how major the changes are?

This is the change http://www.uspto.gov/ip/boards/oed/exam ... update.jsp

I don't know how much they will include in new exams though.

Lycurgus wrote:Do you know how major the changes are?

i don't think they are very major but i took it before the changes so i don't really know, the new materials are no where near the mpep in size so i dont think too much of the exam would be focused on them but who knows.

tea_drinker wrote:Can I ask where did you take your exam?

sure, in dc

hipstermafia wrote:

Lycurgus wrote:Do you know how major the changes are?

i don't think they are very major but i took it before the changes so i don't really know, the new materials are no where near the mpep in size so i dont think too much of the exam would be focused on them but who knows.

so far the only places i've seen the "omg drastic changes" reports have been sites selling prep materials.

hipstermafia wrote:

tea_drinker wrote:Can I ask where did you take your exam?

sure, in dc

Thanks.