Barbri mbe practice ?s Forum

[usuaggie]

What scores are you all getting? They seem really tricky.

[kaiser]

They do seem a bit tricky, but I wouldn't worry too much about your overall scores or percentiles at this point. Its fine to make mistakes now, read the explanations, learn from them, etc. BarBri posts some general standards on one of the first pages of the MPQ1 book. Says that Set 1 and 2 are easiest, 3 and 4 are harder, and 5 and 6 involve the trickiest questions. So the standards note that your percentage correct will likely go down with each set. Yet you will still be learning and processing info so that you don't make the same mistakes in the future. Hell, even if someone said that they were ranked in the 20th percentile at this point on the StudySmart MBE stuff, I don't think it would be at all an issue at this point.

[usuaggie]

They do seem a bit tricky, but I wouldn't worry too much about your overall scores or percentiles at this point. Its fine to make mistakes now, read the explanations, learn from them, etc. BarBri posts some general standards on one of the first pages of the MPQ1 book. Says that Set 1 and 2 are easiest, 3 and 4 are harder, and 5 and 6 involve the trickiest questions. So the standards note that your percentage correct will likely go down with each set. Yet you will still be learning and processing info so that you don't make the same mistakes in the future. Hell, even if someone said that they were ranked in the 20th percentile at this point on the StudySmart MBE stuff, I don't think it would be at all an issue at this point.

Strange, I was at 55 percent in set 1 but 72 for set 5.

[usuaggie]

Thanks to your comment, I opened the book. I had done everything online and at home so far. Says I should aim for 61% for one and two. That makes me feel way better

[AntiHuman]

1. How do Barbri MBE's compare to actual MBE's?

2. Set 1 for Torts and Con Law screwed me. 65 and 55 percent respectively. It seems set 5 and 6 are easier.

[kaiser]

1. How do Barbri MBE's compare to actual MBE's?

2. Set 1 for Torts and Con Law screwed me. 65 and 55 percent respectively. It seems set 5 and 6 are easier.

1. I've heard from some people that they found the actual MBE questions a bit easier, though some disagreement on this. What I've heard over and over is how BarBri Q's are often longer and more detailed, whereas the real MBE Q's are shorter and more to the point (though that doesn't mean easier, if the Q is about some obscure or well-concealed point). It wouldn't really be to BarBari's advantage to offer something that is easier than the real thing. If we know one thing about Barbri, its that their goal is to scare you into thinking this is more than it really is, and trying to get you SO overprepared, that failure becomes truly difficult. So, in line with that, you would expect them to offer something slightly harder, so that the actual thing seems easy in comparison. But what I can confirm (at least based on the accounts of multiple people), is that the real thing "feels" different and is almost always shorter Q's.

2. That likely means you are learning the info well. Its not uncommon to be uncomfortable with the material right after learning it, so I'd imagine a bunch of people don't do that great, even on the "easier" first few sets. But as they study and learn, they get better, and that understanding carries over into the harder sets (where the BarBri standard is only around 60% or so for most subjects).

[usuaggie]

Torts
1 55
2 50
MBE preview 74
5 52


K
1 55
2 72
5 61
MBE preview 76

These are my scores in the order I did them.



I am obviously struggling with torts a little, but doing just about the average barbri expects. These are two of my worst topics though, so that makes me feel pretty confident. My MBE preview scores were also quite good today, and tort set 5 was ridiculously tricky and tested on some really minor points not in the lecture.

[kaiser]

If your scores this early in your very worst subjects are at or above their average standards, I really wouldn't worry much. Try and hone in on the areas of torts you are weakest at. I do pretty well in torts, but strict liability Q's I keep getting wrong, but once I fill in that hole, my scores will absolutely go up a solid 2 or 3 Q's per set, so hopefully your errors are concentrated in certain areas, which makes it much easier to move forward.

[shepdawg]

I get about 60-80% right and my percentile is way higher than that, so it's probably normal to get about 60%

[AntiHuman]

How do we check how we compare with other barbri students?

[kaiser]

How do we check how we compare with other barbri students?

In StudySmart, go to "view results" and click "percentile rank" and it shows you what your rank is compared to the other 9000 or so BarBri students who took tests online in the StudySmart software. Breaks it down by each subject.

[somewhatwayward]

So is there any consensus about which extra question source to use? I've read that adaptibar is too easy. Has anyone tested it out? I know that I need to kill the MBE because I won't be that great at the other sections. Plus there is a manageable amount of material for the MBE.

Anyway I usually get 50-60% of the questions right when I start and end up around 70-80% right after some practice....I think I've done too many of the questions already, though (maybe 250?) bc I prefer doing questions over reviewing notes. Does anyone know how realistic the barbri questions are?

[kaiser]

So is there any consensus about which extra question source to use? I've read that adaptibar is too easy. Has anyone tested it out? I know that I need to kill the MBE because I won't be that great at the other sections. Plus there is a manageable amount of material for the MBE.

Anyway I usually get 50-60% of the questions right when I start and end up around 70-80% right after some practice....I think I've done too many of the questions already, though (maybe 250?) bc I prefer doing questions over reviewing notes. Does anyone know how realistic the barbri questions are?

I also heard Adaptibar, while it is real Q's, is too easy and gives a false sense of security. I'm thinking about buying an older copy of the PMBR workbook just to have another few hundred MBE practice Q's (although Kaplan I don't think uses real Q's either).

[AntiHuman]

Gahhh I'm so stuck on what to do about Barbri AMP. I've finished it for 3 subjects, but I don't know if its really helping. I'm trying it for the other subjects(doing them after lecture...before lecture would take me 2-3 hours per AMP) and it's making me fall behind.

Isn't lecture notes, then reading conviser mini review enough to learn the substantive law? Can I just skip AMP and do practice MBE's instead to catch up?

[kaiser]

Gahhh I'm so stuck on what to do about Barbri AMP. I've finished it for 3 subjects, but I don't know if its really helping. I'm trying it for the other subjects(doing them after lecture...before lecture would take me 2-3 hours per AMP) and it's making me fall behind.

Isn't lecture notes, then reading conviser mini review enough to learn the substantive law? Can I just skip AMP and do practice MBE's instead to catch up?

I've given up on AMP, except for the areas where I'm getting too many MBE questions wrong. I would never waste time with it before a subject, but after, it can quickly drill the basic black letter concepts. Don't do it for everything, since the MBE practice is enough to confirm what you know and don't know. But it can be useful for filling in the gaps where your performance is lagging.

[kaiser]

Holy crap that Torts set 5 was tough. So many Q's testing on the most trivial points (i.e. I get a Q wrong because I assume honeybees are considered wild animals as opposed to domestic, and yes I remember Schecter's joke from the lecture vid). And so many where I was down to 2 choices and went the wrong way (should have just gone the other way when I was unsure). I'm pretty sure BarBri makes clear that many of these Set 5 Q's are certainly tougher than the real thing. Managed 64% correct so above Barbri's expected standard, which was around 50% for Torts set 5. And I guess its not out of line with my previous Torts sets (where I'm averaging around 70% anyway, and was 76% on the Torts MBE preview workshop).

So that was equal parts encouraging and frustrating.

[RodneyBoonfield]

What is the general wisdom for these questions as far as how they compare with the MBE actual questions? Specifically, do people say that they are as hard as for example set 3? I would hope they say the questions are more comparable to set 1.

[kaiser]

What is the general wisdom for these questions as far as how they compare with the MBE actual questions? Specifically, do people say that they are as hard as for example set 3? I would hope they say the questions are more comparable to set 1.

I guess you would have to ask someone who is retaking. All BarBri makes clear is that the Set 5 Q's are generally harder than what you will see, and are the hardest and most nuances Q's of the sets. What I have heard from a few people is that the questions are much shorter on the real thing, so less likely to get caught up in all the verbiage or miss a key word.

[usuaggie]

What is the general wisdom for these questions as far as how they compare with the MBE actual questions? Specifically, do people say that they are as hard as for example set 3? I would hope they say the questions are more comparable to set 1.

The median is around 60 on the MBE. Barbri says aim for 60 on the review. I'd expect Barbri to have us aim higher than median to get us to work harder, but who knows.


I got two wrong in set 3 because I was fuzzy on if they want contributory, pure comparative, or the other comparative. They don't tell you. And the answers depend on what law you're applying. I wasn't a fan of that.

[cpajd]

Glad to see this question come up. I'm hitting generally 60% or better on the couple subjects I've gone over (Con Law and Contract), with a even better scores here and there. But then Barbri sends me to Set 6 and all of the sudden the bottom drops out and I can't get anything right. The fact patterns at that level are just full of extra crap! Nice to know that these are intentionally harder sample questions.

[hds2388]

What is the general wisdom for these questions as far as how they compare with the MBE actual questions? Specifically, do people say that they are as hard as for example set 3? I would hope they say the questions are more comparable to set 1.

The median is around 60 on the MBE. Barbri says aim for 60 on the review. I'd expect Barbri to have us aim higher than median to get us to work harder, but who knows.


I got two wrong in set 3 because I was fuzzy on if they want contributory, pure comparative, or the other comparative. They don't tell you. And the answers depend on what law you're applying. I wasn't a fan of that.

Aren't you supposed to assume it's pure comparative unless they tell you otherwise? I believe that's the case.

[RodneyBoonfield]

There is no way that the questions on the MBE are only slightly less difficult than Barbri set 5 or else we'd all be fratslammed. Con Law set 5 is kicking my ass right now and I did really well on set 1.

[BCLS]

There is no way that the questions on the MBE are only slightly less difficult than Barbri set 5 or else we'd all be fratslammed. Con Law set 5 is kicking my ass right now and I did really well on set 1.

destroyed me too.. don't feel too bad!

[DwightSchruteFarms]

There is no way that the questions on the MBE are only slightly less difficult than Barbri set 5 or else we'd all be fratslammed. Con Law set 5 is kicking my ass right now and I did really well on set 1.

destroyed me too.. don't feel too bad!

Same. For reference, I pulled a 19/36.

[usuaggie]

Getting right on the target for most. 2 above in a few. Hard not to be disappointed when you miss 45 out of 100 lol but encouraged by this thread so far.

Property and criminal law next week. Expect difficulty in property but I've worked in a DA office for three years and took six criminal law classes, so I hope that helps a ton. Probably wont help common law crimes though.