Some questions about the patent bar exam Forum

[Mr. Frodo]

I'm considering taking the patent bar this summer. I was hoping that people that have taken the patent bar before starting law school or at least people that know sufficient information about how to best prep for the patent bar could help me answer the following questions.

1) How much time did you spend preparing? Do you think you should have spent more or less time than you did in your preparation?

2) What method of prep did you use (home study/formal course/etc.)?

3) Did you read the MPEP cover to cover?

4) What are the real differences (that you've noticed) in the exam now that the America Invents Act has been established?

5) I will be abroad for half the summer but will have plenty of time to spend each day preparing. I don't start lawl school til the end of Aug/beginning of Sept. Do I have enough time to realistically prepare and take and pass this exam by then?

6) Anything else I should know?

This has probably been covered in previous threads but I really just wanted to post this and get some responses quickly while I do my own research into the matters above.

Thanks guys!

[Jimbo_Jones]

1) 10 Months (Started in Jan and took the exam in Oct) - I think it was just about right for me. I didn't really have any prior knowledge of patent law before I started.

2) First couple of months were light, maybe 1-2 hours every other night. Started with some outlines I found online and the Janice Mueller treatise on patent law. After that, I just started banging out practice questions. By doing practice questions, you not only get the feel for the types of questions asked, you also learn how to search through the MPEP. Probably around the June time-frame, I started studying 5-6 hours a night during the work week (basically get home, eat, and start studying till bed) and probably 8-10 hours on the weekend. Mostly just doing practice exam after practice exam. There used to be a website http://www.freepatentbar.com that no longer exists. That website use to have all the available past exams and used to have this awesome exam simulator. It was setup very similar to the real deal, but unfortunately I can't find anything like that anymore. Once I could blaze through exams in half the time required at 90%+ accuracy, I finished up by reading through all the questions reported on recent tests on http://www.mypatentbar.com as well as some PCT stuff that hadn't been tested on past exams.

3) F no. That would be a complete waste of time. You absolutely need to know where the most important sections are as well as how to search the MPEP.

4) N/A. Took it before AIA.

5) No way to tell. Depends on your current knowledge of patent law and how quickly you can learn/memorize this stuff. I'm sure lots of people will tell you that 10 months is overkill but I needed it. There was absolutely no way I was going to retake that exam. Still felt shaky going in. If you start intensely from the beginning, it shouldn't take near that long.

6) Memorize as many past questions as you can fit into your brain. It's been a long time since I've taken the exam, but I think I had ~10% repeats from past exams or questions that people posted. The exam is 100 questions with 10 experimental questions, and you need at least a 70% to pass. That's 63 correct answers. If you have end up with 10 repeats, life is that much easier. Just don't get tricked by subtle variations on past exam questions....

[Mr. Frodo]

1) 10 Months (Started in Jan and took the exam in Oct) - I think it was just about right for me. I didn't really have any prior knowledge of patent law before I started.

2) First couple of months were light, maybe 1-2 hours every other night. Started with some outlines I found online and the Janice Mueller treatise on patent law. After that, I just started banging out practice questions. By doing practice questions, you not only get the feel for the types of questions asked, you also learn how to search through the MPEP. Probably around the June time-frame, I started studying 5-6 hours a night during the work week (basically get home, eat, and start studying till bed) and probably 8-10 hours on the weekend. Mostly just doing practice exam after practice exam. There used to be a website http://www.freepatentbar.com that no longer exists. That website use to have all the available past exams and used to have this awesome exam simulator. It was setup very similar to the real deal, but unfortunately I can't find anything like that anymore. Once I could blaze through exams in half the time required at 90%+ accuracy, I finished up by reading through all the questions reported on recent tests on http://www.mypatentbar.com as well as some PCT stuff that hadn't been tested on past exams.

3) F no. That would be a complete waste of time. You absolutely need to know where the most important sections are as well as how to search the MPEP.

4) N/A. Took it before AIA.

5) No way to tell. Depends on your current knowledge of patent law and how quickly you can learn/memorize this stuff. I'm sure lots of people will tell you that 10 months is overkill but I needed it. There was absolutely no way I was going to retake that exam. Still felt shaky going in. If you start intensely from the beginning, it shouldn't take near that long.

6) Memorize as many past questions as you can fit into your brain. It's been a long time since I've taken the exam, but I think I had ~10% repeats from past exams or questions that people posted. The exam is 100 questions with 10 experimental questions, and you need at least a 70% to pass. That's 63 correct answers. If you have end up with 10 repeats, life is that much easier. Just don't get tricked by subtle variations on past exam questions....

Thanks! This was extremely helpful.

Would 3-4 hours a day every day enable to get this done in like 2-2.25 months? I'd really like to finish it before the end of August but I'm not sure if that's a real possibility.

[untar614]

A friend of mine just took it last week. Said she studied for one month, 3 hrs/day pretty much every day and she used the PatBar prep course. I was planning on doing the patent bar before school starts as well, but I can't afford to spend $600 on a prep course right now on top of the $400 it'd cost to take the exam, and I can't find sufficient prep material for free

[Kafkaesquire]

1) 10 Months (Started in Jan and took the exam in Oct) - I think it was just about right for me. I didn't really have any prior knowledge of patent law before I started.

2) First couple of months were light, maybe 1-2 hours every other night. Started with some outlines I found online and the Janice Mueller treatise on patent law. After that, I just started banging out practice questions. By doing practice questions, you not only get the feel for the types of questions asked, you also learn how to search through the MPEP. Probably around the June time-frame, I started studying 5-6 hours a night during the work week (basically get home, eat, and start studying till bed) and probably 8-10 hours on the weekend. Mostly just doing practice exam after practice exam. There used to be a website http://www.freepatentbar.com that no longer exists. That website use to have all the available past exams and used to have this awesome exam simulator. It was setup very similar to the real deal, but unfortunately I can't find anything like that anymore. Once I could blaze through exams in half the time required at 90%+ accuracy, I finished up by reading through all the questions reported on recent tests on http://www.mypatentbar.com as well as some PCT stuff that hadn't been tested on past exams.

3) F no. That would be a complete waste of time. You absolutely need to know where the most important sections are as well as how to search the MPEP.

4) N/A. Took it before AIA.

5) No way to tell. Depends on your current knowledge of patent law and how quickly you can learn/memorize this stuff. I'm sure lots of people will tell you that 10 months is overkill but I needed it. There was absolutely no way I was going to retake that exam. Still felt shaky going in. If you start intensely from the beginning, it shouldn't take near that long.

6) Memorize as many past questions as you can fit into your brain. It's been a long time since I've taken the exam, but I think I had ~10% repeats from past exams or questions that people posted. The exam is 100 questions with 10 experimental questions, and you need at least a 70% to pass. That's 63 correct answers. If you have end up with 10 repeats, life is that much easier. Just don't get tricked by subtle variations on past exam questions....

Thanks! This was extremely helpful.

Would 3-4 hours a day every day enable to get this done in like 2-2.25 months? I'd really like to finish it before the end of August but I'm not sure if that's a real possibility.

How do you expect someone to tell you how many hours you will personally need to study in order to pass an exam?

[Mr. Frodo]

1) 10 Months (Started in Jan and took the exam in Oct) - I think it was just about right for me. I didn't really have any prior knowledge of patent law before I started.

2) First couple of months were light, maybe 1-2 hours every other night. Started with some outlines I found online and the Janice Mueller treatise on patent law. After that, I just started banging out practice questions. By doing practice questions, you not only get the feel for the types of questions asked, you also learn how to search through the MPEP. Probably around the June time-frame, I started studying 5-6 hours a night during the work week (basically get home, eat, and start studying till bed) and probably 8-10 hours on the weekend. Mostly just doing practice exam after practice exam. There used to be a website http://www.freepatentbar.com that no longer exists. That website use to have all the available past exams and used to have this awesome exam simulator. It was setup very similar to the real deal, but unfortunately I can't find anything like that anymore. Once I could blaze through exams in half the time required at 90%+ accuracy, I finished up by reading through all the questions reported on recent tests on http://www.mypatentbar.com as well as some PCT stuff that hadn't been tested on past exams.

3) F no. That would be a complete waste of time. You absolutely need to know where the most important sections are as well as how to search the MPEP.

4) N/A. Took it before AIA.

5) No way to tell. Depends on your current knowledge of patent law and how quickly you can learn/memorize this stuff. I'm sure lots of people will tell you that 10 months is overkill but I needed it. There was absolutely no way I was going to retake that exam. Still felt shaky going in. If you start intensely from the beginning, it shouldn't take near that long.

6) Memorize as many past questions as you can fit into your brain. It's been a long time since I've taken the exam, but I think I had ~10% repeats from past exams or questions that people posted. The exam is 100 questions with 10 experimental questions, and you need at least a 70% to pass. That's 63 correct answers. If you have end up with 10 repeats, life is that much easier. Just don't get tricked by subtle variations on past exam questions....

Thanks! This was extremely helpful.

Would 3-4 hours a day every day enable to get this done in like 2-2.25 months? I'd really like to finish it before the end of August but I'm not sure if that's a real possibility.

How do you expect someone to tell you how many hours you will personally need to study in order to pass an exam?

By assuming we are talking about someone of above average intelligence (hence Top lawl schools).

[Kafkaesquire]

1) 10 Months (Started in Jan and took the exam in Oct) - I think it was just about right for me. I didn't really have any prior knowledge of patent law before I started.

2) First couple of months were light, maybe 1-2 hours every other night. Started with some outlines I found online and the Janice Mueller treatise on patent law. After that, I just started banging out practice questions. By doing practice questions, you not only get the feel for the types of questions asked, you also learn how to search through the MPEP. Probably around the June time-frame, I started studying 5-6 hours a night during the work week (basically get home, eat, and start studying till bed) and probably 8-10 hours on the weekend. Mostly just doing practice exam after practice exam. There used to be a website http://www.freepatentbar.com that no longer exists. That website use to have all the available past exams and used to have this awesome exam simulator. It was setup very similar to the real deal, but unfortunately I can't find anything like that anymore. Once I could blaze through exams in half the time required at 90%+ accuracy, I finished up by reading through all the questions reported on recent tests on http://www.mypatentbar.com as well as some PCT stuff that hadn't been tested on past exams.

3) F no. That would be a complete waste of time. You absolutely need to know where the most important sections are as well as how to search the MPEP.

4) N/A. Took it before AIA.

5) No way to tell. Depends on your current knowledge of patent law and how quickly you can learn/memorize this stuff. I'm sure lots of people will tell you that 10 months is overkill but I needed it. There was absolutely no way I was going to retake that exam. Still felt shaky going in. If you start intensely from the beginning, it shouldn't take near that long.

6) Memorize as many past questions as you can fit into your brain. It's been a long time since I've taken the exam, but I think I had ~10% repeats from past exams or questions that people posted. The exam is 100 questions with 10 experimental questions, and you need at least a 70% to pass. That's 63 correct answers. If you have end up with 10 repeats, life is that much easier. Just don't get tricked by subtle variations on past exam questions....

Thanks! This was extremely helpful.

Would 3-4 hours a day every day enable to get this done in like 2-2.25 months? I'd really like to finish it before the end of August but I'm not sure if that's a real possibility.

How do you expect someone to tell you how many hours you will personally need to study in order to pass an exam?

By assuming we are talking about someone of above average intelligence (hence Top lawl schools).

Oh, now I see. Carry on.

[AC Vegas]

It's a search and find test. Just put in some time to learn the material and types of questions, throw in some google skills and your above-average intelligence, and you'll be rocking a reg. # in no time.