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Hey guys! I'm entering law school this fall and I graduated with a BS in Biology in December 2013. I'm interested in taking the patent bar this summer. Any tips as to which books/study guides are the best? I'll also be waiting table about ~30 hours a week so anything you could recommend that I can do at home/on weekends would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Valerie

valeriem13 wrote:Hey guys! I'm entering law school this fall and I graduated with a BS in Biology in December 2013. I'm interested in taking the patent bar this summer. Any tips as to which books/study guides are the best? I'll also be waiting table about ~30 hours a week so anything you could recommend that I can do at home/on weekends would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Valerie

I just passed a couple weeks ago. I used the 'patent bar exam practice questions' book from amazon for $114. i also used the patent bar study guide from amazon (john watts, $30), and then i also got the omniprep course, but in retrospect i probably could have passed without it. you should also check out the free past exams on the uspto website since many questions on exam day will be word for word taken from those. also find good AIA summaries (the $30 watts book includes it and the $114 book includes AIA Qs also). I'm pretty sure I scored ~90-95% (you need 70%) and probably could've hit passing easily without omniprep, but i think it helped firm up my passing. Go over as many past questions as possible and read and re-read mpep summaries several times before test day. I spent 4 months studying ~20 hrs per week while also working 60+ hrs per week, so it's certainly possible for you to do it in 2-3 months this summer. Good luck!

mx, I forgot to ask, does the OmniPrep course features the new AIA stuff?

I just finished the OmniPrep course.

All of the practice tests are pre-AIA, but they have the AIA material/an AIA review to study.

I'll disclaim that I haven't taken the Patent Bar yet, so I can't give any indication as to how well their AIA review prepares you for the test.

i took the patent bar pre-AIA so i can't say for sure but i suspect that an AIA supplement would be fine. when i took the test they had just added bilski/ksr and there were only a few questions on it. the AIA changes are obviously more comprehensive but there's actually not much changed about the core exam material. you're still gonna get a million questions on stupid PCT priority date bullshit, etc.

apples89 wrote:mx, I forgot to ask, does the OmniPrep course features the new AIA stuff?

So sorry, I haven't been back to this thread since my post. Yes, OmniPrep does have AIA material and they do a very good job. I did notice they seemed to copy a lot of it word-for-word from the USPTO website, though. It was about 60 pages if I recall and I read through it probably 7-10 times before the test to make sure I had all the dates/material memorized. I also found other free AIA resources online to study with just to see things from another perspective to make sure I didn't miss anything. There weren't any surprises with AIA material come test day.

On a separate note, I got an email a few days ago that mentioned PatBar (another very reputable patent bar prep course) was offering their $895 program for $495, the same price as OmniPrep.

mx23250 wrote:

valeriem13 wrote:Hey guys! I'm entering law school this fall and I graduated with a BS in Biology in December 2013. I'm interested in taking the patent bar this summer. Any tips as to which books/study guides are the best? I'll also be waiting table about ~30 hours a week so anything you could recommend that I can do at home/on weekends would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Valerie

I just passed a couple weeks ago. I used the 'patent bar exam practice questions' book from amazon for $114. i also used the patent bar study guide from amazon (john watts, $30), and then i also got the omniprep course, but in retrospect i probably could have passed without it. you should also check out the free past exams on the uspto website since many questions on exam day will be word for word taken from those. also find good AIA summaries (the $30 watts book includes it and the $114 book includes AIA Qs also). I'm pretty sure I scored ~90-95% (you need 70%) and probably could've hit passing easily without omniprep, but i think it helped firm up my passing. Go over as many past questions as possible and read and re-read mpep summaries several times before test day. I spent 4 months studying ~20 hrs per week while also working 60+ hrs per week, so it's certainly possible for you to do it in 2-3 months this summer. Good luck!

I'm taking your advice! Thanks for sharing.

I am looking into taking the test at the end of the summer and just saw PatBar offers their Deluxe version for the same price as OmniBar. Has anyone taken the PatBar review course? I am stuck between the two.

Stupid question: Is the patent bar like the normal bar in that you have to pass a version of it in each state you want to practice in?

PDX4343 wrote:Stupid question: Is the patent bar like the normal bar in that you have to pass a version of it in each state you want to practice in?

nope it applies for all states, the rules stay the same no matter where you are in the US.

Thanks. Good to hear.