. Forum

[09042014]

Really, Themis? The "4th of July - Take the Day off" thing actually counts as a task completed?

And you're complaining about this? GTFO.

Yes, because now we know why it takes three assignments to move 1% up. Seriously, I think that thing by itself moved me up 1%. Who knew that not doing d*ck could be so productive?

So each percent is really 1.01%. Doesn't make a difference.

[Agoraphobia]

It seems the more painful the task, the less % it is worth.

[CaliBum]

Normally I'm against bragging about gunning, but you bros who are awesome at this stuff need to put the fear of god into us slackers.Continue

Echo that. Just hit 41% CA today and I'm now desperate to catch up. I put a sign in front of my face telling me to "Haul ASS!" every time I look up and get distracted (and with some of these profs, it's too easy). I counted that I'm 12 days behind the Directed Study schedule. My MBE's are not bad at all, but my essays are pure garbage - remember to recycle.

Who's finding time to review these handouts?

[dsclaw]

Really hard to start work today after taking a good portion off for the Fourth of July. Especially when you see 7 tasks planned for the day, gross. Flex day anyone?

[JD_done]

I can't take the NY Commercial Paper lecturer. The only time he deviates from reading the handout WORD FOR WORD is for a strange tangent about when someone gave him a bad check. I'm losing it over here.

[TheBeard]

Did anyone else lose 1% or more of completion today? My completion went down this morning and the task "4th of July: No Assignments" also disappeared from my outlines. Did Themis just screw me out of the 1% it had given me yesterday? I know I'm not going crazy because I posted on this board my percentage complete as of yesterday.

[GertrudePerkins]

I can't take the NY Commercial Paper lecturer. The only time he deviates from reading the handout WORD FOR WORD is for a strange tangent about when someone gave him a bad check. I'm losing it over here.

I hate it when they just read the handouts. It honestly leaves me with the feeling that the professor doesn't know anything more about the law than what's on the handout. Themis might as well write-up the hand-out and then hire a random actor to read it to the camera. It's in stark contrast to someone like Jeffries, who I felt actually explained his topics. And it's especially bad with a topic like Commercial Paper, where I most need someone to actually explain the relevant topics in layman's terms.

I assume you had Newman also?

[GertrudePerkins]

Did anyone else lose 1% or more of completion today? My completion went down this morning and the task "4th of July: No Assignments" also disappeared from my outlines. Did Themis just screw me out of the 1% it had given me yesterday? I know I'm not going crazy because I posted on this board my percentage complete as of yesterday.

YES! WTF? I just finished two graded essays, only to be rewarded by a loss of 1%! Not cool, Themis, not cool.

[09042014]

I didn't really have any lecturers just read from the notes.

[Agoraphobia]

I didn't lose a percent but I no longer have the July 4 day off listed and my schedule looks like shit again.

[forza]

Under the Supremacy Clause, a state is required to follow federal law when it conflicts with state law. A treaty that is not self-executing is not treated as federal law for purposes of the Supremacy Clause, however, unless it has been implemented through legislation. The President, acting on his own, cannot implement such a treaty. Consequently, the state court was free to follow state law; its refusal to reconsider the prisoner’s conviction did not violate the Supremacy Clause.

What a nit-picky fucking rule. I sincerely hope we don't actually see shit like this on the real MBE, but I'm afraid we will.

[JD_done]

I can't take the NY Commercial Paper lecturer. The only time he deviates from reading the handout WORD FOR WORD is for a strange tangent about when someone gave him a bad check. I'm losing it over here.

I hate it when they just read the handouts. It honestly leaves me with the feeling that the professor doesn't know anything more about the law than what's on the handout. Themis might as well write-up the hand-out and then hire a random actor to read it to the camera. It's in stark contrast to someone like Jeffries, who I felt actually explained his topics. And it's especially bad with a topic like Commercial Paper, where I most need someone to actually explain the relevant topics in layman's terms.

I assume you had Newman also?

Newman
This stuff is all new to me so the lectures were a huge waste of time. I learned nothing. Thankfully, Secured Transaction is better so far.

[GertrudePerkins]

Under the Supremacy Clause, a state is required to follow federal law when it conflicts with state law. A treaty that is not self-executing is not treated as federal law for purposes of the Supremacy Clause, however, unless it has been implemented through legislation. The President, acting on his own, cannot implement such a treaty. Consequently, the state court was free to follow state law; its refusal to reconsider the prisoner’s conviction did not violate the Supremacy Clause.

What a nit-picky fucking rule. I sincerely hope we don't actually see shit like this on the real MBE, but I'm afraid we will.

This is one of many MBE Con Law questions that is basically just the facts and holding of a real case (here, Medellin). On the one hand, if you recognize that it's just a thinly disguised version of a real case and you remember the real case, it's basically a freebie. But if you never encountered that case, it does indeed seem very nit-picky.

[BarbellDreams]

Yeah I just lost a % too. Idk what the hell that means.

[forza]

This is one of many MBE Con Law questions that is basically just the facts and holding of a real case (here, Medellin). On the one hand, if you recognize that it's just a thinly disguised version of a real case and you remember the real case, it's basically a freebie. But if you never encountered that case, it does indeed seem very nit-picky.

Indeed. Just wiki'd that case. Won't miss that one again, but it probably won't resurface.

[locusdelicti]

I don't really understand why the percentage complete for this course has become such a huge deal. You're either ready for the exam or you're not. You could finish this course 100% and still fail, or you could only finish it 60% by just watching all the lectures and still pass. Your percentage complete on this course is the least of your concerns. Just do what you need to do to pass the bar, not pass Themis.

[09042014]

I don't really understand why the percentage complete for this course has become such a huge deal. You're either ready for the exam or you're not. You could finish this course 100% and still fail, or you could only finish it 60% by just watching all the lectures and still pass. Your percentage complete on this course is the least of your concerns. Just do what you need to do to pass the bar, not pass Themis.

There is a reason they want you to get to 75%, it's where their passage rates v. completion gets acceptably high.

If you are studying some other way, yea your % doesn't mean shit. But if all you are doing is working through Themis, the % matters.

[as stars burn]

I didn't lose a percent but I no longer have the July 4 day off listed and my schedule looks like shit again.

I loled. My schedule looks like shit too. 8 tasks. I haven't even done a practice MPT yet so definitely won't be doing the graded one today. I took an MPT as part of one of my law school courses...does that count?

locus, I agree to some extent. The percentage matters in case you do fail and you have to retake the bar exam (in that case, if you've taken at least 75% of the course you can take it for free...let's hope this doesn't happen to anyone). Themis correlates high probability of passing to percentage to complete like most bar review companies. But on the other hand, I think it's bad to gauge progress solely by percentage complete...it's really about the QUALITY of studying versus the quantity.

[Bikeflip]

I don't really understand why the percentage complete for this course has become such a huge deal. You're either ready for the exam or you're not. You could finish this course 100% and still fail, or you could only finish it 60% by just watching all the lectures and still pass. Your percentage complete on this course is the least of your concerns. Just do what you need to do to pass the bar, not pass Themis.

If you do fail the bar, you want to get to 75% Themis completion, so you can redo Themis for free.

[locusdelicti]

I don't really understand why the percentage complete for this course has become such a huge deal. You're either ready for the exam or you're not. You could finish this course 100% and still fail, or you could only finish it 60% by just watching all the lectures and still pass. Your percentage complete on this course is the least of your concerns. Just do what you need to do to pass the bar, not pass Themis.

If you do fail the bar, you want to get to 75% Themis completion, so you can redo Themis for free.

You can redo Themis for free whether you make it to 75% or not. You just don't get a refund for this one if you don't make it to 75%.

I can't do that, anyway, because I'm not a first time bar taker.

There is a reason they want you to get to 75%, it's where their passage rates v. completion gets acceptably high.

If you are studying some other way, yea your % doesn't mean shit. But if all you are doing is working through Themis, the % matters.

Yeah, that's why THEMIS wants you to get to 75%. I'm saying I don't understand why the STUDENTS care so much. I get that it's nice to have a goal, but there seems to be excessive worry about percentage complete when the worry should be on what you know and don't know.

[Dr. Review]

Yeah, that's why THEMIS wants you to get to 75%. I'm saying I don't understand why the STUDENTS care so much. I get that it's nice to have a goal, but there seems to be excessive worry about percentage complete when the worry should be on what you know and don't know.

I can't speak for others, but the fact that Themis financially guarantees me to pass at 75% completion tells me that they are confident that I can pass if I diligently do what I need to do to in order to reach 75%. As a result, that sets a benchmark for me. Clearly, getting 75% is not going to ensure that I pass the exam without exception. What it does do is ensures I know how high to reach in order to increase my chance of success. If they'd given me a big lump of materials with the instructions "Do this and you will pass" I would either continually compare my progress with the to do list or I would constantly wonder if I was doing enough. Matching my completion against the 75% benchmark as well as against my peers helps me to feel comfortable about what I need to do and about how much I have done.

[Citizen Genet]

Texas bar review takers: how'd you like the (not comical) outtake in Wills and Administration?

[GertrudePerkins]

Yeah, that's why THEMIS wants you to get to 75%. I'm saying I don't understand why the STUDENTS care so much. I get that it's nice to have a goal, but there seems to be excessive worry about percentage complete when the worry should be on what you know and don't know.

Just to be clear, I don't (and nor, I assume, does anyone) actually think that percentage completion is directly equivalent to level of preparation. When I (mostly in jest) bitched about my % dropping this morning, I didn't actually think I had suddenly become less prepared. We get that it's just a proxy. But it's a not unreasonable proxy.

[TheBeard]

I guess I started this whole percentage completion situation with my post about losing 1%. I don't think anyone on this board is stupid enough to try to "pass Themis." We all know that the end goal is passing the bar, and whether we pass the bar will have more to do with the quality of our study than with the stupid completion percentage. As I've said before, I'm making flashcards and doing other things outside of Themis' assignments to improve my chances, despite not getting any completion percentage points for doing so. My problem with this crap is that for some time, I've suspected that Themis is making it harder to hit 75%. For a first time test taker like myself, hitting that 75% and not passing also guarantees me a refund. I hope things never get to that point, but you can bet that I'll try to hit that 75% just in case.

[balzie94]

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