Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2014 Exam Forum

[Lilly76]

Hmm I'm doing 7-9 hrs a day every day, including weekends. I'm also behind though and flashcarding takes me forever and a day.

How are you catching up? Going into Flex mode or has Themis increased your daily workload?

I'm also a little behind due to making flashcards. Even with being behind, Directed Study hasn't really increased my load. It still gives me some days where only one or two tasks are assigned.

Really? One or two tasks?

Themis has definitely increased my load then. I NEVER have just one or two tasks.

Yeah, my load has been pretty consistent since I started. I just checked and I have three days next week with either one or two things assigned, but after the 4th of July it looks like it will pick up substantially.

[Genuine4ps]

Are you counting lectures and handout review as tasks?

[Lilly76]

Are you counting lectures and handout review as tasks?

Yep. Typically 4-5 assigned tasks each day since day 1 till now. After the 4th I'll have days with 7-9 tasks, so I'm hoping to have caught up before then.

[whirledpeas86]

Man, that graded MPT... I dare say I've actually learned some shit since 1L. Probably would have taken me several weeks as a 1L to organize and write what I wrote in those 90 minutes.

Yeah, I had been stressing a little, but I threw together a decent memo in 90 minutes when it would have taken several torturous weeks in the past. Thanks...law school?

[themis513]

Anyone else feel like civ pro in going to kill them on the exam?!?

[iLoveFruits&Veggies]

Anyone else feel like civ pro in going to kill them on the exam?!?

No doubt about it! Haven't even gotten to it yet! Too worried about the MBE subjects!

Anyone take the 2nd Milestone MBE Exam yet? I think I may take it tonight... although I guess the morning would be more true to test like conditions... I think I learn more from taking practice tests than I do from videos and outlines.

[Burgstaller04]

Is anyone having an issue where if you don't "master" the assessment at the end of the lecture, sometimes you can't retake the assessment. The option to take the assessment just doesn't appear.

Yeah, I have that issue too. It's mildly annoying because a part of me just wants it to be 100% done, but it still marks the video task as done/doesn't assign it again so whatever. I'd ask them to unlock it but I don't think it's worth the effort other than getting an OCD satisfaction of seeing everything 100% mastered.

I asked about it because that keeps happening to me too. Here's the response:

Thank you for contacting us. Once you have completed all video segments of a task and all related assessment questions, the task becomes locked with those results and prevents you from retaking the assessment questions. The assessment questions are just meant to be used as a tool to move forward with and assist you in determining how to focus future studying. If you feel that a topic could use additional practice you can always answer the MBE PQs for that section. Hope this helps.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.

[mmmnnn]

I stumbled across this site, which provides a free pre-made flash card program (with directed study) for MBE subjects. The questions are pretty generic, but it's helped me remember rule statements and some exceptions.

http://www.spacedrepetition.com/

[iLoveFruits&Veggies]

Is anyone having an issue where if you don't "master" the assessment at the end of the lecture, sometimes you can't retake the assessment. The option to take the assessment just doesn't appear.

Yeah, I have that issue too. It's mildly annoying because a part of me just wants it to be 100% done, but it still marks the video task as done/doesn't assign it again so whatever. I'd ask them to unlock it but I don't think it's worth the effort other than getting an OCD satisfaction of seeing everything 100% mastered.

I asked about it because that keeps happening to me too. Here's the response:

Thank you for contacting us. Once you have completed all video segments of a task and all related assessment questions, the task becomes locked with those results and prevents you from retaking the assessment questions. The assessment questions are just meant to be used as a tool to move forward with and assist you in determining how to focus future studying. If you feel that a topic could use additional practice you can always answer the MBE PQs for that section. Hope this helps.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Well, I know for sure you can retake the assessment questions if you haven't watched every video and completed every assessment quiz. I've done it many times - both from my desktop computer and my ipad. Maybe you just can't retake them once you've completed the entire task (i.e. watched all 8 videos and answered all 8 sets of assessment questions).

[inkincorporate]

Can someone tell me why the property multiple choice question fact patterns ARE ABOUT 19000 WORDS LONG. I get to question like 8 and I want to bang my head against a wall.

[Genuine4ps]

Can someone tell me why the property multiple choice question fact patterns ARE ABOUT 19000 WORDS LONG. I get to question like 8 and I want to bang my head against a wall.

Yeah, it's fucking annoying.

On a different note, is anyone else concerned about burn-out? I'm on my final set of contracts MBE questions at the end of a long day, and I can't think. I have zero motivation. My contracts score is terrible right now. It sucks, because I would normally just take a day off, but Themis has us doing shit 7 days a week.

[puttycake]

On a different note, is anyone else concerned about burn-out? I'm on my final set of contracts MBE questions at the end of a long day, and I can't think. I have zero motivation. My contracts score is terrible right now. It sucks, because I would normally just take a day off, but Themis has us doing shit 7 days a week.

I'd say take at least a half day off, preferably a whole one. Or, if there's something you don't mind doing, switch to that instead of the thing you are burnt out on. You can still be doing something even if it's not for Themis-credit. But doing nothing for a while is also a good idea.

[blue920]

NY CPLR makes me want to gouge my eyes out.

I just finished that set a few days ago, and it was painful. The lecturer is very good, but the material just sucks. But at least the next topic is contracts. I just started that set of lectures and I like the professor, and the material is way more familiar.

[SilverE2]

Whelp. I suck at evidence.

[iLoveFruits&Veggies]

Whelp. I suck at evidence.

Me too. And I was just on cloud nine for acing torts MBE questions, then fell flat on my face with contracts. So depressing. Calling it a night.

[whirledpeas86]

Yo, this contracts lecturer dude is TOO turnt up. Drink some water and take a knee, dude.

[Prime]

I get sloppy during my evidence questions. Bleh

[Tanicius]

I get sloppy during my evidence questions. Bleh

I get sloppy during all of my questions if I'm not in the mood for it. I'll start putting down answers that I think on principle should be the correct answer instead of the answer I realize the bar examiners want me to select. This has burned me on at least 20 questions and I don't know why I keep doing it.

[kapital98]

I get sloppy during my evidence questions. Bleh

I get sloppy during all of my questions if I'm not in the mood for it. I'll start putting down answers that I think on principle should be the correct answer instead of the answer I realize the bar examiners want me to select. This has burned me on at least 20 questions and I don't know why I keep doing it.

I had a similar experience. I was burnt out and decided to do Torts #3. I got the first 7 questions wrong, freaked out, and then quit. The next day I picked it up again and did decent.

[Tanicius]

Yeah, I think I need to stop doing interactive testing altogether. For one, it makes me very lazy because I can take a mental break whenever I click on the answer explanation, because that part isn't timed -- horrible for my endurance and tolerance to timed conditions. And two, I don't do well with the emotional roller coaster of tackling each question one at a time, finding out I'm wrong on one I was sure I got right, and then getting discouraged/angry during the next questions. That kind of feedback is only ever helpful in the beginning when I'm trying to understand how a specific subject matter is tested. When I'm finished with my next CrimPro session, I think I'm going to stop interactive mode for the rest of the prep cycle.

[Lilly76]

Yeah, I think I need to stop doing interactive testing altogether. For one, it makes me very lazy because I can take a mental break whenever I click on the answer explanation, because that part isn't timed -- horrible for my endurance and tolerance to timed conditions. And two, I don't do well with the emotional roller coaster of tackling each question one at a time, finding out I'm wrong on one I was sure I got right, and then getting discouraged/angry during the next questions. That kind of feedback is only ever helpful in the beginning when I'm trying to understand how a specific subject matter is tested. When I'm finished with my next CrimPro session, I think I'm going to stop interactive mode for the rest of the prep cycle.

This. I'd get so down and flustered when I got a question wrong that I swore I knew the answer to. I had to switch to test mode and just review all the questions afterwards.

[bobanderson]

Are any other NY people finding Ronald Colombo (agency and partnership lectures) INCREDIBLY difficult to follow? He keeps skipping around and missing blanks. It's super annoying.

[Tanicius]

For crying out loud, I really wish question authors would have more post-writing review to find these simple mistakes:

14. (Question ID#3080)
After a woman and her roommate got into a fight, the woman and her boyfriend formulated a plan to get back at the roommate. The woman planned to distract the roommate while the boyfriend snuck into the apartment and steal her new camera, which was on the kitchen counter. The woman and her boyfriend headed back to the apartment and put their plan into action. The plan went awry when the roommate heard a noise and went into kitchen to find the boyfriend with her camera in hand. Panicked, the boyfriend pushed the roommate to the floor and ran out of the apartment with the camera.

The boyfriend is most likely to be convicted of which of the following crimes?
A. Burglary only.
B. Burglary and battery.
C. Robbery only.
D. Robbery and battery.
Incorrect: Answer choice C is correct. Robbery is larceny by force or intimidation, where the taking of the property is from the person or in the presence of the victim. The force need not be great, but must be more than the amount necessary to effectuate taking and carrying away the property. The elements of robbery, including the presence requirement, were satisfied here when the boyfriend pushed down the roommate and ran off with her camera. Answer choices A and B are incorrect because the elements of burglary are not satisfied. Burglary is the breaking and entering of the dwelling of another at nighttime with the specific intent to commit a felony therein. Because the woman was a resident of the apartment, and she let her boyfriend in the apartment, there was no breaking and entering into the dwelling of another. Answer choice D is incorrect because the crime of battery merges into the crime of robbery. Although a battery did occur when the boyfriend pushed the roommate to the floor, the boyfriend could not be convicted of both robbery and battery under the doctrine of merger. Rather, the battery would merge into the more serious crime of robbery.

See: the bolded. The fact pattern does not actually say that she let her boyfriend into the house. It says he snuck in. IIRC, that's "breaking and entering" for burglary purposes.

[swfangirl]

You can "sneak in" without breaking and entering. They might just mean "sneak in" as in, entered quietly so as to not draw attention to the fact that the was there. I guess the greater question is, even if you're coming in by unorthodox ways of entering, if 1 of the residents is fully aware and told you you were allowed to do so, does it count as breaking & entering?

[Gotti]

Yeah that question wasn't saying the boyfriend went into the apt unbeknownst to anyone. They went to the apt together so it's obvious that the woman let him in since that was their plan. But the wording could probably be better...