BarBri Bar Review Hangout - July 2015 Exam Forum

[RaleighStClair]

Wonder what percentage of MBE questions will be on the Power Advantage and Rest & Recharge vids. 99th percentile in those categories!

[charlesxavier]

During June I was doing 8:30-5:30 M-F just like a job. Of course, there were some days when I couldn't get going and would end up messing around more than I should, but generally I was pretty efficient.

I installed a website-blocker on my computer that puts a time limit on how long I can be on the mess around sites (FB, ESPN, etc.) and that has worked quite well. So out of that 9 hours, I was usually pretty productive for 7-8 of them (taking away breaks and lunch).

Now in July, I'll probably bump it up to 6:30 Sun-Fri and go from there. I've found that just having goals each day (daily # of MBE ?'s, # of essays, etc.) make it easier to be efficient.

I was probably at about 6 hours daily up until last week. I've been condensing all of my outlines, which seems to really help, but it has added several hours to each day. I'm at the point now where this sucks but I might as well do whatever I have to do for the next three weeks. My friends and wife are at work so I've got nothing better to do. Honestly, before 6 or 7 PM it's hard for me to do anything else without feeling guilty/nervous. I keep thinking back to 4-5 years and a dozen states ago when law school was just some distant and scary place. Guys, this is it, we're livin' the dream Right?

[old_soul]

Took the Simulated MBE. Whew. 129/200.

I'm feeling ok, there were about 10 or so qs that I narrowed down to two choices and picked the wrong one.

[rhs100]

Does the PSP include all the essays in our book? I could look forward in time and figure it out but I figure someone probably knows.

I'm pretty sure it does not. If you look about 2/3 through the MEET book there's a section titled 'additional essays' which, as far as I can tell, are not part of the PSP.

For NY, it does not. Most subjects (maybe all) have 8 sample essays in the book whereas only maybe upto 4 are assigned max, except contracts. usually the later ones are not, like 5-8, on most subjects.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

About three weeks until exam day. I've been hitting the MBE questions pretty hard, but have neglected the essays. I've maybe written 10 essays total. Haven't even touched some of the subjects. Going to hit the essays hard starting tomorrow. Shooting for 6-7 essays per day.

I've only done about 8 essays total. All of the graded ones and 3-4 ungraded on my own. I'm going to start doing essays every day after the simulated MBE tomorrow. I don't think its that useful to do essays without having memorized the rules.

[musicfor18]

Are the essays in Barbri's New York Testing book (the ones that they assign us) real past NY bar exam essay questions, or did Barbri create them, like they do with MPQs?

[3|ink]

Taking the simulated exam tomorrow. How hard is it compared to the mixed question sets?

[Kage3212]

Taking the simulated exam tomorrow. How hard is it compared to the mixed question sets?

Curious about this as well.

[Good Guy Gaud]

Taking the simulated exam tomorrow. How hard is it compared to the mixed question sets?

Seemed about the same to me. Some curveballs but nothing too crazy.

ETA: it's supposed to be harder than actual MBE

[Tiago Splitter]

Taking the simulated exam tomorrow. How hard is it compared to the mixed question sets?

Curious about this as well.

Seems similar.

[old_soul]

Taking the simulated exam tomorrow. How hard is it compared to the mixed question sets?

Similar, but I'd say a tiny notch easier than the Mixed Sets. Just my personal opinion. What does play a role in this test is your nerves. After about 165 questions, I felt like I was going to throw up and quit.

[AReasonableMan]

Taking the simulated exam tomorrow. How hard is it compared to the mixed question sets?

Similar, but I'd say a tiny notch easier than the Mixed Sets. Just my personal opinion. What does play a role in this test is your nerves. After about 165 questions, I felt like I was going to throw up and quit.

Going to strict timing will suck. In addition to the time constraints, the bigger issue is not being able to read ESPN after every 5 questions or even listen to music when you do the questions. No music, no internet. It's like taking a test written by the Taliban.

[Good Guy Gaud]

amen

[rinkrat19]

I spent about 15 minutes of my last mixed set surfing TLS and watching replays of last night's heinous NASCAR crash and still finished under the time limit. My score sucked, but it wasn't because I was rushing.

[Good Guy Gaud]

I don't think its that useful to do essays without having memorized the rules.

How I feel. It's like "yea, thanks for reminding me I really don't know any of this."

I've been following the essay thread (http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 1&t=248756) just to stay on track with the PSP's assigned essays and it seems to be useful. I get to learn the specific material being tested and then see how well I'm retaining it. No doubt it's not the same as approaching an answer cold, though.

I've been hesitant to skip any of the assigned essays because, after going through them, I see the value in them (obvs they are all basic concepts that assist in understanding the topics we are most likely to encounter ... or so I assume).

[BVest]

Going to strict timing will suck. In addition to the time constraints, the bigger issue is not being able to read ESPN after every 5 questions or even listen to music when you do the questions. No music, no internet. It's like taking a test written by the Taliban.

Strict timing doesn't seem to be a problem for me for MBE, although I've only done the Mixed sets, so not 100 Qs. The one I just finished went like this: finished set; graded it; surfed FB; surfed TLS; got to this thread and was reminded that timer was running; looked at timer to see 5 minutes still remaining.

I think I've been spending too much time working MBE questions and not enough working on essay questions and MPT. I had trouble finishing the MPT at 90 minutes in last week's simulated half-day exam; all my sentences were complete, but I didn't get to apply law to fact in one section at all. And for essays there are some topics that I'm unprepared for (Wills, Trusts, and Guardianship, especially).

[3|ink]

Going to strict timing will suck. In addition to the time constraints, the bigger issue is not being able to read ESPN after every 5 questions or even listen to music when you do the questions. No music, no internet. It's like taking a test written by the Taliban.

Strict timing doesn't seem to be a problem for me for MBE, although I've only done the Mixed sets, so not 100 Qs. The one I just finished went like this: finished set; graded it; surfed FB; surfed TLS; got to this thread and was reminded that timer was running; looked at timer to see 5 minutes still remaining.

I think I've been spending too much time working MBE questions and not enough working on essay questions and MPT. I had trouble finishing the MPT at 90 minutes in last week's simulated half-day exam; all my sentences were complete, but I didn't get to apply law to fact in one section at all. And for essays there are some topics that I'm unprepared for (Wills, Trusts, and Guardianship, especially).

I would say I'm not "prepared" for any of the essay topics.

[3|ink]

I'm not sure timing will be an issue for me. I've been doing the MPQs under timed conditions. Though stamina may be a problem.

[Good Guy Gaud]

I'm not a big fan of this whole portion of the test that doesn't have answers on the page.

[Tiago Splitter]

I just got through question 100 of the simulated MBE.

Unfortunately I started this morning. Not sure I'm doing this right.

[Good Guy Gaud]

I just got through question 100 of the simulated MBE.

Unfortunately I started this morning. Not sure I'm doing this right.

lol'd

[EAsports]

I'm not a big fan of this whole portion of the test that doesn't have answers on the page.

LOL.

[epsteinson]

For those who consistently do well on the practice MBEs, what's your approach when tackling a question? Do you usually have an answer to the question before looking at the choices, or do you focus more on just having a good grasp of the legal issue/facts and eliminating choices ?

If I pre-answer and I'm off-target, I fall for an answer that sounds close but ultimately wrong. When I try to do process of elimination, I get super influenced by an answer choice that "sounds good" and go with it. Just wanted to see if anyone could share their approach to tackling a given question. Thanks in advance.

[3|ink]

For those who consistently do well on the practice MBEs, what's your approach when tackling a question? Do you usually have an answer to the question before looking at the choices, or do you focus more on just having a good grasp of the legal issue/facts and eliminating choices ?

If I pre-answer and I'm off-target, I fall for an answer that sounds close but ultimately wrong. When I try to do process of elimination, I get super influenced by an answer choice that "sounds good" and go with it. Just wanted to see if anyone could share their approach to tackling a given question. Thanks in advance.

I wouldn't say I do well, but I have improved.

I read the answer choices with very little idea what I'm looking for. It's easier to knock out the clearly wrong answers and see what's left. Sometimes I can knock out all 3

[RaleighStClair]

Just did Mixed Set 2 and got 78% after getting 58% on the Midterm Full 200.

I haven't even really done a whole lot of MBE work since then, so I don't know WTF the difference was. I still felt supremely lost during the whole 50 question set. It's this that scares me.