Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2016 Forum

[BarPreppin'12]

This is insane. Put off Milestone #2 until today because I figured it'd give me some time to actually learn the subjects. Scored a 44%....meanwhile on Adaptibar scoring in the 60% range. Getting really frustrated with Themis' roulette-like MBE system. Constantly makes me feel like I'm a mouse on a wheel. Study, bomb a set, panic, repeat.

I'm telling you all! THEMIS QUESTIONS ARE MUCH DIFFICULT.

The questions on Adaptibar seem generally easier than the Themis one's, but I think that is a good thing. We don't know what the bar exam will throw at us, so it's better that they have harder questions. I wish there were more State Multiple Choice questions. At least for Florida, we don't get enough of them.

[ndp1234]

I did not realize how much I missed Kramer's weird hand motions and off-color jokes.

[unidentifiable]

I did not realize how much I missed Kramer's weird hand motions and off-color jokes.

im going to have some water because its hot and i live in arizona. you should have some water too.

[ChocolateTruffle]

I did not realize how much I missed Kramer's weird hand motions and off-color jokes.

He's awesome. I would have loved to have him as a professor during law school!

[Virindi]

holy shit birdthistle (partnerships corp agency) talks a lot. dude just goes on and on with analogies and it's like fuck me man get to the point

[Nebby]

I almost fell asleep twice watching the commercial paper lectures. So BORING!

[NaeDeen]

I almost fell asleep twice watching the commercial paper lectures. So BORING!

You won't fall asleep if you watch them on 2.25x!!! I completed 4 topics yesterday and today I'm going to burn through the remaining 4 (fan law, comm paper, sec trans, & adv sales)...I guess I saved all the "fun" stuff for last. Then, I'm DONE with lectures!

[Nebby]

I almost fell asleep twice watching the commercial paper lectures. So BORING!

You won't fall asleep if you watch them on 2.25x!!! I completed 4 topics yesterday and today I'm going to burn through the remaining 4 (fan law, comm paper, sec trans, & adv sales)...I guess I saved all the "fun" stuff for last. Then, I'm DONE with lectures!

I watched on 2.5

[NaeDeen]

MD has 10 essays, 25 mins each, which accounts for 66% of my score (33% for MBE). If they could just sprinkle in torts, property, family law, crim law, crim pro, agency, partnership essays, I'd be grateful

[NaeDeen]

I almost fell asleep twice watching the commercial paper lectures. So BORING!

You won't fall asleep if you watch them on 2.25x!!! I completed 4 topics yesterday and today I'm going to burn through the remaining 4 (fan law, comm paper, sec trans, & adv sales)...I guess I saved all the "fun" stuff for last. Then, I'm DONE with lectures!

I watched on 2.5

WHOA.

[Nebby]

I almost fell asleep twice watching the commercial paper lectures. So BORING!

You won't fall asleep if you watch them on 2.25x!!! I completed 4 topics yesterday and today I'm going to burn through the remaining 4 (fan law, comm paper, sec trans, & adv sales)...I guess I saved all the "fun" stuff for last. Then, I'm DONE with lectures!

I watched on 2.5

WHOA.

I downloaded the video speed controller plugin for Chrome. It allows you to go up to 3x+ and it has a hotkey that allows you to fast forward/reverse 10 seconds. So I'll watch lectures on 2x to 3x (depending on how slow they talk), and I will usually fast forward through examples. I can turn a 20 minute lecture into about 8 minutes. It's nice, but when you have 17 lectures on the most boring subject imaginable, it still doesn't help

[NaeDeen]

I almost fell asleep twice watching the commercial paper lectures. So BORING!

You won't fall asleep if you watch them on 2.25x!!! I completed 4 topics yesterday and today I'm going to burn through the remaining 4 (fan law, comm paper, sec trans, & adv sales)...I guess I saved all the "fun" stuff for last. Then, I'm DONE with lectures!

I watched on 2.5

WHOA.

I downloaded the video speed controller plugin for Chrome. It allows you to go up to 3x+ and it has a hotkey that allows you to fast forward/reverse 10 seconds. So I'll watch lectures on 2x to 3x (depending on how slow they talk), and I will usually fast forward through examples. I can turn a 20 minute lecture into about 8 minutes. It's nice, but when you have 17 lectures on the most boring subject imaginable, it still doesn't help

I can't do 3x unless the person really talks that slow. Fam law prof talks pretty slow so 2.5x is nice right now. I am NOT looking forward to comm paper.

[ndp1234]

What is this devil's work that constitutes Mixed PQ set 3?

[TLSModBot]

The smooth stylings of John Jeffries at 1.5 speed is one of the best things about Themis thus far.

[ChocolateTruffle]

Have you guys gotten your grades for the Friday graded essay (MPT) yet? I'm still waiting for mine... Erin is the one who grades mine. Wondering if anyone else has heard back from her yet? Thanks!

[Fivedham]

Not hitting the goal % on these mixed sets is a morale-killer. I did fine on Mixed PQ 1, but then missed the 60% threshold on PQ2 by one question. Ugh. PQ3 today, which everyone seems to say is worse.

[ndp1234]

Have you guys gotten your grades for the Friday graded essay (MPT) yet? I'm still waiting for mine... Erin is the one who grades mine. Wondering if anyone else has heard back from her yet? Thanks!

Haven't gotten a grade yet either. My grader has consistently been early with grades before this MPT. This is the first late one. Maybe MPTs are harder to grade?

[NaeDeen]

What is this devil's work that constitutes Mixed PQ set 3?

[Easy-E]

This is insane. Put off Milestone #2 until today because I figured it'd give me some time to actually learn the subjects. Scored a 44%....meanwhile on Adaptibar scoring in the 60% range. Getting really frustrated with Themis' roulette-like MBE system. Constantly makes me feel like I'm a mouse on a wheel. Study, bomb a set, panic, repeat.

I'm telling you all! THEMIS QUESTIONS ARE MUCH DIFFICULT.

Please let this be true

[Vantwins]

Sure hope they don't care about the PQs after each chapter, cause I don't have time to try and answer them by actually thinking. So I'm selecting all D's and moving on to the next video. No time for PQ's when I can just redo them on the designated AQ days.

I'm the opposite - I do them after each chapter and pick random guesses for the assessment. By the time I do the assessment, I can't stand the "which is true" questions - I don't want to put all the false choices in my brain and then not see the answers till I've answered all 15 or so, it throws me off!

I liked MD corporations lady!

[livinlaw]

Anyone having problems with the essays? It seems like I can't remember the rules at all when doing them. I score between 60-70 on MBE questions usually, but I can't seem to do well on essays. Although I do t do this on graded essays, for regular, non graded ones, I usually am forced to look in the outlook book. We are a month away from exams and it is extremely disappointing to be doing this poorly on the essay questions. Anyone have any advise?

This is me. I'm doing well on MBE's but I can't write the rules from scratch. I know the rules but when I have to write it, I just miss it.

I'm using a flash card type system so I can memorize them. Memorizing the law cold isn't something I did in law school, so it's going to be a different experience.

Same with me. Most of my exams in law school were open book exams. Moreover, on essay exams, it was usually a discrete subject, not 3-4 wrapped into one out of a possible 19. For Florida, the bar examiners can choose from 19 subjects. Some of the subjects, like family, have over 10 facts to consider. That's fine. I can learn 10 factors. But 10 factors in family law, the hundreds of different factors in torts and criminal law, the intricacies of Trusts, among the many other things makes it very difficult. That + it is all mixed up. I could have a Family law question with a Dependency + Juvenile question wrapped up, topped off with Ethics. It is just so overwhelming.

Yes, exactly. And I find the essay grader's feedback to be totally unhelpful "this is confusing, read the sample answer" "you should have expanded more, read the sample answer" and then the grade is so low. But they don't give us a scored sample answer, so it doesn't help me personally if I don't know what I'm comparing my answer against.

[Fivedham]

This is insane. Put off Milestone #2 until today because I figured it'd give me some time to actually learn the subjects. Scored a 44%....meanwhile on Adaptibar scoring in the 60% range. Getting really frustrated with Themis' roulette-like MBE system. Constantly makes me feel like I'm a mouse on a wheel. Study, bomb a set, panic, repeat.

I'm telling you all! THEMIS QUESTIONS ARE MUCH DIFFICULT.

Please let this be true

The only thing that is making me think they possibly are is that the Milestone questions seem to be real MBE questions used in the same MBE, so the difficulty is gauged to be appropriate with the actual test. Whereas I think the PQ sets are drawn individually, and they vary in difficulty.

[Nebby]

Have you guys gotten your grades for the Friday graded essay (MPT) yet? I'm still waiting for mine... Erin is the one who grades mine. Wondering if anyone else has heard back from her yet? Thanks!

Haven't gotten a grade yet either. My grader has consistently been early with grades before this MPT. This is the first late one. Maybe MPTs are harder to grade?

They have two business days to grade. Monday was day one, today is day two. It's not "late" until Wednesday. These people aren't paid enough to grade essays on the weekend

[ChocolateTruffle]

Have you guys gotten your grades for the Friday graded essay (MPT) yet? I'm still waiting for mine... Erin is the one who grades mine. Wondering if anyone else has heard back from her yet? Thanks!

Haven't gotten a grade yet either. My grader has consistently been early with grades before this MPT. This is the first late one. Maybe MPTs are harder to grade?

They have two business days to grade. Monday was day one, today is day two. It's not "late" until Wednesday. These people aren't paid enough to grade essays on the weekend

Yes, I know, but my grader always submitted my grade to me right away for the past few graded essays, which is why I was concerned that maybe she just forgot or decided not to do it this time. But I received an email a few minutes ago saying it's graded now.

[ndp1234]

Have you guys gotten your grades for the Friday graded essay (MPT) yet? I'm still waiting for mine... Erin is the one who grades mine. Wondering if anyone else has heard back from her yet? Thanks!

Haven't gotten a grade yet either. My grader has consistently been early with grades before this MPT. This is the first late one. Maybe MPTs are harder to grade?

They have two business days to grade. Monday was day one, today is day two. It's not "late" until Wednesday. These people aren't paid enough to grade essays on the weekend

I'm not counting the weekends. I submitted mine early on Friday (I always do the graded essays first thing in the morning), so I always count Friday because it's a whole business day, in addition to Monday.