2015 February California Bar Exam Forum

[L’Étranger]

Well....here's the debrief of the February bar. Watch at your own risk

https://www.youtube.com/user/BarSecrets/videos

Yikes. Watching this at this point seems like a horrible idea. I think my head would explode like the guy in scanners if I watched this now.

I also believe it's not necessarily a given that if your answers don't match the ones on the debrief that you failed.

[morescotchplease]

I also believe it's not necessarily a given that if your answers don't match the ones on the debrief that you failed.

and if your answers do match, it's not necessarily a given that you passed. So all in all, it's a lose-lose situation to create more doubt and anxiety. Wednesdays already drag as the HUMP day, today is exceptionally brutal with this Friday looming over us.

[PennJD83]

I agree. I started it...and then thought to myself "why am I watching this sh*t?". There's no point in stressing myself out even more. I'm just going to sit back and hope for the best.

[pineapple99]

Anyone else considering waiting for the mail? The way it's set up online is too stressful. An email would be so much better. But, this is California so that would just be too practical.

[Elms]

Anyone else considering waiting for the mail? The way it's set up online is too stressful. An email would be so much better. But, this is California so that would just be too practical.

Not me, haha. I don't have the patience to wait for the mail. I never understood people who said they couldn't bear to look so they waited until Sunday to check, or something like that. I'd just be thinking about it constantly and torturing myself mentally until I looked.

I'm going to be online at 6 p.m. Friday to find out my fate.

[gaagoots]

.

[Biotech]

If CBX goes UBE, will they just set the passing score astronomically high? wiki says Idaho requires a 280. Really Idaho?

I want to wait for the mail but I probably won't.

[L’Étranger]

Well....here's the debrief of the February bar. Watch at your own risk

https://www.youtube.com/user/BarSecrets/videos

Yikes. Watching this at this point seems like a horrible idea. I think my head would explode like the guy in scanners if I watched this now.

I also believe it's not necessarily a given that if your answers don't match the ones on the debrief that you failed.

Based on the way they grade, the so-called issues come from the calibration sessions. The way I read how the grading process works is, they have a meeting with 15 different sample essay books (ours). The group grades them, and then discuss the answers and assign the grades. Then they independently grade 20 more books and submit the answers for review at the 2nd calibration session. Then there is a third calibration session to make sure the graders are on the same page.

The breakdown of the Feb 2015 exam by BarSecrets is only ONE person's opinion as opposed to 8 groups of 11 discussing the answer booklets we submitted. So this is why, on the message boards some spotted; piercing the corporate veil, or Erie, or blah blah. As a group, they can see how often *we* came up with those issues and if they are fair game then assign point values to those issues.

http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Portals ... rade_R.pdf

I don't see how "calibration" does much of anything.

I suspect that as a rule of thumb the graders quickly read an answer and award what they feel to be an average answer a 60, above average answer a 65, and below average answer a 55.

I suspect 70's and 75's are rare. A 75 on just one PT is essentially an autopass (PTs count x2), and a 70 on just one PT is a huge boost.

The CA bar likely furthers a low overall passage rate on the exam by grading the essays in a tight range of typically 55-65. If graders were truly awarding grades above 65 regularly, I believe there would be a much higher overall passage rate.

[underthirty]

.

[morescotchplease]

So is this 6pm ordeal literally when the clock hits 6pm it's ready to go? Does the site ever go down momentarily due to the traffic? I'd rather wait 30 minutes and not have error pages give me a heart attack.

[gaagoots]

.

[gaagoots]

.

[morescotchplease]

So is this 6pm ordeal literally when the clock hits 6pm it's ready to go? Does the site ever go down momentarily due to the traffic? I'd rather wait 30 minutes and not have error pages give me a heart attack.

I logged in for a friend on November 21st at 6:00 p.m. and it wasn't bad at all, and that was with twice the amount of applicants.

Good to know. Thanks. Just thinking about it makes me nauseous.

[L’Étranger]

Well....here's the debrief of the February bar. Watch at your own risk

https://www.youtube.com/user/BarSecrets/videos

Yikes. Watching this at this point seems like a horrible idea. I think my head would explode like the guy in scanners if I watched this now.

I also believe it's not necessarily a given that if your answers don't match the ones on the debrief that you failed.

Based on the way they grade, the so-called issues come from the calibration sessions. The way I read how the grading process works is, they have a meeting with 15 different sample essay books (ours). The group grades them, and then discuss the answers and assign the grades. Then they independently grade 20 more books and submit the answers for review at the 2nd calibration session. Then there is a third calibration session to make sure the graders are on the same page.

The breakdown of the Feb 2015 exam by BarSecrets is only ONE person's opinion as opposed to 8 groups of 11 discussing the answer booklets we submitted. So this is why, on the message boards some spotted; piercing the corporate veil, or Erie, or blah blah. As a group, they can see how often *we* came up with those issues and if they are fair game then assign point values to those issues.

http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Portals ... rade_R.pdf

I don't see how "calibration" does much of anything.

I suspect that as a rule of thumb the graders quickly read an answer and award what they feel to be an average answer a 60, above average answer a 65, and below average answer a 55.

I suspect 70's and 75's are rare. A 75 on just one PT is essentially an autopass (PTs count x2), and a 70 on just one PT is a huge boost.

The CA bar likely furthers a low overall passage rate on the exam by grading the essays in a tight range of typically 55-65. If graders were truly awarding grades above 65 regularly, I believe there would be a much higher overall passage rate.

I have renewed my baressays.com account just to really review what earns a 55 on a PT, and based on what I saw the majority of the time, someone either did not follow directions, didn't cite authority, ran out of time or it was a hot mess. I hired an essay tutor, don't want to name him to avoid an admin edit but he only gave us essays and PT's he actually graded so he was there at the calibration sessions and knew the rubric.

My submitted PT was a 55 and I felt like I was punched in the gut and was mad--but he was right, I didn't follow the instructions to the tee. Sometimes in the heat of battle we do that and its the afterthought when its over we brutally beat ourselves up (at least thats what I do).

There is a PT in baressays with an 82.5 its okay--not as great as the model answer of PTB for July 2014. The 82.5 failed which is why we have access to see it on the baressays website. Also, out of curiosity, I thought the higher word count would help boost a mediocre PT into passing, the PT I saw had 4,300 or so word count and lots of bluebook type cites it actually had too many and it received a 55. There are quite a few 75's in the baressay bank so something went wrong somewhere.

Also looking at the baressays the IRAC isn't obvious in a LOT of the essays. A grader either glosses it over because no white space was given or it just wasn't there.

I have been obsessing way more than normal in the past 90 days. So it could be my first time jitters or denial or faint optimism. I really with a 100% certainty do not know how well I did. Every time someone says, "oh you got this" I want to hurl. FTR, I did the same routine after final exams.

Not sure those few data points contradict what I'm saying, although, admittedly, I have no data points. Am really surprised someone with an 82.5 on PT failed.

I wouldn't be so worried if I were you. It sounds like you had a great tutor, and this is your first time.

[auds1008]

so nervous i thought today was thursday... bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[a male human]

Speaking of BarEssays, if anyone is interested in $20 off BarEssays or BarIssues, I can hook you up.

[nomorecbx]

The wait is mind numbing -- literally. Taking this exam for the second time. My life depends on it. I have children to feed and loans to pay back. I really don't know what to do if I don't pass. It's great to see others commiserating before results are announced.

I had a tutor the second time around. The first time I took the bar I felt like I probably didn't pass, or at least, didn't know if I passed. People say if you feel bad coming out that's usually a good sign, whereas, if you feel good about yourself you really didn't appreciate the difficulty of the exam. I don't think there's any correlation between how you feel and whether you pass. I tried my best and that's all that really matters, I guess. I mostly concerned about Civ Pro, Wills/Trusts, and PT A. It sounds like everyone felt those essays were rough.

I'm rooting for everyone on this board.

[WonderWoman]

Watched the video debriefs. Now, I'm convinced I failed it.

[morescotchplease]

Speaking of BarEssays, if anyone is interested in $20 off BarEssays or BarIssues, I can hook you up.

I hope I won't need it, but if I do, you'll hear from me Fri...err...Sunday after I drown myself in sorrow.

[morescotchplease]

I have children to feed and loans to pay back.

Check and check. I'm with ya.

[nomorecbx]

Good luck everyone.

[a male human]

Speaking of BarEssays, if anyone is interested in $20 off BarEssays or BarIssues, I can hook you up.

I hope I won't need it, but if I do, you'll hear from me Fri...err...Sunday after I drown myself in sorrow.

More scotch please?

[pineapple99]

"California Bar: Where your best just isn't good enough" that is my basic feeling about this garbage of an exam.

I know someone that fell into the second read and failed. Had they not averaged the two scores and rather gave the higher of the two reads, he would have passed. I know it's supposed to be "objective" but had that person had the second grader on his first read, he would have passed.

[s1m4]

"California Bar: Where your best just isn't good enough" that is my basic feeling about this garbage of an exam.

I know someone that fell into the second read and failed. Had they not averaged the two scores and rather gave the higher of the two reads, he would have passed. I know it's supposed to be "objective" but had that person had the second grader on his first read, he would have passed.

Had my first grader given me the 65 the second grader gave me for my first PT rather than a 60... These stories suck - subjectivity and luck is a huge factor here, and I'm sure most people pass by a small margin..

In other news, I stupidly watched part of the K debrief video, and I can't recall the extent to which I discussed perfect tender (if at all). Fml - I wish I didn't do that

[pineapple99]

"California Bar: Where your best just isn't good enough" that is my basic feeling about this garbage of an exam.

I know someone that fell into the second read and failed. Had they not averaged the two scores and rather gave the higher of the two reads, he would have passed. I know it's supposed to be "objective" but had that person had the second grader on his first read, he would have passed.

Had my first grader given me the 65 the second grader gave me for my first PT rather than a 60... These stories suck - subjectivity and luck is a huge factor here, and I'm sure most people pass by a small margin..

In other news, I stupidly watched part of the K debrief video, and I can't recall the extent to which I discussed perfect tender (if at all). Fml - I wish I didn't do that

I heard that back in the day if you scored 40 points above passing or less, you fell into the second read. Thankfully, this is no longer the case. Instead we just get an overall harder exam with more subjects.

I had no idea what that remedies essay was about -- with the parcels of land and the guy refusing to leave. Hell, for sometime I was just shocked that no PR or con law came up and that the civ pro was some serious vague b.s. The PT that tested PR was bs. The only thing I felt ok about was the civ pro mbe and that's only because I was expecting a real shit storm with that.

Hoping for the best but in reality expecting bad news again.