July 2015 California Bar Exam Forum

[redblueyellow]

For Con Law:

How would one structure an essay that dealt with Congressional/Presidential powers analysis/whatnot?

I can do most of the other big stuff as long as I remember, although substantive due process' analysis (and commerce clause as well, I suppose) seem to be ridiculously short. "Uhh, this is a fundamental right, thus strict scrutiny applies b/c i'm losing my life, liberty, or property in some fashion, and this is the test for strict scrutiny."

I'm concerned because there's a couple predictions regarding the non-obvious con law stuff and I have absolutely no idea how to work up an essay on presidential powers or congress or whatnot.

[shinsaki]

Does anyone think that Remedies will be tested?

I was wondering the same thing, since we're definitely going to see some state-specific stuff tomorrow. But from trying to create an essay algorithm it's really only possible to attach remedies to Torts or Contracts. Then again they could always give us Torts/Contracts facts and have a purely dedicated Remedies question sooooo...... back to square one.

[shinsaki]

For Con Law:

How would one structure an essay that dealt with Congressional/Presidential powers analysis/whatnot?

I can do most of the other big stuff as long as I remember, although substantive due process' analysis (and commerce clause as well, I suppose) seem to be ridiculously short. "Uhh, this is a fundamental right, thus strict scrutiny applies b/c i'm losing my life, liberty, or property in some fashion, and this is the test for strict scrutiny."

I'm concerned because there's a couple predictions regarding the non-obvious con law stuff and I have absolutely no idea how to work up an essay on presidential powers or congress or whatnot.

One of the predictors mentioned that the area of Presidential authority was "unsettled" [might've been BarSecrets?] and a current topic what with expanded executive reach in recent years. That said, IIRC Themis emphasizes the levels of authority with regard to Federalism (i.e. is there Congressional authorization? Is he expressing an Article II power?).

I'm not sure exactly how one goes about testing an area of law that isn't clearly partitioned (can you imagine the grading shitstorm?) but I can definitely see it being a subpart somehow.

[crumpetsandtea]

nah crumps you've always been fast on multiple choice tests, i remember from the lsat. doesn't mean you fucked up. i seem to have missed this barrage of Ds that everyone else seems to have gotten, so i'm a lttle rattled by that. oh well, can't worry about that now

Ugh but I feel like I was so much BETTER at LSAT questions than the MBE. I was doing consistently like 60-70% on the MBE at the end of Barbri, way worse than my study buddy (I think he was in the 70-80% range).

I actually noticed & commented to a few friends that I had a long string of NO D's (like 10-15 in a row) which just adds to my conclusion that I probably failed. LOLFML. Here's to hoping I get all 70s on the essays... ):

[BrokenMouse]

lol

[a male human]

For Con Law:

How would one structure an essay that dealt with Congressional/Presidential powers analysis/whatnot?

I can do most of the other big stuff as long as I remember, although substantive due process' analysis (and commerce clause as well, I suppose) seem to be ridiculously short. "Uhh, this is a fundamental right, thus strict scrutiny applies b/c i'm losing my life, liberty, or property in some fashion, and this is the test for strict scrutiny."

I'm concerned because there's a couple predictions regarding the non-obvious con law stuff and I have absolutely no idea how to work up an essay on presidential powers or congress or whatnot.

I think you'd start by checking the congressional authorization 3-prong test first.

[BrokenMouse]

lol

[Underoath]

nah crumps you've always been fast on multiple choice tests, i remember from the lsat. doesn't mean you fucked up. i seem to have missed this barrage of Ds that everyone else seems to have gotten, so i'm a lttle rattled by that. oh well, can't worry about that now

Ugh but I feel like I was so much BETTER at LSAT questions than the MBE. I was doing consistently like 60-70% on the MBE at the end of Barbri, way worse than my study buddy (I think he was in the 70-80% range).

I actually noticed & commented to a few friends that I had a long string of NO D's (like 10-15 in a row) which just adds to my conclusion that I probably failed. LOLFML. Here's to hoping I get all 70s on the essays... ):

Umm yeah I think 10-15 Ds in a row is probably not right. At least not on mine. One of us failed.

10 Ds haha what a joke

[soj]

.

[BuenAbogado]

For Con Law:

How would one structure an essay that dealt with Congressional/Presidential powers analysis/whatnot?

I can do most of the other big stuff as long as I remember, although substantive due process' analysis (and commerce clause as well, I suppose) seem to be ridiculously short. "Uhh, this is a fundamental right, thus strict scrutiny applies b/c i'm losing my life, liberty, or property in some fashion, and this is the test for strict scrutiny."

I'm concerned because there's a couple predictions regarding the non-obvious con law stuff and I have absolutely no idea how to work up an essay on presidential powers or congress or whatnot.

One of the predictors mentioned that the area of Presidential authority was "unsettled" [might've been BarSecrets?] and a current topic what with expanded executive reach in recent years. That said, IIRC Themis emphasizes the levels of authority with regard to Federalism (i.e. is there Congressional authorization? Is he expressing an Article II power?).

I'm not sure exactly how one goes about testing an area of law that isn't clearly partitioned (can you imagine the grading shitstorm?) but I can definitely see it being a subpart somehow.

The last time they tested Exec powers had one of the highest passage rates ever since they curved everyone high on it. It's a field where even experts can't agree on what law is proper.

[Loud Kiddington]

FWIW in the morning session my first 25 had around 14 D's with two sets of 6 straight D's, evened out by the end of that 100 though

[BuenAbogado]

Guys I don't think they give us the same choices. Imagine how easy it would be to cheat if there was one answer code for the entire country.

[shinsaki]

Guys I don't think they give us the same choices. Imagine how easy it would be to cheat if there was one answer code for the entire country.

Totally, man. I mean we may not think highly of the NCBE....but they ain't stupid. I'm honestly more surprised that they didn't also shuffle the answer choices within the questions a bit as well. Or at least the discussion on here makes me think they didn't.

[notcool]

I can't decide if I should stay up studying CP and PR or just go to bed early. I really want to go to bed... I've gotten maybe 6 hours of sleep total over the last 3 nights. But I'm screwed because I don't know all the little rules.

[redblueyellow]

For Con Law:

How would one structure an essay that dealt with Congressional/Presidential powers analysis/whatnot?

I can do most of the other big stuff as long as I remember, although substantive due process' analysis (and commerce clause as well, I suppose) seem to be ridiculously short. "Uhh, this is a fundamental right, thus strict scrutiny applies b/c i'm losing my life, liberty, or property in some fashion, and this is the test for strict scrutiny."

I'm concerned because there's a couple predictions regarding the non-obvious con law stuff and I have absolutely no idea how to work up an essay on presidential powers or congress or whatnot.

I think you'd start by checking the congressional authorization 3-prong test first.

Would it be listed under something else? I just looked through my (commercial) outlines and my Kaplan stuff and I don't see it. Either that, or I'm really really out of it right now. Sorry :/

[crumpetsandtea]

nah crumps you've always been fast on multiple choice tests, i remember from the lsat. doesn't mean you fucked up. i seem to have missed this barrage of Ds that everyone else seems to have gotten, so i'm a lttle rattled by that. oh well, can't worry about that now

Ugh but I feel like I was so much BETTER at LSAT questions than the MBE. I was doing consistently like 60-70% on the MBE at the end of Barbri, way worse than my study buddy (I think he was in the 70-80% range).

I actually noticed & commented to a few friends that I had a long string of NO D's (like 10-15 in a row) which just adds to my conclusion that I probably failed. LOLFML. Here's to hoping I get all 70s on the essays... ):

Umm yeah I think 10-15 Ds in a row is probably not right. At least not on mine. One of us failed.

Hahaha no I mean I had a row of 10-15 answers that WEREN'T D's. Like I looked at it at the end and I was like, "Oh man...that's a lot of empty D spots, did I fuck up?"

I had a long string of NO D's (like 10-15 in a row)

i had that too, fwiw

Phew, you're smart, this makes me feel better.

And I've heard they do like 9 different test arrangements so there's definitely a ton of variety. There's just that little part of me that is paranoid as hell.

[Underoath]

I can't decide if I should stay up studying CP and PR or just go to bed early. I really want to go to bed... I've gotten maybe 6 hours of sleep total over the last 3 nights. But I'm screwed because I don't know all the little rules.

who cares about sleep? I'm studying PR, CP, and Wills...come on push through. This is the last night and you'll be done...forever.

[notcool]

I can't decide if I should stay up studying CP and PR or just go to bed early. I really want to go to bed... I've gotten maybe 6 hours of sleep total over the last 3 nights. But I'm screwed because I don't know all the little rules.

who cares about sleep? I'm studying PR, CP, and Wills...come on push through. This is the last night and you'll be done...forever.

Yeah, you're right. The only thing worse than going through all this would be going through it all AGAIN. Guess it'll be 5 hour energy to the rescue once more.

[lameslice57]

FWIW in the morning session my first 25 had around 14 D's with two sets of 6 straight D's, evened out by the end of that 100 though

Same. Somebody told me they gave out tests in different orders, though. Each test booklet had a different test number on the upper right corner.

[Underoath]

I can't decide if I should stay up studying CP and PR or just go to bed early. I really want to go to bed... I've gotten maybe 6 hours of sleep total over the last 3 nights. But I'm screwed because I don't know all the little rules.

who cares about sleep? I'm studying PR, CP, and Wills...come on push through. This is the last night and you'll be done...forever.

Yeah, you're right. The only thing worse than going through all this would be going through it all AGAIN. Guess it'll be 5 hour energy to the rescue once more.

YOU GOT THIS COME ON!!! I'm right there with you!

[auds1008]

FWIW in the morning session my first 25 had around 14 D's with two sets of 6 straight D's, evened out by the end of that 100 though

Same. Somebody told me they gave out tests in different orders, though. Each test booklet had a different test number on the upper right corner.

HAH I counted too!

[auds1008]

For Con Law:

How would one structure an essay that dealt with Congressional/Presidential powers analysis/whatnot?

I can do most of the other big stuff as long as I remember, although substantive due process' analysis (and commerce clause as well, I suppose) seem to be ridiculously short. "Uhh, this is a fundamental right, thus strict scrutiny applies b/c i'm losing my life, liberty, or property in some fashion, and this is the test for strict scrutiny."

I'm concerned because there's a couple predictions regarding the non-obvious con law stuff and I have absolutely no idea how to work up an essay on presidential powers or congress or whatnot.

Try Question 2 of http://calweasel.com/sites/default/file ... nswers.pdf

[BuenAbogado]

can congress violate a treaty?

[redblueyellow]

I think you'd start by checking the congressional authorization 3-prong test first.

From one of my lectures that I ran across: “the delegation by congress of its commerce power to the president. Congress has plenary power over commerce under the commerce clause, and congress can validly delegate a portion of the power to the president so that he can go out and conduct foreign affairs.”

And then they moved on to treaties, lol.

[redblueyellow]

can congress violate a treaty?

Yea, can't they just pass a new law afterwards (last in time wins) that contradicts it?