FLORIDA BAR - JULY 2014 Forum

[gator6589]

I feel the same with the florida essays, I feel very underprepared. Barbri really doesn't do much in the way of FLA essay prep (in comparison to the MBE).

[MoneyMay]

I feel the same with the florida essays, I feel very underprepared. Barbri really doesn't do much in the way of FLA essay prep (in comparison to the MBE).

I still don't really know what I am doing for the essays.

[rad lulz]

.

[bld2414]

How did the Themis people do on the simulated florida portion?

I got 64/100. Average was 59/100. I'll take above average all day.

[SenorTaxLawl]

Last two weeks I reviewed all the subjects

If it's a smaller/easier subject I did 2 a day

Last couple days before test were general review

For fl essay subjects I outlined 4-7 essays per topic and checked against the student answers on fl bar website

Also did MBE in the mornings

For MC subjects just tried to memorize

That was enough to get me by; most of my fl learning happened in the last 2 wks

Hmm, I am having an internal conflict with this. I have not done enough essays AT ALL through this bar program so I want to devote a huge chunk of my time to essays. I'm not going to focus ALL of the next 2 weeks solely on essay - I still want to cram MBE and FL MC stuff in - but should I outline essays or do full ones?

Some say doing full ones is better because you get a knack for thinking on the spot and coming up with interesting ways of hiding your insecurities on the BLL, whereas others say outlining is more efficient because issue spotting + rule regurgitation is more than enough to pass the essays and outlining can get you through more issues and rule practicing in a shorter amount of time.

What are you guys doing? Outlining or Full? What have you found most effective?

[Hannibal]

What I'm doing now is outlining mostly, but every time it calls for a rule statement, I type that out so I get used to writing it rather than just thinking it in my head.

For example, a torts outline might go something like:

"To succeed in a claim of negligence, the plaintiff needs to show that (1) defendant had a duty to the plaintiff, (2) defendant breached that duty, and (3) that breach was the actual and proximate cause of (4) an injury to the plaintiff. (continued discussing when someone has a duty, what the duty is, the definition of the causations, and injury).

Drunk

Not foreseeable cause

injury"

And so on.

EDIT: How is everyone handling Florida substantive criminal law, dependency and delinquency? It's hard to imagine that they would give any of these their own essay since they haven't tested them yet.

[MoneyMay]

What I'm doing now is outlining mostly, but every time it calls for a rule statement, I type that out so I get used to writing it rather than just thinking it in my head.

For example, a torts outline might go something like:

"To succeed in a claim of negligence, the plaintiff needs to show that (1) defendant had a duty to the plaintiff, (2) defendant breached that duty, and (3) that breach was the actual and proximate cause of (4) an injury to the plaintiff. (continued discussing when someone has a duty, what the duty is, the definition of the causations, and injury).

Drunk

Not foreseeable cause

injury"

And so on.

EDIT: How is everyone handling Florida substantive criminal law, dependency and delinquency? It's hard to imagine that they would give any of these their own essay since they haven't tested them yet.

I am giving one day total (at most) in the next 2 weeks or so to the "new topics" and the outliers like crim b/c I doubt they will be on there.

For the essays I am going what rad lulz suggested and am outlining a minimum of 4 essays for every topic and then making those outlines my main study materials for the essays (memorizing the rules I outlined basically). For property/ FL con law which I suck at I might do more than 4, but for Ks/ trusts/family law I am not doing more than 4.

And just to try to give everyone some peace of mind, yesterday I talked to someone who scored in the 150s for FL overall and he completely missed the article 9 issue on the exam last year because he didn't study it and he was sure that was gonna kill him, so it's possible to fuck up 1/3 of an essay and still do really well still.

[Dripworx]

How did the Themis people do on the simulated florida portion?

I got 64/100. Average was 59/100. I'll take above average all day.

Underachiever of the year award, I haz it: 51/100

[Hannibal]

I finally did the "check off list" thing for the Florida facts exam, and family law slayed me (significantly below passing). It's hilarious that not mentioning the factors is something Sandon weighs so heavily, whereas our family law guy essentially said not to worry about the factors because they're all "best interests of the child/equity."

I guess I have some work to do.

[SenorTaxLawl]

I finally did the "check off list" thing for the Florida facts exam, and family law slayed me (significantly below passing). It's hilarious that not mentioning the factors is something Sandon weighs so heavily, whereas our family law guy essentially said not to worry about the factors because they're all "best interests of the child/equity."

I guess I have some work to do.

What check off list thing are you talking about? Is it the lecture where Sandon goes through the three assigned essays plus that torts essay?

For family law, I made it my mission to remember 2-3 blurbs for every thing that involves factors (how much alimony, who gets the kid, etc.) and then just tack on at the end "and anything else the court may consider" for anything not kid related, and "best interest of the child" for kid related.

There are a NUMBER of factors for everything, but I don't think it's worth our time to memorize any more than 2 (which are usually sort of "duh").

Sorry you did below passing, but don't let it get you down. I feel that family law is probably tied with trusts as the topics being the most intuitive once you study it a little.

Study RP for an hour? Pick up MAYBE a point, because it's so cryptic. Study Family Law for an hour? Pick up 10. Haha.

[GatorLaw124]

So what is the word on the street regarding the Barbri 50 question mixed sets… are these closer to what the actual MBE questions will look like? People are generally scoring 40+ on these…

Also, the MPQ Set 5 and Set 6 questions are significantly more difficult than the Mixed Set questions.

[MoneyMay]

So what is the word on the street regarding the Barbri 50 question mixed sets… are these closer to what the actual MBE questions will look like? People are generally scoring 40+ on these…

Also, the MPQ Set 5 and Set 6 questions are significantly more difficult than the Mixed Set questions.

My opinion is that the MPQ sets 5 and 6 are too hard compared to the real thing and the mixed sets are too easy compared to the real thing.

EDIT: And had to teach myself products liability for the torts essays a few days back due to our shitty torts lecture FML

[silky bruh]

Does anyone have a short (i.e. one page) outline of Florida evidence? Suddenly hit me today I know nothing about it.

[Shawshank33]

Did a full day FL practice exam today --killed the essays, and got dominated by the FL mc...eff wills.. 100 fl mc are SO much worse than 100 mbes

[Hannibal]

Did a full day FL practice exam today --killed the essays, and got dominated by the FL mc...eff wills.. 100 fl mc are SO much worse than 100 mbes

What full day exam?

[Dripworx]

Did a full day FL practice exam today --killed the essays, and got dominated by the FL mc...eff wills.. 100 fl mc are SO much worse than 100 mbes

Tricky as fuck. Themis said FL questions are designed by FL attorneys, focused on nuances.

[MoneyMay]

Did a full day FL practice exam today --killed the essays, and got dominated by the FL mc...eff wills.. 100 fl mc are SO much worse than 100 mbes

Tricky as fuck. Themis said FL questions are designed by FL attorneys, focused on nuances.

Yeah I am worried about the FL MC b/c I heard it's brutal.

[MoneyMay]

How you guys feeling about the essays? I'm hit and miss. I feel great and then I see one that throws me off.

[Hannibal]

How you guys feeling about the essays? I'm hit and miss. I feel great and then I see one that throws me off.

I feel mostly good. I feel confident in my ability to BS about all the topics if I don't know the specifics, with the exception of any constitutional law question about the limits on taxing. My biggest fear right now is that they have a criminal law essay question for the first time in 20 years.

[MoneyMay]

How you guys feeling about the essays? I'm hit and miss. I feel great and then I see one that throws me off.

I feel mostly good. I feel confident in my ability to BS about all the topics if I don't know the specifics, with the exception of any constitutional law question about the limits on taxing. My biggest fear right now is that they have a criminal law essay question for the first time in 20 years.

I am also horrified of either that or one of the new topics, which I literally know nothing about.

[silky bruh]

How you guys feeling about the essays? I'm hit and miss. I feel great and then I see one that throws me off.

I feel mostly good. I feel confident in my ability to BS about all the topics if I don't know the specifics, with the exception of any constitutional law question about the limits on taxing. My biggest fear right now is that they have a criminal law essay question for the first time in 20 years.

+1000

I wish there was just a one page chart for taxing shit I could memorize in the off chance it comes up.

Kaplan had videos on the main points where Florida is distinguished from MBE RE: criminal law, property, contracts, and torts, so I took really short notes on it and I'll probably just look them over real quick before going into the exam. Couple extra bonus points if anything.

Moneymay, are you talking about juvenile dependency?

[Hannibal]

I'm going to make some basic charts about dependency and delinquency and how they work, aka first the shelter hearing, burden of proof, etc. I'm going to ignore the specifics and count it as an acceptable loss.

[MoneyMay]

How you guys feeling about the essays? I'm hit and miss. I feel great and then I see one that throws me off.

I feel mostly good. I feel confident in my ability to BS about all the topics if I don't know the specifics, with the exception of any constitutional law question about the limits on taxing. My biggest fear right now is that they have a criminal law essay question for the first time in 20 years.

+1000

I wish there was just a one page chart for taxing shit I could memorize in the off chance it comes up.

Kaplan had videos on the main points where Florida is distinguished from MBE RE: criminal law, property, contracts, and torts, so I took really short notes on it and I'll probably just look them over real quick before going into the exam. Couple extra bonus points if anything.

Moneymay, are you talking about juvenile dependency?

That and UCC 2/ UCC 9. How do you guys feel about those?

And what tax questions you guys talking about for FL con law? The ad valorem taxation or something else?

And for the FL con law/ family law, I feel like the name of the game is knowing the basic rules and then bull shitting (which is more or less what I did in lawl school).

[Hannibal]

Yes, that taxation. Pretty much anything after Page 20 of the Florida con law handout.

[SilverE2]

How you guys feeling about the essays? I'm hit and miss. I feel great and then I see one that throws me off.

I feel mostly good. I feel confident in my ability to BS about all the topics if I don't know the specifics, with the exception of any constitutional law question about the limits on taxing. My biggest fear right now is that they have a criminal law essay question for the first time in 20 years.

+1000

I wish there was just a one page chart for taxing shit I could memorize in the off chance it comes up.

Kaplan had videos on the main points where Florida is distinguished from MBE RE: criminal law, property, contracts, and torts, so I took really short notes on it and I'll probably just look them over real quick before going into the exam. Couple extra bonus points if anything.

Moneymay, are you talking about juvenile dependency?

That and UCC 2/ UCC 9. How do you guys feel about those?

And what tax questions you guys talking about for FL con law? The ad valorem taxation or something else?

And for the FL con law/ family law, I feel like the name of the game is knowing the basic rules and then bull shitting (which is more or less what I did in lawl school).

I assume you meant UCC 3? Honestly, I watched the lectures (most of which I've forgotten) and I was planning on getting to UCC 3 and 9 at the end, but at this point I can't devote two days to studying them. The night before the bar I'll probably take maybe 2 hours to skim the outlines, but beyond that I'm not going to worry about it. I REALLY doubt they'll give us an entire essay, at worst it'll probably be a part of one of the essays, so if that happens I'll just throw in some words like "indorse" and "holder in due course," make up some law, and bullshit through the analysis. I really doubt it'll sink me.