Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2016 Forum

[Nebby]

I'm doing my first essay at the beginning of tomorrow's session. I absolutely love the TRAP method. It's essentially how I did all of my 3L finals because 3LOL

[xdeuceswild81xx]

Not sure about etiquette, since others might not have taken the practice and don't want it ruined...but question 6129 from Contracts and Sales MBE PQ session 4 was odd. The card collecting brother selling to his brother.

Can't figure out why the correct answer was correct. If it's cool, I'll post it here and if someone could enlighten me, it would be much appreciated. I sent it in to Themis, but figured I might get a faster turnaround itt.

[Vantwins]

Are you guys taking the entire 6-8 hours finishing the daily tasks?

It takes me about 4 hours and I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly or if this is because it's for the first couple days.

I am watching lectures at 1.5-2x speed though, and it takes me about 1.5 hours to finish the daily lecture and the assessment questions (and the handouts). As for the outlines, they just seem like a rehash of the lectures. I'm not taking any active notes while reading the outlines (but not skimming either). I give it a good read, and it takes me about 2 hours.

Overall it takes me about 3.5-4 hours. I'm not sure if I should be more proactive in my studying (making my own outlines, etc.) since this is about half the recommended time. Obviously since we're all studying this for the first time, it's hard to tell to tell if this is okay, but anyone in the same boat?

It sounds like you read fast and concentrate well - enjoy! I graduated law school in 2003 and passed the VA Bar that summer. I did Bar Bri and went to class to watch the videos - so 3 hours watching videos/filling in outlines in the AM, probably 2 hours condensing the outlines and reviewing in the afternoon, and another 2 hours or so in the evenings doing practice questions and essays. I'm fairly similar this time around, except I've got 3 children I need to feed and pay some attention to! I put them on the bus, do a couple hours of studying, go to the gym, do 2-3 more hours of studying, spend late afternoon with my kids and do a couple more hours after they go to sleep. Watching the mortgages video at 11pm last night was not working out so well for me though! I do try to watch at 1.5 speed. Unless I'm having lunch at the same time, I need to slow it down! I'm impressed with anyone who watches on 2X, I can't even understand what the profs are saying (maybe I haven't gotten to a really slow speaking prof yet??). I'm pretty much on schedule with the directed study. I probably won't get to the Property practice questions I'm supposed to do today, but we are staying put for the holiday weekend, so I can make up for lost time. Oh, I'm not bothering even skimming the long outlines. If we know everything in the handouts pretty well + info that comes up in the sample MBE answers, we'll pass the exam. Remember - we're aiming for a C at best, not an A, if we miss some random questions, it's fine. I'm making flash cards on quizlet. Partly to study off of, partly just because making them is reinforcing the knowledge for me.

[bsktbll28082]

Property guy is growing on me. Especially when you play him at 2x speed. It makes him do funny things with his head and hands sometimes.

[not guilty]

I know a million people have asked this but.....Is anyone doing adaptibar and themis and is seeing major differences? I'm trying to justify the money for adaptibar.

[Chardee_MacDennis]

Property guy is growing on me. Especially when you play him at 2x speed. It makes him do funny things with his head and hands sometimes.

He drinks (and jokes about drinking) water way too much. But he's cool in a hipster sort of way.

[Easy-E]

Well, didn't do so good on the contracts PQs but hit the goal at least so party time

[TLSModBot]

Property guy is growing on me. Especially when you play him at 2x speed. It makes him do funny things with his head and hands sometimes.

He drinks (and jokes about drinking) water way too much. But he's cool in a hipster sort of way.

12 videos in and I still don't like him. But I dislike him less than in the beginning. He's probably enjoyable in person though.

[Nebby]

I'm happy this thread exists

[nerdalicious05]

Are you guys taking the entire 6-8 hours finishing the daily tasks?

It takes me about 4 hours and I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly or if this is because it's for the first couple days.

I am watching lectures at 1.5-2x speed though, and it takes me about 1.5 hours to finish the daily lecture and the assessment questions (and the handouts). As for the outlines, they just seem like a rehash of the lectures. I'm not taking any active notes while reading the outlines (but not skimming either). I give it a good read, and it takes me about 2 hours.

Overall it takes me about 3.5-4 hours. I'm not sure if I should be more proactive in my studying (making my own outlines, etc.) since this is about half the recommended time. Obviously since we're all studying this for the first time, it's hard to tell to tell if this is okay, but anyone in the same boat?

It sounds like you read fast and concentrate well - enjoy! I graduated law school in 2003 and passed the VA Bar that summer. I did Bar Bri and went to class to watch the videos - so 3 hours watching videos/filling in outlines in the AM, probably 2 hours condensing the outlines and reviewing in the afternoon, and another 2 hours or so in the evenings doing practice questions and essays. I'm fairly similar this time around, except I've got 3 children I need to feed and pay some attention to! I put them on the bus, do a couple hours of studying, go to the gym, do 2-3 more hours of studying, spend late afternoon with my kids and do a couple more hours after they go to sleep. Watching the mortgages video at 11pm last night was not working out so well for me though! I do try to watch at 1.5 speed. Unless I'm having lunch at the same time, I need to slow it down! I'm impressed with anyone who watches on 2X, I can't even understand what the profs are saying (maybe I haven't gotten to a really slow speaking prof yet??). I'm pretty much on schedule with the directed study. I probably won't get to the Property practice questions I'm supposed to do today, but we are staying put for the holiday weekend, so I can make up for lost time. Oh, I'm not bothering even skimming the long outlines. If we know everything in the handouts pretty well + info that comes up in the sample MBE answers, we'll pass the exam. Remember - we're aiming for a C at best, not an A, if we miss some random questions, it's fine. I'm making flash cards on quizlet. Partly to study off of, partly just because making them is reinforcing the knowledge for me.

Have you guys used LeanSheets or SketchyLaw.com? Looking for some supplemental stuff too.

[unidentifiable]

I know a million people have asked this but.....Is anyone doing adaptibar and themis and is seeing major differences? I'm trying to justify the money for adaptibar.

I am in the exact same boat.

I think I might do it, though. Themis isnt giving enough practice questions right now, but, looking forward, it looks like there will be 17-60 questions per day.

I think the $350 for Adaptibar might be worth it to get in 500-750 questions before that time, and if I want to do more when Themis starts cranking it up, I'll be able to without depleting my Themis questions.

Let me know what you decide.

[ChocolateTruffle]

I love the property guy, I think he's funny I love his corny jokes.

[Easy-E]

Took me three videos to notice the Torts guy has what looks like a diamond stud in one ear. Did not expect that.

[Fivedham]

Took me three videos to notice the Torts guy has what looks like a diamond stud in one ear. Did not expect that.

Torts guy is annoying me. I'm three videos in. His examples are awful, and he goes off-script too much. He keeps skipping what fill-in words are supposed to be. The earring makes me think he's probably at least cool in person, but come on man, follow the script.

[Easy-E]

Took me three videos to notice the Torts guy has what looks like a diamond stud in one ear. Did not expect that.

Torts guy is annoying me. I'm three videos in. His examples are awful, and he goes off-script too much. He keeps skipping what fill-in words are supposed to be. The earring makes me think he's probably at least cool in person, but come on man, follow the script.

Agreed, he's a pain to follow. I'm constantly going back.

[Mayakovsky]

Hi, fellow Themis people!

So, I started the program on Monday, and I'm figuring out that my method of studying isn't efficient and is causing me to get off-schedule. I've been spending a lot of time on the long outlines, going through and reading thoroughly and taking notes in the margins, as this really does help me retain things. However, it takes me so long to do this, that I then get behind with the lectures and fill-in outlines. It's frustrating because I'm trying to go with the method that has worked for me in the past, but I'm realizing that this method may not work time-wise for me with this program.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips with respect to efficiency. I find it useful to go through these long outlines, and I'm afraid that if I don't, or if I rush through them, I won't retain what I need to. I guess, though, that the fill-in outlines probably contain the most pertinent information for exam purposes. I'm not sure.

Any thoughts?

By the way, I hope everyone is hanging in there!

[Fivedham]

Took me three videos to notice the Torts guy has what looks like a diamond stud in one ear. Did not expect that.

Torts guy is annoying me. I'm three videos in. His examples are awful, and he goes off-script too much. He keeps skipping what fill-in words are supposed to be. The earring makes me think he's probably at least cool in person, but come on man, follow the script.

Agreed, he's a pain to follow. I'm constantly going back.

Yeah, it's not even like anything he's saying is wrong, he just keeps switching up his phrasing from how he designed the handout and how he's deciding to explain concepts in the video.

I miss property beard guy.

[Easy-E]

Hi, fellow Themis people!

So, I started the program on Monday, and I'm figuring out that my method of studying isn't efficient and is causing me to get off-schedule. I've been spending a lot of time on the long outlines, going through and reading thoroughly and taking notes in the margins, as this really does help me retain things. However, it takes me so long to do this, that I then get behind with the lectures and fill-in outlines. It's frustrating because I'm trying to go with the method that has worked for me in the past, but I'm realizing that this method may not work time-wise for me with this program.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips with respect to efficiency. I find it useful to go through these long outlines, and I'm afraid that if I don't, or if I rush through them, I won't retain what I need to. I guess, though, that the fill-in outlines probably contain the most pertinent information for exam purposes. I'm not sure.

Any thoughts?

By the way, I hope everyone is hanging in there!

If you know it works well for you, I would stick with it. Speeding up the lectures helps with time if you aren't doing that already. Not reading the outlines is definitely saving time, however, I have noticed in PQs that there a few small issues the lectures didn't cover, which I assume the outline does.

[Nebby]

Question w/r/t Contract Practice Essay 1

[+] Spoiler

I just did the first essay for K's. Did anyone else feel like the Sample Answer was overkill? I wrote about the moral obligation plus subsequent promise (MOSP) to pay in two paragraphs, and then in one paragraph briefly addressed that, because there has been no performance on the part of Sam because he failed to gain admission to paramedic school, then there is no possible theory of recovery w/r/t that promise. So basically 1.5 issues

But the Sample Answer had 3 issues. Like, I thought it was painfully clear that the question was pointed at MOSP, and if I'm supposed to be writing these in a clear, concise manner as if I was preparing it for a client, then why the hell would I focus on other possible issues that have zero chance of success

[psm11]

Checking in... Prepping for CA.


What are everyone's thoughts on memorizing? Themis rep. told me I should be memorizing like 5-10 rules a day. I've made around 200 note cards and I am only two subjects in. Im afraid if I start memorizing now, it might not stick come end of July. Any suggestions?

[Easy-E]

Man, I do not feel ready to take the contracts practice essay yet.

Also, maybe we should use spoiler tags if we're discussing the contents of an upcoming/recent practice exam

[Nebby]

Man, I do not feel ready to take the contracts practice essay yet.

Also, maybe we should use spoiler tags if we're discussing the contents of an upcoming/recent practice exam

Good idea. My bad

Also, you got this bro. Don't think of these as 2000 word essays like a law school exam. Think of them more like long short answers. I think the average answer to an essay is going to be between 3 to 6 paragraphs at most

[Easy-E]

Man, I do not feel ready to take the contracts practice essay yet.

Also, maybe we should use spoiler tags if we're discussing the contents of an upcoming/recent practice exam

Good idea. My bad

All good, I veered away in time.

If you watch the torts guy at normal speed, it seems impossible for someone to actually speak that slow.

[Easy-E]

Torts guy is seriously pissing me off. Just read the fucking handout.

[Fivedham]

Torts guy is seriously pissing me off. Just read the fucking handout.

It's really bad, it's to the point where it seems like someone at Themis screwed up. The subsection or bailors and bailees was essentially not covered at all in the handout, and he went on and talked about the rules for a few minutes. Torts looks like it's gonna be an outline review topic instead of a handout review one.

Also, I wish there was a 1.7 speed for him. 1.5 speed for Torts guy is like normal speed. 2.0 speed is still slightly fast.