johngotti wrote:not guilty wrote:mystikal wrote:I was one of the fortunate individuals who passed the Part A portion. I passed July 2018 Part B section, and opted to only focus all my attention to the Florida portion. With that said, I busted my *** and worked to get a passing score (dont know what the score is yet, should be in the mail). But It can be done. I was working FT, and had to deal with a family and two kids.
If you are taking the MBE- Critial Pass, Adapti bar, and Kaplan worked for me.
If you are taking the Florida portion-Read all of the Examiners "published" essays on the site. Then take multiple practice exams coupled with the Multiple choice practice questions from one of the prep companies. (I used Barbris book) Although the questions are NOT the same, or even remotely similar, practicing helps. Specifically for the "Big" subjects, know the FL distinctions...
If anyone needs any of the above, I will be posting them FS in the forum...
I think one of the issues with FL Part A is that the bar companies do not anticipate certain subtopics/issues at all or don't anticipate exactly how they will be touched on. For example, a dependency/family issue with primary focus on adoption. It is fair to blame the student for not being fully prepared, but many students are mislead via the "just know the basics it is just a minimum competency exam" mantra.
Did any bar prep companies take dependency seriously until after July 2017? I did okay on that question you referenced from July 2018 but it was the essay with the lowest mean, Barbri specifically said "if you get a family law question be happy because it's all factor based." With the increase in part A topics/nuances there's less time to focus on old reliable topics like FL Con Law.
I had a free course with Barbri, the lecture for Family, Dependency, Juvenile delinquent was great. Very informative...but my suggestion...Im not pro...but if you are taking Part A Florida only. Take an entire week;
1) download all the Free essays that are PDF from the FL Bars Site
2) Place them in a folder by the year
3) Get some paper/legal pad for each essay subject; Tort, K, Trust, Property, etc
4) Write down each subject on an independent paper/legal pad
5) start with the first subject and READ, ReREAD, each and every single essay the bar published online
6) Identify each nuance, testable area
6a) Example; Torts- Negligence, Negligence per se, Strict liability, products liability etc
7) write down all the elements to the testable area, highlight bold underline FLORIDA distinctions....memorize these....

Spot the similarities
9) Study those similarities along with the elements of the testable areas...ALL every single AREA! Torts, K, Property, Trust, Family Law ETC.
10) Make an outline and memorize each subject every single day
11) Practice these essays every single day
Even if you are not comfortable, or even ready to write...Shut up, sit down and try these essays. You really need to be comfortable with time, and issue spotting every single issue EVEN with the Florida distinctions.
On Test day, once you open your essay and you are aware of the subject being tested, be sure to regurgitate the FLORIDA DISTINCTION on your scratch paper. For instance; Torts abolished j&s liability, follows pure comparative, etc...
Multiple choice, get a book from the big companies with their multiple choice questions, new/used does not matter...practice each question...
You can also get one of the books from the major companies with the conversion of the Florida distinctions with Civil/criminal procedure,Evidence, Wills/trust, Business orgs....these are really concise but can be helpful.