NY July 2015 Support Group Forum

[AReasonableMan]

I'd be more interested in a statistic on the pass rates from schools who had all 7 MBE topics as required classes, and those that did not. I'm sure language factors into the foreign exam test taker statistic, but you also have to bare in mind that learning all these topics for the first time is very difficult, and could overwhelm even the smartest law grads. You get a lot more leeway slacking if bar studying is more of a review than a learning process.

[ionoiforgot]

I'd be more interested in a statistic on the pass rates from schools who had all 7 MBE topics as required classes, and those that did not. I'm sure language factors into the foreign exam test taker statistic, but you also have to bare in mind that learning all these topics for the first time is very difficult, and could overwhelm even the smartest law grads. You get a lot more leeway slacking if bar studying is more of a review than a learning process.

I'm on board with this.
When the Kaplan bar prep video mentioned that some people had NOT taken torts in law school...I was very confused. Why would a law school not have that class...and why would a student attend a law school without that class? I guess this is the part where someone form a well respected law school chimes in that they did not have to take torts...

[comet_halley]

I think California is going to be a bloodbath. Could drop to under 45% overall, under 55% for first timers.

Probably. But, the stats are tricky. The pass rate for 1st time takers from decent schools still doesn't look that bad. In Arizona the overall pass rate looked like it took an awful nosedive but Arizona and ASU were around 83% and Arizona Summit was 30%. It dragged the overall pass rate to 65%. NY was 79% for 1st time ABA school grads. It's the low tier and/or unaccredited schools that are dragging down rates.

It is totally understandable.If you see the bell-shape distribution of normal distribution. For decent school, the average score is far on the right side of passing score, so a few points decrease would only cut a bit tail off. But for TTT, the average score is on the peak of the passing score. A few points decrease would mean cutting a bunch of the students.

It will be more obvious for CA. For decent schools, the passing rate won't change much. But for TTTs, this time would be bloodshed.

[gchatbrah]

First and foremost, the CLE emails conspiracy theory was proved wrong early this morning at about 12:00 a.m. as I received zero CLE emails and passed the NYS Bar! 147 on the MBE, didn't finish the MPT, and felt okay on the essays! Guess my essays kicked ass! Thank you guys for making this wait a little more comforting along the way! Good luck to all who have yet to open their email or are waiting in other jurisdictions. And good luck to those who will be taking this exam again.

+1 to this. Please make sure this gets into the 2016 threads -- out of state applicant, passed the exam, received ZERO CLE emails and ZERO CLE snail mails. Absolutely zero.

[bmonroe]

Passed with a 131 MBE. Not sure how but thank goodness I did ! I spent majority of the time on my essays. I made sure I completed all 50 state MC and completed b.s. the MPT thanks to that lovely admin law essay.

[cowgirl_bebop]

First and foremost, the CLE emails conspiracy theory was proved wrong early this morning at about 12:00 a.m. as I received zero CLE emails and passed the NYS Bar! 147 on the MBE, didn't finish the MPT, and felt okay on the essays! Guess my essays kicked ass! Thank you guys for making this wait a little more comforting along the way! Good luck to all who have yet to open their email or are waiting in other jurisdictions. And good luck to those who will be taking this exam again.

+1 to this. Please make sure this gets into the 2016 threads -- out of state applicant, passed the exam, received ZERO CLE emails and ZERO CLE snail mails. Absolutely zero.

Wait, I'm lost. I am admittedly not hip to the latest TLS trends, but what theory was this?

[fabiesq]

Passed & over the moon!!

PS I failed one time before - If anyone (especially foreign educated) wants to drop me a line, I'll gladly share my outlines / notes with anyone interested.
Keep the faith & congrats to everyone celebrating!!

I would love that. I just failed by 2 points. Def going to take it again next Feb. And yeah, LLM student

same, LLM student, i got 619, would love your notes as well please

Same, why not.

I would like that too I am so upset
i guess I have to start study tomorrow

[jl1004]

Failed...

MBE: 132.4

Essay 1: 34.71
Essay 2: 57.71
Essay 3: 52.69
Essay 4: 43.76
Essay 5: 50.66
MPT: 39.05

Final score: 650

I don't understand how I got such low MPT score. This is my third time taking NY. My first exam (July 2014), i bombed the exam but still got 54 on MPT, and I got 57 on Feb 2015 exam. I don't know how I got 39.05 this year when I spent full 90 minutes. My MBE obviously is the weak point and I should've done better (I got 145 on Barbri mock exam, I guess I suck at taking the actual test), but if I got 54 on the MPT, I would've gotten 665. I am definitely going to request my essays to see wtf I did wrong. Ugh.. this is so demoralizing.. Might just give up being a lawyer seeing how stupid I am.

[nyfailedjuly2015]

Failed...

MBE: 132.4

Essay 1: 34.71
Essay 2: 57.71
Essay 3: 52.69
Essay 4: 43.76
Essay 5: 50.66
MPT: 39.05

Final score: 650

I don't understand how I got such low MPT score. This is my third time taking NY. My first exam (July 2014), i bombed the exam but still got 54 on MPT, and I got 57 on Feb 2015 exam. I don't know how I got 39.05 this year when I spent full 90 minutes. My MBE obviously is the weak point and I should've done better (I got 145 on Barbri mock exam, I guess I suck at taking the actual test), but if I got 54 on the MPT, I would've gotten 665. I am definitely going to request my essays to see wtf I did wrong. Ugh.. this is so demoralizing.. Might just give up being a lawyer seeing how stupid I am.

57 MPT to 39 MPT just four months later? I don't buy it. Did you take any other bar exams? I want to see if people get very different essay scores on NY vs. NJ or NY vs. another state.

[starryski]

Failed...

MBE: 132.4

Essay 1: 34.71
Essay 2: 57.71
Essay 3: 52.69
Essay 4: 43.76
Essay 5: 50.66
MPT: 39.05

Final score: 650

I don't understand how I got such low MPT score. This is my third time taking NY. My first exam (July 2014), i bombed the exam but still got 54 on MPT, and I got 57 on Feb 2015 exam. I don't know how I got 39.05 this year when I spent full 90 minutes. My MBE obviously is the weak point and I should've done better (I got 145 on Barbri mock exam, I guess I suck at taking the actual test), but if I got 54 on the MPT, I would've gotten 665. I am definitely going to request my essays to see wtf I did wrong. Ugh.. this is so demoralizing.. Might just give up being a lawyer seeing how stupid I am.

what were your final scores on the other two administrations?

[jl1004]

Failed...

MBE: 132.4

Essay 1: 34.71
Essay 2: 57.71
Essay 3: 52.69
Essay 4: 43.76
Essay 5: 50.66
MPT: 39.05

Final score: 650

I don't understand how I got such low MPT score. This is my third time taking NY. My first exam (July 2014), i bombed the exam but still got 54 on MPT, and I got 57 on Feb 2015 exam. I don't know how I got 39.05 this year when I spent full 90 minutes. My MBE obviously is the weak point and I should've done better (I got 145 on Barbri mock exam, I guess I suck at taking the actual test), but if I got 54 on the MPT, I would've gotten 665. I am definitely going to request my essays to see wtf I did wrong. Ugh.. this is so demoralizing.. Might just give up being a lawyer seeing how stupid I am.

57 MPT to 39 MPT just four months later? I don't buy it. Did you take any other bar exams? I want to see if people get very different essay scores on NY vs. NJ or NY vs. another state.

I took NJ on July 2014, and Feb 2015. For July 2014, I was NOT prepared. I understudied and undermined the exam entirely. Studied harder for Feb but still fell short. NJ essay graders are harsher than NY (or at least for me. they gave me 1/7 on two essays for both exams. I don't understand how they grade the essays). For comparison, my writing average in Feb 2015 was 48.37

I don't know too many people who took both NY and NJ (most of my friends from law school took only NY), but for me, I scored VASTLY less on NJ essays. I decided to focus only on NY for July 2015 and did not take NJ.

I barely studied for MPT, maybe like a day for every single exam. I only looked at some of the formats examinees should try to emulate, but not much practice. Maybe 1 sample MPT. I just don' t know how I dropped from 57 to 39 when I wasn't even that rushed to finish.

[jl1004]

Failed...

MBE: 132.4

Essay 1: 34.71
Essay 2: 57.71
Essay 3: 52.69
Essay 4: 43.76
Essay 5: 50.66
MPT: 39.05

Final score: 650

I don't understand how I got such low MPT score. This is my third time taking NY. My first exam (July 2014), i bombed the exam but still got 54 on MPT, and I got 57 on Feb 2015 exam. I don't know how I got 39.05 this year when I spent full 90 minutes. My MBE obviously is the weak point and I should've done better (I got 145 on Barbri mock exam, I guess I suck at taking the actual test), but if I got 54 on the MPT, I would've gotten 665. I am definitely going to request my essays to see wtf I did wrong. Ugh.. this is so demoralizing.. Might just give up being a lawyer seeing how stupid I am.

what were your final scores on the other two administrations?

596 for July 2014 (i was clearly unprepared), and 645 for Feb 2015.

[jen29031991]

This was my 3rd attempt at the NY bar as a foreign educated candidate and I passed . I was really close the on my first and second attempt, I'm just really shit at the multiple choice but just wanted to say how helpful smartbarprep were for the essays. I scored a 130 mbe this time which is the best I have had so far and my essays carried me through. I ONLY used smartbarprep for the essays and it worked wonders!

[fabiesq]

Failed...

MBE: 132.4

Essay 1: 34.71
Essay 2: 57.71
Essay 3: 52.69
Essay 4: 43.76
Essay 5: 50.66
MPT: 39.05

Final score: 650

I don't understand how I got such low MPT score. This is my third time taking NY. My first exam (July 2014), i bombed the exam but still got 54 on MPT, and I got 57 on Feb 2015 exam. I don't know how I got 39.05 this year when I spent full 90 minutes. My MBE obviously is the weak point and I should've done better (I got 145 on Barbri mock exam, I guess I suck at taking the actual test), but if I got 54 on the MPT, I would've gotten 665. I am definitely going to request my essays to see wtf I did wrong. Ugh.. this is so demoralizing.. Might just give up being a lawyer seeing how stupid I am.

Dont say that you are not stupid I am sure feb 2016 will be yours and hopefully mine

[fabiesq]

This was my 3rd attempt at the NY bar as a foreign educated candidate and I passed . I was really close the on my first and second attempt, I'm just really shit at the multiple choice but just wanted to say how helpful smartbarprep were for the essays. I scored a 130 mbe this time which is the best I have had so far and my essays carried me through. I ONLY used smartbarprep for the essays and it worked wonders!

Congratulations I will try smartbarprep because i really suck at the essays

[sledge]

Failed...

MBE: 132.4

Essay 1: 34.71
Essay 2: 57.71
Essay 3: 52.69
Essay 4: 43.76
Essay 5: 50.66
MPT: 39.05

Final score: 650

I don't understand how I got such low MPT score. This is my third time taking NY. My first exam (July 2014), i bombed the exam but still got 54 on MPT, and I got 57 on Feb 2015 exam. I don't know how I got 39.05 this year when I spent full 90 minutes. My MBE obviously is the weak point and I should've done better (I got 145 on Barbri mock exam, I guess I suck at taking the actual test), but if I got 54 on the MPT, I would've gotten 665. I am definitely going to request my essays to see wtf I did wrong. Ugh.. this is so demoralizing.. Might just give up being a lawyer seeing how stupid I am.

what were your final scores on the other two administrations?

596 for July 2014 (i was clearly unprepared), and 645 for Feb 2015.

Hang tough. You can do this.

[jen29031991]

This was my 3rd attempt at the NY bar as a foreign educated candidate and I passed . I was really close the on my first and second attempt, I'm just really shit at the multiple choice but just wanted to say how helpful smartbarprep were for the essays. I scored a 130 mbe this time which is the best I have had so far and my essays carried me through. I ONLY used smartbarprep for the essays and it worked wonders!

Congratulations I will try smartbarprep because i really suck at the essays

I cannot praise it enough for helping learn the rules they like to test on the essays. Good luck for next time, you will ace it!

[EvelynS]

This was my 3rd attempt at the NY bar as a foreign educated candidate and I passed . I was really close the on my first and second attempt, I'm just really shit at the multiple choice but just wanted to say how helpful smartbarprep were for the essays. I scored a 130 mbe this time which is the best I have had so far and my essays carried me through. I ONLY used smartbarprep for the essays and it worked wonders!

I want to second that. My MBE score was nothing spectacular, but I still passed the July bar exam. I don't think my MPT was amazing, so I assume that my essays carried the day. That is why I want to recommend SmartBarPrep to everyone who is taking/re-taking the bar exam in February. This outline is great for learning major topics/issues for the essay portion. After I discovered it, I studied only this outline to prep for the NY day. Read my Barbri short outlines only once and never picked them up again, just opted out for reading and memorizing the rules from SmartBarPrep outlines. It worked for me. Good luck to everyone who will be retaking the exam in February. I know you can do it!

[nyny]

Failed...

MBE: 132.4

Essay 1: 34.71
Essay 2: 57.71
Essay 3: 52.69
Essay 4: 43.76
Essay 5: 50.66
MPT: 39.05

Final score: 650

I don't understand how I got such low MPT score. This is my third time taking NY. My first exam (July 2014), i bombed the exam but still got 54 on MPT, and I got 57 on Feb 2015 exam. I don't know how I got 39.05 this year when I spent full 90 minutes. My MBE obviously is the weak point and I should've done better (I got 145 on Barbri mock exam, I guess I suck at taking the actual test), but if I got 54 on the MPT, I would've gotten 665. I am definitely going to request my essays to see wtf I did wrong. Ugh.. this is so demoralizing.. Might just give up being a lawyer seeing how stupid I am.

what were your final scores on the other two administrations?

596 for July 2014 (i was clearly unprepared), and 645 for Feb 2015.

Man you were so close, I know the feeling, this was also my third attempt in which I passed... My unsolicited advice to you is to log off and grieve a bit... Take the next month off entirely. Get back to your normal routine of things. When you are ready to get back to studying in about a month... sign up for adaptibar, one of the best investments I ever made. After a while adaptibar became an addictive phone game for me... I would take breaks at work to just answer MBE's on my phone. I ended up doing close 2500 MBEs.

I would not sign up for another course, I would go in with my same study materials... and use the bar prep model essay books... Write out few essays, but issue spot 3-4 per day... Use the side margins of the model essays to issue spot... If your bar prep did not provide you with Model answer essays, the NY BOLE website has tons... Get a feel on what actually the examiners are looking for with each question... because some of the questions asked are very vague...

Keep your chin up and go get em...

[Finallyesq]

This was my third attempt at the NY bar, and I passed!! I failed NY in February 2015 by ONE POINT with a 664 total, and a 136.4 MBE. I was so angry, and I think that's what did it for me this time-- I went in angry!!!

Please don't even consider giving up. You made it through law school, you can do this!! I truly believe the nature of the beast in this exam is time management. I struggled with that, but finally realized that the key is using what you know, and moving at the suggested pace. Also, conquer the fear. If you go in afraid, the test is in control. Keep your head up, and never give up

[starryski]

This was my third attempt at the NY bar, and I passed!! I failed NY in February 2015 by ONE POINT with a 664 total, and a 136.4 MBE. I was so angry, and I think that's what did it for me this time-- I went in angry!!!

Please don't even consider giving up. You made it through law school, you can do this!! I truly believe the nature of the beast in this exam is time management. I struggled with that, but finally realized that the key is using what you know, and moving at the suggested pace. Also, conquer the fear. If you go in afraid, the test is in control. Keep your head up, and never give up

What did you get the first time? Why do u think u gell short in feb? Any pointers will help.

[Finallyesq]

On my first try in July 2014 I scored a 648, and got a 130.1 Mbe. The first time, my biggest issue was timing. I didn't leave enough time for the third essay in the morning session, and scored somewhere in the 30 range on that essay. I also messed up the mpt because I didn't leave enough time. The mpt is the low hanging fruit. Take the full 90 minutes on it. Unfortunately I don't know what my mbe score was yet this time because I took it in NJ, but we'll see. I honestly think I may have passed ny based on the fact that I spent the appropriate amount of time on each essay, especially the mpt.

As far as February, I think the curve hurt me. Although I improved on the mbe, my essay scores we're only average. Unfortunately, because I'm average on both the mbe and essays, that landed me one point away, and I was heartbroken.

It's hard to give advice not knowing what my mbe score was this time around, but if I had to offer any, I'd say practice outlining your essays, and completing them in a strict 40 minutes. Also, read the sample essays over and over until you get a feel for what a good answer looks like. Of course, if you think you could conquer the mbe, place your focus on that, because there's no amount of discretion that could fail you if you do well enough on the mbe.

Good luck all! I promise you things will get better. Take some time to be sad, but then, snap out of it!!! This will pass, and no one will know the difference. And...as far as any smug people from law school are concerned, welcome them with a smile, your time will come!

[starryski]

On my first try in July 2014 I scored a 648, and got a 130.1 Mbe. The first time, my biggest issue was timing. I didn't leave enough time for the third essay in the morning session, and scored somewhere in the 30 range on that essay. I also messed up the mpt because I didn't leave enough time. The mpt is the low hanging fruit. Take the full 90 minutes on it. Unfortunately I don't know what my mbe score was yet this time because I took it in NJ, but we'll see. I honestly think I may have passed ny based on the fact that I spent the appropriate amount of time on each essay, especially the mpt.

As far as February, I think the curve hurt me. Although I improved on the mbe, my essay scores we're only average. Unfortunately, because I'm average on both the mbe and essays, that landed me one point away, and I was heartbroken.

It's hard to give advice not knowing what my mbe score was this time around, but if I had to offer any, I'd say practice outlining your essays, and completing them in a strict 40 minutes. Also, read the sample essays over and over until you get a feel for what a good answer looks like. Of course, if you think you could conquer the mbe, place your focus on that, because there's no amount of discretion that could fail you if you do well enough on the mbe.

Good luck all! I promise you things will get better. Take some time to be sad, but then, snap out of it!!! This will pass, and no one will know the difference. And...as far as any smug people from law school are concerned, welcome them with a smile, your time will come!

thank you so much. my problem was the MBE. i got a 124.5. (with my essay scores i could have passed with a 127 scaled) but the scale in feb scares me. according to separac my july scores wouldnt even be close to passing in feb 2015. i dont know how to overcome that.

[NY_Sea]

thank you so much. my problem was the MBE. i got a 124.5. (with my essay scores i could have passed with a 127 scaled) but the scale in feb scares me. according to separac my july scores wouldnt even be close to passing in feb 2015. i dont know how to overcome that.

This. I wouldn't have been close this past Feb with my scores and got a 654 this time. In my head, I know if I put more time in to the MBE that I can do this, but the scale in Feb is making me concerned.

[iwantmybar]

thank you so much. my problem was the MBE. i got a 124.5. (with my essay scores i could have passed with a 127 scaled) but the scale in feb scares me. according to separac my july scores wouldnt even be close to passing in feb 2015. i dont know how to overcome that.

This. I wouldn't have been close this past Feb with my scores and got a 654 this time. In my head, I know if I put more time in to the MBE that I can do this, but the scale in Feb is making me concerned.

Well, yesterday i said fuck it and I left my legal internship until february.

I'm going to kill it, i dont want to know that failure again.