Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2014 Exam Forum

[kapital98]

isn't 73/68 good?

Maybe? It seems good compared to the national average on Themis, I guess, but not enough for me to feel like I couldn't still screw up on the real thing.

Keep those scores and you should pass easily on the real thing. WTG!

[84Sunbird2000]

isn't 73/68 good?

Maybe? It seems good compared to the national average on Themis, I guess, but not enough for me to feel like I couldn't still screw up on the real thing.

Keep those scores and you should pass easily on the real thing. WTG!

The only reason I think that is that the real MBE is out of 190. So 141 is basically a 134/190. Assuming about 10-11 points for the scaled score curve, that's a 144-145 scaled score. That's good, but in PA, the highest MBE scaled score to fail was a 151 in February. So... you are probably right, but if there is any time to be risk averse, it's the bar exam !

[Prime]

I'm trying to consistently get my number up into the 65-70% range with mixed results. Blarg.

[Kiwi917]

Does anyone know how long the MBE analysis videos are?

[yips]

Does anyone know how long the MBE analysis videos are?

They're the same as the other vids -- 20 minutes or so each.
There's one for each subject, except for contracts, which looks like it has 5 parts!

[jigglypuffdreams]

Okay, the contract MBE analysis video has horrendous audio quality. Even on full volume, no headphones, etc., the buzzing is louder than the actual lecture itself. Themis really ought to just re-record that one because that quality is pretty inexcusable.

[Kiwi917]

Does anyone know how long the MBE analysis videos are?

They're the same as the other vids -- 20 minutes or so each.
There's one for each subject, except for contracts, which looks like it has 5 parts!

Thanks!

[bport hopeful]

When you guys did the Graded PT, did you print it out?

[bobanderson]

When you guys did the Graded PT, did you print it out?

It's already printed in the book, so I just used that. Where would you even print it from? Is it available on the themis website?

[hous]

My grader finally gave me my last essay grade and she misread something huge that I took a big hit on. I said the trust was not amended to add the wife as a beneficiary and she interpreted it as the trust was not amended period. 3/4 of my advise was to read the essay fact pattern carefully, ironic.

Then she stopped giving me points all together on the other half of the essay even though I atleast hit up every issue. LOL. Maybe it's because I turned it in late.

[texas4ever]

If I were to improve one thing about this course, I would not require the students to write the first two-three essays on a topic without notes, immediately after watching hours of videos and reading an excessively detailed outline. It finally occurred to me last night how completely ridiculous that this - it's like asking someone to listen to the Beethoven violin concerto for 10 hours, and then try to play it from memory: nobody learns that way (or at least I don't). I wish they had a non-timed option on the first couple essays for each topic, maybe cut out some of the B.S. in the videos, and then gave us more essay writing practice in place of those videos...

[bobanderson]

If I were to improve one thing about this course, I would not require the students to write the first two-three essays on a topic without notes, immediately after watching hours of videos and reading an excessively detailed outline. It finally occurred to me last night how completely ridiculous that this - it's like asking someone to listen to the Beethoven violin concerto for 10 hours, and then try to play it from memory: nobody learns that way (or at least I don't). I wish they had a non-timed option on the first couple essays for each topic, maybe cut out some of the B.S. in the videos, and then gave us more essay writing practice in place of those videos...

I just used my notes for the first few essays, so I could get a handle on how to structure them even though I hadn't memorized the law yet. I'm guessing a lot of people did this, so the average essay grades are probably a bit artificially inflated.

[bport hopeful]

When you guys did the Graded PT, did you print it out?

It's already printed in the book, so I just used that. Where would you even print it from? Is it available on the themis website?

I havnt opened yet. But it seems like itd be difficult to do with just online stuff. I literally havent used the books, but I guess I will for this.

[TooManyLoans]

Does anyone know how long the MBE analysis videos are?

They're the same as the other vids -- 20 minutes or so each.
There's one for each subject, except for contracts, which looks like it has 5 parts!

All of the subjects have 4-5 parts

[yips]

Does anyone know how long the MBE analysis videos are?

They're the same as the other vids -- 20 minutes or so each.
There's one for each subject, except for contracts, which looks like it has 5 parts!

All of the subjects have 4-5 parts

Huh. In my list of available lectures, only contracts shows up that way. Good to know.

[kapital98]

My grader finally gave me my last essay grade and she misread something huge that I took a big hit on. I said the trust was not amended to add the wife as a beneficiary and she interpreted it as the trust was not amended period. 3/4 of my advise was to read the essay fact pattern carefully, ironic.

Then she stopped giving me points all together on the other half of the essay even though I atleast hit up every issue. LOL. Maybe it's because I turned it in late.

The sad thing is that the exact same thing could happen with the real test. Essay grading is probably quite arbitrary. There is no way to know what you did wrong on individual essays. You just have to trust the graders to do their job.

[iLoveFruits&Veggies]

Does anyone know how long the MBE analysis videos are?

They're the same as the other vids -- 20 minutes or so each.
There's one for each subject, except for contracts, which looks like it has 5 parts!

All of the subjects have 4-5 parts

For those who are watching the MBE analysis videos, do they seem helpful? Debating if I should do the Themis practice MBE test or Adaptibar's. I don't think I have the time or energy to do both. I know Adaptibar's are all real MBE questions. Hoping that for the milestone, the Themis ones are too. I'm really trying to focus on the essays at this point... kinda over videos unless they're super helpful. Looking back, if there's one thing I would have changed about my study plan, it would have been to stop watching videos a lot sooner than I did.

[bobanderson]

Does anyone know how long the MBE analysis videos are?

They're the same as the other vids -- 20 minutes or so each.
There's one for each subject, except for contracts, which looks like it has 5 parts!

All of the subjects have 4-5 parts

For those who are watching the MBE analysis videos, do they seem helpful? Debating if I should do the Themis practice MBE test or Adaptibar's. I don't think I have the time or energy to do both. I know Adaptibar's are all real MBE questions. Hoping that for the milestone, the Themis ones are too. I'm really trying to focus on the essays at this point... kinda over videos unless they're super helpful. Looking back, if there's one thing I would have changed about my study plan, it would have been to stop watching videos a lot sooner than I did.

I think the videos are useful if only to draw your attention back to questions you got right, but were confused about or were guessing on. Usually I just go back and look at the answers I got wrong, but with the videos I was forced to look at questions I got right only to realize I still was unsure about the law and needed to review it.

[Apple Tree]

anyone else taking CA bar felt overwhelmed right now? I've been studying for the essays. I usually outline my answers and compare mine to the model answers. On the easier ones I'm okay, but on some of them I'm lucky if I get 50% of the issues pointed out in the model answers, and every now and then I don't even know the rules to the issue/what it's testing about. I feel really beat down. I wish Themis would show me what a passing essay looks like, not a model essay.

[jigglypuffdreams]

I read through the answers and analysis of questions already so watching the videos just seems like overkill. It seems like he's just reading out loud the explanations of what the right answer is, although I guess he talks about the thought process a bit more than usual. But I feel like you pick up on tricks from doing practice questions and reading the answer to yourself and figuring out where you specifically went wrong. Overanalyzing 200 questions isn't going to help me more than doing more questions. I gave up after con law and started memorizing essay things instead.

[puttycake]

anyone else taking CA bar felt overwhelmed right now? I've been studying for the essays. I usually outline my answers and compare mine to the model answers. On the easier ones I'm okay, but on some of them I'm lucky if I get 50% of the issues pointed out in the model answers, and every now and then I don't even know the rules to the issue/what it's testing about. I feel really beat down. I wish Themis would show me what a passing essay looks like, not a model essay.

Yeah, I'm feeling terrible about everything today.

BarEssays will show passing essays. I wish I could just send you examples but it's against the terms of the agreement.

But they really are not amazing, incredible things required to pass. I promise. I mean, they are coherent, but they don't get all of the law right or all of the arguments and don't catch everything.

[mmmnnn]

I'm somewhat confused about two different answer explanations regarding prior inconsistent statements, but I may have figured it out. Are the following statements correct?

A witness’s prior inconsistent statement is always admissible to impeach the witness. Such a statement is also admissible substantively as non-hearsay if the statement was made under oath. If the evidence is admitted substantively, the witness must be given the chance to explain or deny the inconsistent statement, but the opportunity to explain or deny need not take place before the statement is admitted into evidence. Under Rule 806, however, the hearsay declarant whose statement has been admitted into evidence for impeachment purposes need not be given the opportunity to explain or deny any prior inconsistent statements or conduct.

[Tanicius]

Holy crap, where did my entire day go? Two MPTs and six essays. Hell of a simulation.

[Kiwi917]

anyone else taking CA bar felt overwhelmed right now? I've been studying for the essays. I usually outline my answers and compare mine to the model answers. On the easier ones I'm okay, but on some of them I'm lucky if I get 50% of the issues pointed out in the model answers, and every now and then I don't even know the rules to the issue/what it's testing about. I feel really beat down. I wish Themis would show me what a passing essay looks like, not a model essay.

Yeah, I'm feeling terrible about everything today.

BarEssays will show passing essays. I wish I could just send you examples but it's against the terms of the agreement.

But they really are not amazing, incredible things required to pass. I promise. I mean, they are coherent, but they don't get all of the law right or all of the arguments and don't catch everything.

Same here. I have heard from people who took CA that it often starts to click in the last two weeks, or even the last week, but it's hard not to panic when I feel like I am at that point where it *should* be falling into place.

Today I went out and bought hundreds of flash cards, mostly to make myself get out of the house and feel better, but also in hopes that writing out some of the rules by hand will help me remember them. I'm definitely still at the point where I often won't know what is going on with a particular essay. Or I'll know just enough to spot the issues but panic because I have no idea what the rule is.

I'll second that baressays can be good for boosting confidence in comparison to the model answers, about 95% of the time. Then there are those handful of failing essays that seemed to hit most of the points and weren't that bad in terms of rules or analysis. Those can be a little depressing, but on average, the baressays stuff is reassuring.

[Lilly76]

I'm feeling overwhelmed tackling the non-MBE essay topics. There's so much information, and I don't know what I should sacrifice in the hopes that it's not going to be tested.