BarBri Bar Review Hangout - July 2015 Exam Forum

[3|ink]

But even in some cases, if I read the question closely, I would not have been able to answer it correctly since Barbri did not cover the area tested.

It is literally the fucking worst thing when you've taken time to memorize the lecture handout only to find you have wasted your time.

[Good Guy Gaud]

But even in some cases, if I read the question closely, I would not have been able to answer it correctly since Barbri did not cover the area tested.

It is literally the fucking worst thing when you've taken time to memorize the lecture handout only to find you have wasted your time.

yea it's bad

[victortsoi]

i think I'm going to just go with re-reading the cmr's instead of the lecture handouts.

[BVest]

Sorry for the doublequestion then; didn't notice it yesterday since I'm so far behind on my PSP. Thanks.

Not at all. I'm glad you asked. When I previously tried to answer for myself I only looked at the notes/outlines, but did not look to the statute. Your re-asking got me to look deeper.

[charlesxavier]

i think I'm going to just go with re-reading the cmr's instead of the lecture handouts.

My plan has been to memorize off of a condensed version of the lecture handout but also read through the CMR to make sure there aren't any total surprises.

[Ludacrispat26]

I bought real prior MBE questions from NCBE (http://store.ncbex.org/mbe/) and got 80% on a set of 100. I've been scoring consistently in the 60-80% range.

I'm sick of the MPQ's at this point. not only are they overly difficult, but they aren't even totally right all the time (as in, sometimes they're totally vague and unclear and the correct answer is a judgment call).

I think it's better to read the outlines and do real problems. MPQ's are just getting annoying.

[charlesxavier]

I bought real prior MBE questions from NCBE (http://store.ncbex.org/mbe/) and got 80% on a set of 100. I've been scoring consistently in the 60-80% range.

I'm sick of the MPQ's at this point. not only are they overly difficult, but they aren't even totally right all the time (as in, sometimes they're totally vague and unclear and the correct answer is a judgment call).

I think it's better to read the outlines and do real problems. MPQ's are just getting annoying.

From here on out I'm likely going to just do 4 sets of 50 from the 200 Question MBE in Emanuel. Ohio's only a 1/3 MBE state so I'm afraid to waste more time on the MBE. Especially with barbri's questions. Our bar counselor just emailed us and said "You could score in the top 25% on the MBE and still fail." Time to get crackin' on these essays.

[Ludacrispat26]

I bought real prior MBE questions from NCBE (http://store.ncbex.org/mbe/) and got 80% on a set of 100. I've been scoring consistently in the 60-80% range.

I'm sick of the MPQ's at this point. not only are they overly difficult, but they aren't even totally right all the time (as in, sometimes they're totally vague and unclear and the correct answer is a judgment call).

I think it's better to read the outlines and do real problems. MPQ's are just getting annoying.

From here on out I'm likely going to just do 4 sets of 50 from the 200 Question MBE in Emanuel. Ohio's only a 1/3 MBE state so I'm afraid to waste more time on the MBE. Especially with barbri's questions. Our bar counselor just emailed us and said "You could score in the top 25% on the MBE and still fail." Time to get crackin' on these essays.

Operative word is "could"

[musicfor18]

Can any NY folks make me feel better about the essays? On almost every essay Barbri has assigned, there are issues involving rules I didn't even know existed because they weren't covered in the lectures. I scored in the 97th percentile on the Simulated MBE, but I'm still afraid of failing because of the written portion!

[kyle010723]

Can any NY folks make me feel better about the essays? On almost every essay Barbri has assigned, there are issues involving rules I didn't even know existed because they weren't covered in the lectures. I scored in the 97th percentile on the Simulated MBE, but I'm still afraid of failing because of the written portion!

I probably would not be too worried if you are scoring in the 97th percentile on the MBE... unless you just turn in blank sheets, you will probably do fine in any state.

[3|ink]

Hooray! Trimmed my wills outline from 19 to 11 pages

[musicfor18]

Can any NY folks make me feel better about the essays? On almost every essay Barbri has assigned, there are issues involving rules I didn't even know existed because they weren't covered in the lectures. I scored in the 97th percentile on the Simulated MBE, but I'm still afraid of failing because of the written portion!

I probably would not be too worried if you are scoring in the 97th percentile on the MBE... unless you just turn in blank sheets, you will probably do fine in any state.

Thanks, although I did terribly on Torts MPQ Sets 5 and 6 (50% and 56% correct), so now I wonder if my Simulated MBE performance was a fluke.

[kyle010723]

Can any NY folks make me feel better about the essays? On almost every essay Barbri has assigned, there are issues involving rules I didn't even know existed because they weren't covered in the lectures. I scored in the 97th percentile on the Simulated MBE, but I'm still afraid of failing because of the written portion!

I probably would not be too worried if you are scoring in the 97th percentile on the MBE... unless you just turn in blank sheets, you will probably do fine in any state.

Thanks, although I did terribly on Torts MPQ Sets 5 and 6 (50% and 56% correct), so now I wonder if my Simulated MBE performance was a fluke.

Everyone did bad on MPQ 5 and 6. I think mix sets are more accurate in gauging on how you will perform. So long as you are doing fine on mix sets, you will likely do ok on the MBE. I don't know anything about NY Essay, but MPT and MBE should carry you through assuming you score high enough, and 92 percentile is certainly high enough...

[Andrews989]

Why are the MPQ sets 5 and 6 so difficult?

[3|ink]

Why are the MPQ sets 5 and 6 so difficult?

To keep you motivated to study these next few weeks if you did well on your simulated exam.

[charlesxavier]

Weird Question: Has anybody been told what a bad essay looks like?

Barbri really seems to push the formulaic CRAC approach. However, when I answer a question or read the provided answer I wonder what someone who failed wrote. In our essay workshop the only bad essay they showed wrote about issues that were not important or non-existent.

[rickgrimes69]

Honestly, I'm about ready to say fuck Barbri and their stupid goddamn MPQ questions. Some of their reasoning is honestly beyond the pale.

It's not foreseeable that an alcohol based product which states "do not use near high heat or open flame" could be flammable? A security guard at a hospital which treats dangerous and insane patients didn't know he had a duty to lock the fucking door? They've jumped the goddamn shark.

[mr.hands]

Weird Question: Has anybody been told what a bad essay looks like?

Barbri really seems to push the formulaic CRAC approach. However, when I answer a question or read the provided answer I wonder what someone who failed wrote. In our essay workshop the only bad essay they showed wrote about issues that were not important or non-existent.

I've got the same question. How bad is failing?

[diowad]

Weird Question: Has anybody been told what a bad essay looks like?

Barbri really seems to push the formulaic CRAC approach. However, when I answer a question or read the provided answer I wonder what someone who failed wrote. In our essay workshop the only bad essay they showed wrote about issues that were not important or non-existent.

I too would like to know this, but I suspect it's hard to find

[ArmyOfficer]

Weird Question: Has anybody been told what a bad essay looks like?

Barbri really seems to push the formulaic CRAC approach. However, when I answer a question or read the provided answer I wonder what someone who failed wrote. In our essay workshop the only bad essay they showed wrote about issues that were not important or non-existent.

They seem to push CRAC too hard. We had a state essay prompt that asked what law and principles a decision would be made on. I answered it by explaining the law and principles, but didn't do analysis since that wasn't responsive to the question. Then they told me I didn't do CRAC.

[phillyboy101]

So here's something I've been thinking about. Is a dismissal based on the statute of limitations a ruling on the merits? The Freer handout in the preclusion section says that a car ends in a valid final judgment on the merits unless it was based on jurisdiction, venue, or indispensable parties -- so based on that I would say it is on the merits. But then question 158 on the simulated MBE (a con law FFC question) says that a dismissal based on the statute of limitations running is not a dismissal on the merits. I feel like I'm missing something but I'm not totally sure what.

[Andrews989]

Honestly, I'm about ready to say fuck Barbri and their stupid goddamn MPQ questions. Some of their reasoning is honestly beyond the pale.

It's not foreseeable that an alcohol based product which states "do not use near high heat or open flame" could be flammable? A security guard at a hospital which treats dangerous and insane patients didn't know he had a duty to lock the fucking door? They've jumped the goddamn shark.

I agree. But, what are you going to do instead? I don't want to not be doing any MBE questions the next two weeks...

[musicfor18]

Honestly, I'm about ready to say fuck Barbri and their stupid goddamn MPQ questions. Some of their reasoning is honestly beyond the pale.

It's not foreseeable that an alcohol based product which states "do not use near high heat or open flame" could be flammable? A security guard at a hospital which treats dangerous and insane patients didn't know he had a duty to lock the fucking door? They've jumped the goddamn shark.

Yes, I remember these two questions, and thought the answers were ridiculous. Also, apparently if you're employed and told to read an employee manual, but you fail to do so, you can't be negligent for that unless your employer told you "it's really important you read it."

[musicfor18]

So here's something I've been thinking about. Is a dismissal based on the statute of limitations a ruling on the merits? The Freer handout in the preclusion section says that a car ends in a valid final judgment on the merits unless it was based on jurisdiction, venue, or indispensable parties -- so based on that I would say it is on the merits. But then question 158 on the simulated MBE (a con law FFC question) says that a dismissal based on the statute of limitations running is not a dismissal on the merits. I feel like I'm missing something but I'm not totally sure what.

I think the definition of "on the merits" varies a bit depending on context.

[rickgrimes69]

Honestly, I'm about ready to say fuck Barbri and their stupid goddamn MPQ questions. Some of their reasoning is honestly beyond the pale.

It's not foreseeable that an alcohol based product which states "do not use near high heat or open flame" could be flammable? A security guard at a hospital which treats dangerous and insane patients didn't know he had a duty to lock the fucking door? They've jumped the goddamn shark.

I agree. But, what are you going to do instead? I don't want to not be doing any MBE questions the next two weeks...

I don't know, but I do know that these questions aren't helping me do anything but second-guess myself. Maybe I'll finally pick up Emanuel's.