February 2015 Bar Exam Forum

[nickbiop]

I found a free video lecture and outline for Fed civ pro at marinolegal.com - its in their store section, but it costs $0.00 - I'm gonna check it out and see how it is

[underthirty]

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[a male human]

I've been using Kaplan and Barbri MBE questions. IIRC, these two companies create their own MBE questions. Is it worth paying for MBE exams on the NCBE website? I'd hate to sink even more money into this endeavor, but I'm not sure how reliable the Kaplan and Barbri results are.

What about Emanuel's Strats and Tactics?

[underthirty]

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[reasonable troll]

What about Emanuel's Strats and Tactics?

fwiw, i picked this up and am planning on transitioning over to it once i finish the 6 barbri sets for each subject. figure it makes sense to be looking at the most realistic questions possible in the lead up to the test.

5th edition was 70 bucks on amazon, which seemed like a good compromise over adaptibar at $400. the book has 550 questions, and i dont see myself getting through any more than that in the next 19 days.

[sparty99]

I've been using Kaplan and Barbri MBE questions. IIRC, these two companies create their own MBE questions. Is it worth paying for MBE exams on the NCBE website? I'd hate to sink even more money into this endeavor, but I'm not sure how reliable the Kaplan and Barbri results are.

No. Get the Emanuel and Strat book. It is on Amazon. I got mine for a highly discounted price and it was basically as new as no highlighting or anything.

There are 500 some questions and you probably won't even do half because the answer explanations are very detailed that it takes a while to go through the questions.....

[numbertwo88]

Just registered ExamSoft & did the "mock exam" - it's getting real.

I've been using Kaplan and Barbri MBE questions. IIRC, these two companies create their own MBE questions. Is it worth paying for MBE exams on the NCBE website? I'd hate to sink even more money into this endeavor, but I'm not sure how reliable the Kaplan and Barbri results are.

No. Get the Emanuel and Strat book. It is on Amazon. I got mine for a highly discounted price and it was basically as new as no highlighting or anything.

There are 500 some questions and you probably won't even do half because the answer explanations are very detailed that it takes a while to go through the questions.....

How do you like Emanuel's book? I've read the strategies & tactics sections for each chapter but I haven't done many questions yet but I figure I will starting next week so I can do some single subject chunks in my weaker areas.

[sparty99]

Just registered ExamSoft & did the "mock exam" - it's getting real.

I've been using Kaplan and Barbri MBE questions. IIRC, these two companies create their own MBE questions. Is it worth paying for MBE exams on the NCBE website? I'd hate to sink even more money into this endeavor, but I'm not sure how reliable the Kaplan and Barbri results are.

No. Get the Emanuel and Strat book. It is on Amazon. I got mine for a highly discounted price and it was basically as new as no highlighting or anything.

There are 500 some questions and you probably won't even do half because the answer explanations are very detailed that it takes a while to go through the questions.....

How do you like Emanuel's book? I've read the strategies & tactics sections for each chapter but I haven't done many questions yet but I figure I will starting next week so I can do some single subject chunks in my weaker areas.

I thought it was good. I used it in Oct and Nov when i didn't have themis, but still didn't get that far bc the explanations are kind of long....I guess its best to have real test questions though...

[jarofsoup]

Anyone else finding it harder and harder to focus on studying?

[1234567888]

Anyone else finding it harder and harder to focus on studying?

Yes...

[redblueyellow]

I thought it was good. I used it in Oct and Nov when i didn't have themis, but still didn't get that far bc the explanations are kind of long....I guess its best to have real test questions though...

I read part of it and tends to focus on answering questions by "hacking" the prose, presentation, content, so forth (similar to an LSAT style test where "tricks" are often valid). Is that what you relied (obviously, not exclusively) on or did you brute force the question by ascertaining the correct law?

[sparty99]

I thought it was good. I used it in Oct and Nov when i didn't have themis, but still didn't get that far bc the explanations are kind of long....I guess its best to have real test questions though...

I read part of it and tends to focus on answering questions by "hacking" the prose, presentation, content, so forth (similar to an LSAT style test where "tricks" are often valid). Is that what you relied (obviously, not exclusively) on or did you brute force the question by ascertaining the correct law?

I mostly answered on the law. They do give tips on what is usually the wrong answer for some subjects. So I made sure to note answer choices that are always wrong. However, I didn't get into the tactical LSAT type strategies as I found that part to be more confusing and didn't necessairly understand what they were stating.

[sparty99]

Anyone else finding it harder and harder to focus on studying?

Yes...

God yes

[abogadesq]

Anyone else finding it harder and harder to focus on studying?

Yes, and increasingly nervous about my borderline passing rates in multiple choice sections (even worse in contracts).

[crit_racer]

Anyone else take the Barbri practice MBE test today?

Haven't received my scaled score yet but did mediocre on the raw score. Getting wrecked in contracts and con law. Pretty decent at torts, real prop, evidence, and (surprisingly) civ pro.

How are you guys doing??

[nvbar2015]

Anybody else finding barbri's civ pro MBE questions too easy? I'm getting 14-15/18 on each set.

Any other resources for free civ pro questions other than NBCE's website?

[numbertwo88]

Is anyone reading the rules of civil procedure or the rules of evidence? That'll be me on tomorrow.

I wasn't going to for the sake of time but ... civil procedure is trying to slay me. I really hope the MBE isn't like Themis, answers literally verbatim from the rules that no one has time to memorize. Or really nuanced areas of the rules that I don't even think civil procedure professors have memorized.

& I figure reading the evidence hearsay rules out might provide me with some clarification because I keep getting tripped up on the smallest of things.

[redblueyellow]

Is anyone reading the rules of civil procedure or the rules of evidence? That'll be me on tomorrow.

& I figure reading the evidence hearsay rules out might provide me with some clarification because I keep getting tripped up on the smallest of things.

Haven't gotten to Civ Pro during my memorization phase, but for Evid, it's literally up in the air.

Yes, I read them, yes, I tried to memorize. But still, MBEs use that freaking "hearsay not within any exception" option and it will completely through you for a loop if you think that you may have interpreted whether the evid is being offered for truth of the matter asserted differently than the question intended.

Hint: You (well, at least me) did interpret incorrectly.

[numbertwo88]

Another question ... for damages in tort actions, I know for the MBE we're to assume pure comparative negligence if the question is silent about that. If the question is also silent as to joint & several liability, are we to assume that as well?

Thanks in advance!

[jarofsoup]

If I am getting high scores from Kaplan's essay and MPT graders should this make me feel confident? Getting 6 and 7s on the essays and 6-9s on the MPTs.

[redblueyellow]

If I am getting high scores from Kaplan's essay and MPT graders should this make me feel confident? Getting 6 and 7s on the essays and 6-9s on the MPTs.

I was told that they grade pretty harshly, so if you're able to get 7s and 8/9s, you're probably doing something really right.

Do you mind posting a higher scored essay for us to compare against?

[wool]

Another question ... for damages in tort actions, I know for the MBE we're to assume pure comparative negligence if the question is silent about that. If the question is also silent as to joint & several liability, are we to assume that as well?

Thanks in advance!

I'm also under the impression that if the Q is silent about J&S liability it's assumed

[minnbills]

Checking in. I feel like I am way behind.

I finished my review of all the material yesterday and am starting to work through MBE practice questions today. at about 50% so far, under not real conditions.

My plan is to do all the MBE practice questions over the next two weeks with some essay work sprinkled in.

[BeachedBrit]

Given the amount of time left and that I have only completed 2 of the 6 BarBri MPQ sets for each MBE subject, would I be better off completing all of the MPQ sets, doing the MBE questions in the Emmanuel's S&T, doing real MBE questions with answers from some other source, or some mixture of those? Across the first two MPQ sets, i'm scoring 85th percentile or better in 5 of the MBE subjects on the MPQs and 45th to 65th percentile on the other 2 subjects. I will also be spending tomorrow doing the full length simulated MBE, so that takes that day away and probably one additional day as I review my answers.

I'm pretty behind the ball on this, but luckily most of the MBE stuff seems to be clicking for me.

[numbertwo88]

Given the amount of time left and that I have only completed 2 of the 6 BarBri MPQ sets for each MBE subject, would I be better off completing all of the MPQ sets, doing the MBE questions in the Emmanuel's S&T, doing real MBE questions with answers from some other source, or some mixture of those? Across the first two MPQ sets, i'm scoring 85th percentile or better in 5 of the MBE subjects on the MPQs and 45th to 65th percentile on the other 2 subjects. I will also be spending tomorrow doing the full length simulated MBE, so that takes that day away and probably one additional day as I review my answers.

I'm pretty behind the ball on this, but luckily most of the MBE stuff seems to be clicking for me.

I personally think doing mixed MBE sets would be more beneficial - since the exam is mixed and your brain is switching from subject to subject it's worth the extra practice. I found when I started the mixed sets I had a slight dip in my scores but after doing a few mixed sets I gained my confidence back.

& then maybe doing single-subject MBE questions in your weaker area? That's what I'm doing but ... everyone is different after all.