February 2016 California Bar Exam Forum

[Raiden]

So after hoping of a productive day of studying for 8 hours, I studied closer to 2. Baby steps, the key to success. They don't want you to study, they don't.

[MrMustache]

So after hoping of a productive day of studying for 8 hours, I studied closer to 2. Baby steps, the key to success. They don't want you to study, they don't.

Still better than nothing! Besides, lots of bar prep courses don't even start until the 21st.

[BrokenMouse]

im starting studying on Monday the 21st. i know i won't be productive this week knowing i start next week... and starwars... and farewell to social life party.

[corpora_delicti]

Stats for the July 2015 exam are out:

http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Portals ... 121715.pdf

[MrMustache]

Stats for the July 2015 exam are out:

http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Portals ... 121715.pdf

Damn it, I helped fuck up my school's excellent pass rate.

[AntiHuman]

I'll sum up my experience real quick on how I killed the exam a 2nd time...PM me for more specific details.

General tips: Do something completely different than what you did the first time. Do not do barbri lectures, AMPs, or other nonsense material. Just do practice, practice, practice. You should be studying 4-5 hours a day max because you are cutting out the nonsense stuff you probably did the first time,

MBE: Read the conviser mini review and get adaptibar. Do 200+ questions for each subject. Practice just learning the black letter law for the first 100 MBE's per subject. Start timing yourself with the remaining 100 per subject. No need to do full length tests.

Essays: Issue spot. Thats it.

PTs: Read the directions 5 times over and over. Understand the tone(persuasive v objective) and the framework Then read the file 15 minutes to get a general understanding of the story. This also helps to do before you jump into the library so you know which rules are necessary. A lot of the rules are just there to confuse you. Read the library to plug in the law then the library to plug in the facts and draw conclusions. Easy.

PM me for more details, but you all can do this. I was far from passing the first time. I just learned how to issue spot using the facts. Read each sentence in the essays slowly and try to comprehend what issues are triggered.

[InTheWideLand I Walk]

I'll sum up my experience real quick on how I killed the exam a 2nd time...PM me for more specific details.

General tips: Do something completely different than what you did the first time. Do not do barbri lectures, AMPs, or other nonsense material. Just do practice, practice, practice. You should be studying 4-5 hours a day max because you are cutting out the nonsense stuff you probably did the first time,

MBE: Read the conviser mini review and get adaptibar. Do 200+ questions for each subject. Practice just learning the black letter law for the first 100 MBE's per subject. Start timing yourself with the remaining 100 per subject. No need to do full length tests.

Essays: Issue spot. Thats it.

PTs: Read the directions 5 times over and over. Understand the tone(persuasive v objective) and the framework Then read the file 15 minutes to get a general understanding of the story. This also helps to do before you jump into the library so you know which rules are necessary. A lot of the rules are just there to confuse you. Read the library to plug in the law then the library to plug in the facts and draw conclusions. Easy.

PM me for more details, but you all can do this. I was far from passing the first time. I just learned how to issue spot using the facts. Read each sentence in the essays slowly and try to comprehend what issues are triggered.

Did that already. still failed.

[Raiden]

Stats for the July 2015 exam are out:

http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Portals ... 121715.pdf

I may be asking a pretty philosophical question here...but why is it that repeaters have such low pass rates?

[rcharter1978]

Stats for the July 2015 exam are out:

http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Portals ... 121715.pdf

I may be asking a pretty philosophical question here...but why is it that repeaters have such low pass rates?

Well, if I had to guess, I would say that every school has a class rank. I remember a professor of mine who taught at schools of various ranking telling me that the top students at every school are pretty much the same. The REAL difference between a poorly ranked school and a top ranked school was the students in the bottom of the class. My guess would be that at a school with an 85% pass rate, you only have 15% retaking, and those 15% are probably super smart. But its already a low number of re-takers. A school with a 55% pass rate has 45% retaking and those students may really represent students that just having paid that much attention in the 3 years of law school period. I think there are tons of smart people that can learn 3 years of law in 6 months, but there are a lot of other people who didn't pay attention in law school that maybe can't do it.

[a male human]

Stats for the July 2015 exam are out:

http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Portals ... 121715.pdf

I may be asking a pretty philosophical question here...but why is it that repeaters have such low pass rates?

One theory is that repeaters are repeaters because there is something that causes them to not pass in the first place. So no matter how many times they take the bar, they will generally succumb to whatever that cause was unless they fix it (or the previous failures were flukes).

This is why it's so important to change an approach that's not working. Learn from mistakes instead of (1) being afraid of your own success, (2) self-sabotaging because you want to perpetually remain a student and avoid the working world, or (3) thinking that you can just throw money and brute force to pass on your behalf.

Attorneys are professional learners! If you messed up an MBE question, read and understand the entire explanation. Hell, you should read and understand the entire explanation for questions you got right to make sure you got it right for the right reasons.

You want to fail NOW so that you don't fail when it counts. This means: Feel free to REDO questions and essays. Just because you did it once doesn't mean you should assume you "got it." Or... are you afraid you'll mess up? That's all the more reason to make doubly sure that you got it. Don't gloss over things. The bar is a monster; be vigilant at all times.

Then when the time comes, be arrogant. Attorneys are also pros at being prepared! Take the exam as if it were practice. You'll be able to see everything you've suffered through. You'll have the confidence and "know" what's going on, just like old days (i.e., past couple months). Don't let the "failure of the last mile" trip you up.

[InTheWideLand I Walk]

Stats for the July 2015 exam are out:

http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Portals ... 121715.pdf

I may be asking a pretty philosophical question here...but why is it that repeaters have such low pass rates?

yes it is a philosophical question, and because i am a philosopher I am tempted to take a stab at this.

I would say that the majority of first time takers don't work at all, and study all day every day. most of the people who pass the first time pass because of dumb luck. then the unlucky people then do not qualify for a bar loan because they failed the first time, and have to work full time to pay for food, shelter, the bar exam fee, and study materials. since it is ten times harder to pass the exam while working full time, you see repeaters it taking it over and over.

of course there are the outliers, such as lazy people or dumb people. but that is the exception rather than the rule imo.

[robinhoodOO]

yes it is a philosophical question, and because i am a philosopher I am tempted to take a stab at this.

I would say that the majority of first time takers don't work at all, and study all day every day. most of the people who pass the first time pass because of dumb luck. then the unlucky people then do not qualify for a bar loan because they failed the first time, and have to work full time to pay for food, shelter, the bar exam fee, and study materials. since it is ten times harder to pass the exam while working full time, you see repeaters it taking it over and over.

of course there are the outliers, such as lazy people or dumb people. but that is the exception rather than the rule imo.

I think you bring up an interesting point. Which makes it annoying that the Bar breaks down statistics into race, gender, etc., but doesn't break things down into whether someone worked while studying, their age, whether you self-study, etc. I personally think those factors are far more related than your race or gender.

[Raiden]

Stats for the July 2015 exam are out:

http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Portals ... 121715.pdf

I may be asking a pretty philosophical question here...but why is it that repeaters have such low pass rates?

One theory is that repeaters are repeaters because there is something that causes them to not pass in the first place. So no matter how many times they take the bar, they will generally succumb to whatever that cause was unless they fix it (or the previous failures were flukes).

This is why it's so important to change an approach that's not working. Learn from mistakes instead of (1) being afraid of your own success, (2) self-sabotaging because you want to perpetually remain a student and avoid the working world, or (3) thinking that you can just throw money and brute force to pass on your behalf.

Attorneys are professional learners! If you messed up an MBE question, read and understand the entire explanation. Hell, you should read and understand the entire explanation for questions you got right to make sure you got it right for the right reasons.

You want to fail NOW so that you don't fail when it counts. This means: Feel free to REDO questions and essays. Just because you did it once doesn't mean you should assume you "got it." Or... are you afraid you'll mess up? That's all the more reason to make doubly sure that you got it. Don't gloss over things. The bar is a monster; be vigilant at all times.

Then when the time comes, be arrogant. Attorneys are also pros at being prepared! Take the exam as if it were practice. You'll be able to see everything you've suffered through. You'll have the confidence and "know" what's going on, just like old days (i.e., past couple months). Don't let the "failure of the last mile" trip you up.

well said

[FinallyPassedTheBar]

Just received my July 2015 essay answers back...digging in now!

[BrokenMouse]

Hey guys,

I'm studying from some 2013 Barbri books I got for free, are there any major new Cali laws that will be tested that was enacted between 2013 and now?

Gay marriage is legal. Srs.

[BrokenMouse]

Just received my July 2015 essay answers back...digging in now!

Omfg can we do some kind of a review together. I want to see 1) how much I screwed up or 2) how much Bar examiners screwed up. We can start a google drive/doc. Sharing our answers is legal right?

[a male human]

Just received my July 2015 essay answers back...digging in now!

Omfg can we do some kind of a review together. I want to see 1) how much I screwed up or 2) how much Bar examiners screwed up. We can start a google drive/doc. Sharing our answers is legal right?

If that happens, I might be too tempted to take and hoard them for myself because I collect essays like some deviant

"Dear diary, jackpot."

[newusername]

Anyone on right now have a discount code for adaptibar? If so, please pm me. Thanks! :]

[BrokenMouse]

anyone making their own outline for each subject? im doing mine based on Barbri's CMR... but I wonder if this is a lot of wasted effort?

[Metal_Inquisition]

anyone making their own outline for each subject? im doing mine based on Barbri's CMR... but I wonder if this is a lot of wasted effort?

I'm kind of doing that, but only for areas that I really have difficulty with. I am writing out the outlines by hand because it helps me remember better. Not sure if this will help, but so far writing out an outline seems to have helped me understand some concepts more thoroughly.

[rcharter1978]

anyone making their own outline for each subject? im doing mine based on Barbri's CMR... but I wonder if this is a lot of wasted effort?

I'm kind of doing that, but only for areas that I really have difficulty with. I am writing out the outlines by hand because it helps me remember better. Not sure if this will help, but so far writing out an outline seems to have helped me understand some concepts more thoroughly.

I've found it helped me to remember as I wrote it, and it forced me to read closely instead of skimming. And some headers go on forever, so you'll be reading the CMR and you're at some roman numeral ii and you're like "wait, what was this about again?" but going through it closely, or at least having a skeleton outline helps to keep it in some sort of order...for me at least.

[InTheWideLand I Walk]

WOW. I just realized that the MBEs and essays go by slightly different variations of the elements on the same rules. no wonder i have been having trouble passing this thing I thought that the law was the same in the essays and mbes.

[BrokenMouse]

WOW. I just realized that the MBEs and essays go by slightly different variations of the elements on the same rules. no wonder i have been having trouble passing this thing I thought that the law was the same in the essays and mbes.

[MrMustache]

WOW. I just realized that the MBEs and essays go by slightly different variations of the elements on the same rules. no wonder i have been having trouble passing this thing I thought that the law was the same in the essays and mbes.

What are you talking about? The rules are exactly the same, or am I missing something as well?

[InTheWideLand I Walk]

I just realized my comment has caused a huge uproar so I should explain myself.

I noticed an mbe explanation (from a real question from the NBCE) said "an easment by implication arises from 1- necessity OR 2- previous use by a common owner."

i also read a model essay answer written by former CA bar graders that said:
easment by implication
"where 1- an easment was previously used on the servient estate by an earlier owner, the court may find the parties intended the easment to continue if 2- prior use was continuous, apparent (open and obvious), and 3- reasonably necessary to the dominant land's use and enjoyment.

here, bla bla bla. thus, bla bla bla."

so... you do the math.