July 2018 Texas Bar Exam Forum

[BigCityDreams]

I passed the exam!!!

[OMLS48]

Passed.

Total Score: 760
MBE: 158.1

Surreal typing this post out, after reading others' for years. What a ride.

[blair.waldorf]

Anyone know when the pass list becomes public

[Nybar2015]

I got my results and failed the exam. My total score was 606. I just feel terrible and really need some help. I have mentioned my scores below and would really appreciate your insights as to how to improve in all the sections. I have only been using second hand barbri books and nothing more. Is there any other material to substitute for MBE preparation and Texas Essays. I thought the barbri Texas essays material was not that great as they just copied all the sample answers instead of breaking it down. Also its my mistake that I did not do enough MBE questions and I shall really work on it this time. Passers please guide as to how you prepared for the exam. Thank you
P/E – 114.3, MPT – 123.1, MBE – 110.8, Essays – 132.9

[Guccifer91]

I passed homies; I passed. By a good margin too. I can solomnly swear I was not totally sober for any part of it either. #GodBless

#RePost

[Adverselypossessed]

Did not pass, again. I think I'm finished.

[BasilHallward]

I got my results and failed the exam. My total score was 606. I just feel terrible and really need some help. I have mentioned my scores below and would really appreciate your insights as to how to improve in all the sections. I have only been using second hand barbri books and nothing more. Is there any other material to substitute for MBE preparation and Texas Essays. I thought the barbri Texas essays material was not that great as they just copied all the sample answers instead of breaking it down. Also its my mistake that I did not do enough MBE questions and I shall really work on it this time. Passers please guide as to how you prepared for the exam. Thank you
P/E – 114.3, MPT – 123.1, MBE – 110.8, Essays – 132.9

How/where did you get an individual breakdown of your scores like that?

[Baaah]

Anyone know when the pass list becomes public

October 31

[Guccifer91]

Did not pass, again. I think I'm finished.

Any improvement or insights from the scorecard? You will not be giving up here man

[Adverselypossessed]

Did not pass, again. I think I'm finished.

Any improvement or insights from the scorecard? You will not be giving up here man

I thought Feb 2018 was my last attempt at this but when I got results and missed by such a narrow margin (668) I got angry/ hopeful and reapplied. My score for this July was astronomically worse. The tough part is, I felt much better about my performance in July.

[R808488000416]

I got my results and failed the exam. My total score was 606. I just feel terrible and really need some help. I have mentioned my scores below and would really appreciate your insights as to how to improve in all the sections. I have only been using second hand barbri books and nothing more. Is there any other material to substitute for MBE preparation and Texas Essays. I thought the barbri Texas essays material was not that great as they just copied all the sample answers instead of breaking it down. Also its my mistake that I did not do enough MBE questions and I shall really work on it this time. Passers please guide as to how you prepared for the exam. Thank you
P/E – 114.3, MPT – 123.1, MBE – 110.8, Essays – 132.9

I really feel for you.. it must be extremely frustrating. If I were you, I'd focus almost exclusively on the MBE.. your other scores are good enough to pass. Read outlines for the MBE topics and do as many practice questions/timed practice exams as you can. Hang in there, and best of luck to you.

[Nybar2015]

I got my results and failed the exam. My total score was 606. I just feel terrible and really need some help. I have mentioned my scores below and would really appreciate your insights as to how to improve in all the sections. I have only been using second hand barbri books and nothing more. Is there any other material to substitute for MBE preparation and Texas Essays. I thought the barbri Texas essays material was not that great as they just copied all the sample answers instead of breaking it down. Also its my mistake that I did not do enough MBE questions and I shall really work on it this time. Passers please guide as to how you prepared for the exam. Thank you
P/E – 114.3, MPT – 123.1, MBE – 110.8, Essays – 132.9

How/where did you get an individual breakdown of your scores like that?

I think they only post it to failed candidates.

[Guccifer91]

Did not pass, again. I think I'm finished.

Any improvement or insights from the scorecard? You will not be giving up here man

I thought Feb 2018 was my last attempt at this but when I got results and missed by such a narrow margin (668) I got angry/ hopeful and reapplied. My score for this July was astronomically worse. The tough part is, I felt much better about my performance in July.

I felt awful about how I did. You can see the posts earlier in this thread; I was sure I failed. What I did was write a lot of BS for the essays(focus: Irac and word count); have the past answers read for the essays in totality from BLE website; have the PE past answers memorized cold; and chug away at MBE. Redoing MBE will help immensely; you’re unlikely to remember answers. If you want to email me: gucci9020108@gmail.com... I have some resources/study materials that helped me self study for this. Maybe they can help you for your retake in February

[Adverselypossessed]

Did not pass, again. I think I'm finished.

Any improvement or insights from the scorecard? You will not be giving up here man

I thought Feb 2018 was my last attempt at this but when I got results and missed by such a narrow margin (668) I got angry/ hopeful and reapplied. My score for this July was astronomically worse. The tough part is, I felt much better about my performance in July.

I felt awful about how I did. You can see the posts earlier in this thread; I was sure I failed. What I did was write a lot of BS for the essays(focus: Irac and word count); have the past answers read for the essays in totality from BLE website; have the PE past answers memorized cold; and chug away at MBE. Redoing MBE will help immensely; you’re unlikely to remember answers. If you want to email me: gucci9020108@gmail.com... I have some resources/study materials that helped me self study for this. Maybe they can help you for your retake in February

Thanks, I was planning on taking the UBE this Feb but now I'm not sure as my TX scores have been better in Feb than July. I may take you up on the resources after the sting has worn off.

[TXLaw2018]

I passed! Still can't believe it.

Awesome support from this Forum guys. Can't thank you enough. This was my second attempt. Failed back in Feb2016. Could not dedicate enough time to study at that time and this is a whole different animal from my previous BAR experience (which was around 15 years ago). I am foreign educated attorney with a U.S. Common law LLM. Used BARBRI back in 2016 and this go round. I can honestly say that I pretty much ONLY used Barbri and followed the course to the tees. 80% something completion...

Folks who failed, don't give up. Get back and dust it off...I know it is easier said than done...especially now after just receiving bad news...but calm down, breath and get back to grind.

You will succeed!

PM me if you want any tips or have questions. Happy to help anytime.

[Adverselypossessed]

I got my results and failed the exam. My total score was 606. I just feel terrible and really need some help. I have mentioned my scores below and would really appreciate your insights as to how to improve in all the sections. I have only been using second hand barbri books and nothing more. Is there any other material to substitute for MBE preparation and Texas Essays. I thought the barbri Texas essays material was not that great as they just copied all the sample answers instead of breaking it down. Also its my mistake that I did not do enough MBE questions and I shall really work on it this time. Passers please guide as to how you prepared for the exam. Thank you
P/E – 114.3, MPT – 123.1, MBE – 110.8, Essays – 132.9

Hey Nybar 2015,
I'm too new to the thread to respond to pm, can I email you?

[Electricella]

I passed!!!! Can't believe it!
The Joe Seperac calculator was wrong thank God:)

Congrats to all who have passed, and courage to all who will pass next time!

[rodmanhust]

Likely Wednesday.

Anyone know when the pass list becomes public

[OMLS48]

I passed!!!! Can't believe it!
The Joe Seperac calculator was wrong thank God:)

Congrats to all who have passed, and courage to all who will pass next time!

So happy for you, Electricella. Congrats!

[Electricella]

Thank you!
Likewise, congrats, OMLS48!!
You deserved it and you did it

So happy for you, Electricella. Congrats!

[MBernard]

I got my results and failed the exam. My total score was 606. I just feel terrible and really need some help. I have mentioned my scores below and would really appreciate your insights as to how to improve in all the sections. I have only been using second hand barbri books and nothing more. Is there any other material to substitute for MBE preparation and Texas Essays. I thought the barbri Texas essays material was not that great as they just copied all the sample answers instead of breaking it down. Also its my mistake that I did not do enough MBE questions and I shall really work on it this time. Passers please guide as to how you prepared for the exam. Thank you
P/E – 114.3, MPT – 123.1, MBE – 110.8, Essays – 132.9

Agree with the other posters; boning up on the MBE will help you a lot. I’d reccomend putting out the money and purchasing Adaptibar and Emmanuel’s Strategies and Tactics. 50 questions a day and review your answers. I like to keep a log of what I got wrong and then I write out the correct answer w/explanation. It helps a lot.

I’ve done self-study using old Barbri materials for Ca and TX and I don’t think you need to pay for a bar course. For the essays I’d try and do at least 2 a day and also read 4 condensed outlines (two state specific subjects and two MBE subjects). Do a TX P&E test every other day and a MPT maybe once a week.

That’s basically the schedule I kept myself on for Feb and I passed. TX is tough because it feels like a marathon and there’s a ton of material. I’ve done both TX and Ca, TX is exhausting and I still feel like it’s worse despite the fact Ca grades harder and has a higher MBE req. Best of luck man, TX is tough but it’s beatable.

[Nybar2015]

I got my results and failed the exam. My total score was 606. I just feel terrible and really need some help. I have mentioned my scores below and would really appreciate your insights as to how to improve in all the sections. I have only been using second hand barbri books and nothing more. Is there any other material to substitute for MBE preparation and Texas Essays. I thought the barbri Texas essays material was not that great as they just copied all the sample answers instead of breaking it down. Also its my mistake that I did not do enough MBE questions and I shall really work on it this time. Passers please guide as to how you prepared for the exam. Thank you
P/E – 114.3, MPT – 123.1, MBE – 110.8, Essays – 132.9

Agree with the other posters; boning up on the MBE will help you a lot. I’d reccomend putting out the money and purchasing Adaptibar and Emmanuel’s Strategies and Tactics. 50 questions a day and review your answers. I like to keep a log of what I got wrong and then I write out the correct answer w/explanation. It helps a lot.

I’ve done self-study using old Barbri materials for Ca and TX and I don’t think you need to pay for a bar course. For the essays I’d try and do at least 2 a day and also read 4 condensed outlines (two state specific subjects and two MBE subjects). Do a TX P&E test every other day and a MPT maybe once a week.

That’s basically the schedule I kept myself on for Feb and I passed. TX is tough because it feels like a marathon and there’s a ton of material. I’ve done both TX and Ca, TX is exhausting and I still feel like it’s worse despite the fact Ca grades harder and has a higher MBE req. Best of luck man, TX is tough but it’s beatable.

Thank you so much for your advice. I really want to pass it in Feb 2019. As suggested, I will surely do adpatibar and emmanuel for MBE. Do you have suggestions for TX essays - BARBRI or TX BLE?? Only problem with TX ble answers are that they have 2 answers for every question and to go through so much material is exhausting. I know there is no easy way to the Bar exam but I just want to know which essay material is good for practice purpose - BARBRI or TX BLE answers????

[MBernard]

Thank you so much for your advice. I really want to pass it in Feb 2019. As suggested, I will surely do adpatibar and emmanuel for MBE. Do you have suggestions for TX essays - BARBRI or TX BLE?? Only problem with TX ble answers are that they have 2 answers for every question and to go through so much material is exhausting. I know there is no easy way to the Bar exam but I just want to know which essay material is good for practice purpose - BARBRI or TX BLE answers????

I went with the TX BLE answers and looking back I’d still reccomend that. Barbri’s model answers are extremely detailed but in my opinion it’s unrealistic that an examinee will be able to go into that level of extraction in 30 minutes. The BLE has past exams dating back to 2000 so you definitely have a wealth of material to work with; plus, the BLE typically posts good model answers (answers that are passing or above). I think it’s fine to just go through one model BLE answer, maybe you can just scan the others to see if anyone included an extra issue or something ancillary.

One thing to be wary of is that *sometimes* the BLE will post a crap answer with an incorrect rule statement or an incorrect conclusion but that’s more atypical.

In my opinion the best thing about the Barbri book is that they have categorized the crossover essays. The BLE almost never tests Bankruptcy and Federal Income Tax but Barbri has collected those crossover essay examples and made it more accessible (otherwise you’d have to dig through examination years to see how those subjects are tested).

I’ll be brushing up on TX specific law now that I’m done with the Ca bar so I’ll probably be more active when the TX Feb 2019 thread gets going.

[Guccifer91]

In my humble yet less than sober opinion, anyone who doesn’t focus on the BLE past answers all around is a fool. As someone who self studied; having access to those made me feel 100% certain I was preparing well for the essays. I thought I bombed them on game day but something clicked and stuck with me going through each and every past answer. Those are model answers in my opinion. People knock them saying the essays often reach different conclusions from one another and that the answers are partly wrong. I will tell you this: if you can replicate those errors you see; you’re golden. Just focus on BLE’s resources. Use extra resources such as past answers for the PE that BLE does not adequately provide if possible also. PM me for those; I was lucky enough to get more detailed PE past answers to memorize and it might’ve helped me

[HMG1986]

I thought I'd post my information here in case it is of some use to a future TX bar taker.

I passed the July 2018 bar by 3 points on the first try. I have never felt such relief in all of my life.

I attended law school out of state. I did not take Oil and Gas, family law, or commercial instruments while in law school. I highly suggest at least commercial instruments (I feel family law and O&G were more intuitive).

My scaled MBE was 130. I obviously don't know what my other section scores were. I used Barbri bar prep and AdaptiBar (albeit late in the game). I also utilized the old BLE essays. My last simulated MBE was a 120, so taking into consideration the curving of the MBE scores, my raw score probably actually went down.

I am happy to answer any questions.