California Bar Exam (July 2014) thread Forum

[JJDancer]

I'm one of those neurotic people that likes to plan for everything - just knowing what to expect makes me feel better. So I want to come up with a
If I pass plan
and
If I don't pass plan
just so I know what to do on Friday at 6 pm lol
I'm sure I may not actually do what I plan but I still want to "plan" something. If only to feel a semblance of control.

I won't be at work or anything at 6. I kind of figure I will check my results at home and let me husband know what happened and if I don't pass I will probably mope in bed, eat ice cream and maybe go watch a movie and resist the urge to dig out my bar books just to stare at them in sadness LOL

If I pass - no idea. Get together with other law buddies who also passed?

I haven't made any plans with friends since I'm too afraid of not passing and then it being really obvious if I don't show up LOL.

Anyone else?

[camelcrema]

I'm one of those neurotic people that likes to plan for everything - just knowing what to expect makes me feel better. So I want to come up with a
If I pass plan
and
If I don't pass plan
just so I know what to do on Friday at 6 pm lol
I'm sure I may not actually do what I plan but I still want to "plan" something. If only to feel a semblance of control.

I won't be at work or anything at 6. I kind of figure I will check my results at home and let me husband know what happened and if I don't pass I will probably mope in bed, eat ice cream and maybe go watch a movie and resist the urge to dig out my bar books just to stare at them in sadness LOL

If I pass - no idea. Get together with other law buddies who also passed?

I haven't made any plans with friends since I'm too afraid of not passing and then it being really obvious if I don't show up LOL.

Anyone else?

If I pass: have dinner with family, hang out with friends whom I told "If I fail this thing, I will not be able to have a social life until I pass, so let me preemptively say goodbye to you just in case."

If I fail: curl up in a ball. try not to cry. cry a lot.

[a male human]

Is anyone else experiencing mini-anxiety attacks and frequent nightmares that they haven't passed? I feel like I'm going crazy.... I cannot deal with this anxiety tbh and if I fail I don't know if I can do this again for February and will likely wait. This is by far the worst I've ever felt all my life. I know passing the bar won't take away my student loan debt and will not find me a job, heck, it isn't the magic answer or a fountain of youth, it won't make me have an amazing relationship with my family or make me the most popular person around, but just putting a cap on this and being DONE will be such an immense relief to me... I can finally move forward with my life and move on to bigger and better things... No one else around me seems to understand the level of existential angst this is causing me.

People go through this every half year.

You don't give a shit about celebrating at this point. You just want to put a stop to this horrid ordeal.

You didn't spend 2.5 months studying your ass off and waiting 4 months just to show nothing for all that work.

The suffering is understandable. I told you that you will spend the first month and the last week agonizing. But trust me: The future exists, and it will come in due time. It's going to happen and you will either make the threshold or not. In fact, the decision has been made already. The truth is out there.

I'm gonna speed up the post I wrote for you guys. Maybe I'll post it tonight or tomorrow.

[adonai]

Yeah the results are in for sure. Theyre probably just double checking everything, making sure the system is good to go on Friday. Ugh. The truth is out there...

[dtl]

Yeah the results are in for sure. Theyre probably just double checking everything, making sure the system is good to go on Friday. Ugh. The truth is out there...

This is what frustrates me the most. Other states with large populations have a final deadline, but release early if they are ready. There is no way it takes 4 months every year.

[yips]

I'm one of those neurotic people that likes to plan for everything - just knowing what to expect makes me feel better. So I want to come up with a
If I pass plan
and
If I don't pass plan
just so I know what to do on Friday at 6 pm lol
I'm sure I may not actually do what I plan but I still want to "plan" something. If only to feel a semblance of control.

I won't be at work or anything at 6. I kind of figure I will check my results at home and let me husband know what happened and if I don't pass I will probably mope in bed, eat ice cream and maybe go watch a movie and resist the urge to dig out my bar books just to stare at them in sadness LOL

If I pass - no idea. Get together with other law buddies who also passed?

I haven't made any plans with friends since I'm too afraid of not passing and then it being really obvious if I don't show up LOL.

Anyone else?

SAME. I need two plans! But if I don't come up with something, I think I might just go out on Friday night and not check until I get home at like 2am (give me the strength!). Then I'll log in, in the dark, by myself, probably with wine, and just ease into whatever reality there is.

If I don't pass, I'm going to be so annoyed, though. So much money, time, energy, stress -- again!

[Law-So-Hard]

Is anyone else experiencing mini-anxiety attacks and frequent nightmares that they haven't passed? I feel like I'm going crazy.... I cannot deal with this anxiety tbh and if I fail I don't know if I can do this again for February and will likely wait. This is by far the worst I've ever felt all my life. I know passing the bar won't take away my student loan debt and will not find me a job, heck, it isn't the magic answer or a fountain of youth, it won't make me have an amazing relationship with my family or make me the most popular person around, but just putting a cap on this and being DONE will be such an immense relief to me... I can finally move forward with my life and move on to bigger and better things... No one else around me seems to understand the level of existential angst this is causing me.

People go through this every half year.

You don't give a shit about celebrating at this point. You just want to put a stop to this horrid ordeal.

You didn't spend 2.5 months studying your ass off and waiting 4 months just to show nothing for all that work.

The suffering is understandable. I told you that you will spend the first month and the last week agonizing. But trust me: The future exists, and it will come in due time. It's going to happen and you will either make the threshold or not. In fact, the decision has been made already. The truth is out there.

I'm gonna speed up the post I wrote for you guys. Maybe I'll post it tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks a male human this is actually a really refreshing way to look at it and makes me feel saner

[Law-So-Hard]

I am 100 percent convinced I failed just because the idea of me passing this absurd exam seems beyond improbable and ridiculous.

[2oldfts]

Is anyone else experiencing mini-anxiety attacks and frequent nightmares that they haven't passed? I feel like I'm going crazy.... I cannot deal with this anxiety tbh and if I fail I don't know if I can do this again for February and will likely wait. This is by far the worst I've ever felt all my life. I know passing the bar won't take away my student loan debt and will not find me a job, heck, it isn't the magic answer or a fountain of youth, it won't make me have an amazing relationship with my family or make me the most popular person around, but just putting a cap on this and being DONE will be such an immense relief to me... I can finally move forward with my life and move on to bigger and better things... No one else around me seems to understand the level of existential angst this is causing me.

I can relate to what you are saying 100 percent

[2oldfts]

Kinda late for this but check this out. It was a presentation given at Berkeley by a guy who has been in charge of raising passage rates at a couple of schools.
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/BarP ... .22.08.pdf

from page 4

Scoring the Bar Exam
Essay Exam & Performance Test Scoring
85 - 100 An outstanding answer
80 A very good answer
75 A clearly passing answer
70 Unable to determine if the essay passes or fails
65 A clearly failing answer
40 - 60 A poor answer

This doesn't seem to jibe with what I have seen from test takers who have gotten their essays and scores (seems more generous). But if this is actually how they grade I'd feel a lot better. The problem is, while we see the "model answers" and the essays and scores of people who fail, we don't see the essays from people who pass..we don't know what the range of essay scores are for people who pass. We may know that a 60 was the minimum average passing score in a given year...but how are the scores distributed among passers? are the there big clusters right around the minimum or are a critical mass of passers scoring an avg of 70 or above. This whole black box thing only serves to further mystify the exam

Ah..I am so tired of thinking about this ish

[jarofsoup]

I thought 65 was good.

[jarofsoup]

Kinda late for this but check this out. It was a presentation given at Berkeley by a guy who has been in charge of raising passage rates at a couple of schools.
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/BarP ... .22.08.pdf

from page 4

Scoring the Bar Exam
Essay Exam & Performance Test Scoring
85 - 100 An outstanding answer
80 A very good answer
75 A clearly passing answer
70 Unable to determine if the essay passes or fails
65 A clearly failing answer
40 - 60 A poor answer

This doesn't seem to jibe with what I have seen from test takers who have gotten their essays and scores (seems more generous). But if this is actually how they grade I'd feel a lot better. The problem is, while we see the "model answers" and the essays and scores of people who fail, we don't see the essays from people who pass..we don't know what the range of essay scores are for people who pass. We may know that a 60 was the minimum average passing score in a given year...but how are the scores distributed among passers? are the there big clusters right around the minimum or are a critical mass of passers scoring an avg of 70 or above. This whole black box thing only serves to further mystify the exam

Ah..I am so tired of thinking about this ish

I am guessing that failures stem from a poor MBE or a failing a PT.

[MBAtoJD]

I thought 65 was good.

Based on what the Berkley author is saying (if I'm reading it correctly), those grading ranges are raw scores. So by the time the essays are scaled, 65 becomes a passing score?

"Average score for all test is 72, scaled score to pass is 65."

Can you imagine those lucky bastards that passed the Bar with a 1441 score? 1 point over the required 1440 to pass?

[PMan99]

Kinda late for this but check this out. It was a presentation given at Berkeley by a guy who has been in charge of raising passage rates at a couple of schools.
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/BarP ... .22.08.pdf

from page 4

Scoring the Bar Exam
Essay Exam & Performance Test Scoring
85 - 100 An outstanding answer
80 A very good answer
75 A clearly passing answer
70 Unable to determine if the essay passes or fails
65 A clearly failing answer
40 - 60 A poor answer

This doesn't seem to jibe with what I have seen from test takers who have gotten their essays and scores (seems more generous). But if this is actually how they grade I'd feel a lot better. The problem is, while we see the "model answers" and the essays and scores of people who fail, we don't see the essays from people who pass..we don't know what the range of essay scores are for people who pass. We may know that a 60 was the minimum average passing score in a given year...but how are the scores distributed among passers? are the there big clusters right around the minimum or are a critical mass of passers scoring an avg of 70 or above. This whole black box thing only serves to further mystify the exam

Ah..I am so tired of thinking about this ish

FWIW the BarBri self-grade essays seemed fairly generous with their scoring - much more so than the people on here (or other places) who assume that a single missed or wrongly considered issue will drop you to a 50.

Then again, I haven't really looked at real, graded essays online except for the occasional model answer, which I assume would be in the 80+ category. I also imagine when looking at graded essays, regular people tend to focus on actual analysis rather than on stylistic factors (headings, word count) that by all accounts tend to have a rather large impact on the graders.

[CALawGirl]

Nah! Those scoring ranges look more like scare tactics to motivate its students to study their butt off & take Bar prep seriously.

If you were told that 65 is a passing score you won't study as hard as if you were told 65 is a failing answer. It's kinda like when Barbri scores your essay during Bar prep. They want you to work harder so they would give you a 60 rather than a 70 even if you spotted every darn issue, IRAC had headings, great analysis, etc.

[adonai]

Kinda late for this but check this out. It was a presentation given at Berkeley by a guy who has been in charge of raising passage rates at a couple of schools.
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/BarP ... .22.08.pdf

from page 4

Scoring the Bar Exam
Essay Exam & Performance Test Scoring
85 - 100 An outstanding answer
80 A very good answer
75 A clearly passing answer
70 Unable to determine if the essay passes or fails
65 A clearly failing answer
40 - 60 A poor answer

This doesn't seem to jibe with what I have seen from test takers who have gotten their essays and scores (seems more generous). But if this is actually how they grade I'd feel a lot better. The problem is, while we see the "model answers" and the essays and scores of people who fail, we don't see the essays from people who pass..we don't know what the range of essay scores are for people who pass. We may know that a 60 was the minimum average passing score in a given year...but how are the scores distributed among passers? are the there big clusters right around the minimum or are a critical mass of passers scoring an avg of 70 or above. This whole black box thing only serves to further mystify the exam

Ah..I am so tired of thinking about this ish

FWIW the BarBri self-grade essays seemed fairly generous with their scoring - much more so than the people on here (or other places) who assume that a single missed or wrongly considered issue will drop you to a 50.

Then again, I haven't really looked at real, graded essays online except for the occasional model answer, which I assume would be in the 80+ category. I also imagine when looking at graded essays, regular people tend to focus on actual analysis rather than on stylistic factors (headings, word count) that by all accounts tend to have a rather large impact on the graders.

Yeah, according to the barbri scales you could miss half the issues and still get a passing score of 65. I don't know where everyone gets the idea that if you miss one big issue you automatically fail that essay. If we had to get every single big issue and most minor issues to pass, that would be a CALI worthy exam in law school. Obviously, we aren't all in that category and that isn't the purpose of the exam...

My friend was a barbri grader and he said they curved scores according to the pile of essays they got. They graded you harsher in the beginning and more lenient towards the actual exam.

According to some former bar grader I read about online, that grader said good headings and organization is an auto +10 points.

But of course, no one will believe me. Even I don't believe me. One issue missed = fail it is!

[Carryon]

Kinda late for this but check this out. It was a presentation given at Berkeley by a guy who has been in charge of raising passage rates at a couple of schools.
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/BarP ... .22.08.pdf

from page 4

Scoring the Bar Exam
Essay Exam & Performance Test Scoring
85 - 100 An outstanding answer
80 A very good answer
75 A clearly passing answer
70 Unable to determine if the essay passes or fails
65 A clearly failing answer
40 - 60 A poor answer

This doesn't seem to jibe with what I have seen from test takers who have gotten their essays and scores (seems more generous). But if this is actually how they grade I'd feel a lot better. The problem is, while we see the "model answers" and the essays and scores of people who fail, we don't see the essays from people who pass..we don't know what the range of essay scores are for people who pass. We may know that a 60 was the minimum average passing score in a given year...but how are the scores distributed among passers? are the there big clusters right around the minimum or are a critical mass of passers scoring an avg of 70 or above. This whole black box thing only serves to further mystify the exam

Ah..I am so tired of thinking about this ish

FWIW the BarBri self-grade essays seemed fairly generous with their scoring - much more so than the people on here (or other places) who assume that a single missed or wrongly considered issue will drop you to a 50.

Then again, I haven't really looked at real, graded essays online except for the occasional model answer, which I assume would be in the 80+ category. I also imagine when looking at graded essays, regular people tend to focus on actual analysis rather than on stylistic factors (headings, word count) that by all accounts tend to have a rather large impact on the graders.

Yeah, according to the barbri scales you could miss half the issues and still get a passing score of 65. I don't know where everyone gets the idea that if you miss one big issue you automatically fail that essay. If we had to get every single big issue and most minor issues to pass, that would be a CALI worthy exam in law school. Obviously, we aren't all in that category and that isn't the purpose of the exam...

My friend was a barbri grader and he said they curved scores according to the pile of essays they got. They graded you harsher in the beginning and more lenient towards the actual exam.

According to some former bar grader I read about online, that grader said good headings and organization is an auto +10 points.

But of course, no one will believe me. Even I don't believe me. One issue missed = fail it is!

When I was looking at the graded essays with comments by the graders on baressays.com, it appeared to me that one major issue missed would lower the grade to around 65, though sometimes someone one would miss an issue and not get deducted that much if it was not a major issue. I am not sure how they grade them.

[2oldfts]

Nah! Those scoring ranges look more like scare tactics to motivate its students to study their butt off & take Bar prep seriously.

If you were told that 65 is a passing score you won't study as hard as if you were told 65 is a failing answer. It's kinda like when Barbri scores your essay during Bar prep. They want you to work harder so they would give you a 60 rather than a 70 even if you spotted every darn issue, IRAC had headings, great analysis, etc.

See I take the opposite view from that. If you say I can write an answer than isn't a clear pass and get a 70, that makes me a lot less scared then telling me I can hit every issues but a few minor ones and still end up with a 60 or 65.

[2oldfts]

Kinda late for this but check this out. It was a presentation given at Berkeley by a guy who has been in charge of raising passage rates at a couple of schools.
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/BarP ... .22.08.pdf

from page 4

Scoring the Bar Exam
Essay Exam & Performance Test Scoring
85 - 100 An outstanding answer
80 A very good answer
75 A clearly passing answer
70 Unable to determine if the essay passes or fails
65 A clearly failing answer
40 - 60 A poor answer

This doesn't seem to jibe with what I have seen from test takers who have gotten their essays and scores (seems more generous). But if this is actually how they grade I'd feel a lot better. The problem is, while we see the "model answers" and the essays and scores of people who fail, we don't see the essays from people who pass..we don't know what the range of essay scores are for people who pass. We may know that a 60 was the minimum average passing score in a given year...but how are the scores distributed among passers? are the there big clusters right around the minimum or are a critical mass of passers scoring an avg of 70 or above. This whole black box thing only serves to further mystify the exam

Ah..I am so tired of thinking about this ish

FWIW the BarBri self-grade essays seemed fairly generous with their scoring - much more so than the people on here (or other places) who assume that a single missed or wrongly considered issue will drop you to a 50.

Then again, I haven't really looked at real, graded essays online except for the occasional model answer, which I assume would be in the 80+ category. I also imagine when looking at graded essays, regular people tend to focus on actual analysis rather than on stylistic factors (headings, word count) that by all accounts tend to have a rather large impact on the graders.

Yeah, according to the barbri scales you could miss half the issues and still get a passing score of 65. I don't know where everyone gets the idea that if you miss one big issue you automatically fail that essay. If we had to get every single big issue and most minor issues to pass, that would be a CALI worthy exam in law school. Obviously, we aren't all in that category and that isn't the purpose of the exam...

My friend was a barbri grader and he said they curved scores according to the pile of essays they got. They graded you harsher in the beginning and more lenient towards the actual exam.

According to some former bar grader I read about online, that grader said good headings and organization is an auto +10 points.

But of course, no one will believe me. Even I don't believe me. One issue missed = fail it is!

Ha, exactly! This is how the CBX mind-effs us. I've alternatively convinced my self that I did and did not mention impeachment in the crim pro essay. I probably did but now think I didn't

[barbirthday]

Nah! Those scoring ranges look more like scare tactics to motivate its students to study their butt off & take Bar prep seriously.

If you were told that 65 is a passing score you won't study as hard as if you were told 65 is a failing answer. It's kinda like when Barbri scores your essay during Bar prep. They want you to work harder so they would give you a 60 rather than a 70 even if you spotted every darn issue, IRAC had headings, great analysis, etc.

See I take the opposite view from that. If you say I can write an answer than isn't a clear pass and get a 70, that makes me a lot less scared then telling me I can hit every issues but a few minor ones and still end up with a 60 or 65.

This dispute shows that the Berkeley-issued breakdown of scores is pretty much useless. This is because it does not provide a definition for "a clearly failing answer" which supposedly merits a 65.

Even with that pdf, we still don't know whether 65 means one missed major issue or just missed minor issues.

3 more days until all of this speculation is over with (hopefully forever)

[2oldfts]

Nah! Those scoring ranges look more like scare tactics to motivate its students to study their butt off & take Bar prep seriously.

If you were told that 65 is a passing score you won't study as hard as if you were told 65 is a failing answer. It's kinda like when Barbri scores your essay during Bar prep. They want you to work harder so they would give you a 60 rather than a 70 even if you spotted every darn issue, IRAC had headings, great analysis, etc.

See I take the opposite view from that. If you say I can write an answer than isn't a clear pass and get a 70, that makes me a lot less scared then telling me I can hit every issues but a few minor ones and still end up with a 60 or 65.

This dispute shows that the Berkeley-issued breakdown of scores is pretty much useless. This is because it does not provide a definition for "a clearly failing answer" which supposedly merits a 65.

Even with that pdf, we still don't know whether 65 means one missed major issue or just missed minor issues.

3 more days until all of this speculation is over with (hopefully forever)

Wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to me to call an essay that just missed minor issue "clearly failing" And I know too many people who passed who didn't hit every issue on every essay and also didn't blow out the MBE.

[Carryon]

Nah! Those scoring ranges look more like scare tactics to motivate its students to study their butt off & take Bar prep seriously.

If you were told that 65 is a passing score you won't study as hard as if you were told 65 is a failing answer. It's kinda like when Barbri scores your essay during Bar prep. They want you to work harder so they would give you a 60 rather than a 70 even if you spotted every darn issue, IRAC had headings, great analysis, etc.

See I take the opposite view from that. If you say I can write an answer than isn't a clear pass and get a 70, that makes me a lot less scared then telling me I can hit every issues but a few minor ones and still end up with a 60 or 65.

This dispute shows that the Berkeley-issued breakdown of scores is pretty much useless. This is because it does not provide a definition for "a clearly failing answer" which supposedly merits a 65.

Even with that pdf, we still don't know whether 65 means one missed major issue or just missed minor issues.

3 more days until all of this speculation is over with (hopefully forever)

Wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to me to call an essay that just missed minor issue "clearly failing" And I know too many people who passed who didn't hit every issue on every essay and also didn't blow out the MBE.

Here is an article that talks about the decrease in bar passing rate this summer.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... am-in-2014

[jarofsoup]

My mind does not comprehend passing right now. I am convinced that I failed. Anyone else feel this?

[camelcrema]

My mind does not comprehend passing right now. I am convinced that I failed. Anyone else feel this?

+1. Feels like I just need to find out so I can have the motivation to study...again.

[barjamie8]

Kinda late for this but check this out. It was a presentation given at Berkeley by a guy who has been in charge of raising passage rates at a couple of schools.
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/BarP ... .22.08.pdf

from page 4

Scoring the Bar Exam
Essay Exam & Performance Test Scoring
85 - 100 An outstanding answer
80 A very good answer
75 A clearly passing answer
70 Unable to determine if the essay passes or fails
65 A clearly failing answer
40 - 60 A poor answer

This doesn't seem to jibe with what I have seen from test takers who have gotten their essays and scores (seems more generous). But if this is actually how they grade I'd feel a lot better. The problem is, while we see the "model answers" and the essays and scores of people who fail, we don't see the essays from people who pass..we don't know what the range of essay scores are for people who pass. We may know that a 60 was the minimum average passing score in a given year...but how are the scores distributed among passers? are the there big clusters right around the minimum or are a critical mass of passers scoring an avg of 70 or above. This whole black box thing only serves to further mystify the exam

Ah..I am so tired of thinking about this ish

FWIW the BarBri self-grade essays seemed fairly generous with their scoring - much more so than the people on here (or other places) who assume that a single missed or wrongly considered issue will drop you to a 50.

Then again, I haven't really looked at real, graded essays online except for the occasional model answer, which I assume would be in the 80+ category. I also imagine when looking at graded essays, regular people tend to focus on actual analysis rather than on stylistic factors (headings, word count) that by all accounts tend to have a rather large impact on the graders.

Yeah, according to the barbri scales you could miss half the issues and still get a passing score of 65. I don't know where everyone gets the idea that if you miss one big issue you automatically fail that essay. If we had to get every single big issue and most minor issues to pass, that would be a CALI worthy exam in law school. Obviously, we aren't all in that category and that isn't the purpose of the exam...

My friend was a barbri grader and he said they curved scores according to the pile of essays they got. They graded you harsher in the beginning and more lenient towards the actual exam.

According to some former bar grader I read about online, that grader said good headings and organization is an auto +10 points.

But of course, no one will believe me. Even I don't believe me. One issue missed = fail it is!

When I was looking at the graded essays with comments by the graders on baressays.com, it appeared to me that one major issue missed would lower the grade to around 65, though sometimes someone one would miss an issue and not get deducted that much if it was not a major issue. I am not sure how they grade them.

I agree, looking at the real graded essays on baressays.com completely proves these descriptions wrong.