California Bar Exam (July 2014) thread Forum

[2807]

I flunked. I scored 1420, twenty points lower than the required 1440.

My essay scores were horrible but I scored 1710 on the MBE.

What would you do, what course would you take, what tutor would your recommend?

Thank you for any suggestions.

Jesus what were you essays? You killed the MBE!

I scored
Tues 55, 57.5, 55, 57.5
Thurs 60, 55, 60, 50

Hard to swallow these scores. if i can get any improvement at all, I should pass in FEB. I don't really know where to find any CivPro MBEs. I would like to keep my 95th percentile score again in FEB....

I signed up for Flemings and i will write one essay per day and have it graded and critiqued. That would be about 100 essays by Feb's bar. I just need help on the PTs. (well, i need help on all essays). I need a tutor. If I could have scored a 60 on the second PT, that would have been enough to pass. The thing is that I thought I knew what i was doing on the PTs. obviously not. Really glad I studied the MBEs so much. I think those things can take a long time to master and that would be really tough to do between now and Feb for someone with a low MBE score. If anyone wants any suggestions on how to beat the MBE, I would be happy to help, just like i would love to get help from someone on Essays. I would pay someone for help too.

Thanks for any suggestions.

**EDIT** : Go Here: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=220409
Starts at page 3... and continues with help for an essay approach.

------------------
Go back in these threads and read through the February 2014 CA Bar thread.
By about the 4th page in we start a solid breakdown on an approach to essays.
This approach is very helpful.

There are many ways to do it. This is one of them.

Hope it helps.

You can PM me if you want more.

[LawJunky]

I flunked. I scored 1420, twenty points lower than the required 1440.

My essay scores were horrible but I scored 1710 on the MBE.

What would you do, what course would you take, what tutor would your recommend?

Thank you for any suggestions.

Jesus what were you essays? You killed the MBE!

I scored
Tues 55, 57.5, 55, 57.5
Thurs 60, 55, 60, 50

Hard to swallow these scores. if i can get any improvement at all, I should pass in FEB. I don't really know where to find any CivPro MBEs. I would like to keep my 95th percentile score again in FEB....

I signed up for Flemings and i will write one essay per day and have it graded and critiqued. That would be about 100 essays by Feb's bar. I just need help on the PTs. (well, i need help on all essays). I need a tutor. If I could have scored a 60 on the second PT, that would have been enough to pass. The thing is that I thought I knew what i was doing on the PTs. obviously not. Really glad I studied the MBEs so much. I think those things can take a long time to master and that would be really tough to do between now and Feb for someone with a low MBE score. If anyone wants any suggestions on how to beat the MBE, I would be happy to help, just like i would love to get help from someone on Essays. I would pay someone for help too.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Go back in these threads and read through the February 2014 CA Bar thread.
By about the 4th page in we start a solid breakdown on an approach to essays.
This approach is very helpful.

There are many ways to do it. This is one of them.

Hope it helps.

You can PM me if you want more.

You are offline now , and I would love to speak with you. I did as you suggested and went back into page 4 of this thread and finding some pretty good stuff. I really am starting to love this forum now. I was not sure about male human. But he is posting some excellent stuff there. I am not sure I follow it yet. but I am starting to catch on. I think I need to see an issue (personal jurisdiciton maybe) and then think of all the issue that could possibly arise (but those issues are not in the fact pattern). Then start looking for facts for each of those possible issues. I liked seeing that you need to look for law within the library of the PT and make each of those elements a heading and analyze it.

IF anyone wants help from me on MBEs, i will help. I got a 1710. I am sure my helping would give me good karma on my essays. Helping someone else could keep me sharp. I could list out all the stuff I did. but it took a couple of years of practice to reach that level.

I found good multiple choice questions on CIVPRO pleading on Kentlaw.edu. They are really hard. go for it.

http://www.kentlaw.edu/faculty/jsteinma ... oPractice/

Thank you

[a male human]

I was not sure about male human.

[InTheWideLand I Walk]

my personal score comparison of feb and july bar and some follow up questions for the public:

feb (took kaplans online course, did 2000 mbe's along the way)
july (used a small group tutor- memorized sample answers to 160 essays, did 3000 mbe's).

feb (left)-july (right)
45-57.5 essay 1
55-60 essay 2
55-50 essay 3
50-65 essay 4
55-62.5 essay 5
55-62.5 essay 6
65-55 PT 1
60-62.5 PT 2
565-592.5 (raw written scores)
1323.8325-1373.1165 (scaled written scores)
1405-1453 (scaled mbe score)
1352.2411-1401.0757 (total scaled score)

question 1: when people ask me "how close were you this time", how do i respond?
question 2: I am thinking of going with the same tutor for the essay portion and studying for my own on the MBE and PT because my tutor lowered my pt score and he had me doing MBEs by myself anyway. should I do this or should I risk finding a new tutor?
question 3: can someone tell me my RAW MBE score based on this or is that just impossible?

[kdesq]

Has anyone used Bar Exam Doctor's unlimited essays and PT before? Is it effective?

[adonai]

I was not sure about male human.

LOL.

AMH you are awesome BTW. Your advice and resources were invaluable. Thanks for giving back. I know most people just pass and move on but I also want to give back. If I can help anyone please pm.

[LawJunky]

my personal score comparison of feb and july bar and some follow up questions for the public:

feb (took kaplans online course, did 2000 mbe's along the way)
july (used a small group tutor- memorized sample answers to 160 essays, did 3000 mbe's).

feb (left)-july (right)
45-57.5 essay 1
55-60 essay 2
55-50 essay 3
50-65 essay 4
55-62.5 essay 5
55-62.5 essay 6
65-55 PT 1
60-62.5 PT 2
565-592.5 (raw written scores)
1323.8325-1373.1165 (scaled written scores)
1405-1453 (scaled mbe score)
1352.2411-1401.0757 (total scaled score)

question 1: when people ask me "how close were you this time", how do i respond?
question 2: I am thinking of going with the same tutor for the essay portion and studying for my own on the MBE and PT because my tutor lowered my pt score and he had me doing MBEs by myself anyway. should I do this or should I risk finding a new tutor?
question 3: can someone tell me my RAW MBE score based on this or is that just impossible?

You scored 1453 out of 2000. That is 72.6 percent correct. Based on that, I believe your raw MBE this July was 69 or 70 -- times 2. I say this because the test is based on two, 95 question exams (the way I understand it). There are 10 experimental questions. Instead of 200, its 190 that you are being graded on. I think about it better if I normalize the whole thing to 100. So you got enough correct out of 95 to give you 72.7 percent, which is 69.8. That would be the same as scoring 69 on the morning and 70 in the afternoon.

I say you were "pretty close" to passing, within a 3% margin (42 points). A person who scores 1426 misses passing by 1%.

If you fully utilized your tutor, I would consider finding another. I am going to the same bar review because I totally underutilized my essay grading service. I had shoulder surgery on June 4, and that screwed up a lot, including my ability to continue the regimen. Thus I think the problem was me and not them...

[Carryon]

Has anyone used Bar Exam Doctor's unlimited essays and PT before? Is it effective?

I have not but i am interested in it too. By the way, I went to their website and found the answer to my question about the model answers to the questions. Here is the link to their model answers.

http://www.dailyjournal.com/public/Pubm ... vId%3Dtab3

[LawJunky]

Your posts on writing really impressed me. Up until then, I had nothing to base an opinion on, except for some profanity. More people will read your stuff if you leave it out. Its ok, i can read around it. Thanks for the informative posts and ideas on writing.

[LawJunky]

Has anyone used Bar Exam Doctor's unlimited essays and PT before? Is it effective?

I have not but i am interested in it too. By the way, I went to their website and found the answer to my question about the model answers to the questions. Here is the link to their model answers.

http://www.dailyjournal.com/public/Pubm ... vId%3Dtab3

These are very eye-opening model answers. thanks for posting them.

[Carryon]

I took a look at these model answers. It seems that many of the issues were discussed in this forum. Thought I had address many of these same issues in answers. Oh well, I think that I need to get my answers graded with comments and figure out the main issues.

[a male human]

I was not sure about male human.

LOL.

AMH you are awesome BTW. Your advice and resources were invaluable. Thanks for giving back. I know most people just pass and move on but I also want to give back. If I can help anyone please pm.

Glad I could help. I think a lot of repeaters are going to one of these topics, though I'm not sure which one is the "real" one:

General February bar (not only CA)?
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=235962

Specifically for CA?
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=240022

[Carryon]

I noticed too that the model answer for question 4 did not include the impeachment reason for allowing the confession.

[ilovesf]

These answers would be more interesting for me if I could remember at all what I actually wrote in my answers.

[LawJunky]

These answers would be more interesting for me if I could remember at all what I actually wrote in my answers.

You know?....... I think there "is" time to make a "dent" for Feb 2014 MBE. Here is what you should start doing right now. Make a spreadsheet that allows you to keep track of the questions you got wrong. Don't record the answer. Record the Subject (CN, EV...) and the Book (Barbri test 3) and the Q#. This spreadsheet idea is by far the most important word of advice. Crank through XXX number between now and Feb 10. Then get your spreadsheet out and start redoing ONLY the ones you got wrong and see if you can get them right. You'll probably miss half of those but that would show a huge improvement, and a bunch of confidence. I think confidence is worth something. The key is waiting long enough to forget the question so that when you see it around Feb 20, its pretty much a fresh question. You won't believe how hard a list of 20 questions you have previously got wrong is to do. You will get a ton wrong still but you can feel the improvement even if you get only 50% of those correct.

I could easily do 1500 by Feb 10, doing 20 per day. In fact I could do 3000 by Feb 10 quite easily. Endurance is a key factor. Did you get tired during the MBE? Time management when practicing: When you get out of bed, do your MBEs right then. Go over the answers right away. Don't wait till later to go over the answer because you'll forget the fact pattern and you'll have to do the question again. This wastes time. Each time you get one wrong, dig into your favorite authority and look up the supporting law.

This is a practice technique. When you answer your MBE question, force yourself to state the authority in your head before you pick your answer, or even look at your answer choices. Say for example, before looking at the answer choices, the answer to this has got to be negligence per se because there is a statute and the statute is intended to protect this plaintiff. Then pick your answer. This will strengthen your thinking when you have two close choices and you must decide. This will help you if the question is too hard, and you must pick something.

I am so loaded with ideas on this topic, let me know if any of this makes sense. If you already know these ideas, or these are not worth much, I will bring on round two. Get your spreadsheet going now.

[pineapple99]

Long time lurker and first time poster. Did Barbri, wrote out about 80 practice essays, timed. Also took a class at my school just on performance exams (did about 13-15 PTs). Also, had my essays graded from tutors at school. Performance tests I was hitting around 75 (with one 90). Essays I was getting around 70-75. Barbri MBE I scored 124 on the final.

Putting all of this together, I went in pretty confident. I knew I didn't do well on remedies or the first performance test but I felt that my other scores would carry me through. Surprise surprise...lol.



essay 1 55-55 : 55
essay 2: 60-60 : 60
essay 3: 60-55 : 57.5
essay 4: 60-60 : 60
essay 5: 65-60 :62.5
essay 6: 65-60 :62.5

pt a: 55-55: 55
pt b: 70-65: 67.5

raw written: 602.5
scaled written: 1404
MBE scaled: 1368


total:: 1391.5


Not sure what happened.

Anyways, I don't even know if a 1391 is considered "close" to passing.

Does anyone know what a 1368 scaled mbe translates to? I'm guessing around 120?

[2807]

Anyone looking for an approach to essays, and a simple IRAC formula to consider, look here:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=220409

Starts in page 3 and continues for many more.
Just read and absorb what you need.

Yes, there are many ways to do an essay.
This is just one of them.
This is how I learned it, and I passed.
I shared this a year ago and others passed too, coming back to thank me.

Hopefully this gives you some structure to rely on, and you can personalize it around that.

[jarofsoup]

To retake CA or to take NY that is my dilemma. What would you folks do?

How bad is the serial re-taker problem in CA? Statistically my chances of passing in February are extremely low right?

[Carryon]

To retake CA or to take NY that is my dilemma. What would you folks do?

How bad is the serial re-taker problem in CA? Statistically my chances of passing in February are extremely low right?

I would not judge by statistics. Rather, figure out how to pass, how can you improve your score. That's what I am trying to do. My thinking now is to take practice exams and get them graded with feedback.

[jarofsoup]

To retake CA or to take NY that is my dilemma. What would you folks do?

How bad is the serial re-taker problem in CA? Statistically my chances of passing in February are extremely low right?

I would not judge by statistics. Rather, figure out how to pass, how can you improve your score. That's what I am trying to do. My thinking now is to take practice exams and get them graded with feedback.

I guess my question is if you could take another bar besides CBX would you. I do not have long to study maybe a little over a month.

Im also guessing that you had to get over a 1500 on the MBE scaled to pass this exam. On my essays I realized that I could have passed the attorneys exam if I got 5 more points.

[Carryon]

To retake CA or to take NY that is my dilemma. What would you folks do?

How bad is the serial re-taker problem in CA? Statistically my chances of passing in February are extremely low right?

I would not judge by statistics. Rather, figure out how to pass, how can you improve your score. That's what I am trying to do. My thinking now is to take practice exams and get them graded with feedback.

I guess my question is if you could take another bar besides CBX would you. I do not have long to study maybe a little over a month.

Im also guessing that you had to get over a 1500 on the MBE scaled to pass this exam. On my essays I realized that I could have passed the attorneys exam if I got 5 more points.

Depends where you are going to practice. If you are not planning on practicing in California, then take it in some other state. I took bars in two other states and passed. They had higher pass rates than California.

[lmr]

Long time lurker and first time poster. Did Barbri, wrote out about 80 practice essays, timed. Also took a class at my school just on performance exams (did about 13-15 PTs). Also, had my essays graded from tutors at school. Performance tests I was hitting around 75 (with one 90). Essays I was getting around 70-75. Barbri MBE I scored 124 on the final.

Putting all of this together, I went in pretty confident. I knew I didn't do well on remedies or the first performance test but I felt that my other scores would carry me through. Surprise surprise...lol.



essay 1 55-55 : 55
essay 2: 60-60 : 60
essay 3: 60-55 : 57.5
essay 4: 60-60 : 60
essay 5: 65-60 :62.5
essay 6: 65-60 :62.5

pt a: 55-55: 55
pt b: 70-65: 67.5

raw written: 602.5
scaled written: 1404
MBE scaled: 1368


total:: 1391.5


Not sure what happened.

Anyways, I don't even know if a 1391 is considered "close" to passing.

Does anyone know what a 1368 scaled mbe translates to? I'm guessing around 120?

Were you incredibly stressed out? Pressed for time? When you practiced your essays and PTs were they timed and closed book? I was always surprised whenever friends would tell me that they spent extra time on the PT or looked at notes for the essays as if that would be a good indicator of how they did on the actual exam. it just seems really odd to have such a drop in your essay +PT scores on the day of the exam-your scores are consistently low between 1st and 2nd read-was your tutor just a very easy grader?

[lmr]

To retake CA or to take NY that is my dilemma. What would you folks do?

How bad is the serial re-taker problem in CA? Statistically my chances of passing in February are extremely low right?

Everyone who was a year ahead of me who failed in July passed in Feb-I think if you got rid of the third or fourth repeaters and looked at statistics for 2nd time test takers from aba/ca accredited schools it would prob be higher.

[dtl]

If I read those answers before I learned that I passed I would be absolutely convinced that I did not pass. They seem just plain wrong in some ways and miss stuff in others.

Specific performance awarded on a service contract? No talk of how he had no actual plans in place to get the magazine shoot/certainty?

No mention of the confession used as impeachment?

I dunno.

[adonai]

If I read those answers before I learned that I passed I would be absolutely convinced that I did not pass. They seem just plain wrong in some ways and miss stuff in others.

Specific performance awarded on a service contract? No talk of how he had no actual plans in place to get the magazine shoot/certainty?

No mention of the confession used as impeachment?

I dunno.

+1. I didn't write about half the issues mentioned in those "model" answers.