Texas Bar Exam July 2014 Forum

[aquasalad]

Ya, after doing 4 of the most recent procedure exams this afternoon, this isn't bad. It is repetitive and pretty easy as long as you take the time to go through them and figure out what they will be asking.

LOL at Barbri trying to get me to pay more money for their little procedure workshop. What a racket

[Burgstaller04]

How many Texas P&E questions are there?

[arkhamhorror]

40: 20 civil/20 crim. However, I've heard it's far more focused on the procedure part and less so on the evidence, so if you want to gamble, focus on the procedure more.

Counts for 10% of the overall total score. I kind of look at it as the potential for 60-70 free points, since the test is fairly formulaic. Make up easy points here that may be lost on the more difficult essays.

[OklahomasOK]

Has anyone looked at the recent essays for Real Property? Holy cow. Some of these are things I would NEVER learn. I went back and made a distribution of the frequency of real property topics as they come up. There simply isn't enough time to learn enough to know everything they could test over.

[ggocat]

I went back and made a distribution of the frequency of real property topics as they come up. There simply isn't enough time to learn enough to know everything they could test over.

I did this for eight exams, and real property / oil & gas definitely seemed to have the greatest variety. Issues that repeated 3-4 times for real property included: homestead rules, liens, and recording statute. For oil and gas, 2 times each: reasonably prudent operator standard, executive right, and classifying minerals.

[arkhamhorror]

I know last year was a L/T question. Haven't seen the others yet.

Honestly, general Texas RP is probably one of the essays that I'm just going to count on getting most everything wrong and live with it, same with commercial paper if it appears. I'd rather spend the brain power elsewhere than learn the nuances.

[Neve]

Has anyone looked at the recent essays for Real Property? Holy cow. Some of these are things I would NEVER learn. I went back and made a distribution of the frequency of real property topics as they come up. There simply isn't enough time to learn enough to know everything they could test over.

I'm going through the CMR for Tx RP and making notecards since the Barbri lecturer did a bad job of it -- it annoys me how TX RP was interwoven with the MBE property lecture when clearly there are very different subjects.

I would prefer to do an all-nighter, attempt to learn as much essay stuff as I can for oil & gas and Tx RP and get partial credit than zero credit (if I can't learn it perfectly between now and the exam). I actually looked some terms and stuff up on Wikipedia since I have no background in real estate transactions. Most likely the essay will be on: MML, homestead, easements, landlord-tenant law, recording statutes, or adverse possession.

[Gofigure]

Does anybody know if FIT and bankruptcy are ever actually tested? Besides the double-taxation of corporations? I took both classes and am planning not to study for them at all for the bar really. Want to make sure that's a good idea.

[aquasalad]

Only bankruptcy thing I've seen doing essays is the trustee as a hypothetical judgment lien creditor in a secured problem... I've got way more important things to worry about, like teaching myself family law, which I do not currently understand at all.

[arkhamhorror]

Only bankruptcy thing I've seen doing essays is the trustee as a hypothetical judgment lien creditor in a secured problem... I've got way more important things to worry about, like teaching myself family law, which I do not currently understand at all.

I've been cramming family law and W/E/T over the past few days.

When in doubt: property is default community and best interests of the child.

I'm more worried about the very small amount of time I've put in so far. Hopefully I can scrape an average of 16 on each essay and not have to take this thing over. It's super expensive.

[Neve]

Not studying bankruptcy or FIT since it's unlikely to be on the exam. And if it is then everyone is screwed.

For the essays, I'm cramming like mad right now. Do people actually know all the black letter law for everything? I'm concerned about the extent of information we have to know about each subject.

[arkhamhorror]

No. In fact, I actually know very little black letter law at the moment but am hoping to cram a few things in there during the last week or so.

The other jurisdiction I took had state specific essays, and I remember making up tax, estates, and real property, and still got the average you needed to pass.

Instead of cramming just black letter law, I found it helpful to go over old exams in the last week and issue spot like crazy (don't actually write out the answers unless you're having major time management issues). They cycle through scenarios, and it's helpful to see the actual depth of stuff that they test on.

[Burgstaller04]

Instead of cramming just black letter law, I found it helpful to go over old exams in the last week and issue spot like crazy (don't actually write out the answers unless you're having major time management issues). They cycle through scenarios, and it's helpful to see the actual depth of stuff that they test on.

Totally agree. I've been doing this for a couple days and it has seemed to help a lot in the topics that I have a base knowledge of. However for the topics I have trouble with (secured transactions and commercial paper) it was tough to do it that way.

[Burgstaller04]

As an aside, if anyone has any good resources to learn either of those two topics in a hurry, let me know.

[TX129392]

For the essays, I'm cramming like mad right now. Do people actually know all the black letter law for everything? I'm concerned about the extent of information we have to know about each subject.

I feel the exact same way. I'm glad I'm not alone.

There are sample answers on the BLE website, for what it's worth -- go to "Selected Answers" under "Examination Information". The sample answers are actually pretty freakin' detailed, so that's stressing me out. Hopefully they pick the very best ones as samples.

[arkhamhorror]

Couple points.

Re: sample answers. Yes, they're detailed but my understanding is that those are the models that get 24-25. Hence, they properly state the rule of law and don't contain any misstatements, and cover all the facts in a clear and concise manner. If you can write that much then great, you're essentially guaranteed to pass. But you're really aiming for an average of 16-17 on each, so if you have to make up a rule here or there or don't cover every single point either due to not knowing the answer, or running out of time, or overlooking it, the hope is that what you do know will get you to that average score.

Re: commercial paper. I made flashcards from the CMR and I'm planning on reviewing the remainder of sample answers concerning the subject. Outside of that, I'm concentrating on concepts that are easier to memorize and not worrying about it too much. Worst comes to worst, I know the commercial paper "buzz words" so that, combined with some b.s. legal analysis, should be enough to scrape a 12/13 on the essay, and hopefully I'll score higher on another subject to bring the average up.

I'd rather focus on UCC/Family Law/Estates & Wills since that's 50% of the exam.

[Neve]

I didn't think Secured Transactions is that bad - the Barbri lecture lays it out step-by-step. They like to test on PMSIs so know that really well.

For oil and gas, I'm just going through the old exam questions. The previous two O&G questions were recycled word for word (save the guys' names) from exams 4-5 years ago.

Commercial paper is something different. I think I'm going to attempt to read the CMR on it and go through the exams, but not waste too much time.

[tmbrtmbr]

What is an approximately passing/above passing score for the Crim Procedure/Evidence 20 questions? For example, on the recent exams I typically score (in terms of the Barbri "correct answers"):

8 Questions: Perfectly Correct
8 Questions: Between 1/2 and 2/3 Correct (e.g. only remember 4/5 prerequisites to obtain a search warrant)
4 Questions: Totally wrong

Sufficient? Not?

[jimmythecatdied6]

What's your plan for the last week of studying? I don't plan on going too crazy. Seems like I have worked hard enough to not kill myself trying to cram in the last week. Feeling pretty good about half of the material that will likely get tested on the essay portion of the exam, and I am hoping for a generous curve w/r/t material that I don't know (commercial paper, secured transactions, and oil and gas).

My plan for the rest of the week:

1. MBE mixed sets - do about 50 questions / day. I am not even sure if it's necessary considering how much work I have already put into the MBE, but I figure I may as well try to maintain as best I can.

2. P+E - issue spot from previous exams. I am trying to do at least one set (40) of P+E questions / day. The questions that they ask are so repetitive, I would definitely recommend taking a look and trying to get a feel for what is / is not important.

3. Essays - issue spot from previous exams. I am trying to do 12 essay questions per day. My basic approach is to issue spot first, try to articulate to myself how I would answer the question, and then review the model answer. I do a little bit of memorization as well, but try to focus my memorization on the rule statements that are more heavily tested on previous exams.

All in all, I am putting in about 6-8 hours per day. Really aiming for the middle of the pack on this thing.

[Burgstaller04]

Really aiming for the middle of the pack on this thing.

yessss

[arkhamhorror]

Really aiming for the middle of the pack on this thing.

yessss

That's really all it is. Did you graduate from a quasi-accredited law school? Are you minimally competent? You too can be a lawyer in the state of Texas!

I'm just reviewing the flashcards I made/Critical Pass cards, doing some light MBE questions, and issue spotting the exams they have on their web site. Other than that, trying not to get too worked up about it. All practical consequences aside, it really just is another exam, albeit a lengthy pain-in-the-ass exam.

[aquasalad]

I'm so sick of doing this. I've been going hard the entire time since Barbri started, and I still feel like I barely know the essays.

I put in 4 hours earlier today on the mbe, went and worked out, and am trying to do essays the rest of the evening. Need energy. Can't wait for this to be overrrrrrr

[Raven1228]

does anyone have any idea as to the chances between a Trusts question or Guardianship question? I think the February exam had Trusts but I don't know if there's any pattern

[Neve]

70% of the time it's Trusts according to Barbri. Focus on charitable and spendthrift trusts. UPIA was last exam.

[Raven1228]

Thank you for the reply.