Kaplan Bar Review Hangout - July 2015 Exam Forum

[orangecup]

Thought the Torts distinction video for NY was not great. Was a bit confused as he was working through it. Seems like some of the MBE rules that the other dude listed in that fill in the blank outline weren't entirely on point either.

[smaug]

Thought the Torts distinction video for NY was not great. Was a bit confused as he was working through it. Seems like some of the MBE rules that the other dude listed in that fill in the blank outline weren't entirely on point either.

Did you follow along with the New York Subjects book? He followed it pretty closely.

[orangecup]

Thought the Torts distinction video for NY was not great. Was a bit confused as he was working through it. Seems like some of the MBE rules that the other dude listed in that fill in the blank outline weren't entirely on point either.

Did you follow along with the New York Subjects book? He followed it pretty closely.

I did about halfway through. Still thought it wasn't presented very well though (both the book itself, and the video)

For instance, will we need to know all the other distinctions listed in that book? Or are the ones he outlined sufficient?

Also, does the fact that NY abolishes invitee/licensee/trespasser distinction mean that mean that we use the reasonably prudent person standard for everything under Point 6 on the fill in the blank outline (Land Possessor Liability)? Or do we still apply MBE rules for things like Plaintiffs not on the land?

[smaug]

Thought the Torts distinction video for NY was not great. Was a bit confused as he was working through it. Seems like some of the MBE rules that the other dude listed in that fill in the blank outline weren't entirely on point either.

Did you follow along with the New York Subjects book? He followed it pretty closely.

I did about halfway through. Still thought it wasn't presented very well though (both the book itself, and the video)

For instance, will we need to know all the other distinctions listed in that book? Or are the ones he outlined sufficient?

Also, does the fact that NY abolishes invitee/licensee/trespasser distinction mean that mean that we use the reasonably prudent person standard for everything under Point 6 on the fill in the blank outline (Land Possessor Liability)? Or do we still apply MBE rules for things like Plaintiffs not on the land?

I'd say it's like everything else—it's impossible to know everything, so you try to learn the important/easy things and see him many of the others you pick up.

Re: invitee/licensee/trespasser thing, I'm not sure what you're talking about, but you're not going to apply the MBE rule over the NY rule for the NY sections, unless you don't know the NY rule. It's not the reasonably prudent person standard it's the "reasonable under the circumstances" standard. He made that pretty clear/that seems like one of the few things that you'd want to try to commit to memory from this section, yeah?

[orangecup]

I'd say it's like everything else—it's impossible to know everything, so you try to learn the important/easy things and see him many of the others you pick up.

Re: invitee/licensee/trespasser thing, I'm not sure what you're talking about, but you're not going to apply the MBE rule over the NY rule for the NY sections, unless you don't know the NY rule. It's not the reasonably prudent person standard it's the "reasonable under the circumstances" standard. He made that pretty clear/that seems like one of the few things that you'd want to try to commit to memory from this section, yeah?

Woops, my bad. That's what I meant, was just going off my imperfect memory (it takes me forever to commit this stuff to memory).

The fill in the blank outline had several sections:

Land possessor liability
- Plaintiffs on the Land
- Plaintiffs not on the land
- Landlord and Tenants

I know that the NY rule obviously applies for plaintiffs on the land. But what about plaintiffs not on the land? The MBE rule is that for artificial conditions on the land, D has a reasonable duty of care (and for natural conditions, no duty unless a tree in an urban area). Does NY follow this as well? Or does the reasonable under the circumstances rule prevail?

[bowser]

Why does Kaplan have so many MBE questions with subject matter completely left out of the Outline/videos? Out of 10 practice questions it seems like 2-4 test material you never even know about until you read the answer key. I don't understand how making you struggle with a question they haven't even prepped you for is helpful.

[gregfootball2001]

Why does Kaplan have so many MBE questions with subject matter completely left out of the Outline/videos? Out of 10 practice questions it seems like 2-4 test material you never even know about until you read the answer key. I don't understand how making you struggle with a question they haven't even prepped you for is helpful.

Agreed. I've decided to skip doing QBank questions until I've watched all the videos for that subject.

[westphillybandr]

How are people scoring on these MBE questions? I'm scoring in the 65 - 75% area. Are these decent percentages at this point?

[LAW813FL]

How are people scoring on these MBE questions? I'm scoring in the 65 - 75% area. Are these decent percentages at this point?

Nah, you really wanna be in the 95% - 100% at this point.

For real though, 65% is the goal they say you should be able to pass the MBE with.

[westphillybandr]

How are people scoring on these MBE questions? I'm scoring in the 65 - 75% area. Are these decent percentages at this point?

Nah, you really wanna be in the 95% - 100% at this point.

For real though, 65% is the goal they say you should be able to pass the MBE with.

Really? I didn't realize the standards were so low. I haven't put much studying in. Am I missing something?

[LAW813FL]

How are people scoring on these MBE questions? I'm scoring in the 65 - 75% area. Are these decent percentages at this point?

Nah, you really wanna be in the 95% - 100% at this point.

For real though, 65% is the goal they say you should be able to pass the MBE with.

Really? I didn't realize the standards were so low. I haven't put much studying in. Am I missing something?

It's not that low when you think about it. you need a 136 scaled to pass. 65% of the questions right on the bar exam would be 130 correct answers for your raw score. After scaling, that would be around 140-145. Of course, going above and beyond that is good in case you mess up on Florida.

[LAW813FL]

Anybody else get a handful of non-negligence, or whatever subject, questions in a quiz when you select only negligence, or whatever subject you select? I just tried to do a negligence-only quiz and there were a couple questions about easements and vicarious liability and a couple of other things not mentioned in the lecture.

[fishy]

Anybody else get a handful of non-negligence, or whatever subject, questions in a quiz when you select only negligence, or whatever subject you select? I just tried to do a negligence-only quiz and there were a couple questions about easements and vicarious liability and a couple of other things not mentioned in the lecture.

Joining the thread to agree with this and complain about the generally shitty quality of the QBank questions. I feel like they choose the most random topics to hone in on and they don't track the MBE content/form that closely. I'm pretty close to giving up on the QBank and doing the MBE book only.

[LAW813FL]

Is there a difference between the Qbank and MBE book questions? I always just assumed they were the same content.

[fishy]

I could be wrong, but I thought the mbe practice q book is actual, previous mbe questions and the qbank is Kaplan created questions.

[underthirty]

.

[EZ as AsDf]

My review course started off with Property, now Con Law and next is Civ Pro. Are the courses specifically tailored for each user?

Also, anyone here doing the CA Bar? How is Kaplan working out so far?

[spek]

I think the order is state-specific. I'm doing CA and I have the same order. It's going okay so far, I don't have a strong opinion on it yet.

[robinhoodOO]

I think the order is state-specific. I'm doing CA and I have the same order. It's going okay so far, I don't have a strong opinion on it yet.

Yup, taking the CA version and we're all on the same 'schedule.'

Complaints:

1) Personally, I've found some annoying grammatical and spelling issues with some of the QBank MBE's. One just from the other day really stood out leaving out the word "install" between state and state-of-the-art. Uff da.

2) Also on complaints about QBank, I've noticed some of the Q's testing weird little exceptions that were not in the outlines or lectures. This seems to jive with someone's earlier complaint, and it's very annoying.

3) I'm not a fan of filling in bar notes. Hate the format and it seems like a waste of time. I've already completely reverted the first two subjects into personal outlines and completely disregarded the Bar Notes. More condensed, better formatted, etc. Honestly, that's probably what we should be doing anyway, so this isn't that big of a deal.

4) Only minor annoyances, but overall it's 'satisfactory.' Probably also fair to say it meets the minimum competency for Bar Review...

[gabewatch]

I could be wrong, but I thought the mbe practice q book is actual, previous mbe questions and the qbank is Kaplan created questions.

Nope. All questions are created by Kaplan.

So then does anyone know why there is a qbank and an mbe practice hardcopy book? And why they split the assignments up through them?

[SiRR]

I could be wrong, but I thought the mbe practice q book is actual, previous mbe questions and the qbank is Kaplan created questions.

Nope. All questions are created by Kaplan.

So then does anyone know why there is a qbank and an mbe practice hardcopy book? And why they split the assignments up through them?

I believe the justification is to prepare for test day by practicing with paper/pencil. I find that rationale somewhat suspect. I mean, at this point, if you haven't figured out how to properly bubble a scantron...

I would much rather have all the questions available on QBank - though I suppose it's helpful if you're somewhere without internet?

[robinhoodOO]

I could be wrong, but I thought the mbe practice q book is actual, previous mbe questions and the qbank is Kaplan created questions.

Nope. All questions are created by Kaplan.

So then does anyone know why there is a qbank and an mbe practice hardcopy book? And why they split the assignments up through them?

I believe the justification is to prepare for test day by practicing with paper/pencil. I find that rationale somewhat suspect. I mean, at this point, if you haven't figured out how to properly bubble a scantron...

I would much rather have all the questions available on QBank - though I suppose it's helpful if you're somewhere without internet?

Maybe I'm weird, but I actually prefer the hardcopy. I seem to be able to focus better and have one less distraction (the PC).

With that said, I'd chime in that the quality of questions between the two does seem to be slightly different. I'm grading higher on the book MBE's, but this could just be because it's easier for me to focus.

[LAW813FL]

I could be wrong, but I thought the mbe practice q book is actual, previous mbe questions and the qbank is Kaplan created questions.

Nope. All questions are created by Kaplan.

So then does anyone know why there is a qbank and an mbe practice hardcopy book? And why they split the assignments up through them?

I believe the justification is to prepare for test day by practicing with paper/pencil. I find that rationale somewhat suspect. I mean, at this point, if you haven't figured out how to properly bubble a scantron...

I would much rather have all the questions available on QBank - though I suppose it's helpful if you're somewhere without internet?

Maybe I'm weird, but I actually prefer the hardcopy. I seem to be able to focus better and have one less distraction (the PC).

With that said, I'd chime in that the quality of questions between the two does seem to be slightly different. I'm grading higher on the book MBE's, but this could just be because it's easier for me to focus.

I agree that it is easier to focus on the hardcopy questions. I do think they are the same types of questions, even though the QBank questions seem to be short novels sometimes. I guess it bodes well for the actual MBE that we focus better on the hardcopy tho, we won't be straining our eyes looking at computer screens all day.

[robinhoodOO]

I could be wrong, but I thought the mbe practice q book is actual, previous mbe questions and the qbank is Kaplan created questions.

Nope. All questions are created by Kaplan.

So then does anyone know why there is a qbank and an mbe practice hardcopy book? And why they split the assignments up through them?

I believe the justification is to prepare for test day by practicing with paper/pencil. I find that rationale somewhat suspect. I mean, at this point, if you haven't figured out how to properly bubble a scantron...

I would much rather have all the questions available on QBank - though I suppose it's helpful if you're somewhere without internet?

Maybe I'm weird, but I actually prefer the hardcopy. I seem to be able to focus better and have one less distraction (the PC).

With that said, I'd chime in that the quality of questions between the two does seem to be slightly different. I'm grading higher on the book MBE's, but this could just be because it's easier for me to focus.

I agree that it is easier to focus on the hardcopy questions. I do think they are the same types of questions, even though the QBank questions seem to be short novels sometimes. I guess it bodes well for the actual MBE that we focus better on the hardcopy tho, we won't be straining our eyes looking at computer screens all day.

Exactly--haha. Are you taking the FL bar then?

[InRemington]

The MBE book came in handy this morning when Kaplan wouldn't let me into the course........