Thinking about withdrawing from the NY Bar exam Forum

[myrtlewinston]

Sad thing is that it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one all over the freaking place. Sucks that life can't just be put on hold so we can all study in peace haha. I swear it's been one thing after another with me. First it was moving.. I could handle that after realizing that I still had plenty of time. But after the move, some personal family things came up. I'm just now starting to look through my con law notes (barbri) and haven't even finishing the questions for property or started the con law questions.

I don't know if this will help anyone else, but it has helped me calm down a little bit - I've registered for NJ and NY and I've had to tell myself to calm the F down because I need to find security in passing NJ then worry about the NY stuff later. For some reason that helps me focus on the MBE/Essays and calm down. I just took the option of withdrawing out of my mind because even if I'm so underprepared for NY, the reality is that I've already paid for the exam and the least I can do is take the stupid thing for the experience. Right?

Sorry about your family issues. Try as we might, the time or circumstances are never exactly right.

I caved and bought SmarterBarPrep (this is one expensive test), and it really helps narrow down what to study. The NY outlines are great.

Do we have to stuff everything from the Con Law lecture in our heads?

[Notmyfavbar]

Sad thing is that it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one all over the freaking place. Sucks that life can't just be put on hold so we can all study in peace haha. I swear it's been one thing after another with me. First it was moving.. I could handle that after realizing that I still had plenty of time. But after the move, some personal family things came up. I'm just now starting to look through my con law notes (barbri) and haven't even finishing the questions for property or started the con law questions.

I don't know if this will help anyone else, but it has helped me calm down a little bit - I've registered for NJ and NY and I've had to tell myself to calm the F down because I need to find security in passing NJ then worry about the NY stuff later. For some reason that helps me focus on the MBE/Essays and calm down. I just took the option of withdrawing out of my mind because even if I'm so underprepared for NY, the reality is that I've already paid for the exam and the least I can do is take the stupid thing for the experience. Right?

Sorry about your family issues. Try as we might, the time or circumstances are never exactly right.

I caved and bought SmarterBarPrep (this is one expensive test), and it really helps narrow down what to study. The NY outlines are great.

Do we have to stuff everything from the Con Law lecture in our heads?

Takes me forever to go through lecture notes because I've been using them to add notes to my critical pass notecards. I wish I could retain more after reading through something once or after the lectures. Even though I haven't attempted any con law questions, im def more concerned about property. It's like I never took it first year! ha!

I was considering buying the SMartBarPrep in June, but I didn't because of the price. Now, I figured it would help me prioritize what to study the two weeks before the exam because it's going to be a huge cram session. Was a little iffy because I didn't know if buying it now would just overwhelm with me all the additional information... But like you said, just have to narrow down what to study and maximize points.

[bmonroe]

Sad thing is that it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one all over the freaking place. Sucks that life can't just be put on hold so we can all study in peace haha. I swear it's been one thing after another with me. First it was moving.. I could handle that after realizing that I still had plenty of time. But after the move, some personal family things came up. I'm just now starting to look through my con law notes (barbri) and haven't even finishing the questions for property or started the con law questions.

I don't know if this will help anyone else, but it has helped me calm down a little bit - I've registered for NJ and NY and I've had to tell myself to calm the F down because I need to find security in passing NJ then worry about the NY stuff later. For some reason that helps me focus on the MBE/Essays and calm down. I just took the option of withdrawing out of my mind because even if I'm so underprepared for NY, the reality is that I've already paid for the exam and the least I can do is take the stupid thing for the experience. Right?

True! I put all this money and energy into the exam might as well take it.

[myrtlewinston]

So have I! It's a pact then.

[nvbar2015]

OP, get a product called "Rescue Remedy." It's a stress reliever and it works. Actually I recommend it to anybody studying for the bar. http://www.amazon.com/Bach-LA-AM-FU-Res ... ress+drops

I took it throughout bar prep and it really calmed me down.

[bmonroe]

So have I! It's a pact then.

3 more weeks !!! We can do it

[InTheWideLand I Walk]

remember. this exam is so fickle in the way they grade. they might give you 80's when you only deserved 45's on the essays. that alone is enough motivation to continue. cuz you know even if ur not prepared there is a chance the grader will be in a good mood and give you absurdly high grades when u didnt deserve it. people screw up all the time, big time, and still pass. I know someone (for california bar), who claims he didnt even write an answer to the last PT cuz he had a mental breakdown and he still passed.

that, as weird as it sounds, should be enough motivation to continue.

[bmonroe]

remember. this exam is so fickle in the way they grade. they might give you 80's when you only deserved 45's on the essays. that alone is enough motivation to continue. cuz you know even if ur not prepared there is a chance the grader will be in a good mood and give you absurdly high grades when u didnt deserve it. people screw up all the time, big time, and still pass. I know someone (for california bar), who claims he didnt even write an answer to the last PT cuz he had a mental breakdown and he still passed.

that, as weird as it sounds, should be enough motivation to continue.

Yea, I was reading something similar today . A woman who was a family law paralegal for 16 years recieved a piss poor score on her family law essay . The essays are beyond subjective

[jamesm722]

I don't think they're as much subjective, as it is that the graders don't want a well written essay. I have spoken with attorneys who know some graders, and they were told they will grade an essay in 2-3 minutes sometimes (my bar prep company repeated the same information). They just want the bare minimum. 1 sentence issue, 4-5 sentences of law, 4-5 sentences application, 1 sentence conclusion.

It's completely different than the writing in law school or in practice. Theres a rubric and you either hit the points or you don't

[pizzasodafries]

Hey y'all, just thought I would chime in with my experiences from taking (and passing) the NY bar last July.

At about this time last year, I was seriously procrastinating with my Barbri prepping. I would watch the videos at 2.0 speed, fill in the outlines, but barely re read the outlines, and had done almost zero essay prepping. I submitted only one essay to Barbri to grade and it felt like I was totally out of the loop on that.

Then in early July, about this time, I started to really buckle down and do like 50 Multiple choice questions a day. I started going over the outlines more and more. I didn't start reading the previous essays until like 3 weeks before the exam. My main advice to give to you all is to NOT read the essay answers that Barbri has experts write up; they are not even close to what you need to emulate on test day. Just learn the rules and you will be fine on exam day when you have to fart out the essays real quick.

I did not practice writing too many essays, I just read like 6 a day in the week or two before the exam. I would read the essays, quickly visualize what my answer would be and then read the student answers. That way I quickly was able to learn what was needed on the exam.

When we had MBE prep test in Javits center in early July I got like a 100, on test day I got a 158, and that is after I thought i did terribly on MBE.

Good luck you all, and if you are not up to snuff at this point with what your bar prep is telling you to be at, don't worry, this final month is really what matters most.

[DesperadoOfColumbia]

If you're not freaking out right now you're not doing it right.

[Calicakes]

I try to be upbeat, but it was not a good day. Yesterday, I was exhausted but didn't sleep well. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day!

I'm not trying to be a "drug pusher" and I'm super opposed to any recreational drug usage....... But, the only thing that gets me thru and helps me shut down my brain is half an ativan. If I don't take it, I can't sleep and every time I get up to pee, I'm saying rules over and over and over again. I asked my dr. for a prescription and he had no issue at all with it. If you can't take that, maybe Melatonin?

[Calicakes]

I don't think they're as much subjective, as it is that the graders don't want a well written essay. I have spoken with attorneys who know some graders, and they were told they will grade an essay in 2-3 minutes sometimes (my bar prep company repeated the same information). They just want the bare minimum. 1 sentence issue, 4-5 sentences of law, 4-5 sentences application, 1 sentence conclusion.

It's completely different than the writing in law school or in practice. Theres a rubric and you either hit the points or you don't

I asked my bar tutor about this and a practice question I recently turned into her for grading. This is what she said.


It is semi-true. When the forum says "bare minimum" it really should say "competence." You can't do the bare minimum and do it poorly or incorrectly and pass.

1 sentence issue is incorrect because you can just put a header.
4-5 sentences of law is incorrect because what if you law is only 1 sentence?
4-5 sentences of application is incorrect because some issues require more analysis (Ex. if there are counter arguments) while others (like whether there is a valid K and there are no facts to analyze plus its obvious there is a valid K) only requires 1-2 sentences
1 sentence conclusion is correct. You don't need more than one sentence.
Yes, SOF wasn't an issue for this question. The person just wrote about it because they were doing an outline drop as well. It is okay to outline drop if you use your time wisely on those major issues. The only way to improve on this is to do more essays and critically review the model answers to figure out WHY this was a major issue (is it because there were tons of facts about this issue? is it because it was an outcome determinative issue?). We can definitely talk more about the strategy you are using. However, you must remember that you essay strategy will differ among subjects (ex. torts is a racehorse and you should do semi-conclusory analysis for some issues to finish vs. con law requires more analysis).

[Notmyfavbar]

Alright... that simulated MBE kicked my ass. 99. a EFFING 99. wtf. so stupid because I've been getting mainly around the 60% for all the MBE MPQs for everything except for crim.

I wasn't too worried about it at first because as I was doing the questions, i knew that I jsut didn't remember the things that I learned the first few weeks... and i figured that would be an easy fix, right? And I also realized that there are some concepts that I just don't get.. and I can fix that as well.

But then I started to freak a little because I know a lot of ppl do daily questions, and I only do the ones that Barbri assigns, when they assign them.

It's been such a battle in my head since the simulated MBE today. But I'm thinking that I can get a good refresher of my tricky subjects by just going over my past wrong questions... I know on the barbri app you can review wrong answers. and THIS time i should probably put them on notecards...

That's my little vent session.

[bmonroe]

Alright... that simulated MBE kicked my ass. 99. a EFFING 99. wtf. so stupid because I've been getting mainly around the 60% for all the MBE MPQs for everything except for crim.

I wasn't too worried about it at first because as I was doing the questions, i knew that I jsut didn't remember the things that I learned the first few weeks... and i figured that would be an easy fix, right? And I also realized that there are some concepts that I just don't get.. and I can fix that as well.

But then I started to freak a little because I know a lot of ppl do daily questions, and I only do the ones that Barbri assigns, when they assign them.

It's been such a battle in my head since the simulated MBE today. But I'm thinking that I can get a good refresher of my tricky subjects by just going over my past wrong questions... I know on the barbri app you can review wrong answers. and THIS time i should probably put them on notecards...

That's my little vent session.

Yea, I didnt do so well on the simulated mbe as well, but Now is not the time to get depressed. 200 questions is a lot. so be done with the MBE prep for today. Maybe start tomorrow working on 2 subjects that you have the most trouble with. read some outlines and do some practice questions. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO GET DEPRESSED! IT'S ALMOST GAME TIME ! CHIN ALL THE WAY THE F%^K UP! LOL! Seriously, don't do it to yourself.

[bmonroe]

Hey y'all, just thought I would chime in with my experiences from taking (and passing) the NY bar last July.

At about this time last year, I was seriously procrastinating with my Barbri prepping. I would watch the videos at 2.0 speed, fill in the outlines, but barely re read the outlines, and had done almost zero essay prepping. I submitted only one essay to Barbri to grade and it felt like I was totally out of the loop on that.

Then in early July, about this time, I started to really buckle down and do like 50 Multiple choice questions a day. I started going over the outlines more and more. I didn't start reading the previous essays until like 3 weeks before the exam. My main advice to give to you all is to NOT read the essay answers that Barbri has experts write up; they are not even close to what you need to emulate on test day. Just learn the rules and you will be fine on exam day when you have to fart out the essays real quick.

I did not practice writing too many essays, I just read like 6 a day in the week or two before the exam. I would read the essays, quickly visualize what my answer would be and then read the student answers. That way I quickly was able to learn what was needed on the exam.

When we had MBE prep test in Javits center in early July I got like a 100, on test day I got a 158, and that is after I thought i did terribly on MBE.

Good luck you all, and if you are not up to snuff at this point with what your bar prep is telling you to be at, don't worry, this final month is really what matters most.

I completely agree with the reading essays point. I learn a lot of law I didnt previously know just by reading essays and answers. I take the model answers with a grain of salt. There is no way in hell you can write all of that in 40 mins. But, the model answers are really good at bringing up rules that you either forgot or didnt know at all.
The fact that you did way better on the actual mbe gives me some hope. lol

[Notmyfavbar]

Alright... that simulated MBE kicked my ass. 99. a EFFING 99. wtf. so stupid because I've been getting mainly around the 60% for all the MBE MPQs for everything except for crim.

I wasn't too worried about it at first because as I was doing the questions, i knew that I jsut didn't remember the things that I learned the first few weeks... and i figured that would be an easy fix, right? And I also realized that there are some concepts that I just don't get.. and I can fix that as well.

But then I started to freak a little because I know a lot of ppl do daily questions, and I only do the ones that Barbri assigns, when they assign them.

It's been such a battle in my head since the simulated MBE today. But I'm thinking that I can get a good refresher of my tricky subjects by just going over my past wrong questions... I know on the barbri app you can review wrong answers. and THIS time i should probably put them on notecards...

That's my little vent session.

Yea, I didnt do so well on the simulated mbe as well, but Now is not the time to get depressed. 200 questions is a lot. so be done with the MBE prep for today. Maybe start tomorrow working on 2 subjects that you have the most trouble with. read some outlines and do some practice questions. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO GET DEPRESSED! IT'S ALMOST GAME TIME ! CHIN ALL THE WAY THE F%^K UP! LOL! Seriously, don't do it to yourself.

you are so right. I just needed to take an hour to myself and just chill. I was just super overwhelmed afterwards because I felt like there was no time left to cover the NY subjects which i don't know anything about. Now that I've calmed down, I'm completely re-motivated. I'm already so excited for the first day after the bar... i just can't wait to fall asleep without setting a stupid alarm and going to the gym. it's the little things

[bmonroe]

Alright... that simulated MBE kicked my ass. 99. a EFFING 99. wtf. so stupid because I've been getting mainly around the 60% for all the MBE MPQs for everything except for crim.

I wasn't too worried about it at first because as I was doing the questions, i knew that I jsut didn't remember the things that I learned the first few weeks... and i figured that would be an easy fix, right? And I also realized that there are some concepts that I just don't get.. and I can fix that as well.

But then I started to freak a little because I know a lot of ppl do daily questions, and I only do the ones that Barbri assigns, when they assign them.

It's been such a battle in my head since the simulated MBE today. But I'm thinking that I can get a good refresher of my tricky subjects by just going over my past wrong questions... I know on the barbri app you can review wrong answers. and THIS time i should probably put them on notecards...

That's my little vent session.

Yea, I didnt do so well on the simulated mbe as well, but Now is not the time to get depressed. 200 questions is a lot. so be done with the MBE prep for today. Maybe start tomorrow working on 2 subjects that you have the most trouble with. read some outlines and do some practice questions. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO GET DEPRESSED! IT'S ALMOST GAME TIME ! CHIN ALL THE WAY THE F%^K UP! LOL! Seriously, don't do it to yourself.

you are so right. I just needed to take an hour to myself and just chill. I was just super overwhelmed afterwards because I felt like there was no time left to cover the NY subjects which i don't know anything about. Now that I've calmed down, I'm completely re-motivated. I'm already so excited for the first day after the bar... i just can't wait to fall asleep without setting a stupid alarm and going to the gym. it's the little things

I dream about the day after the bar ! Lol! I currently live in Chicago, so I still have to do the whole catching a flight back the next day. But once I get back home! It's party time !!!!! Yayyy!

[myrtlewinston]

I try to be upbeat, but it was not a good day. Yesterday, I was exhausted but didn't sleep well. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day!

I'm not trying to be a "drug pusher" and I'm super opposed to any recreational drug usage....... But, the only thing that gets me thru and helps me shut down my brain is half an ativan. If I don't take it, I can't sleep and every time I get up to pee, I'm saying rules over and over and over again. I asked my dr. for a prescription and he had no issue at all with it. If you can't take that, maybe Melatonin?

I already have a prescription for something. What I need to do is to shut off my brain before bedtime by not going from the desk to the bed. Hope you're sleeping and faring well!

[941law]

Contemplated withdrawing. Not worried about money, emotionally at least. Viewing this attempt as a practice run. I'm not bringing this defeatist attitude into my studying but I'll be bringing it with me when I walk away. I'll probably even start studying before I get results back lol.

[bmonroe]

Contemplated withdrawing. Not worried about money, emotionally at least. Viewing this attempt as a practice run. I'm not bringing this defeatist attitude into my studying but I'll be bringing it with me when I walk away. I'll probably even start studying before I get results back lol.

Lol! No way !!! Once the exam is done, I'm not reading anything else for awhile. Not even emails! Lol