California Bar Exam (February 2014) thread Forum

[Patrick123]

I have a reservation at Sheraton Pasadena from Feb 24 to Feb 26. then I have a room at Pasadena Holiday Inn from February 26 to 27.

unfortunately I am not going to take the bar in Pasadena this month and I cannot return the reservation bec I got it from hotwire.com

If anyone needs a room for the Pasadena February 2014 California Bar exam. let me know and I may give you the room for a fraction of the market value as long as the hotel allows it. I live in LA.

good luck to all

[2807]

Also-- if you have the $$ .......
I highly recommend getting your room an extra night so you do not have to checkout on the morning of the last test day. You will appreciate having that room one more time for lunch/rest and not having the stress of checking out in the morn of that day 3.

Or at least try to schedule a late check out.
My hotel would not allow late ck out, so I had to rent extra day.

Just know that this issue exists.
Solve it according to your pain threshold.

[MURPH]

I have a problem with the multpile question fact scenarios on the MBE. These are the ones that say for example "for questions 62 theough 65, assume the following facts ..."

I am getting these wrong two or three times as often as i get the single question scenarios wrong. I tried the usual methods of slowing down and double checking but that doesnt help much. Does anyone have any tricks they use for these or any good habit that they learnd for these questions?
In the single issue questions i do very well and i feel like i know the answer before i look at the answer choices

[get it to x]

I have a problem with the multpile question fact scenarios on the MBE. These are the ones that say for example "for questions 62 theough 65, assume the following facts ..."

I am getting these wrong two or three times as often as i get the single question scenarios wrong. I tried the usual methods of slowing down and double checking but that doesnt help much. Does anyone have any tricks they use for these or any good habit that they learnd for these questions?
In the single issue questions i do very well and i feel like i know the answer before i look at the answer choices

I'm 90%+ sure that the MBE has eliminated the multiple question fact scenarios in favor of asking more ridiculous recording acts/mortgage and obscure Con Law questions. In fact, I have found the old released questions don't resemble the real thing. Nothing more than pure speculation but the NCBE may have swapped out some psychometricians sometime in the last 2 years and started putting out a different product that the test-prep companies have not caught up with or on to yet.

[MURPH]

I am glad to hear that. I had heard they got rid of the Roman Numeral type questions where the stem of the question would end with something like D can be charged with I. Larceny II. Robbery III. Attempted Larceny IV. Attempted Robbery and then the answers are a. I and III b. I, and II c. I and IV d. IV only

I see they made a lot of changes in 2009, also eliminating the none of the above or all of the above questions and decreasing the quotes too.

That is good to know.

Here is a link to an NCBE magazine confirming this: http://www.ncbex.org/assets/media_files ... onahue.pdf

[a male human]

Doesn't that mean the real MBE questions people practice with are pretty different from the real ones in 2014?

[CourtneyElizabeth]

Guys, you're freaking out A male human! Don't worry about it. They're still stupid questions that will test MBE knowledge that you most likely won't need in practice.
I'm driving to and from Ontario every day (I'm in the South Bay area). I know it's not really the best idea, but I am poor. I tried to get into the Pasadena center and it was full and they haven't been helpful at all in switching centers.

[a male human]

Guys, you're freaking out A male human! Don't worry about it. They're still stupid questions that will test MBE knowledge that you most likely won't need in practice.
I'm driving to and from Ontario every day (I'm in the South Bay area). I know it's not really the best idea, but I am poor. I tried to get into the Pasadena center and it was full and they haven't been helpful at all in switching centers.

You're going to make 12-hour round trips every day...? When did you try to switch? It was a hassle when I tried to switch from Ontario to Sacramento back in late Dec and early Jan (they were in the middle of moving their office, so my mail was buried somewhere but they found it).

Maybe you can haggle with the guy here. It's better than driving from the South Bay:

I have a reservation at Sheraton Pasadena from Feb 24 to Feb 26. then I have a room at Pasadena Holiday Inn from February 26 to 27.

unfortunately I am not going to take the bar in Pasadena this month and I cannot return the reservation bec I got it from hotwire.com

If anyone needs a room for the Pasadena February 2014 California Bar exam. let me know and I may give you the room for a fraction of the market value as long as the hotel allows it. I live in LA.

good luck to all

If anything, sleep in your car. You might smell by day 3, but maybe that will distract the people around you to your advantage.

[MURPH]

Doesn't that mean the real MBE questions people practice with are pretty different from the real ones in 2014?

right.
They eliminated a lot of the crappy questions and just made the remaining question a bit smoother. They no longer write "A painter, Painty, signs a valid contract with owner, Owen,...." They just write "A painter signs a contract with an owner..."


I just took the most recent on line test at NCBE. http://store.ncbex.org/mbe-online-practice-exam-4/
It has the new question type. It is a bit smoother than the practice material. I didn't realize the questions had changed until the other poster pointed it out to me. I am glad to see it. My worst subject in July, Evidence, is now my best. I don't know how that happened.

They do have a bit of an obsession with the judgment lien/recording act/ mortgage thing. That hasn't changed.

[CourtneyElizabeth]

12 hours?!? It's an hour away from Redondo!

[DwightSchruteFarms]

Doesn't that mean the real MBE questions people practice with are pretty different from the real ones in 2014?

right.
They eliminated a lot of the crappy questions and just made the remaining question a bit smoother. They no longer write "A painter, Painty, signs a valid contract with owner, Owen,...." They just write "A painter signs a contract with an owner..."


I just took the most recent on line test at NCBE. http://store.ncbex.org/mbe-online-practice-exam-4/
It has the new question type. It is a bit smoother than the practice material. I didn't realize the questions had changed until the other poster pointed it out to me. I am glad to see it. My worst subject in July, Evidence, is now my best. I don't know how that happened.

They do have a bit of an obsession with the judgment lien/recording act/ mortgage thing. That hasn't changed.

How did you do on that? I scored a 77% but that seems wayyyy too high or realistic given that I've been hovering aroung thr 69/70 mark throughout prep

[MURPH]

It said my extrapolated score was 169. My raw score in July was 144, which converts to about 160 on the MBE conversion table. Average improvement from the first to the second test is 8 points. So that is pretty much where I am at. I think I can squeeze a few more points out of this thing this week. The MBE was my strong point in the first test and I have been working at it almost every day. I have been around the 80% mark but that includes the type of questions that I was complaining about before I realized they changed them. So I am optimistic.

I have to budget my time this week. I am very weak on Business Associations, PR and Civ Pro. I'll take practice tests on those three subjects today. My timing has gotten a little better on the Performance Tests but I could use some work there too.

[a male human]

12 hours?!? It's an hour away from Redondo!

I thought you were talking about the Bay Area in Norcal...

[a male human]

Why is CA a 3-day test where MBE is only worth a third of the whole grade?

I can't believe they've done this.

Maybe one day it'll become a 4-day test with some more random subjects.

[El Pollito]

Dumb question, when does this thing start and end each day?

[kershawfan]

Dumb question, when does this thing start and end each day?

Laptop testers must be seated by 8:20. I believe it starts around 9-9:10 after all of the instructions are read etc. Lunch is a little over an hour on days 1 and 3, longer on day 2. We were out before 5:00 when I took it a couple of years ago.

[El Pollito]

Dumb question, when does this thing start and end each day?

Laptop testers must be seated by 8:20. I believe it starts around 9-9:10 after all of the instructions are read etc. Lunch is a little over an hour on days 1 and 3, longer on day 2. We were out before 5:00 when I took it a couple of years ago.

Thanks. I'm asking because I have to make it to the car rental place after. What have I done to myself?

[kershawfan]

2 quick questions:

1. I'm studying with barbri materials from 2011. Any major major changes I should try to review since then?

2. Is there a guide to formatting an answer in SoftTest? I don't understand how to create different columns for something like a response to a motion for summary judgment or a caption for a complaint if one is required on a PT. I guess plan B is grabbing a blue book and a pencil. Yikes.

[fl0w]

2 quick questions:

1. I'm studying with barbri materials from 2011. Any major major changes I should try to review since then?

2. Is there a guide to formatting an answer in SoftTest? I don't understand how to create different columns for something like a response to a motion for summary judgment or a caption for a complaint if one is required on a PT. I guess plan B is grabbing a blue book and a pencil. Yikes.

Plaint________ )_____ Case No. -----
v.____________)_____ Jury Trial Demanded
Defen________ )


Ascii art man. Replace the "_____" with pressing the tab key

[JohnnyBeagle]

What is everyone's predictions for the essays this time around? I know the July 2013 predictions were pretty accurate

[DwightSchruteFarms]

What is everyone's predictions for the essays this time around? I know the July 2013 predictions were pretty accurate

I think:

ConLaw
PR
Property
Evidence
Wills/Trusts
Corporations

[El Pollito]

What is everyone's predictions for the essays this time around? I know the July 2013 predictions were pretty accurate

I think:

ConLaw
PR
Property
Evidence
Wills/Trusts
Corporations

Ugh that would be obnoxious.

[a male human]

PR
Property
Crim law and/or pro
Business associations (corps, agency and/or partnership)
Civ pro (fed and/or CA)
Evidence (fed and/or CA)

I would welcome con law (unless it's some weird presidential powers one)

[CourtneyElizabeth]

Crim Law and Pro
PR
Evidence
Civ Pro
Real Prop
Biz Org
Wills/Trusts

[kershawfan]

2 quick questions:

1. I'm studying with barbri materials from 2011. Any major major changes I should try to review since then?

2. Is there a guide to formatting an answer in SoftTest? I don't understand how to create different columns for something like a response to a motion for summary judgment or a caption for a complaint if one is required on a PT. I guess plan B is grabbing a blue book and a pencil. Yikes.

Plaint________ )_____ Case No. -----
v.____________)_____ Jury Trial Demanded
Defen________ )


Ascii art man. Replace the "_____" with pressing the tab key

Thanks!