Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2014 Exam Forum

[Prime]

My grader has been raving about the importance of structuring your arguments. TRAC!

[lawyerwannabe]

My grader has been raving about the importance of structuring your arguments. TRAC!

Good deal. So just religiously stick to that formula. Got it! Thanks!

[kapital98]

I just took a 100 question practice exam from the 2011 MBE exam (on adaptibar) and scored 71%!!! It was my first practice exam and I thought I tanked it. F*CK YEAH!

[Tanicius]

I just took a 100 question practice exam from the 2011 MBE exam (on adaptibar) and scored 71%!!! It was my first practice exam and I thought I tanked it. F*CK YEAH!

That's always an awesome feeling. Congrats!

[iLoveFruits&Veggies]

I just took a 100 question practice exam from the 2011 MBE exam (on adaptibar) and scored 71%!!! It was my first practice exam and I thought I tanked it. F*CK YEAH!

That's always an awesome feeling. Congrats!

I just went to check what score I got on the 2011 MBE on Adaptibar and I got a 71% too!! Exactly the same!!! (my score slipped a bit though for the 2008 and 2013 exams) The questions seem shorter than the ones on Themis - makes me happy! I was on cloud 9 until I got back to these essays. UGH. Stupid essays!

[bport hopeful]

Does anyone know if there is somewhere I can look at NY bar stats? Not pass rates, but like medians on the MBE, highest MBE score to fail, things like that?

[Prime]

So yea. I definitely need to make sure I do some 'warm up' questions prior to the MBE. Missed like 10 of the first 15 since I went in cold.

[jumpingjack]

Is this answer unfair, or is it just me:

The defendant was tried for robbery. The victim and her friend were the only witnesses called to testify. The victim testified that the defendant threatened her with a knife, grabbed her purse, and ran off with it. The friend testified that he saw the defendant grab the victim's purse and run away with it, but that he neither saw a knife nor heard any threats.

On this evidence the jury could properly return a verdict of guilty of:
A. robbery only. B. larceny only. C. either robbery or larceny. D. both robbery and larceny.

I put in robbery only, because I thought that the "defendant grabbing the victim's purse" was enough for the force/intimidation component for robbery. However, Themis saw it differently, and said that it should be either robbery or larceny, basically because the defendant's "grabbing the purse" was merely a "tresppasory" taking.

Is there some fine detail I missed? Thanks.

[BarExamAvoider]

I got the ""WE HAVE SOLD TO YOU 250,000 SHOES."" question a bunch of times and I still don't get it, and so I too will just assume the real exam will make some sense.

[Lilly76]

So yea. I definitely need to make sure I do some 'warm up' questions prior to the MBE. Missed like 10 of the first 15 since I went in cold.

This. I've been so busy with essays and memorizing the past few days that when I went to do some MBE questions I got the first 5 or so wrong.

[bport hopeful]

Is this answer unfair, or is it just me:

The defendant was tried for robbery. The victim and her friend were the only witnesses called to testify. The victim testified that the defendant threatened her with a knife, grabbed her purse, and ran off with it. The friend testified that he saw the defendant grab the victim's purse and run away with it, but that he neither saw a knife nor heard any threats.

On this evidence the jury could properly return a verdict of guilty of:
A. robbery only. B. larceny only. C. either robbery or larceny. D. both robbery and larceny.

I put in robbery only, because I thought that the "defendant grabbing the victim's purse" was enough for the force/intimidation component for robbery. However, Themis saw it differently, and said that it should be either robbery or larceny, basically because the defendant's "grabbing the purse" was merely a "tresppasory" taking.

Is there some fine detail I missed? Thanks.

Its a merger question. Defendant can be convicted of one or the other, but not both. Think LGs.

[jigglypuffdreams]

Is this answer unfair, or is it just me:

The defendant was tried for robbery. The victim and her friend were the only witnesses called to testify. The victim testified that the defendant threatened her with a knife, grabbed her purse, and ran off with it. The friend testified that he saw the defendant grab the victim's purse and run away with it, but that he neither saw a knife nor heard any threats.

On this evidence the jury could properly return a verdict of guilty of:
A. robbery only. B. larceny only. C. either robbery or larceny. D. both robbery and larceny.

I put in robbery only, because I thought that the "defendant grabbing the victim's purse" was enough for the force/intimidation component for robbery. However, Themis saw it differently, and said that it should be either robbery or larceny, basically because the defendant's "grabbing the purse" was merely a "tresppasory" taking.

Is there some fine detail I missed? Thanks.

Well I guess the way they see it is that both stories can't be true. So either the first witness's story or the second witness's story is true. If the first story's true, it's robbery. If the second story's true, it's larceny. A silly question, but I guess there's only so many ways to ask if you know the difference between robbery or larceny before things get weird.

[mizunoami]

I got the ""WE HAVE SOLD TO YOU 250,000 SHOES."" question a bunch of times and I still don't get it, and so I too will just assume the real exam will make some sense.

I feel this way about the contracts question with the company writing the software that needs to reduce the processing time by 1/2.

[BarExamAvoider]

That company needs to get its act together.

[bport hopeful]

Its larceny either way. If the jury believes that he used force, then its robbery. If hes convicted of robbery, larceny will merge. If hes convicted of larceny, its because the jury didn't believe that there was force or threat of force.

But there is sufficient evidence to support either conviction, but a person cannot be convicted of larceny and robbery arising from the same action, so its one OR the other. Not both.

The question is testing both your knowledge of the elements, but also your understanding of merger.

[dtl]

Is this answer unfair, or is it just me:

The defendant was tried for robbery. The victim and her friend were the only witnesses called to testify. The victim testified that the defendant threatened her with a knife, grabbed her purse, and ran off with it. The friend testified that he saw the defendant grab the victim's purse and run away with it, but that he neither saw a knife nor heard any threats.

On this evidence the jury could properly return a verdict of guilty of:
A. robbery only. B. larceny only. C. either robbery or larceny. D. both robbery and larceny.

I put in robbery only, because I thought that the "defendant grabbing the victim's purse" was enough for the force/intimidation component for robbery. However, Themis saw it differently, and said that it should be either robbery or larceny, basically because the defendant's "grabbing the purse" was merely a "tresppasory" taking.

Is there some fine detail I missed? Thanks.

This question is 100% a merger question disguised as a question asking about the difference between larceny and robbery.

A reasonable jury could find that either story is true as the factfinder. That means they have enough info to "properly" charge for both larceny and robbery.

BUT, larceny is a lesser included offense of robbery. (Robbery = Larceny by force or intimidation). So they merge, and the jury can only do one or the other.

My experience has been that Themis' question are actually pretty fair, but the descriptions for why wrong answers are wrong are near-useless a quarter of the time unless you already know why your answer was wrong.

[TooManyLoans]

I have gone 38/50 exactly on each of the last 4 sets of mixed MBE questions. Each time, I think oh shit this is the set I'm gonna bomb. And every time it's the exact same score. I'm not prepared for the months to follow, nervously waiting results and thinking I bombed.

[bport hopeful]

I have gone 38/50 exactly on each of the last 4 sets of mixed MBE questions. Each time, I think oh shit this is the set I'm gonna bomb. And every time it's the exact same score. I'm not prepared for the months to follow, nervously waiting results and thinking I bombed.

I have this feeling too, but youre going to be good. Youll prolly be zoned in and crush it. Your essays wont matter if you do any better than that.

[Tanicius]

I got the ""WE HAVE SOLD TO YOU 250,000 SHOES."" question a bunch of times and I still don't get it, and so I too will just assume the real exam will make some sense.

I feel this way about the contracts question with the company writing the software that needs to reduce the processing time by 1/2.

FUCK.

THAT.

QUESTION.

[plenipotentiary]

I just took a 100 question practice exam from the 2011 MBE exam (on adaptibar) and scored 71%!!! It was my first practice exam and I thought I tanked it. F*CK YEAH!

How does your Adaptibar score compare to your Themis average? My BarBri friends have said that their Adaptibar scores are much higher.

[mizunoami]

I got the ""WE HAVE SOLD TO YOU 250,000 SHOES."" question a bunch of times and I still don't get it, and so I too will just assume the real exam will make some sense.

I feel this way about the contracts question with the company writing the software that needs to reduce the processing time by 1/2.

FUCK.

THAT.

QUESTION.

Haha, I'm glad you feel my pain. I've gotten it wrong like 4 times. (And Contracts is one of my good subjects)

[iLoveFruits&Veggies]

Can't help but feel like I wasted at least 4 weeks watching videos

[mmmnnn]

Can't help but feel like I wasted at least 4 weeks watching videos

We're all in the same boat! And just imagine how the people feel who sat through hours of lectures in-person at 1x speed.

[numbertwo88]

Can't help but feel like I wasted at least 4 weeks watching videos

All of the bar prep courses need to tweak that because it's insane how much time gets sucked into lectures. I get how they're helpful but they take up so much time!

[bport hopeful]

Does anyone know if there is somewhere I can look at NY bar stats? Not pass rates, but like medians on the MBE, highest MBE score to fail, things like that?