BarBri Bar Review Hangout - July 2015 Exam Forum

[rinkrat19]

Cali is always TCR. The natural beauty of a French Riviera, the glamor of a Paris, the cuisine of a Tokyo, the history/broke-ness of an Athens (okay maybe not), for a fraction of the price.

California is many, many things, and I really like it, but "cheap" has never been an adjective I've applied to it.

I guess getting there is cheaper.

If you actually want cheap, Cape Town, South Africa was amazing. Stellar wine, food, scenery, some nice art and culture. It feels kind of like a Santa Monica or something, but less crowded and a fraction of the price you'd expect to pay for food and stuff in any American city. Really nice foodie restaurants with entrees for $15 and drinks for $6, and the most expensive bottle of wine at a nice vineyard is like $50.
(It's just the getting there that's expensive.)
Johannesburg sucked, but I would absolutely go back to Botswana (for safari/game park stuff) and Cape Town.

[Lacepiece23]

Advice: hitting about 85 to 90% of the MBE practice questions now, but the state essay I'm only at about 50 to 60%. Should I abandon the MBE and work exclusively on the state essays? I'm nervous I'm going to forget the MBE stuff in the next 7 days if I do.

If you're doing that well on the MBE I'd literally stop studying lol. You're going to pass no matter what.

[Neff]

Cali is always TCR. The natural beauty of a French Riviera, the glamor of a Paris, the cuisine of a Tokyo, the history/broke-ness of an Athens (okay maybe not), for a fraction of the price.

California is many, many things, and I really like it, but "cheap" has never been an adjective I've applied to it.

I guess getting there is cheaper.

If you actually want cheap, Cape Town, South Africa was amazing. Stellar wine, food, scenery, some nice art and culture. It feels kind of like a Santa Monica or something, but less crowded and a fraction of the price you'd expect to pay for food and stuff in any American city. Really nice foodie restaurants with entrees for $15 and drinks for $6, and the most expensive bottle of wine at a nice vineyard is like $50.
(It's just the getting there that's expensive.)
Johannesburg sucked, but I would absolutely go back to Botswana (for safari/game park stuff) and Cape Town.

Yep, heard the same.

Also, all of Southeast Asia is a budget traveller's paradise, but everyone knows that already.

Former USSR Eastern Europe can also be quite charming. Estonia was more fun that I had ever anticipated.

[gobias_inc]

Cali is always TCR. The natural beauty of a French Riviera, the glamor of a Paris, the cuisine of a Tokyo, the history/broke-ness of an Athens (okay maybe not), for a fraction of the price.

California is many, many things, and I really like it, but "cheap" has never been an adjective I've applied to it.

I guess getting there is cheaper.

If you actually want cheap, Cape Town, South Africa was amazing. Stellar wine, food, scenery, some nice art and culture. It feels kind of like a Santa Monica or something, but less crowded and a fraction of the price you'd expect to pay for food and stuff in any American city. Really nice foodie restaurants with entrees for $15 and drinks for $6, and the most expensive bottle of wine at a nice vineyard is like $50.
(It's just the getting there that's expensive.)
Johannesburg sucked, but I would absolutely go back to Botswana (for safari/game park stuff) and Cape Town.

Yep, heard the same.

Also, all of Southeast Asia is a budget traveller's paradise.

Can confirm. I've got a few places in Thailand where it's resort quality and steps from the beach for like $30/night. Plus you aren't going to pay more than $1-2 for any food or drinks you get.

[Neff]

And the next big destination for me has to be Cuba. Okay enough dreaming back to studying/sleeping.

[BVest]

Flying up to the Pac NW to buy a new (to us) family wagon and visit friends. Wife and kid will fly up a few days later and we'll drive the American west, ending up back in Texas. It will be two weeks from when they fly up. We intended to arrive back here on Labor day but I screwed that up and we're arriving back a week before.

[RaleighStClair]

Cali is always TCR. The natural beauty of a French Riviera, the glamor of a Paris, the cuisine of a Tokyo, the history/broke-ness of an Athens (okay maybe not), for a fraction of the price.

California is many, many things, and I really like it, but "cheap" has never been an adjective I've applied to it.

I guess getting there is cheaper.

If you actually want cheap, Cape Town, South Africa was amazing. Stellar wine, food, scenery, some nice art and culture. It feels kind of like a Santa Monica or something, but less crowded and a fraction of the price you'd expect to pay for food and stuff in any American city. Really nice foodie restaurants with entrees for $15 and drinks for $6, and the most expensive bottle of wine at a nice vineyard is like $50.
(It's just the getting there that's expensive.)
Johannesburg sucked, but I would absolutely go back to Botswana (for safari/game park stuff) and Cape Town.

Yep, heard the same.

Also, all of Southeast Asia is a budget traveller's paradise, but everyone knows that already.

Former USSR Eastern Europe can also be quite charming. Estonia was more fun that I had ever anticipated.

Agreed. Albania (not former USSR, but a former communist regime in E Europe) was one of the coolest places I've ever been. And cheap as hell.

[3|ink]

I'm not even worried about the MBE at this point. Got a 125 on the simulated. Averaged 72% on all six mixed sets. And I'm hitting 60-75% on the MPQ set 5s (except fucking Property, but I was sick that day). These are not impressive numbers, but I'm sure they're enough to get by. My biggest concern is the state material, which is weighed at 60% in my state. Every other time I try an essay, I end up giving up because I have no idea what the answer is. I'm terrified I'm going to do this on exam day.

[Kage3212]

I've been to Canada, once. Outside a few other states on the east coast, I have not traveled at all. Instead, I was the kid at Penn State spending his working money to attend summer classes......clearly not the best use of funds at that point in time.

[kyle010723]

Well, the latest percentile for those of us who did MPQ5 or 6 this last week is now posted for those that are curious.

[rinkrat19]

Before law school I'd been to Canada and Mexico. Woo! In law school, I took a class that's basically half a semester of research about something vaguely legal in a country (predetermined destination country), travel there over spring break, and half a semester writing an idiotic group paper about whatever vaguely legal thing you researched while you were there. "Research" being a handful of interviews with government or industry people and then the rest of the two weeks being a tourist. My class went to South Africa.

Wouldn't it be great if they let us choose our own non-MBE essay topics, so we could spend all this time studying something relevant to our future practice goals? What the fuck does a prosecutor care about fucking agency or sectrans?
In engineering, each major takes a different certification exam (mechanical, environmental, nuclear, etc.). None of this EVERYONE MUST KNOW ALL THE LAW bullshit. Oh, and majoring in engineering actually prepares you to take the exams. INSANITY.

[Good Guy Gaud]

I know this has been talked about a bit already, but OMFG the Emanuel Civ Pro questions! Why are they so much harder?!? Why do they make me feel love for Barbri?!

Any idea which ones are more similar to the ones we'll see on the real MBE?! (please say barbri, please say barbri).

Not sure but i'm really worried about this too. Civ pro was my best subject on barbri (hitting like 80%+) so i have been kind of banking on doing well on civ pro on the actual exam, but the emanuel civ pro Qs were significantly harder so I am starting to get worried about what to expect on the actual test.

Anyone else have any clues as to what to expect re: civ pro difficulty on actual mbe?

There is no telling. Like I've said. I dropped 20 percentage point when I did Emanual Civ Pro as compared to my MPQ Civ Pro average, whereas I got a perfect 10/10 on the example questions on NCBE. Although people said the examples on NCBE are generally easier than the real thing thus not representative, it will be impossible to tell since the real civ pro had only been administered once this Feb.

Attachment?! Barbri didn't even talk about attachment in civ pro lectures...

Just a +1 to all of this. Emanuel Civ Pro questions totally different ball game. I'm praying BarBri's will be more representative. That being said, I think it's going to be somewhere in between. The NCBE released sample is kinda in the middle of the two (at least it seems that way).

[kyle010723]

Wouldn't it be great if they let us choose our own non-MBE essay topics, so we could spend all this time studying something relevant to our future practice goals? What the fuck does a prosecutor care about fucking agency or sectrans?
In engineering, each major takes a different certification exam (mechanical, environmental, nuclear, etc.). None of this EVERYONE MUST KNOW ALL THE LAW bullshit. Oh, and majoring in engineering actually prepares you to take the exams. INSANITY.

Haha, I never took the FE since EE usually doesn't have to take it, but I've heard that people still needed to take courses and study for those exams.

[rinkrat19]

Wouldn't it be great if they let us choose our own non-MBE essay topics, so we could spend all this time studying something relevant to our future practice goals? What the fuck does a prosecutor care about fucking agency or sectrans?
In engineering, each major takes a different certification exam (mechanical, environmental, nuclear, etc.). None of this EVERYONE MUST KNOW ALL THE LAW bullshit. Oh, and majoring in engineering actually prepares you to take the exams. INSANITY.

Haha, I never took the FE since EE usually doesn't have to take it, but I've heard that people still needed to take courses and study for those exams.

For the FE, I went to a free weekly review session that the school provided for a couple of weeks. No biggy.

Nothing like this shitshow.

[gobias_inc]

Current Tax Approach:

I've filed my taxes by myself before. That should do it, right?

[rinkrat19]

Current Tax Approach:

I've filed my taxes by myself before. That should do it, right?

I even took FedTax but remember...nothing.

[gobias_inc]

Current Tax Approach:

I've filed my taxes by myself before. That should do it, right?

I even took FedTax but remember...nothing.

I haven't taken BusAss, Tax, Admin, Secured, Agency and trusts. My property professor also failed to teach the following subjects: Estates, Deeds, Mortgages, RAP, Easements, Covenants, Landlord/Tenant, or the types of recording statutes. In retrospect: Ruh roh.

I am a bit bummed my state doesnt have Conflicts; I had a REALLY good professor for it and still know most of the material really well.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[RaleighStClair]

You guys are gonna be way better lawyers than us UBE people. All I know about commercial paper, for example, is that it has something to do with checks. And that's IT.

[kyle010723]

Just a +1 to all of this. Emanuel Civ Pro questions totally different ball game. I'm praying BarBri's will be more representative. That being said, I think it's going to be somewhere in between. The NCBE released sample is kinda in the middle of the two (at least it seems that way).

I finished all the Emanuel's subjects today, did ok on most subjects (except civ pro, and completely bombed Crim/Crim Pro, but crim is always my worst subject). My percentages for Emanuel were definitely significantly higher than Barbri MPQ overall, which was surprising because many Emanuel questions focused on areas Barbri barely touched on. But I guess it was a good review and a reminder for me to go back and look at the areas where Barbri just glossed over.

[kyle010723]

Current Tax Approach:

I've filed my taxes by myself before. That should do it, right?

Dear Bar Examiner, at issue is a tax question. Here, parties should use TurboTax to solve their problem.

[gobias_inc]

Current Tax Approach:

I've filed my taxes by myself before. That should do it, right?

Dear Bar Examiner, at issue is a tax question. Here, parties should use TurboTax to solve their problem.

"As with all tax experiences I've had in my life, please send me a check for a few hundred dollars. In lieu of a cash payment, I will also accept a score of 6 on this examination. Thank you for your time."

[rinkrat19]

Current Tax Approach:

I've filed my taxes by myself before. That should do it, right?

I even took FedTax but remember...nothing.

I haven't taken BusAss, Tax, Admin, Secured, Agency and trusts. My property professor also failed to teach the following subjects: Estates, Deeds, Mortgages, RAP, Easements, Covenants, Landlord/Tenant, or the types of recording statutes. In retrospect: Ruh roh.

I am a bit bummed my state doesnt have Conflicts; I had a REALLY good professor for it and still know most of the material really well.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My contracts prof didn't teach the UCC. I think he may have mentioned that it was a thing, but then he ignored it.

[kyle010723]

My contracts prof didn't teach the UCC. I think he may have mentioned that it was a thing, but then he ignored it.

It's ok, my Tort professor did not believe in people owing anyone a duty of care...

[jamescastle]

My contracts teacher cancelled I think about 8 classes and gave us an exam that was literally cut and pasted from some other book and then scanned. And 50% of the exam was torts and jury charge questions.
Easily the worst teacher I've ever had in either high school or in getting my undergrad, law school, or masters degrees.

[soj]

.