California Bar Exam (July 2014) thread Forum

[hyc9598]

Help me i have too many books for sub law.

Lean sheet
Bar code
Conviser
Barbri handouts
Lecc flashcards and 100 p book
Critical pass
Jason tolerico book
Barwinner book
Barmax
Goodies

[Jay Heizenburg]

^^^

Lol, that's crazy . . .

Good luck with that!

[charcop]

Ok so even after I watch the barbri lecture and go through the outlines, I have only been getting 55%-65% correct on the MBE practice questions. I'M GOING TO FAIL.

[ph14]

Ok so even after I watch the barbri lecture and go through the outlines, I have only been getting 55%-65% correct on the MBE practice questions. I'M GOING TO FAIL.

You're not going to get 100% on your first set or your first many sets. Just keep practicing. You will be alright.

[bruinfan10]

It's really stupid that Barbri is wasting our graded essay on Property the day we finished Property.

Like, I don't know anything yet. We just fucking finished. What is the point?

I REALLY hate barbri. Their scheduling makes ZERO sense. I don't understand the stinginess w the essay grading. It's so frustrating. I love how the sample answer had a full on nuisance analysis when our lecture material made zero mention of nuisance law. I literally just used the torts definition.

Yeah, I think it's best to tailor or adapt Barbri's schedule to what you think will work best for you, based on what you know about your learning style and what worked for you in law school. I'm following the basic plan but altering as needed, skipping stuff that I think wouldn't be a great use of my time and spending time doing other studying (like using the Critical Pass flashcards). I also don't think i'll bother getting the essays graded. They have the model answer right there in the book for you to read. In any event it's still mid-June, so just remain diligent and you will do well.

Any reason you picked Critical Pass over the Law in a Flash MBE cards?

[LSATNightmares]

Does anybody know how they grade you on the essays if you write something that is wrong or irrelevant? Do you only get points for correctly stating something, or do they start deducting points for irrelevant or wrong statements of law?

[pkt63]

Can someone link to the essays that the CA bar provides as examples? I just spent a while on the site and didn't see anywhere that you can find past essay questions or sample answers...

[ilovesf]

Ok so even after I watch the barbri lecture and go through the outlines, I have only been getting 55%-65% correct on the MBE practice questions. I'M GOING TO FAIL.

Me too, except for evidence, where I am getting like 85% correct. I just hope all of the MBE questions are evidence.

[ph14]

It's really stupid that Barbri is wasting our graded essay on Property the day we finished Property.

Like, I don't know anything yet. We just fucking finished. What is the point?

I REALLY hate barbri. Their scheduling makes ZERO sense. I don't understand the stinginess w the essay grading. It's so frustrating. I love how the sample answer had a full on nuisance analysis when our lecture material made zero mention of nuisance law. I literally just used the torts definition.

Yeah, I think it's best to tailor or adapt Barbri's schedule to what you think will work best for you, based on what you know about your learning style and what worked for you in law school. I'm following the basic plan but altering as needed, skipping stuff that I think wouldn't be a great use of my time and spending time doing other studying (like using the Critical Pass flashcards). I also don't think i'll bother getting the essays graded. They have the model answer right there in the book for you to read. In any event it's still mid-June, so just remain diligent and you will do well.

Any reason you picked Critical Pass over the Law in a Flash MBE cards?

No reason, it's just what I heard recommended the most on TLS. I didn't intend to suggest that one is better than the other.

[bruinfan10]

No reason, it's just what I heard recommended the most on TLS. I didn't intend to suggest that one is better than the other.

Gotcha. I picked up the Law in a Flash because I used those for some courses in law school, but I'd switch to the other ones if they were better for the MBE.

[ph14]

Does anybody know how they grade you on the essays if you write something that is wrong or irrelevant? Do you only get points for correctly stating something, or do they start deducting points for irrelevant or wrong statements of law?

Curious about this as well. If it's like Barbri's checkboxes (and most law school exams) wrong answers don't deduct points, they just don't get you any points. If the Bar exam is like that as well, then I agree with your implication that we should write about any issues that might be borderline worth discussing or not. And if the essays in the Barbri CAT book are real past essays then I think you will have plenty of time to address all the issues, so there aren't any big concerns about spending time on borderline issues.

[ph14]

Ok so even after I watch the barbri lecture and go through the outlines, I have only been getting 55%-65% correct on the MBE practice questions. I'M GOING TO FAIL.

Me too, except for evidence, where I am getting like 85% correct. I just hope all of the MBE questions are evidence.

For some reason i've been doing the worst on con law. My best has been contracts. Definitely not a lot of correlation to how I felt about the subjects in LS.

[ilovesf]

Ok so even after I watch the barbri lecture and go through the outlines, I have only been getting 55%-65% correct on the MBE practice questions. I'M GOING TO FAIL.

Me too, except for evidence, where I am getting like 85% correct. I just hope all of the MBE questions are evidence.

For some reason i've been doing the worst on con law. My best has been contracts. Definitely not a lot of correlation to how I felt about the subjects in LS.

There's no correlation at all. I did TERRIBLY on the con law MBE q's and I got an A in the advanced con law class. It doesn't make any sense. I think some questions are just phrased in a tricky manner in some subjects. It isn't about actually knowing the law or not.

[Carryon]

Help me i have too many books for sub law.

Lean sheet
Bar code
Conviser
Barbri handouts
Lecc flashcards and 100 p book
Critical pass
Jason tolerico book
Barwinner book
Barmax
Goodies

which one is the best?

[Carryon]

Can someone link to the essays that the CA bar provides as examples? I just spent a while on the site and didn't see anywhere that you can find past essay questions or sample answers...

here is link
http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Examina ... Exams.aspx

[hyc9598]

Help me i have too many books for sub law.

Lean sheet
Bar code
Conviser
Barbri handouts
Lecc flashcards and 100 p book
Critical pass
Jason tolerico book
Barwinner book
Barmax
Goodies

which one is the best?

Everybody is talking about lean sheet, bar code. Some talks about good things about barmax. Others recommend critical pass. Personally lecc is good. But I do not have time for reading at least conviser (mbe) and handout (nonmbe) once. Maybe I end up reading handouts (nonmbe) and conciser (mbe) once. For essays, I will use baressays.com, lecc materials, basik (two women authored emanuel book/6qs per subject), bar secret (6qs per subject), bar passer. I do not trust barbri essay book.

[sharpie1234]

Don't trust barbri essays in what way?

[charcop]

Can a property expert answer this for me?

For a tenancy for years, Barbri's lecturer said that there must be a definite starting and end date (ie start 1/1/07, end 1/31/08), and to watch out for a lease that tries to convey this merely stating how many years (ie lease for "10 years" is not a tenancy for years). However, the outline states that a tenancy for years may be created by wording such as "lease for 10 years."

When I submitted this question to the barbri website, this is the response I got:

"Prof. Maynard's explanation is the more precise explanation. The termination date of a tenancy for years is usually certain. Even if the date of termination is uncertain, most courts hold that if the parties have attempted to state some period of duration, the lease creates a tenancy for years. A tenancy for years ends automatically on its termination date."


So what's the answer???

[ph14]

Can a property expert answer this for me?

For a tenancy for years, Barbri's lecturer said that there must be a definite starting and end date (ie start 1/1/07, end 1/31/08), and to watch out for a lease that tries to convey this merely stating how many years (ie lease for "10 years" is not a tenancy for years). However, the outline states that a tenancy for years may be created by wording such as "lease for 10 years."

When I submitted this question to the barbri website, this is the response I got:

"Prof. Maynard's explanation is the more precise explanation. The termination date of a tenancy for years is usually certain. Even if the date of termination is uncertain, most courts hold that if the parties have attempted to state some period of duration, the lease creates a tenancy for years. A tenancy for years ends automatically on its termination date."


So what's the answer???

Just a guess, but maybe "lease for 10 years" starting on 6/1 would be definitely enough. Let me look at my Barbri outline though.

Edit: I think that is correct. Take a look at hypo 44 on page 34 of the lecture handout. Let me know if that makes clears things up.

[lmr]

Typically how many MBE subjects are tested on the Essay portion, or how many essay questions involve MBE-tested issues? I don't really want to do the research myself...

3 to 4

It looks like it's now leaning towards two MBE subjects on essays w PR sometimes tied into a non-mbe subject.

Feb 2014: prop + con law
July 2013: con law + contracts
Feb 2013: torts + crim

July 2012: contracts/evidence/crim
Feb 2012: con law + prop+ evidence

[adonai]

Typically how many MBE subjects are tested on the Essay portion, or how many essay questions involve MBE-tested issues? I don't really want to do the research myself...

3 to 4

It looks like it's now leaning towards two MBE subjects on essays w PR sometimes tied into a non-mbe subject.

Feb 2014: prop + con law
July 2013: con law + contracts
Feb 2013: torts + crim

July 2012: contracts/evidence/crim
Feb 2012: con law + prop+ evidence

I'm predicting the three MBE essay subjects will be crim, evidence, PR. If PR is a tie-in, then crim, evidence, Ks.

[Jay Heizenburg]

Evidence is a lock. They haven't tested it for the last three administrations. Four administrations without it is a stretch ...

[boozehound]

I'm breaking ranks with BarBri. "Just trust the process." Ummm....no thanks. "The process" is not showing results, and now I'm down to 38 days left! I'll take care of scheduling my studying from here on.

[lmr]

I'm breaking ranks with BarBri. "Just trust the process." Ummm....no thanks. "The process" is not showing results, and now I'm down to 38 days left! I'll take care of scheduling my studying from here on.

What results are you talking about at this point?

[boozehound]

My MBE scores are flat average all the time. Every time I learn trivia about Real Property I forget the trivia I learned about Contracts. Etc. The BarBri system seems totally disjointed to my way of learning.