Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2016 Forum

[xdeuceswild81xx]

Someone mentioned weekends and personally, I plan on taking weekends completely off. I'll be doing this Saturday, just to get caught up some from memorial day festivities, but I do not plan on doing weekends as well. Granted, I do not have a job and I am focusing only on bar prep this summer, so I have some more time on weekdays with zero obligations besides studying.

[KD35]

I'm noticing that my MBE scores are dropping big time when I am going back for like the 3rd MBE section where the questions are not only getting harder but I'm more removed from the topic. I was doing great with Ks and Real Prop but after being away from them for a bit I'm now dropping to a bad score and the questions are often from the big outline, not the lecture or essay handouts. Are people noticing the same thing? Trying to figure out if I am supposed to go back and re-read the huge outline, at least where I am really getting screwed.

[Mayakovsky]

Just to respond to the question about weekends, I definitely plan on putting work in on the weekends. I really can't afford to take any days off, though I know I'll need to here and there for my sanity. With my ADHD, everything takes longer and I don't want to get behind, so I'm going to have to work hard almost all day, every day, and then take off a day or cut back work on a day here and there.

Good news, though. I did get started on a new medicine today, so hopefully my studying will pick up from here.

Anyway, hope everyone had a nice weekend and is feeling OK about everything!

[Vantwins]

Wow, you all were right about Torts earring prof. I'm halfway through the first negligence lecture and it's been one big tangent, he's hardly using the outline at all. Frustrating. I already emailed Themis to complain and ask them to help me fill some outline blanks he glossed over.

[Easy-E]

I like how after I get totally overwhelmed with a subject, Lisa will chill me right out like Winston Wolf.

Mr. Freeze aka torts guy - Here are 15 causes of action you never learned
Lisa - Don't even worry about that shit though

[Vantwins]

I like how after I get totally overwhelmed with a subject, Lisa will chill me right out like Winston Wolf.

Mr. Freeze aka torts guy - Here are 15 causes of action you never learned
Lisa - Don't even worry about that shit though

[rambleon65]

This is probably straight up neuroticism, but what is an acceptable variance from the original Recommended Study Schedule? I think I'm around 4-5 days behind and if I take my time and give my due diligence on the daily tasks (instead of posting on TLS), catching up seems unlikely...

[natsin]

Regarding studying on the weekends, I plan on taking off as well. Unless I need to catch up from missing a weekday due to family obligations or something, the only bar prep I'll be doing on the weekends is reviewing my flashcards. I think I need that balance for my own sanity.

[Vantwins]

This is probably straight up neuroticism, but what is an acceptable variance from the original Recommended Study Schedule? I think I'm around 4-5 days behind and if I take my time and give my due diligence on the daily tasks (instead of posting on TLS), catching up seems unlikely...

July is all review and practice tests, so you'll just cut into that a bit.

[Nebby]

I'm working whenever the Themis overlords tell me, including weekends. I'm still working ahead to make up for my progress from starting a week late. By the time I catch up, I'll have two weekends I need off later in the summer so I'm going to have to work weekends in order to finished the whole course. I'm also planning on finishing two days earlier than scheduled so I have three full days of review and relaxation before the exam.

[Easy-E]

Ugh, barely breaking 50% on the PQs still. Bummer. At least it looks like I wasn't alone in getting most of them wrong, probably because the lecture didn't explain it clearly at all.

[ndp1234]

Ugh, barely breaking 50% on the PQs still. Bummer. At least it looks like I wasn't alone in getting most of them wrong, probably because the lecture didn't explain it clearly at all.

The way I look at it is that I'll be a lot better at other subjects (torts, con law, hopefully more) that will compensate for my bad subjects (contracts, property). The practice Q's do test things that were in the long outline but not in the lectures. What I'm doing now after finishing each subject is creating a short outline first from the lecture notes, then filling in some things from the long outline.

[Easy-E]

I assume you guys all did the organ essay?

[+] Spoiler

So the lecture and handout said "unforeseen difficulties excusing performance" will get you excused from the preexisting duty rule. Now the sample answer makes no mention of this exception. Am I misunderstanding the exception? Or is the lecture just confusing/wrong?

Also, an excuse to a contract is substitute for consideration in a modification? What? I thought an excuse just gets you out of the contract, the lecture didn't say anything about it's effect on consideration in a modification.

The lecture also made no mention of the elements of economic duress, so there's that. Again, it said to read the outline, so I guess I can't really bitch (too late).

Blah. Done for the day. Do the essay responses usually take the two days or has it been faster?


Edit:

More bitching. This phrasing annoys the hell out of me: "The doctrine applies regardless of whether the landowner knows or has reason to know that children are likely to trespass." I know what they're trying to say now, but at first I read it was "whether they know or have reason to know" not "whether they know/have reason to know OR neither of those two".

[luxxe]

I assume you guys all did the organ essay?

[+] Spoiler

So the lecture and handout said "unforeseen difficulties excusing performance" will get you excused from the preexisting duty rule. Now the sample answer makes no mention of this exception. Am I misunderstanding the exception? Or is the lecture just confusing/wrong?

Also, an excuse to a contract is substitute for consideration in a modification? What? I thought an excuse just gets you out of the contract, the lecture didn't say anything about it's effect on consideration in a modification.

The lecture also made no mention of the elements of economic duress, so there's that. Again, it said to read the outline, so I guess I can't really bitch (too late).

Blah. Done for the day. Do the essay responses usually take the two days or has it been faster?

I submitted mine before 11am Saturday and haven't gotten it back yet.

[Nebby]

I assume you guys all did the organ essay?

[+] Spoiler

So the lecture and handout said "unforeseen difficulties excusing performance" will get you excused from the preexisting duty rule. Now the sample answer makes no mention of this exception. Am I misunderstanding the exception? Or is the lecture just confusing/wrong?

Also, an excuse to a contract is substitute for consideration in a modification? What? I thought an excuse just gets you out of the contract, the lecture didn't say anything about it's effect on consideration in a modification.

The lecture also made no mention of the elements of economic duress, so there's that. Again, it said to read the outline, so I guess I can't really bitch (too late).

Blah. Done for the day. Do the essay responses usually take the two days or has it been faster?

Two business days if submitted prior to the deadline

[mu13ski]

Wow, you all were right about Torts earring prof. I'm halfway through the first negligence lecture and it's been one big tangent, he's hardly using the outline at all. Frustrating. I already emailed Themis to complain and ask them to help me fill some outline blanks he glossed over.

Let me know if they send you a completed outline. I'm having the same problem. I like the guy, but he does seem to completely disregard some blanks.

[ChocolateTruffle]

I had my Complete Outline Prep book open while listening to the Torts lecture and was able to fill in the blanks that way. The answers are in the big outline book.

[cleanhustle]

Wow, you all were right about Torts earring prof. I'm halfway through the first negligence lecture and it's been one big tangent, he's hardly using the outline at all. Frustrating. I already emailed Themis to complain and ask them to help me fill some outline blanks he glossed over.

Let me know if they send you a completed outline. I'm having the same problem. I like the guy, but he does seem to completely disregard some blanks.

Yes, he's terrible. I was also able to get most the answers from the big outline, but still have some missing blanks because he strays way off course. How can Themis choose someone like that?! I actually liked the Real Property guy-- at least he was clear and stuck to the script.

I'm barely getting over 50% on Torts MBE's because I just didn't pay great attention to the lectures because this lecturer is so shit. I was doing well for the other subjects! Guess I'll have to suck it up and go through torts on my own. I feel like it added more time because I didn't like his lectures so much so now I'll have to spend more time teaching it to myself. I"ll probably complain once I have more time as well.

[Vantwins]

I had my Complete Outline Prep book open while listening to the Torts lecture and was able to fill in the blanks that way. The answers are in the big outline book.

I'll start doing that. Or I might forget about the handout and just highlight the big outline. I'm getting so annoyed. Right now he's lecturing how **he thinks** the court should handle loss of chance cases. which is a total waste of time.

Vanessa

[Fivedham]

Ugh, barely breaking 50% on the PQs still. Bummer. At least it looks like I wasn't alone in getting most of them wrong, probably because the lecture didn't explain it clearly at all.

FWIW, Themis expects us to be doing about that now. I wouldn't drive yourself nuts about it. I sent a quasi-panicked email to my state director, and they said pretty much everyone starts out there.

[Vantwins]

Ugh, barely breaking 50% on the PQs still. Bummer. At least it looks like I wasn't alone in getting most of them wrong, probably because the lecture didn't explain it clearly at all.

FWIW, Themis expects us to be doing about that now. I wouldn't drive yourself nuts about it. I sent a quasi-panicked email to my state director, and they said pretty much everyone starts out there.

Agreed - I usually get about 58%, but I'm not too concerned at this point because I feel like I'm using them as a study guide at this point, figuring out what I need to focus on and learning from the explanations. And, again, we're not aiming for an A or even a B (or even a C?!) to pass.

[psm11]

Hey, not sure if this has been answered but what do you guys do when the schedule says "review X outline"? Do you start memorizing it? Themis advised that I should be taking an hour to review it but haven't found that to be very helpful.

[Chardee_MacDennis]

Hey, not sure if this has been answered but what do you guys do when the schedule says "review X outline"? Do you start memorizing it? Themis advised that I should be taking an hour to review it but haven't found that to be very helpful.

I usually review areas with which I'm not too comfortable or skip entirely. I don't review the entire outline.

[rambleon65]

Hey, not sure if this has been answered but what do you guys do when the schedule says "review X outline"? Do you start memorizing it? Themis advised that I should be taking an hour to review it but haven't found that to be very helpful.

I usually review areas with which I'm not too comfortable or skip entirely. I don't review the entire outline.

I've flipped my studies. I watch the lecture / fill out the hand out first, then start skimming over the long outline for any nuances that I think needs to be learned. I found that if I just study the long outlines in a vacuum, my eyes gloss over. The lectures give me a base to review the long outlines off of. Also, that allows me to skim over parts of the long outline that I don't need to review.

[Nebby]

I found reviewing the outlines most useful after watching the lectures/filling out handout and doing a few sets of PQ and practice essays.