2018 July California Bar Forum

[dabigchina]

I just did this question and am having trouble wrapping my mind around why it comes in as to bias rather than not being inadmissible as part of a plea deal:

A defendant was charged with murder, and a witness testified for the prosecution. On cross-examination of the witness, the defendant seeks to elicit an admission that the witness was also charged with the same murder and that the prosecutor told her, "If you testify against the defendant, we will drop the charges against you after the conclusion of the defendant's trial."

The evidence about the prosecutor's promise is

admissible, as proper impeachment of the witness. (Right)
inadmissible, because the law encourages plea-bargaining.(Wrong)

Evidence proving bias is always admissible, even plea deals. Themis loves to test this distinction.

[barprepforca]

Thanks!

[Naybor]

Is it me or just adaptibar giving me only hard questions?

So I am 1,105 questions completed overall since May 25- now with 65% overall score. but for some reason these last two days have been beyond brutal, Im getting questions that according to state and national average performance only 12-15% get correct. At one point I got 11 straight questions with below 15% performance averages.

Is this part of the algorithm, "hit you with the hardest questions as you start to finish most subjects", it's just really demoralizing

[justanotheruser]

Passed the 2/18 CA bar with a 150+ score on the MBE.

Whether it's for real or imagined, I went through the exact same stretch as you about 2-3 weeks before the exam. Just keep pushing through! If anything, look at the wrong questions you're getting now as a chance to shore up weak areas earlier than later.

Good luck!

Is it me or just adaptibar giving me only hard questions?

So I am 1,105 questions completed overall since May 25- now with 65% overall score. but for some reason these last two days have been beyond brutal, Im getting questions that according to state and national average performance only 12-15% get correct. At one point I got 11 straight questions with below 15% performance averages.

Is this part of the algorithm, "hit you with the hardest questions as you start to finish most subjects", it's just really demoralizing

[cgc210]

I have been unable to locate anything that explains the scoring on the letter from Cal Bar for Feb 2018. I cannot figure out if the percentages in the MBE PERCENT BELOW section is the percentage I was below everyone/average or if those numbers are the percentages I was above everyone /average.
Also, my scaled ME was 1322, and I read the average was 1328, I take that to mean I was pretty close with the MBE? Thoughts, explanation of the percentages would be very helpful!
Thank you!

[a male human]

I have been unable to locate anything that explains the scoring on the letter from Cal Bar for Feb 2018. I cannot figure out if the percentages in the MBE PERCENT BELOW section is the percentage I was below everyone/average or if those numbers are the percentages I was above everyone /average.
Also, my scaled ME was 1322, and I read the average was 1328, I take that to mean I was pretty close with the MBE? Thoughts, explanation of the percentages would be very helpful!
Thank you!

The numbers are your percentile, so each one means you did better than [number]% of other test takers. Only helpful for figuring out which subjects to shore up. I like to recommend maintaining a "worst three" ranking and focusing on those subjects as you study.

You were close to average with the MBE but not on track to pass. If you want to be on track to pass, you want to be around 1440 scaled. Remember, in CA, your overall score needs to be 1440, meaning your written scaled score and your MBE scaled score need to average to 1440.

[maiden42]

Anyone have a CA essay frequency chart broken down by sub-topic?

[a male human]

Anyone have a CA essay frequency chart broken down by sub-topic?

Not the most comprehensive but check these out as a starting point:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

[maiden42]

Anyone have a CA essay frequency chart broken down by sub-topic?

Not the most comprehensive but check these out as a starting point:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Thx for sharing

[BlueLaw11]

Does anyone have suggestions for learning the distinctions between the Model Rules and the CA rules for Professional Conduct? There are bizarrely specific nuances and my brain is absolutely saturated by all the other crap we have to learn

[a male human]

Does anyone have suggestions for learning the distinctions between the Model Rules and the CA rules for Professional Conduct? There are bizarrely specific nuances and my brain is absolutely saturated by all the other crap we have to learn

I have this link handy because someone asks about this every 6 months This might help:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yk4vk2swngi06 ... A.pdf?dl=0

When in doubt on the essay (especially for rules that are very similar in according to either ABA MR and CA rules), just start off with "Under ABA and CA rules..." and hope they aren't picky about it because do they really have time to pick apart your rule and see if it matches the slightly different CA rule?

[siriuslysaucy422]

Anyone have a CA essay frequency chart broken down by sub-topic?

This is a great resource:https://smartbarprep.com/SmartBarPrep_C ... alysis.pdf

[BlueLaw11]

Does anyone have suggestions for learning the distinctions between the Model Rules and the CA rules for Professional Conduct? There are bizarrely specific nuances and my brain is absolutely saturated by all the other crap we have to learn

I have this link handy because someone asks about this every 6 months This might help:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yk4vk2swngi06 ... A.pdf?dl=0

When in doubt on the essay (especially for rules that are very similar in according to either ABA MR and CA rules), just start off with "Under ABA and CA rules..." and hope they aren't picky about it because do they really have time to pick apart your rule and see if it matches the slightly different CA rule?

Thank you!! This is a godsend. And thanks for the tip, that sounds like a good strategy

[BlueLaw11]

Also mini rant: why the hell do we have to memorize 8 different mathematical formulas for Community Property?? And why do they have to be so complicated bahh

[Nightcrawler]

Also mini rant: why the hell do we have to memorize 8 different mathematical formulas for Community Property?? And why do they have to be so complicated bahh

Agree. I spent more time trying to memorize the stock option awarded to the spouse while married that becomes exercisable after marriage than anything else. Maybe only the RAP was worse. I feel like tax lawyers are probably laughing at us right now lol.

[Blueplanet]

Could someone confirm are we permitted to write on the exam booklet for the MBE portion? The exam rules state no scratch paper for the MBE portion. Thanks.

[maxmartin]

Could someone confirm are we permitted to write on the exam booklet for the MBE portion? The exam rules state no scratch paper for the MBE portion. Thanks.

You can write whatever you like on MBE exam booklet.

[Blueplanet]

Thanks for confirming.

[breebacon]

Does anyone have July 2018 CA bar essay predictions? Thanks.

Did you ever end up getting the July 2018 CA bar essay predictions?

[boblawlawblog]

No, I did not.

However, one user was wise enough to suggest that it's not a good idea to try and predict anything.

That said, from lecture videos, my analysis of past subjects and data on what is most tested, I've come up with my own:

Professional Responsibility
California Civ Pro or Federal Civ Pro
Evidence
Community Property
Corporations (perhaps over LLC)
Con Law
Contracts
Real Property
and Torts

As far as subject matter within these topics, who knows. Essays are the easiest thing in the world on a bar exam because you have so much control over point grubbing like just doing proper headings and formatting, and bullshitting rules coupled with strong analysis can work wonders. I've taken two other state bar exams at this point. My only worry with California is grader leniency on bullshit rules or misstatements of rules: i.e. calling non-hearsay an exception to hearsay, but otherwise perfectly stating the rule and then analyzing it and over all correctly concluding its admissibility. I don't want to give Bar Essays $200, especially because graders vary term to term. A 65 one year might be a 75 the next and a 60 the next.

[petlaw]

February 2018 also had an abysmal pass rate and was the lowest it has ever been, with only 27.3% of all takers passing. Is it possible that the bar examiners are waiting for these predictions and changing the questions based on what is predicted? Hiding the predictions may be a good idea. Studying all subjects is a better idea.

Here are the statistics for the past few administrations of the CBX. The table doesn't format well in text, so paste it in a table or spreadsheet to read it easier.

First Timers Repeaters All Takers
General Bar Examination Took Pass %Pass Took Pass %Pass Took Pass %Pass
Jul 2015 5838 3486 59.7 2485 396 15.9 8323 3882 46.6
Feb 2016 1395 624 44.7 3363 1076 32 4758 1700 35.7
Jul 2016 5164 2896 56.1 2573 436 16.9 7737 3332 43.1
Feb 2017 1153 451 39.1 3286 1081 32.9 4439 1532 34.5
Jul 2017 5397 3368 62.4 3149 868 27.6 8546 4236 49.6
Feb 2018 1267 498 39.3 3434 784 22.8 4701 1282 27.3

Beware of that guy, last time (Feb 2018) his predictions were:

1. Wills/Trusts (was right about wills)
2. Remedies (likely Contracts) was wrong (no remedies)
3. PR x Biz Ass (PR was right but it was only a very small question crossed over with Contracts and no biz ass)
4. Con Law (was right)
5. CA Evidence (was wrong, no evidence at all)
6. Property - was wrong (the bar says actually property but if takings x nuisance, trespass, conversion and maybe negligence is considered "property", then I don't know how I got a 70 in that essay)

So basically, predicting like 10 out of 15 subjects and getting 3 right (one of which is PR) is not exactly reliable. Looks more of a gimmick to get people buy his course (but, come on, the website's name says it all about gimmicks - there's no secret to this exam).

[a male human]

I've been noticing a lot of people wanting predictions. I don't want to tell people what to do, as it is their bar exam and their future they're gambling. It's just one approach to preparing.

I personally don't recommend putting in much stock in predictions. They're fun to ruminate over and useful to an extent but not something to obsess over (unless you're desperate for time). I've been burned before. Plus, whose predictions are you supposed to listen to? If you overlap everyone's predictions, you just get the list of tested subjects.

One way to focus down your essay subjects is to see which ones appeared Tuesday morning and review the remaining subjects for the afternoon session.

[LockBox]

I've been noticing a lot of people wanting predictions. I don't want to tell people what to do, as it is their bar exam and their future they're gambling. It's just one approach to preparing.

I personally don't recommend putting in much stock in predictions. They're fun to ruminate over and useful to an extent but not something to obsess over (unless you're desperate for time). I've been burned before. Plus, whose predictions are you supposed to listen to? If you overlap everyone's predictions, you just get the list of tested subjects.

One way to focus down your essay subjects is to see which ones appeared Tuesday morning and review the remaining subjects for the afternoon session.

Although on the bar that I passed, we had contracts on tuesday and on thursday another contracts Q showed up...

[a male human]

I've been noticing a lot of people wanting predictions. I don't want to tell people what to do, as it is their bar exam and their future they're gambling. It's just one approach to preparing.

I personally don't recommend putting in much stock in predictions. They're fun to ruminate over and useful to an extent but not something to obsess over (unless you're desperate for time). I've been burned before. Plus, whose predictions are you supposed to listen to? If you overlap everyone's predictions, you just get the list of tested subjects.

One way to focus down your essay subjects is to see which ones appeared Tuesday morning and review the remaining subjects for the afternoon session.

Although on the bar that I passed, we had contracts on tuesday and on thursday another contracts Q showed up...

Truly, no one is safe from the tyranny of the bar.

[psg190]

Any tips if you're essentially failing every closed book essay at this point? Missing major issues, not having rule statements down, etc. This is in addition to feeling entirely uncomfortable on the MBE.