Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2014 Exam Forum

[mmmnnn]

Morning session: Felt awesome, not bad at all.

Afternoon session: Cruel, unfair, half nonsense. Involuntarily lol'd at multiple questions/answers.

IIRC, completed 94% of Themis. Not blaming this struggle on Themis by any means. Their "objectively wrong" answers would've been a delight compared to some of the bullshit I sifted through this afternoon.

[ceereeus420]

The only questions I liked where the obvious civ pro ones. There were like 2 or 3 of them. After I read the hypo I was jumping up and down inside

Oh, was civ pro on there?
Do we know whether everyone gets the same experimental Qs? I'm with the folks who think AM was much tougher.

I don't think everyone gets the same experimental questions. While I did have 2 Civ Pro questions, my friend had a question about a firefighter falling through a roof, but I didn't get that one.

[kapital98]

The only questions I liked where the obvious civ pro ones. There were like 2 or 3 of them. After I read the hypo I was jumping up and down inside

Oh, was civ pro on there?
Do we know whether everyone gets the same experimental Qs? I'm with the folks who think AM was much tougher.

I don't think everyone gets the same experimental questions. While I did have 2 Civ Pro questions, my friend had a question about a firefighter falling through a roof, but I didn't get that one.

I didn't get the firefighter one either. Spreading it around and getting more experimental questions makes sense on their part.

[dtl]

Myself and a few friends thought the *exact* opposite. I finished the PM session with 40 minutes to spare, and went over every answer and was only unsure about three or so.

The fucking AM session destroyed me. I finished with 3 minutes left and only had time to frantically make sure I bubbled the circles right.

[dtl]

The only questions I liked where the obvious civ pro ones. There were like 2 or 3 of them. After I read the hypo I was jumping up and down inside

Oh, was civ pro on there?
Do we know whether everyone gets the same experimental Qs? I'm with the folks who think AM was much tougher.

I don't think everyone gets the same experimental questions. While I did have 2 Civ Pro questions, my friend had a question about a firefighter falling through a roof, but I didn't get that one.

I didn't get the firefighter one either. Spreading it around and getting more experimental questions makes sense on their part.

It is also a little shitty, because it means that people may have to spend more or less wasted time compared to others on the same test depending on the q difficulty.

[Gotti]

I'm pretty sure they switch the questions around and so our AM and PM sessions weren't all the same. I know a few people who had questions in the 2nd half that others had in their first halves.

But for me, AM was cool, PM was RIDICULOUS. At one point i just started laughing because i was doing so badly. It took me until # 112 to be like "oh I actually know this answer for sure!"

[Tanicius]

I'm pretty sure they switch the questions around and so our AM and PM sessions weren't all the same. I know a few people who had questions in the 2nd half that others had in their first halves.

But for me, AM was cool, PM was RIDICULOUS. At one point i just started laughing because i was doing so badly. It took me until # 112 to be like "oh I actually know this answer for sure!"

Same here. I was actually stunned to audible sniffle-laughter at points with the PM test. There were three questions in particular -- and you all know which ones I mean -- where I practically yelled "Oh my fucking God" out loud in the test center.

[dtl]

I'm pretty sure they switch the questions around and so our AM and PM sessions weren't all the same. I know a few people who had questions in the 2nd half that others had in their first halves.

But for me, AM was cool, PM was RIDICULOUS. At one point i just started laughing because i was doing so badly. It took me until # 112 to be like "oh I actually know this answer for sure!"

Switching Qs between AM and PM is sort of asking for undetectable cheating. I am really surprised if that is how they do it.

[Gotti]

I'm pretty sure they switch the questions around and so our AM and PM sessions weren't all the same. I know a few people who had questions in the 2nd half that others had in their first halves.

But for me, AM was cool, PM was RIDICULOUS. At one point i just started laughing because i was doing so badly. It took me until # 112 to be like "oh I actually know this answer for sure!"

Same here. I was actually stunned to audible sniffle-laughter at points with the PM test. There were three questions in particular -- and you all know which ones I mean -- where I practically yelled "Oh my fucking God" out loud in the test center.

MISDEMEANOR-MANSLAUGHTER????

[dtl]

I'm pretty sure they switch the questions around and so our AM and PM sessions weren't all the same. I know a few people who had questions in the 2nd half that others had in their first halves.

But for me, AM was cool, PM was RIDICULOUS. At one point i just started laughing because i was doing so badly. It took me until # 112 to be like "oh I actually know this answer for sure!"

Same here. I was actually stunned to audible sniffle-laughter at points with the PM test. There were three questions in particular -- and you all know which ones I mean -- where I practically yelled "Oh my fucking God" out loud in the test center.

I am kind of curious which three your talking about.

[Tanicius]

Nope. The one... ugh, can't describe it. But the one with the two fucking answers that were both obviously illegal.

[splitmuch]

I'm pretty sure they switch the questions around and so our AM and PM sessions weren't all the same. I know a few people who had questions in the 2nd half that others had in their first halves.

But for me, AM was cool, PM was RIDICULOUS. At one point i just started laughing because i was doing so badly. It took me until # 112 to be like "oh I actually know this answer for sure!"

Same here. I was actually stunned to audible sniffle-laughter at points with the PM test. There were three questions in particular -- and you all know which ones I mean -- where I practically yelled "Oh my fucking God" out loud in the test center.

I am kind of curious which three your talking about.

SCOTUS?

[kapital98]

MISDEMEANOR-MANSLAUGHTER????

I liked that one.... I think.... I don't know anymore.

[kapital98]

SCOTUS?

[iLoveFruits&Veggies]

they alternate the exams - some of us got that super tough & time consuming batch in the morning (ME! ) and others got it in the afternoon...

Ok, with extremely limited time, I'm off to my outlines to TRY to predict tomorrow!!

[mmmnnn]

Among many crazy questions, there was a particularly crazy crim pro question, and a particularly crazy con law question.

In fact, I'm pretty sure the crim pro one had a typo in the call of the question. Only explanation.

[kapital98]

In fact, I'm pretty sure the crim pro one had a typo in the call of the question. Only explanation.

It did have a typo. Ah, the lighter side of the MBE.

[dtl]

In fact, I'm pretty sure the crim pro one had a typo in the call of the question. Only explanation.

It did have a typo. Ah, the lighter side of the MBE.

I saw no typo, which shows how much attention I was paying.

[Roflcopter]

Lol MBE. 1/10, will take again. 93 percent. That was brutal. No fault of Themis; don't think anything would've prepared me for that.

[iLoveFruits&Veggies]

I mostly used Adaptibar to prep for the MBEs (100% previous NCBE exam questions) and not even those prepared me for today's MBEs. I really don't think there's a whole lot more we could have done Ugh. And to think I thought the MBEs were going to pull me up from my essay scores. Hahahahaaaaa!!!!

[84Sunbird2000]

I mostly used Adaptibar to prep for the MBEs (100% previous NCBE exam questions) and not even those prepared me for today's MBEs. I really don't think there's a whole lot more we could have done Ugh. And to think I thought the MBEs were going to pull me up from my essay scores. Hahahahaaaaa!!!!

Well... maybe this will be an epic normalization boost administration. There seems to be universal agreement here that there was more than a fair quantity of BS. I don't know. Waiting 10 weeks to find out is going to be pretty rough.

[forward]

Echoing what others have said:

I found the afternoon more difficult, in part because it omitted dispositive facts on many questions (evidence, in particular). I completed almost 2000 Themis MBE PQs and averaged over 75% (ranging between 70% and 83% on any given area). My raw score on the full MBE practice a few weeks ago was 144, so I went in fairly confident that the MBE was my thing. I don't think I bombed it. But I left this evening feeling shakier than I had expected to feel.

I finished the morning with about 40 minutes left, and about 50 minutes in the afternoon (despite the increased difficulty). I had about the same number of questions marked for a second look each time (10-12), but found it harder to come to a confident, final answer on the afternoon set.

To be fair, the afternoon seemed to have more easy points—if you knew the applicable rule. Many of the con law questions were free points, and even the trickier ones weren't as obscure as they might have been. It's easy to forget about that now, but even a dismal afternoon performance was probably not that bad. It just seems that way now.

[dtl]

Well, at least the MBE scales and gets rid of shitty questions if they are shown to be unreliable. The essays are basically what you get is what you get, right?

I honestly am a bit surprised that people thought the MBE was that much crazier than the crazy Themis questions. I am still hoping that my MBE score brings up my bad essays....

[kapital98]

I mostly used Adaptibar to prep for the MBEs (100% previous NCBE exam questions) and not even those prepared me for today's MBEs. I really don't think there's a whole lot more we could have done Ugh. And to think I thought the MBEs were going to pull me up from my essay scores. Hahahahaaaaa!!!!

Well... maybe this will be an epic normalization boost administration. There seems to be universal agreement here that there was more than a fair quantity of BS. I don't know. Waiting 10 weeks to find out is going to be pretty rough.

What jrx are you in? In NY we have to wait until mid November.

[84Sunbird2000]

I mostly used Adaptibar to prep for the MBEs (100% previous NCBE exam questions) and not even those prepared me for today's MBEs. I really don't think there's a whole lot more we could have done Ugh. And to think I thought the MBEs were going to pull me up from my essay scores. Hahahahaaaaa!!!!

Well... maybe this will be an epic normalization boost administration. There seems to be universal agreement here that there was more than a fair quantity of BS. I don't know. Waiting 10 weeks to find out is going to be pretty rough.

What jrx are you in? In NY we have to wait until mid November.

PA