February 2015 Bar Exam Forum

[Holly Golightly]

I'm right there with you guys. Can't believe I'm doing this to myself again. And this time feels even more chaotic since I've been working and am self-studying.

Does anyone have thoughts on the difficulty of Kaplan's MBE questions? I used Themis last time around and don't remember finding their questions this nitpicky.

[redblueyellow]

I'm right there with you guys. Can't believe I'm doing this to myself again. And this time feels even more chaotic since I've been working and am self-studying.

Does anyone have thoughts on the difficulty of Kaplan's MBE questions? I used Themis last time around and don't remember finding their questions this nitpicky.

Kaplan's questions are "harder" in the sense that they're generally longer, more convoluted, and often test more nuanced rules/elements. The theory is that those types of questions ought to better prepare you for the "easier" real thing.

My only issue is that since they're not often true to the real bar questions, it creates more self-doubt than it's worth, but more importantly, does not give you a highly accurate sense of what to really expect on the bar exam.

[Holly Golightly]

Okay that gives me a little reassurance, because damn I feel like I should be getting more right than this.

[psteele99]

Anyone's mbe scores going down. I am not doing we'll anymore any advice? Just burnout???

Mine go up and down constantly.

Same.

[cooperlaserpup]

hey guys-

sorry for my laziness (my brain is fried when it comes to doing anything other than study) but can someone link to the "official" example fed civ pro questions? I've heard they are easier than themis and want to get an idea of what they are like.

Thanks!

[minnbills]

7/18 on barbri contracts set 2. I am going to fail this exam. I fucking hate perfect tender and the UCC.

[nvbar2015]

For those of you taking barbri, how are you scoring on the 50 question mixed sets?

So far I've only done one. 35/50. Feeling pretty satisfied about the MBE. Worried about some of the potential crossover essays for Nevada.

[OklahomasOK]

For those of you taking barbri, how are you scoring on the 50 question mixed sets?

So far I've only done one. 35/50. Feeling pretty satisfied about the MBE. Worried about some of the potential crossover essays for Nevada.

76%, 76%, 82% on the first three. 68% on the next two. Sets 4 and 5 are significantly more difficult.

[cooperlaserpup]

FWIW to those of you stressing about the MBE, when I passed the MD bar in July I was scoring around 60-65% on Themis practice questions for the most part. I was much lower in property, much higher in evidence and Crim (I'm a defense atty.) My scaled MBE was 148. I think the actual test is just much easier, thought it doesn't feel that way while you are taking it. If you are even getting in the 50% you stand a very good chance of passing. If you're consistently in the 60% range you are virtually guaranteed to pass with average to ever-so-slightly below average essays. Striving for the 70% is great because it means you can really fuck up the essays and pass.

This time around I was already scoring around 65% by the milestone exams and the simulated MBE two weeks ago, so I haven't been too worried about it. It is funny though, I think you reach a point where your MBE isn't going to get any higher. I've now studied that nonsense for four months total and I bet you my NY MBE will be the same (granted, it includes civ pro now which I am averaging 59% at.)

Edit to clarify: I was NOT scoring 60-65% from the get go. I started out getting 40-50% on practice sets and scored in the 50s on the milestones. By the end I was consistently between 60-70% but that honestly did not come together until the last one to two weeks when it all started to click.

[minnbills]

I feel like the barbri sets test on one kind of thing per set. So if you know that topic you will crush it, otherwise its a disaster.

I killed evidence the other day (15/18) because I had hearsay down pretty well and that was the big topic. Today the contracts set was all about the UCC and it was a disaster, but a week ago I got 15/18 on Ks. I don't know how else to explain this.

[nvbar2015]

For those of you taking barbri, how are you scoring on the 50 question mixed sets?

So far I've only done one. 35/50. Feeling pretty satisfied about the MBE. Worried about some of the potential crossover essays for Nevada.

76%, 76%, 82% on the first three. 68% on the next two. Sets 4 and 5 are significantly more difficult.

There are only four 50q mixed mbe sets.

[OklahomasOK]

For those of you taking barbri, how are you scoring on the 50 question mixed sets?

So far I've only done one. 35/50. Feeling pretty satisfied about the MBE. Worried about some of the potential crossover essays for Nevada.

76%, 76%, 82% on the first three. 68% on the next two. Sets 4 and 5 are significantly more difficult.

There are only four 50q mixed mbe sets.

I have seven. Look under Practice Questions.

[minnbills]

10/18 on K set 3.

[Holly Golightly]

Pretty much just praying these Kaplan questions are significantly harder than the real thing. Only got 65% right on torts Qs yesterday and torts is something I should be crushing.

[crit_racer]

Put off studying for the state civil and criminal procedure stuff until this week. My state (TX) does this separately and it's super nitty-gritty. Lots of dates, etc. Feeling way too fried to commit this shit to memory. Fuck.

[minnbills]

33% on Crim Law set 2. WTF.

I got 75% on Set 1. I don't know what is going on here.

[Holly Golightly]

Here's the spreadsheet I mentioned a few days ago, if anyone wants it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7v5ebirpco4rx ... .xlsx?dl=0

[minnbills]

This is calming me down a bit:

http://images.barbri.com/email/pardot/M ... tGoals.pdf

[Tomego]

Feeling way too fried to commit this shit to memory.

Yeah, kind of how I am feeling atm. I'm just issue spotting essays at the moment hoping that I don't fail the MEE portion of the exam. Getting 2s on Kaplans essay grading really makes me depressed. The only thing I cling to is that I do well on the MBE.

This is an updated link from another thread that had percentiles based on 2012 Illinois results.
https://www.ilbaradmissions.org/july201 ... ent-charts

Thats July 2014. I'm hoping that my 150+ in the MBE will carry me. I mean, if I can do that well on the MBE, I can only hope to do better than 7% of essay takers and get at least a 120, right?

[nvbar2015]

6 days...


Only good thing is next Thursday at 1pm (at least for NV takers), I will have my life back. Can't wait.

[BeachedBrit]

FWIW, on the big 200 question simulated MBE from BarBri, I got 62.5% correct for a rank of 68th percentile. Civ Pro was not a weak area either. Since then, I read the answer paragraph for every Barbri question I got wrong on the simulated and did a couple of MPQ sets where I was weakest. Other than that I have done no other review and have just been working through 50 real NCBE released MBE questions at a time and then reviewing the answers to each after. Across the first 200 of the real questions, I got 93% correct.

Obviously, everyone won't have quite so large a jump and some of that could be just a lucky trend that theoretically should regress to the mean, but I think it's pretty safe to assume that the BarBri questions are, generally, harder than the real thing.

I would also suggest practicing on some real questions because there is definitely a notable difference.

[TheFutureLawyer]

X

[Holly Golightly]

I can suck at property just as long as I keep crushing conlaw, right?

sigh

[ilovetypos]

Seriously guys, the thought of being done with this makes me absolutely giddy.

[Holly Golightly]

Seriously guys, the thought of being done with this makes me absolutely giddy.

I can't even think about that because I am so not even close to ready.