BarBri Bar Review Hangout - July 2015 Exam Forum

[rinkrat19]

Rink, have you taken any time off lately? Might be worthwhile if you haven't. Just 1/2 day or so.

Helped me refocus.

Yeah I had a day off not long ago, and spent Monday night getting a new phone and then playing with it. I don't think I can justify wasting any more time between now and Tuesday.

ETA: the really irritating thing is that I felt pretty good about at least half of those wrong answers, and had eliminated the correct choice as a "nope, definitely not."

[BVest]

Sigh, my answer to all these is just don't rob anyone or break into places, then no need to worry about conspiracy or accomplice. Now accomplice for bigamy was a whole nother level.

Was there actually a question on accomplice liability for bigamy?

I think there was a barbri question on accomplice/conspiracy liability for statutory rape or maybe selling alcohol to a minor.

[Good Guy Gaud]

Rink, have you taken any time off lately? Might be worthwhile if you haven't. Just 1/2 day or so.

Helped me refocus.

Yeah I had a day off not long ago, and spent Monday night getting a new phone and then playing with it. I don't think I can justify wasting any more time between now and Tuesday.

What did you get that score on? Some BarBri stuff or something else?

[kykiske]

Anyone take that 21 question MBE sample set on the NCBE site? Thought it was worth doing because of all the talk about Barbri questions being different from the real ones.

Got 81% correct, about 10% better than my average for barbri questions...

So maybe there is something to the barbri questions being harder? Anyone else do this?

I don't recall what I got on the set but I know it was also a fair deal higher than what I average on BarBri. There just may be something to this altitude training BarBri has us doing but unfortunately there is no way for us to find out until we receive our PASSING scores

Hmm, got 67%. That's around my average. Not bad, I guess.

I just tried it. 15/21 which is slightly below my Barbri average. I mean, fair housing act?? Withdrawal of complaint?! Huh?

jfc, I just got my lowest score on anything in weeks (barbri or emanuel). 43%. I'm so screwed. My percentages were already in the "it'll take a miracle" range, but at least I was at about 60% usually.
(my fellowship depends on passing, so I'm not like one you biglaw people who'll get 2 tries before anyone cares.)

I was in a similar rut. Did two MBE sets and got 6/18 and 7/18 on them. Then I took two days off. When I hit the books again, I got my highest score ever on the MBE Refresher.

As of right now, you need to rest your mind. Continuing to study when you're burnt out/mentally exhausted is counter-productive.

Are you planning on studying tomorrow? Blow it off. Go to the movies. Binge watch some Netflix show. Then, on Friday, hit the books again.

[Outis Onoma]

Rink, was it just an MPQ? If it was a small sample size, I wouldn't worry about it.

[rinkrat19]

Rink, have you taken any time off lately? Might be worthwhile if you haven't. Just 1/2 day or so.

Helped me refocus.

Yeah I had a day off not long ago, and spent Monday night getting a new phone and then playing with it. I don't think I can justify wasting any more time between now and Tuesday.

What did you get that score on? Some BarBri stuff or something else?

It was the 21-questions sample set from the NCBE site. A couple of people said they crushed it and got way higher than anything else (80% or something).

[kyle010723]

Sigh, my answer to all these is just don't rob anyone or break into places, then no need to worry about conspiracy or accomplice. Now accomplice for bigamy was a whole nother level.

Was there actually a question on accomplice liability for bigamy?

Yes, I am not making this up. See Mixed set 4 question 1

[kyle010723]

Rink, have you taken any time off lately? Might be worthwhile if you haven't. Just 1/2 day or so.

Helped me refocus.

Yeah I had a day off not long ago, and spent Monday night getting a new phone and then playing with it. I don't think I can justify wasting any more time between now and Tuesday.

What did you get that score on? Some BarBri stuff or something else?

It was the 21-questions sample set from the NCBE site. A couple of people said they crushed it and got way higher than anything else (80% or something).

Don't worry Rink, only one guy said he crushed it. Most of us didn't do too hot on it.

[Good Guy Gaud]

And anyways, some of those questions were odd and likely not representative of what will be on the real thing. You can miss those ones you missed there and still get a better than passing score.

Also, if you haven't seen their questions before the wording and what not is a little difference.

Point is to take it as a step of learning and move in a positive direction! You're going to pass!!

[BVest]

Also, given how much they protect their actual questions, I wouldn't be surprised if these were questions that were pre-tested (the 10/200 that don't count) but eventually rejected.

[diowad]

Finally did the 21 question NCBE tune up and did well with 17/21 (was 17/18 and then missed the last three----Fair Housing Act question, seriously?)

I had pretty much hit my ceiling with BarBri somewhere in the low 60's and with Emanuel somewhere around 70. So I think it's going ok.

The crazy thing is that I've done the complete opposite of everyone else this last week. I've never been good when I've had to cram, so I front-loaded my studying in June and have really scaled back my studying this last week (~3-4 hours a day). At this point, I'd rather be relaxed, rested, and confident in what I know than stressing about a rule that I haven't learned and won't be able to learn in 4 days.

[Danger Zone]

Why do people say they can't learn in four days? That's more time than I ever spent studying for any law school exam.

[Outis Onoma]

Why do people say they can't learn in four days? That's more time than I ever spent studying for any law school exam.

Exhaustion and a belief that if they haven't learned it so far after studying for 10 weeks, they aren't going to learn it now.

[diowad]

Why do people say they can't learn in four days? That's more time than I ever spent studying for any law school exam.

Exhaustion and a belief that if they haven't learned it so far after studying for 10 weeks, they aren't going to learn it now.

Pretty much. If I've gone 10 weeks and this is the first time I've heard of a rule, then screw it, I'll take my chances.

[old_soul]

Has anyone watched the Refresher videos? Worth it or not?

--For those who haven't, I just finished watching Guzman's videos, and I wish I had done them earlier. I watched Evidence a couple of weeks ago and reviewed that, and as I was analyzing my Refresher, I realized that I missed like only 2 qs in Evidence; now going back to go over his Con law and Crim/Pro. His little insurance policy summaries are soo worth it.

Are the insurance policy summaries something you would write down or just something to memorize?

I have the videos and am planning to watch them over the weekend. Do you think I should watch them sooner?

I'd memorize them, they are quick and dirty. And what another posted -- the tips are not what I am talking about. I'm talking about the summaries; he actually gives you a quick "summary" of the relevant law in a very digestible format for the main topics. His stuff has an underlying focus on exactly where most people make mistakes and what types of qs are found. At least I found the Evidence stuff on Character and Impeachment helpful.

Here's a sample of my notes (forgive any typos or sentence fragments):

Character Evidence – Criminal -- 5 main rules to Rmr
1) Prosecutor cannot introduce any evidence of the D’s bad character if the purpose of that evidence is to show that he probably acted in conformity with his bad character and committed the crime charged. No evidence of bad rep, no evidence of prior crime or bad acts if purpose is to show that he probably acted the same way again.
2) D is allowed to present evidence of relevant good character traits to try to establish that he acted in conformity with his good character and did not commit the crime, however, law limits the type of evidence to just reputation and opinion (prior acts/specific NOT allowed). (watch out for bolstering evidence answer choice – that’s a sucker pick when you know you can bring in evidence for a legitimate purpose, see q 103 in Sim.)
3) If D presents evidence of GOOD character to show she probably did NOT commit the crime, she has opened the door to character, and the prosecutor can now show evidence of BAD character, to show that she really is the sort of person to commit the crime, but ONLY through reputation or opinion; only gets to do this if number 2 is used.
4) While evidence of prior crimes or prior bad acts are never admissible to show they acted in conformity; but allowed to show MIMIC (motive; identity; absence of mistake; intent; common scheme). Just rmr it could however be kept out under Rule 403, probative value of the evidence is substantially outweighed by prejudice to D.
5) If D testifies, he automatically places his character trait for truthfulness at issue.

[Killingly]

What are these Guzman videos?

[RaleighStClair]

Rink, have you taken any time off lately? Might be worthwhile if you haven't. Just 1/2 day or so.

Helped me refocus.

Yeah I had a day off not long ago, and spent Monday night getting a new phone and then playing with it. I don't think I can justify wasting any more time between now and Tuesday.

What did you get that score on? Some BarBri stuff or something else?

It was the 21-questions sample set from the NCBE site. A couple of people said they crushed it and got way higher than anything else (80% or something).

Don't worry Rink, only one guy said he crushed it. Most of us didn't do too hot on it.

Don't worry about it. I did poorly on that 21 set too, and i got like 5/10 on the civ pro. I think a good amount of those were testing weird rules, and regardless, you've been doing practice MBE questions for weeks now. Upwards of 1,000-1,500 probably. How you do on a 21 question sample is definitely NOT a reliable indicator of how you're going to do on 190 tested, real questions next week.

Just keep your head up. Honestly, it's mostly mental at this point.

[jamescastle]

Basically did like 8 hours of evidence today. Quite exhausted but pretty proud of 6000 word outline complete with color coded hearsay charts. lmao.

[Outis Onoma]

Also, if anyone is feeling bad about themselves: I ran out of clean bowls, so I used a small sauce pan for my cereal today. I felt proud of my ingenuity.

[kyle010723]

Any tips on what you folks are doing to prepare for subjects you did not learn in law school except just hope they will not be one of the essays?

For instance, I can write something very general about say will & trust, but there is no way I can go much more detail than just touch the surface. I know on test day, just make stuff up; but what is the general strategy on preparing for obscure topics?

[Outis Onoma]

Any tips on what you folks are doing to prepare for subjects you did not learn in law school except just hope they will not be one of the essays?

For instance, I can write something very general about say will & trust, but there is no way I can go much more detail than just touch the surface. I know on test day, just make stuff up; but what is the general strategy on preparing for obscure topics?

My weakness for MEE topics is probably family / wills / trusts. At this point, I'm just aiming for barely passing (D-) on the MEE. I'm just trying to get the broad law down from the lecture notes, so that I can atleast identify the major issues and make up law that sounds good for the sub-issues.

[Kage3212]

Any tips on what you folks are doing to prepare for subjects you did not learn in law school except just hope they will not be one of the essays?

For instance, I can write something very general about say will & trust, but there is no way I can go much more detail than just touch the surface. I know on test day, just make stuff up; but what is the general strategy on preparing for obscure topics?

I didnt take wills; trusts; employment discrim; family law; tax; corps; employment discrim; partnerships. Each of these issues is often tested each year in PA. I think I learned enough from Barbri to try and skate by.

Also, we have a key issues tested section in our book, which outlines every single issue tested since like 1998. So i have been reading that to get a handle on what is fair game. It at least makes me cognizant of what they could potentially go after. But again, the luck factor here is huge. Give me some random corps question and I am in the dust.

[kyle010723]

My weakness for MEE topics is probably family / wills / trusts. At this point, I'm just aiming for barely passing (D-) on the MEE. I'm just trying to get the broad law down from the lecture notes, so that I can atleast identify the major issues and make up law that sounds good for the sub-issues.

Same, family/wills/trust/commercial paper/secured transaction are going to be the death of me, and it is extremely likely one or more of those topics will be tested... If it is any one of the MBE topics or BA/Agency/Partnership/Tax, I can deal with those.

[BVest]

Also, if anyone is feeling bad about themselves: I ran out of clean bowls, so I used a small sauce pan for my cereal today. I felt proud of my ingenuity.

Monday night I wanted a snack around 11 pm, so I went to the grocery store. Among other things I bought a box of Ding Dongs and a 4-pack of chocolate jello. As of now, 47.5 hours later, those are all gone.

[redsox550]

so whats the deal with typos in the essay?

How well written is the essay supposed to be?

is thsi sentnce acceptable or am i gonna lose a ton of points if i write like this?