BarBri Bar Review Hangout - July 2015 Exam Forum

[myrtlewinston]

Watching C h e m e r i n s k y now.

Call me crazy, but I like him muchhhh more than Thai (who I had). You just need to use 1.5 on him Him, Franceze and Whitebread are the only three I remember from taking Barbri 8 years ago for PA/NJ -- and I passed then with flying colors - albeit it was righttt after law school when things were fresh. Chemerinsky's handout I think lends better to making flash cards too - if you're going that route

I tried watching the video at 1.5, but the effect was bizarre. I remain grateful to him for his book, which got me through Con Law 101 with a very tough prof.

How is your review going, given that you graduated a while ago? It's been a while since I finished too.

[Loud Kiddington]

Anyone else being destroyed by the MBE diagnostic/studysmart questions?

On a good day I'm only getting around half right...

[kmp127]

Watching C h e m e r i n s k y now.

Call me crazy, but I like him muchhhh more than Thai (who I had). You just need to use 1.5 on him Him, Franceze and Whitebread are the only three I remember from taking Barbri 8 years ago for PA/NJ -- and I passed then with flying colors - albeit it was righttt after law school when things were fresh. Chemerinsky's handout I think lends better to making flash cards too - if you're going that route

I tried watching the video at 1.5, but the effect was bizarre. I remain grateful to him for his book, which got me through Con Law 101 with a very tough prof.

How is your review going, given that you graduated a while ago? It's been a while since I finished too.

The worst is having a vague recollection of knowing a concept down pat back then........ yet now barely understanding it in the most basic form Alas, I keep reminding myself I just need to pass... not know everything down pat.

[941law]

Anyone else being destroyed by the MBE diagnostic/studysmart questions?

On a good day I'm only getting around half right...

I'll reply out of sympathy ha. I'm getting 50% right on basically anything, any subject. Give or take.

I would probably keep track of your misses and then go back to those topics in the outline, as people are suggesting.

[bluesnowflake]

Anyone else being destroyed by the MBE diagnostic/studysmart questions?

On a good day I'm only getting around half right...

YES. I have no idea how to HELP you with this, but you're not alone. My percentile scores are scaring me a little.

[941law]

YES. I have no idea how to HELP you with this, but you're not alone. My percentile scores are scaring me a little.

It's a tough call on how react to poor MC scores. If you get a hearsay question wrong should we stop everything we're doing and go reviewe hearsay for an hour? Or do we figure out what went wrong and keep pushing on? Depends on this topic I guess and that's why bar prep is very specific to each person, especially in July.

[florentine]

Anyone else being destroyed by the MBE diagnostic/studysmart questions?

On a good day I'm only getting around half right...

YES. I have no idea how to HELP you with this, but you're not alone. My percentile scores are scaring me a little.

Hopefully this link will make you feel better, as it did for me.

http://www.barexambrief.com/help-im-onl ... e-worried/

[941law]

Hopefully this link will make you feel better, as it did for me.

http://www.barexambrief.com/help-im-onl ... e-worried/

Is it just me or is that math irrelevant? Maybe I need to look at it more carefully. Ideally what I'd like to see is "students who score x% on Barbri's MBE have x % of passing based off results."

[dwyf]

Is there any reason to watch the MPT lecture? I don't see how it can take 4 hrs to say follow the rules, be organized, answer the questions they pose, practice doing MPTs.

Bumping this - can anyone who has actually finished it speak to this? I got through the first hour, am debating continuing with it. I suppose I'll have to learn it at some point. How much can one really prepare for this section though?

[Loud Kiddington]

Is there any reason to watch the MPT lecture? I don't see how it can take 4 hrs to say follow the rules, be organized, answer the questions they pose, practice doing MPTs.

Bumping this - can anyone who has actually finished it speak to this? I got through the first hour, am debating continuing with it. I suppose I'll have to learn it at some point. How much can one really prepare for this section though?

I think you can just skip it. Half of it is actually outlining the practice one.

The main thing you get out of it (feel free to correct me) is they want you to spend half of the time outlining and half writing and the order in which to read (task memo then library then case file.

[mushybrain]

Is there any reason to watch the MPT lecture? I don't see how it can take 4 hrs to say follow the rules, be organized, answer the questions they pose, practice doing MPTs.

Bumping this - can anyone who has actually finished it speak to this? I got through the first hour, am debating continuing with it. I suppose I'll have to learn it at some point. How much can one really prepare for this section though?

I think you can just skip it. Half of it is actually outlining the practice one.

The main thing you get out of it (feel free to correct me) is they want you to spend half of the time outlining and half writing and the order in which to read (task memo then library then case file.

Agreed, the order of reading was the most useful part for me. If you don't want to watch it, they also said to try reading the library from the oldest case to the newest case.

[euskadi]

Is anyone aware of an easy way to get very condensed outlines of the MBE subjects (and more—perhaps for Illinois)? Once you learn the topics decently, it seems like you don't need much more than a couple of pages for each. Frankly I'm too lazy, at least with the exam a month and a half away, to make my own.

Thanks muchísimo a tod@s for any and all help.

[musicfor18]

I'm really frustrated with the assigned essays. So far, most of them have required knowledge of law that I've never seen before in the lectures or CMR. Are the real NY essays easier than BarBri's?

[5ky]

I'm really frustrated with the assigned essays. So far, most of them have required knowledge of law that I've never seen before in the lectures or CMR. Are the real NY essays easier than BarBri's?

You can find all of the old essays on the ny bole website and can just study off of those if you want. I found them much easier. They were very specific and narrow about what they wanted, not barbri'a broad and general questions.

The point about Barbri asking stuff you haven't yet reviewed is just sort of their prep style. It's a method of (a) teaching you new stuff in a way that might help you remember that point going forward (I would say you're more likely to remember that piece of law than as a random throwaway in the middle of 10 straight hours of lecture) and (b) forcing you to practice writing essays when you don't know the answer. It sounds dumb and I think they overdo it a bit, but it's generally a good practice idea

[3|ink]

How often do you guys read the big outlines? It seems to me that like half of the assessment questions (following the lectures) are taken from the big outlines. That is, you won't even find the answers if you took the time to read the CMR. It's kind of freaking me out because there's no way I could ever find the time to internalize the big outlines.

[kmp127]

How often do you guys read the big outlines? It seems to me that like half of the assessment questions (following the lectures) are taken from the big outlines. That is, you won't even find the answers if you took the time to read the CMR. It's kind of freaking me out because there's no way I could ever find the time to internalize the big outlines.

I only read the big outlines when I don't understand a subject from the lecture. I agree that so many questions from the assessment are never even covered, however I think that's mostly because there is just no feasible way to get through every single thing and expect you to know it all on test day. I personally have chosen to use my time to try to really understand the subjects the lecturer has chosen to address -- and those things that were completely left out I'm going to avoid. But that's just my strategy bc I can almost feel my brain filling up to capacity....

[charlesxavier]

How often do you guys read the big outlines? It seems to me that like half of the assessment questions (following the lectures) are taken from the big outlines. That is, you won't even find the answers if you took the time to read the CMR. It's kind of freaking me out because there's no way I could ever find the time to internalize the big outlines.

I've only opened it once and it was to get a little more detail about Con Law. I just did a few MPQ sets and felt like there were a few questions that were on minor rules that I didn't see in the lecture or CMR. It sucks to miss those but it's part of the learning process and it helps to learn the rules more than just reading the long outlines. What I'm doing is based off of everything I've heard and that is to only crack the long outline if you're having difficulty understanding the concepts. It would be overwhelming to open it in an attempt to pick up some minor rules or memorize.

[EvelynS]

Is it only me who feels that reader's comments are not useful at all? They basically restate the same answer as a model answer without really explaining what you are doing wrong and how that relates to any points deducted. Both of my graded essays did not have any substantial comments that I can actually learn from (neither did I have a perfect score on my essays). I feel that my self-grading is as useful as Barbri's grading.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

Is it only me who feels that reader's comments are not useful at all? They basically restate the same answer as a model answer without really explaining what you are doing wrong and how that relates to any points deducted. Both of my graded essays did not have any substantial comments that I can actually learn from (neither did I have a perfect score on my essays). I feel that my self-grading is as useful as Barbri's grading.

I don't think the reader's comments are useful. Also i think they score the essays you submit harshly to motivate. I haven't gotten my Contracts one back but they gave me a slightly below passing score for the Torts one, and I honestly don't believe it comparing my answer with the model.

[charlesxavier]

My biggest fear is getting a question like Crim Pro Essay 10. Looking at my lecture handout and CriticalPass flashcards, I don't see interlocutory injunctions or temporary restraining orders mentioned anywhere. A whole essay based on a part of the law that isn't covered much in the materials.

[Kage3212]

I agree that the essay grading is sometimes off, and wholly dependent on the grader. In one essay, the grader told me at the beginning of my initial paragraph that I should have addressed X, Y, and Z facts. If he/she would have read one paragraph further, he/she would have seen that said facts were all addressed in the appropriate analysis section (as set forth by Barbris CIRAC). Also, no rhyme or reason why, for example, 2.84/4 points were given on a particular issue section; I think I saw a magician pull this trick once with a rabbit and a hat.

[Kage3212]

My biggest fear is getting a question like Crim Pro Essay 10. Looking at my lecture handout and CriticalPass flashcards, I don't see interlocutory injunctions or temporary restraining orders mentioned anywhere. A whole essay based on a part of the law that isn't covered much in the materials.

Always consider that if you have been adequately studying the assigned materials, and you do not know what the hell they are talking about, it is highly likely that a great deal of other students do not know what the hell they are talking about. I understand that there is a slim chance that other prep courses may cover this specific point in lecture/detail, but that probably is unlikely. Thus, if you are adequately keeping up and doing what you are supposed to be doing, there is no real reason to expect 70-80% of other test takers to be able to recognize some obscure rule better than you can.

This is at least what I tell myself.

[mushybrain]

What is all this garbage about dismissal of public employees in Con Law? Uggghhh these MBE question sets.

[charlesxavier]

My biggest fear is getting a question like Crim Pro Essay 10. Looking at my lecture handout and CriticalPass flashcards, I don't see interlocutory injunctions or temporary restraining orders mentioned anywhere. A whole essay based on a part of the law that isn't covered much in the materials.

Always consider that if you have been adequately studying the assigned materials, and you do not know what the hell they are talking about, it is highly likely that a great deal of other students do not know what the hell they are talking about. I understand that there is a slim chance that other prep courses may cover this specific point in lecture/detail, but that probably is unlikely. Thus, if you are adequately keeping up and doing what you are supposed to be doing, there is no real reason to expect 70-80% of other test takers to be able to recognize some obscure rule better than you can.

This is at least what I tell myself.

That makes sense. It's like the story one my lecturers told about some guy making stuff up on half the essay because he had no idea what the question was even asking. He got the best score possible because a lot of other people freaked out, wasted time, and never even addressed the second part to the question.

[florentine]

My biggest fear is getting a question like Crim Pro Essay 10. Looking at my lecture handout and CriticalPass flashcards, I don't see interlocutory injunctions or temporary restraining orders mentioned anywhere. A whole essay based on a part of the law that isn't covered much in the materials.

That's because interlocutory injunctions and TRO's are discussed in the Civil Procedure materials.