Feb 2016 bar results waiting thread Forum

[gwuorbust]

Passed the MO bar. Ready to rock and roll!

[LittleE]

Congrats to all the passers and condolences to all almost-passers (you can do this)!

Unfortunately, I have another month and half wait to go. Damn Georgia!

[salsahips]

Lol!

Oh I see what you did... Clever clever

[kellyfrost]

Passed the MO bar. Ready to rock and roll!

Are you going to take Kansas next? How's the job market in MO?

[PersonalInjuryLawyer]

Are high bar scores considered marketable? Is it something worth putting on a cover letter/resume or bringing up in an interview?

Additionally, anyone know of a way to see where you ranked in Florida? If the answer to the above question is YES, then I assume your score is only marketable if it is over a certain threshold (top 1, top 5, top 10??)

Last year's highest scorer in Florida got a 175, my score was 169. Would love to know where this falls, if I can indeed use it when talking to firms.

I'd go ahead and add it in. Anything that sets you apart from your competitor applicants. An employer isn't going to NOT hire you because you listed it. It can only benefit you, in my opinion. (awesome job btw!)

I included hobbies on the very bottom line of my resume so employers could see more of who I am than just all my professional experiences/education-- ie. running, cooking, traveling, reading, blogging, etc. Made for fun conversation in interviews and showed future employers that I'm mentally and physically healthy. I'm sure that's not what I was "supposed to do" but whatever, I got a job at a mid-size law firm (that's waiting to promote me to associate attorney when I pass the bar) so I'm happy. Just remember at the end of the day it's Your resume. You are selling you. What do you want to include?

[BVest]

I'd go ahead and add it in. Anything that sets you apart from your competitor applicants. An employer isn't going to NOT hire you because you listed it. It can only benefit you, in my opinion. (awesome job btw!)

Having hired many times in the past, if looking at two equivalent applicants, I would probably not hire someone because of listing this. Once you get past the qualifications hurdle, getting a job is largely about fit. I would view one's thinking that the score on a P/F licensing exam -- that, let's face it, is not that closely related to the actual practice of law -- is some sort of indicator worthy of inclusion would be an indication that I wouldn't like working with that person on a regular basis.

[sjwest]

2nding Bvest. Don't list it. It can hurt because, as an earlier poster said, it could indicate to someone that you don't understand marginal benefits.

Bar score does not correspond to skill. It does indicate that you're a hard worker. However, it seems sort of bragging to me and doesn't have a place on a resume. I'd err on the side of not including it.

Edit: On TLS, brag away! Congrats on your awesome score! Didn't want to sound like I was minimizing it.

[DueProcessDoWheelies]

I'd go ahead and add it in. Anything that sets you apart from your competitor applicants. An employer isn't going to NOT hire you because you listed it. It can only benefit you, in my opinion. (awesome job btw!)

Having hired many times in the past, if looking at two equivalent applicants, I would probably not hire someone because of listing this. Once you get past the qualifications hurdle, getting a job is largely about fit. I would view one's thinking that the score on a P/F licensing exam -- that, let's face it, is not that closely related to the actual practice of law -- is some sort of indicator worthy of inclusion would be an indication that I wouldn't like working with that person on a regular basis.

what if you were the top scorer?

[1styearlateral]

FWIW, I've seen articles in law journals where students scored the highest essay exam in the state, one essay having a perfect score. I remember the school made a pretty big deal about it and there were several articles written about it in the area's newspapers and the state's legal journals.

[BVest]

what if you were the top scorer?

Top score would be fine. It's an interesting tid bit (though it would likely get talked about in the interview and the interviewees approach to it would be important.)

But saying, essentially "I was in the top 3% of bar exam scores when I took it" just sounds douchey.

[caveman2]

what if you were the top scorer?

Top score would be fine. It's an interesting tid bit (though it would likely get talked about in the interview and the interviewees approach to it would be important.)

But saying, essentially "I was in the top 3% of bar exam scores when I took it" just sounds douchey.

Agreed, it comes off as super douchey. It's the equivalent of listing how much you can bench on your resume.

[kellyfrost]

Idaho bar exam results are out. 69% pass rate.

[Sam0406]

If I received a lot better scores (4. And 5s)on my written portion compared to last February (3 and 4s), but received lower total score on the mee/MPT, does this mean the curve was just worse?

[Worthless1]

Did any of you who passed thought that you failed?

[PersonalInjuryLawyer]

Frustrated!!! I've been told South Dakota has released via snail mail the 7th week after the exam for the last 5 exams. Just got the mail and nothing. Rushed home early from work every day this 7th week expecting results. Partner at the firm I'm at already has clients designated out for me and the phone book lady prepared our new full page ad one with me in it listed as associate attorney and one without me (yea people up here still use phone books surprises me too)- just waiting on the MBE results...

I passed the MEE, MPT, Indian law portion on my first time in July 2015 (passed MPRE first time November 2014 of my 3L year) but failed the MBE - I scored a 132 in July and SD just changed passing from 130 to 135, so I failed by literally 3 points in a situation where classmates from a year ahead of me were sworn in with my same score. SD doesn't grade cumulatively so I have no idea what my essay scores were (just that I had 75% or higher) or if in another state my essays would've saved my 132 MBE and I would've passed overall or failed overall. Everything is graded separately.

Anyways I feel really confident about the MBE this February. It was nice focusing only on that and not all the state essay material too. I got my results last summer on the Friday of the 7th week out... Which is what my classmates ahead of me said is what they have been doing for a long time now. But apparently not this year!! %}@&$!?¥#~€ Why is it taking so long??! There was less than 30 of us sitting for the exam. This is ridiculous. Sorry, had to vent. I'm tired of annoying all my friends and family. I'm tired of talking about it.

[boquita44]

Did any of you who passed thought that you failed?

Yes! I was a second time test taker, so my confidence wasn't the highest. The afternoon MBE was much more difficult for me than the morning, so I took that bad feeling with me until results were posted. I passed this February 2016 exam. I raised my overall score 11 points -- all on essay. I was peeved that my MBE score was virtually identical to July 2015, especially considering how much time I spent on it with Barbri. I was so happy when I saw I passed that I cried.

[gtg]

Did any of you who passed thought that you failed?

Yes! I was a second time test taker, so my confidence wasn't the highest. The afternoon MBE was much more difficult for me than the morning, so I took that bad feeling with me until results were posted. I passed this February 2016 exam. I raised my overall score 11 points -- all on essay. I was peeved that my MBE score was virtually identical to July 2015, especially considering how much time I spent on it with Barbri. I was so happy when I saw I passed that I cried.

Congrats!!! Hoping for a similar story in a few days...

[tealeaf23]

Did any of you who passed thought that you failed?

Yes! I was a second time test taker, so my confidence wasn't the highest. The afternoon MBE was much more difficult for me than the morning, so I took that bad feeling with me until results were posted. I passed this February 2016 exam. I raised my overall score 11 points -- all on essay. I was peeved that my MBE score was virtually identical to July 2015, especially considering how much time I spent on it with Barbri. I was so happy when I saw I passed that I cried.

Congrats!!! Hoping for a similar story in a few days...

Congratulations! I needed to have raised by score by 20 points so I'm hoping my essays came through for me, too!

[kamitchell17]

Did any of you who passed thought that you failed?

Yes! I was a second time test taker, so my confidence wasn't the highest. The afternoon MBE was much more difficult for me than the morning, so I took that bad feeling with me until results were posted. I passed this February 2016 exam. I raised my overall score 11 points -- all on essay. I was peeved that my MBE score was virtually identical to July 2015, especially considering how much time I spent on it with Barbri. I was so happy when I saw I passed that I cried.

Congrats!!! Hoping for a similar story in a few days...

Congratulations! I needed to have raised by score by 20 points so I'm hoping my essays came through for me, too!

What is the score needed to pass your state?

[BVest]

Congratulations! I needed to have raised by score by 20 points so I'm hoping my essays came through for me, too!

What is the score needed to pass your state?

Based on post history, I'd guess 675. A 20-point increase in Texas would be the equivalent of an 4-point increase on scaled MBE with similar increases on essays, MPT, and Texas procedure/evidence portion.

e: can't do math.

e2: Also a 10-point increase on scaled MBE or a 10-point increase on scaled essays would get the poster there, if keeping all other performances steady.

[DueProcessDoWheelies]

more scores!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

[TLSaul2001]

Did any of you who passed thought that you failed?

Absolutely. (Failed NY Feb 2015, passed July 2015)

Walked out of the MBE day in July 99% confident that I had failed. The biggest reason I failed in February was because of my MBE score (125 scaled), so the vast majority of my studying for July was mountains and mountains of practice MBE questions. I did as many as I could in the 2 months leading up to the exam and felt like I was in good shape by test time. First day came, I felt pretty good about my essays, better than I did in February, I even got complacent and didn't really do much studying that night before the MBE day, I specifically remember watching Seinfeld at 11pm on a re-run feeling really good about the next day.

Morning MBE hit me like a mack truck. Time wise I did fine, I was able to finish the session with 20 minutes left to go back over questions that I was 50/50 on. But substantive wise, I honestly felt like in those 100 questions, I felt good about 20 of them. The other 80 I felt like I had been studying for the wrong test. SO many of them I got down to 2 answers and just couldn't confidently pull the trigger on one. I thought I had crammed enough fact patterns into my head over the previous 2 months and encountered every type of questions possible, but it simply wasn't the case.

During the lunch break, I grabbed my study stash and did my best to cram for an hour. I wanted to panic, but I couldn't. PM MBE's roll around and it was worse than the AM session. I felt even more lost and defeated. I remember waiting with everyone else trying to leave (Took it at Javits so took like 10-15 minutes to funnel all of us out of there) and all I kept thinking was "Wow, I failed it again, I can't believe this but I failed it again"

I called my wife as soon as I got outside and actually made her tear up because she felt the defeat in my voice. I was like a zombie walking back to the subway. Just kept running through my head how awful the MBE felt and really believed that I had failed the test once again. The debt I piled on, the shame of having to tell people I failed a SECOND time was all I could think about. My pending unemployment. The weight of the world felt like it was on my shoulders and for a solid week I felt like an abject failure.

Over time, as I spent 8 hours a day applying for jobs, I was able to let the doubt seep into the recesses of my brain and knew that I was either going to have passed or failed, there was nothing I could do about it.

Come November, got the e-mail, passed with a 136 scaled MBE score. A solid jump of 11 points in my raw score from February, and enough to get me over the hump. So yeah, don't go by how you felt leaving the exam, you're probably doubting yourself even moreseo since you already failed once, the scores are beyond your control, you hopefully passed and no amount of worrying now will change the result in a few weeks.

[tealeaf23]

more scores!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

BVest hit the nail on the head. It sounds so doable when you say it out loud. I'm just hoping I was able to actually do it

And the link isn't working for me. Would you mind reposting?

[DueProcessDoWheelies]

BVest hit the nail on the head. It sounds so doable when you say it out loud. I'm just hoping I was able to actually do it

And the link isn't working for me. Would you mind reposting?

oops. fixed!

[waiting06]

more scores!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

BVest hit the nail on the head. It sounds so doable when you say it out loud. I'm just hoping I was able to actually do it

And the link isn't working for me. Would you mind reposting?

oops. fixed!

Link not working on my end either!