FLORIDA BAR - JULY 2014 Forum

[LSATmakesMeNeurotic]

What review courses did ya'll passboys/girls take?

I took Themis. I thought it was great for the MBE/Essays, but it didn't teach a lot of the issues that came up in the Florida MC. Overall I would recommend it.

I took Themis and feel exactly the same way. I thought the Florida multiple choice part was atrocious and definitely left me feeling unconfident for that portion of the exam. The rest was legit though. I would probably do Barbri if you don't care about spending the money, or if you go to a school that rolls your bar prep into tuition and you can choose between the three, but otherwise (though I heard Barbri Florida MC was good) I definitely don't think Barbri is worth it over Themis. As I said, most of it was great except for the Florida MC.

Did you guys do all of the practice questions they gave for Florida? I feel like Themis prepared me really well for the multiple choice. In fact, after the really shitty essay section I had, the multiple choice was like a gift.

[silky bruh]

What review courses did ya'll passboys/girls take?

I took Themis. I thought it was great for the MBE/Essays, but it didn't teach a lot of the issues that came up in the Florida MC. Overall I would recommend it.

I took Themis and feel exactly the same way. I thought the Florida multiple choice part was atrocious and definitely left me feeling unconfident for that portion of the exam. The rest was legit though. I would probably do Barbri if you don't care about spending the money, or if you go to a school that rolls your bar prep into tuition and you can choose between the three, but otherwise (though I heard Barbri Florida MC was good) I definitely don't think Barbri is worth it over Themis. As I said, most of it was great except for the Florida MC.

Did you guys do all of the practice questions they gave for Florida? I feel like Themis prepared me really well for the multiple choice. In fact, after the really shitty essay section I had, the multiple choice was like a gift.

Felt the opposite, took Kaplan. Totes prepared for the essays, guessing all over the multiple choice.

Congrats

[SilverE2]

What review courses did ya'll passboys/girls take?

I took Themis. I thought it was great for the MBE/Essays, but it didn't teach a lot of the issues that came up in the Florida MC. Overall I would recommend it.

I took Themis and feel exactly the same way. I thought the Florida multiple choice part was atrocious and definitely left me feeling unconfident for that portion of the exam. The rest was legit though. I would probably do Barbri if you don't care about spending the money, or if you go to a school that rolls your bar prep into tuition and you can choose between the three, but otherwise (though I heard Barbri Florida MC was good) I definitely don't think Barbri is worth it over Themis. As I said, most of it was great except for the Florida MC.

Did you guys do all of the practice questions they gave for Florida? I feel like Themis prepared me really well for the multiple choice. In fact, after the really shitty essay section I had, the multiple choice was like a gift.

Okay, well that's a really different experience than I had (and than I've heard of lot of people having). I did do most of them. I felt like they were VERY repetitive and completely different from the ones on the exam. The UCC 3 & 9 MC question bank must have had like 8 questions each...

[neveragain224]

What review courses did ya'll passboys/girls take?

I took Themis. I thought it was great for the MBE/Essays, but it didn't teach a lot of the issues that came up in the Florida MC. Overall I would recommend it.

I took Themis and feel exactly the same way. I thought the Florida multiple choice part was atrocious and definitely left me feeling unconfident for that portion of the exam. The rest was legit though. I would probably do Barbri if you don't care about spending the money, or if you go to a school that rolls your bar prep into tuition and you can choose between the three, but otherwise (though I heard Barbri Florida MC was good) I definitely don't think Barbri is worth it over Themis. As I said, most of it was great except for the Florida MC.

Did you guys do all of the practice questions they gave for Florida? I feel like Themis prepared me really well for the multiple choice. In fact, after the really shitty essay section I had, the multiple choice was like a gift.

Yep - I did 100% of the course and studied the outlines ad nauseum. Felt like 1/2 of the corporations questions on there weren't taught at all, but maybe I missed something.

[Hannibal]

I took BARBRI. I think that it was probably too expensive but the course prepared me very well and I can't argue with the results.

[plouis]

I passed!

I took Themis and was pleased for the most part. As mentioned by others, I left the Florida Multiple Choice wondering how soon I could retake the exam. Lot's of repeats and I ran out of questions to practice with. Otherwise, Themis was spot on. Great value.

[abogadesq]

I guess I'll do Themis + old Bar Bri multiple choice books. Congrats to everyone.

[OhScalia]

Passed!!

It seems that FL bar passage rate, which is normally around 79%, is down significantly. Assuming a random sample, my four page pdf had 218 test takers, but 80 of those test takers failed. That's a 64% passage rate. I calculate the margin of error to be 6.4%. Thus, FL bar passage rate will be between 57% and 72% (assuming a random sample in the pdf that contained my result). That would be a huge decrease from the historical 79% passage rate. Maybe my sample is not random. I can't believe this.

[fsunoles88]

What do we do now as far as getting sworn in? Do we wait for the official paperwork coming in the mail and fill out and notarize the oath of attorney and all that good stuff?

[SchantC]

I guess I'll do Themis + old Bar Bri multiple choice books. Congrats to everyone.

Just wanted to chime in regarding Themis for FL. I did just over 80% of the course and my experience mirrors most of what was said here. I thought they did a good job with essays and MBE. State MC was lacking and I was convinced I had failed day one as a result (I ended up passing both parts by some miracle). The FL practice questions were repetitive and the wrong answers were very obviously wrong. On test day the wrong answers were far less obvious. Spend some extra time reviewing the state outlines and don't get overly confident based on practice question success.

As far as the MBE, I think I spent too much time worrying about the lectures. If I had to do it over again I would have spent more time doing practice questions and less time on the lectures. The Themis practice questions for the MBE are straight from old exams, so there were no surprises on test day. Overall, I felt well prepared for the MBE.

Essays- plenty of practice essays with model answers and I had good feedback from my essay adviser. I think Themis did a good job here (despite the curve ball on test day with 2 contracts essays).

Overall, I would recommend you save yourself a decent chunk of cash and go with Themis, but just keep in mind the practice Fl MC shortcomings. Good luck!

[neveragain224]

Passed!!

It seems that FL bar passage rate, which is normally around 79%, is down significantly. Assuming a random sample, my four page pdf had 218 test takers, but 80 of those test takers failed. That's a 64% passage rate. I calculate the margin of error to be 6.4%. Thus, FL bar passage rate will be between 57% and 72% (assuming a random sample in the pdf that contained my result). That would be a huge decrease from the historical 79% passage rate. Maybe my sample is not random. I can't believe this.

I just did my section and came up with 138 passes out of 220 takers for a 62.7% pass rate. Although there's no way to know how many of those were repeat takers, it does seem quite low.

[hous]

What review courses did ya'll passboys/girls take?

I took Themis. I thought it was great for the MBE/Essays, but it didn't teach a lot of the issues that came up in the Florida MC. Overall I would recommend it.

I took Themis and feel exactly the same way. I thought the Florida multiple choice part was atrocious and definitely left me feeling unconfident for that portion of the exam. The rest was legit though. I would probably do Barbri if you don't care about spending the money, or if you go to a school that rolls your bar prep into tuition and you can choose between the three, but otherwise (though I heard Barbri Florida MC was good) I definitely don't think Barbri is worth it over Themis. As I said, most of it was great except for the Florida MC.

Did you guys do all of the practice questions they gave for Florida? I feel like Themis prepared me really well for the multiple choice. In fact, after the really shitty essay section I had, the multiple choice was like a gift.

PASSED!

Took Themis as well. I did 100% of the Florida MC questions and just happened to read the outlines for only those sections actually tested on the MC section just days before the exam so it was really fresh. I don't regret taking Themis at all and would recommend it all. However, those Florida MC questions were on another level. They tested on many areas of law that weren't mentioned in the Themis outlines and the FL MC sets were full of repeat questions so it was difficult to gauge your actual progress. I will say Themis was excellent for the FL essay and MBE sections. I fully recommend Themis, its a bargain.

However, if you can get Barbri for closer to the price as Themis, I would do that because everyone I know that did Barbri said they nailed the Florida MC section.

[b.sunshine]

What do we do now as far as getting sworn in? Do we wait for the official paperwork coming in the mail and fill out and notarize the oath of attorney and all that good stuff?

I just got off the phone with the Florida Bar. We are going to get mailed a packet which includes a form that we need to fill out in order to get sworn in. They said we should be getting the packet in the next day or two.

Therefore, WE NEED TO WAIT!

[Hannibal]

DAMMIT I ALREADY GAVE LEGAL ADVICE TO 20 STRANGERS TODAY

[LSATmakesMeNeurotic]

For those that are curious, there was indeed a significant drop from last year.

[b.sunshine]

Where did you find that chart?

[LSATmakesMeNeurotic]

Where did you find that chart?

The Lexis Nexis UF Facebook page posted it. I can't find it on the FL Bar website though so take it with a grain of salt for now hah.

[MoneyMay]

Wow thanks for posting that

[MoneyMay]

The Stetson/ Florida State pass rates are surprising

[Bobo1]

Passed!!

It seems that FL bar passage rate, which is normally around 79%, is down significantly. Assuming a random sample, my four page pdf had 218 test takers, but 80 of those test takers failed. That's a 64% passage rate. I calculate the margin of error to be 6.4%. Thus, FL bar passage rate will be between 57% and 72% (assuming a random sample in the pdf that contained my result). That would be a huge decrease from the historical 79% passage rate. Maybe my sample is not random. I can't believe this.

As a second time taker (passed first time NY 2009) I'm extremely relieved that I passed because I felt totally unprepared for FL MC. I studied with Themis. I'm not surprised the pass rate is down, because I also thought the MBE was much harder than in 2009 (the afternoon section in particular). I'm 53 years old and thought perhaps my brain power had started its inevitable decline.... I passed both parts and am actually pretty shocked I passed FL section.

I also recommend Themis although they need to build their FL MC practice questions - they really sucked for this exam. I voiced several complaints about repeat questions and they only said they were looking into it. No help at all when preparing for such a stressful exam.

[clebert]

Passed!!

It seems that FL bar passage rate, which is normally around 79%, is down significantly. Assuming a random sample, my four page pdf had 218 test takers, but 80 of those test takers failed. That's a 64% passage rate. I calculate the margin of error to be 6.4%. Thus, FL bar passage rate will be between 57% and 72% (assuming a random sample in the pdf that contained my result). That would be a huge decrease from the historical 79% passage rate. Maybe my sample is not random. I can't believe this.

As a second time taker (passed first time NY 2009) I'm extremely relieved that I passed because I felt totally unprepared for FL MC. I studied with Themis. I'm not surprised the pass rate is down, because I also thought the MBE was much harder than in 2009 (the afternoon section in particular). I'm 53 years old and thought perhaps my brain power had started its inevitable decline.... I passed both parts and am actually pretty shocked I passed FL section.

I also recommend Themis although they need to build their FL MC practice questions - they really sucked for this exam. I voiced several complaints about repeat questions and they only said they were looking into it. No help at all when preparing for such a stressful exam.

I also used Themis, and I was 100% convinced I failed the FL portion. The Florida MC covered stuff Themis didn't even have in its outline, and my Themis grader gave me a dismal amount of points on my practice essays which did not help my confidence. So, I was wondering if I'd made the right choice. But somehow I passed both portions of the exam. Thank God!!!

[MSPLaw]

So, as far as clearance goes... my friend and I turned in our applications around the same time... Nov. 2013. I got my clearance for character and fitness back in April, she has yet to get hers. Does she just have an unusually slow investigator? She has no criminal background, no debt, no bad checks, blah blah... the general "nothing to be concerned about" bar application. How long is it supposed to take? Obviously, she'd like to be sworn in asap.

[silky bruh]

So, as far as clearance goes... my friend and I turned in our applications around the same time... Nov. 2013. I got my clearance for character and fitness back in April, she has yet to get hers. Does she just have an unusually slow investigator? She has no criminal background, no debt, no bad checks, blah blah... the general "nothing to be concerned about" bar application. How long is it supposed to take? Obviously, she'd like to be sworn in asap.

It doesn't say she's authorized to be sworn in?

[MSPLaw]

So, as far as clearance goes... my friend and I turned in our applications around the same time... Nov. 2013. I got my clearance for character and fitness back in April, she has yet to get hers. Does she just have an unusually slow investigator? She has no criminal background, no debt, no bad checks, blah blah... the general "nothing to be concerned about" bar application. How long is it supposed to take? Obviously, she'd like to be sworn in asap.

It doesn't say she's authorized to be sworn in?

Nope. Had a "no" at the end of her results. She was hoping she had just missed the letter.

[neveragain224]

I'm not authorized to be sworn in either. No idea what could be wrong with my application - I didn't turn it in until late April, though, so hopefully there's just a delay in processing.