BarBri Bar Review Hangout - February 2016 Exam Forum

[lawst_]

I just did the Partnership questions and I feel like the lectures did not prepare me at all for the questions. Anyone else feel that way?

Felt that way after pretty much every lecture, especially once I was faced with questions about the lecture. Many of my friends who took Barbri felt the same. Too many questions that were asked after the lecture were never covered in the lecture.

[lawst_]

Sorry for replying to this thread 3 times in a row. Whoops.

Anyways. I'm retaking IL but I have nothing due until 1/2/16. Is this true for other people? This seems strange to start so late, especially since I've seen that others have started...

[jamescastle]

Sorry for replying to this thread 3 times in a row. Whoops.

Anyways. I'm retaking IL but I have nothing due until 1/2/16. Is this true for other people? This seems strange to start so late, especially since I've seen that others have started...

Seems late to me. If you're retaking you probably have a bunch of materials to review so I'd just say start doing those this week waiting for your actual BARBRI start next week.

[lawst_]

Sorry for replying to this thread 3 times in a row. Whoops.

Anyways. I'm retaking IL but I have nothing due until 1/2/16. Is this true for other people? This seems strange to start so late, especially since I've seen that others have started...

Seems late to me. If you're retaking you probably have a bunch of materials to review so I'd just say start doing those this week waiting for your actual BARBRI start next week.

That's what I figured. I've been periodically reviewing notes, especially in the areas where I struggled so I guess that's good. So weird that my course is officially starting so late.

[jr6]

Anyone sitting for the Pennsylvania/New Jersey or New York/New Jersey bar exams?

Just NJ here. Took PA in July 2014 and passed. Happy to be a resource for PA as we get closer re: exam day particulars, logistics, etc.

[UnfrozenCaveman]

Don't mean to just be complaining here, but I think these practice questions suck, and if they are like the MBE, I am screwed. Seriously considering checking out NCBE's online practice exams.

[BVest]

Don't mean to just be complaining here, but I think these practice questions suck, and if they are like the MBE, I am screwed. Seriously considering checking out NCBE's online practice exams.

NCBE has a handful of free questions.

Civ Pro
All Subjects

ETA: I took barbri in July and passed with a pretty strong MBE score. Though I was pulling about 65-68% on practice questions, I came out of the MBE feeling like I had been ill-prepared and like the Barbri questions weren't great. So here's what I thought specifically after taking the MBE:

Once you've got the BLL down (along with exceptions and exceptions to exceptions), you'll get to a point with barbri PQs where you can almost always eliminate two answers, but then it's often difficult to choose the correct answer from the remaining two answers. On the actual MBE, however, it was not so formulaic. I'd start eliminating/keeping answers and I'd want to keep 3-4 of them. Or I'd eliminate them all and have to start over.

I left the exam thinking I could have scored more like 50% than the 65-68% I'd been scoring, and what made me nervous was that when I did 100 and 200 question sets on Barbri, I was able to accurately predict what my score was before I scored the sheet. I mean, I did fine on the exam in the end, but I didn't feel that way. (To be fair, nobody else felt that way, so maybe this exam was just harder and the scale was more generous to make up for it).

[MrMustache]

Don't mean to just be complaining here, but I think these practice questions suck, and if they are like the MBE, I am screwed. Seriously considering checking out NCBE's online practice exams.

NCBE has a handful of free questions.

Civ Pro
All Subjects

When I was studying for the July bar, I remember stumbling upon something like 200 previously used test questions with explanations from NCBE, but I can't find it anymore, even though I'm pretty sure I had found it on their official website. Does anyone happen to know what I am talking about? Did they take those questions down?

[not guilty]

Barbri retaker here. Doing a few audio lectures in subjects that I'm weak in and then moving on to strictly questions and memorization. I'm not sure if I'll do any of Barbri's schedule, but just use it's content. I'd love to hear from other retakers.

[jamescastle]

Barbri retaker here. Doing a few audio lectures in subjects that I'm weak in and then moving on to strictly questions and memorization. I'm not sure if I'll do any of Barbri's schedule, but just use it's content. I'd love to hear from other retakers.

Same. Only plan on doing some lectures of the stuff I'm really bad at and spending the rest of the time doing questions and memorizing outlines and writing/reviewing essays.

[not guilty]

Same. Only plan on doing some lectures of the stuff I'm really bad at and spending the rest of the time doing questions and memorizing outlines and writing/reviewing essays.

I feel a tad lost/scared not following Barbri, but it seems wasteful to just follow their schedule. I am taking tonight to write up a plan for myself. I wish the MBE would give results back by subject.

[Chueyx1289]

Yea, i'm on BarBri's 3rd topic, torts, and so far, the con law was decent, the agency and partnership was trash when answering the questions, and the torts, looks decent but they're teaching it completely different from how I learned it so it's a little confusing. I've also come to realize that creating my own outlines based on the lectures and conviser might be more helpful. Any input on these ideas?

[Ineedhelpplease]

Yea, i'm on BarBri's 3rd topic, torts, and so far, the con law was decent, the agency and partnership was trash when answering the questions, and the torts, looks decent but they're teaching it completely different from how I learned it so it's a little confusing. I've also come to realize that creating my own outlines based on the lectures and conviser might be more helpful. Any input on these ideas?

For torts, I used a friends barbri notes, critical pass flash cards and answered adapitbar questions (64% - 50 questions). I have been following the study advice on the seperac site (1 MBE subject per day). So considering that Barbri is moving at a slow pace so far, I have been playing around with my study schedule (spend like 5 hrs reading evidence outline today). Spending so much time taking down notes on the video lecture seems like a waste.

[gtg]

Could someone please send me their notes for Torts I,II,III? I gave up on writing stuff down in the middle of Torts I lol

[MrMustache]

Could someone please send me their notes for Torts I,II,III? I gave up on writing stuff down in the middle of Torts I lol

I did mine by hand with my chicken scratch handwriting Sorry

[FinallyPassedTheBar]

Could someone please send me their notes for Torts I,II,III? I gave up on writing stuff down in the middle of Torts I lol

Are you referring to Schechter's lecture? if so, I can share my typed outline.

[Chueyx1289]

Yea, i'm on BarBri's 3rd topic, torts, and so far, the con law was decent, the agency and partnership was trash when answering the questions, and the torts, looks decent but they're teaching it completely different from how I learned it so it's a little confusing. I've also come to realize that creating my own outlines based on the lectures and conviser might be more helpful. Any input on these ideas?

For torts, I used a friends barbri notes, critical pass flash cards and answered adapitbar questions (64% - 50 questions). I have been following the study advice on the seperac site (1 MBE subject per day). So considering that Barbri is moving at a slow pace so far, I have been playing around with my study schedule (spend like 5 hrs reading evidence outline today). Spending so much time taking down notes on the video lecture seems like a waste.

Wow that's alot of material Adapitbar and Seperac. Don't think I want to spend all that dough but i'm sure it's super helpful. Also, for the torts, i've been writing down the outline from the first few pages of the conviser and then just adding in the material from the lecture.

[lawst_]

What's the consensus on Critical Pass and Adaptibar?

I've heard that Critical Pass is more or less the CMR in flash card format. I've also heard Adaptibar is great for MBE (which is where I need the most help).

Currently I'm doing Barbri, though I'm really just using their materials and making my own schedule since I found the lectures to be absolutely useless. I have Kaplan materials from a friend but haven't opened them and not sure whether or not I will. Wondering how I should supplement MBE practice?

[FinallyPassedTheBar]

What's the consensus on Critical Pass and Adaptibar?

I've heard that Critical Pass is more or less the CMR in flash card format. I've also heard Adaptibar is great for MBE (which is where I need the most help).

Currently I'm doing Barbri, though I'm really just using their materials and making my own schedule since I found the lectures to be absolutely useless. I have Kaplan materials from a friend but haven't opened them and not sure whether or not I will. Wondering how I should supplement MBE practice?

I highly suggest Adaptibar for MBE. It has about 1700 questions I believe. And they are actual past MBE questions. The user interface makes it enjoyable to use IMHO.

PM and send me your email addy if you would like a $50 discount code.

[BVest]

If you have Kaplan materials (and the practice questions aren't marked up), I'm not sure why you wouldn't at least use those practice questions before paying for even more.

[Ineedhelpplease]

Adaptibar has a free trial. I mention that because it would allow you to check out its format. I love the feature it has that lets you see the percentile of the answers choices people picked for the question you just did. It is just a smooth layout, in my opinion much better then barbri (I have not seen the kaplan material).

[FinallyPassedTheBar]

Adaptibar has a free trial. I mention that because it would allow you to check out its format. I love the feature it has that lets you see the percentile of the answers choices people picked for the question you just did. It is just a smooth layout, in my opinion much better then barbri (I have not seen the kaplan material).

Yeah I love that feature. There are some questions where less than 20% of the students answered correctly...which is kinda scary. But at the same time, a relief to answer wrong in practice, so you can prepare for it on test day. And if you're part of the 20% that answered correctly (for the correct reason), it puts a smile on your face

[jr6]

What's the consensus on Critical Pass and Adaptibar?

I've heard that Critical Pass is more or less the CMR in flash card format. I've also heard Adaptibar is great for MBE (which is where I need the most help).

Currently I'm doing Barbri, though I'm really just using their materials and making my own schedule since I found the lectures to be absolutely useless. I have Kaplan materials from a friend but haven't opened them and not sure whether or not I will. Wondering how I should supplement MBE practice?

I used the Critical Pass flashcards the first time I took (and passed, FWIW) the exam. I really liked them and now i'm using them again for another state's exam. I used them at night when I was burnt out and tired of looking at the books, when my husband and I would watch TV together, etc. I wrote the major state distinctions on the lines on the side of each corresponding card and I think that ended up being the most productive use for them. If you can spare the money, I would get them.

[rahrah4lif]

Don't mean to just be complaining here, but I think these practice questions suck, and if they are like the MBE, I am screwed. Seriously considering checking out NCBE's online practice exams.

In the Enrolled Student Center under Practice Questions, there is a Released MBE Questions subsection. Not sure how many or what really, but they might be worth looking at before dishing out even more money.

[rcharter1978]

Don't mean to just be complaining here, but I think these practice questions suck, and if they are like the MBE, I am screwed. Seriously considering checking out NCBE's online practice exams.

They are not! According to someone I spoke to, they are supposed to test concepts, and they aren't supposed to be like the actual MBE questions. However, no one explained that to me BEFORE the bar and I was a little confused and pissy about the entire thing (even though the MBE was the one thing I did pretty well on)