July 2016 Texas Bar Exam Forum

[AllDangle]

Barbri checking in. Is anyone doing extra practice problems yet?

Define practice problems

Sorry I meant problems outside of what Barbri assigns!

Ah I missed the "extra." I'm having a hard time just keeping up with the current pace. Going to accept the fact that I can't get 100% done and probably drop back and start reviewing old Procedure and Evidence sections off the Bar website.

[Federalist]

Barbri checking in. Is anyone doing extra practice problems yet?

Define practice problems

Sorry I meant problems outside of what Barbri assigns!

Ah I missed the "extra." I'm having a hard time just keeping up with the current pace. Going to accept the fact that I can't get 100% done and probably drop back and start reviewing old Procedure and Evidence sections off the Bar website.

I believe nobody can reach the same pace as the PSP. I'm currently at 23% of 28%. What about you?

[AllDangle]

Barbri checking in. Is anyone doing extra practice problems yet?

Define practice problems

Sorry I meant problems outside of what Barbri assigns!

Ah I missed the "extra." I'm having a hard time just keeping up with the current pace. Going to accept the fact that I can't get 100% done and probably drop back and start reviewing old Procedure and Evidence sections off the Bar website.

I believe nobody can reach the same pace as the PSP. I'm currently at 23% of 28%. What about you?

I'm at 24% of 28%. But for a few topics I gave myself credit for preparing for class even though I didn't do anything other than look at the CMR table of contents because I took the class very recently or took a bunch of classes on the topic (con law and crim pro, for example). And now that I've typed that out I feel like my percentage needs an asterisk.

[NolanRyan]

Barbri checking in. Is anyone doing extra practice problems yet?

Define practice problems

Sorry I meant problems outside of what Barbri assigns!

Ah I missed the "extra." I'm having a hard time just keeping up with the current pace. Going to accept the fact that I can't get 100% done and probably drop back and start reviewing old Procedure and Evidence sections off the Bar website.

I believe nobody can reach the same pace as the PSP. I'm currently at 23% of 28%. What about you?

I'm at 24% of 28%. But for a few topics I gave myself credit for preparing for class even though I didn't do anything other than look at the CMR table of contents because I took the class very recently or took a bunch of classes on the topic (con law and crim pro, for example). And now that I've typed that out I feel like my percentage needs an asterisk.

Yeah I am find the "prepare for ____" pretty difficult to actually get around to doing

[JazzOne]

I just passed the February exam after failing the first time. This community helped me out when I was studying (and after I failed) so I think I should give back a little. I'll be here for to provide advice, moral support, and complaints about bar prep companies for the next couple of months.

But just before it all starts here's some drive-by advice:

The sooner it starts, the sooner it's over.
Suffer now so you don't have to later.
Lectures aren't that great for learning (unless it's a subject you are totally unfamiliar with).
Over-study for the MBE. It's a bitch, yo.
Dont neglect the P&E. It could be what pushes you over the hump.
Do a fuckton of practice essays. Clean out your Barbri/Kaplan/Themis essay book.

And finally... This is just a licensing test. It has no bearing on whether you'll be a good attorney or not. It's a rite of passage, nothing more. It does not measure your worth as an individual or as an attorney. Just accept this and get through the exam.

+1

Hey everyone. I'm a long-time user of TLS. I am now a law professor, and I work with bar prep clients in Texas. I'm going to follow this thread and offer advice when I can. I didn't even get past the first page before I found the gem quoted above. I agree 100%, particularly with the bold portion.

[JazzOne]

strong fear of spending a ridic amnt of time learning irrelevant shit for tx essays and still blowing several essays

This is a legitimate fear. When I prepped for the Texas Bar, I decided to focus on acing the MBE for several reasons. First, the subjects are fundamental, and although they are not easy, you covered all them in your first year of law school. Second, there are objective criteria for gauging your progress on the MBE, whereas you can write dozens of awful essays for the Texas subjects and never fully appreciate how little progress you are making. And third, the MBE is comprehensive, so every doctrine you learn will help you with a question or two, whereas the Texas essays pick a narrow topic from each subject, and your knowledge of other doctrines is rendered irrelevant.

I'm not suggesting that you ignore the Texas subjects. But your'e probably not going to make up for a poor MBE performance on the Texas essays. However, you can make up for one or two weak essays with a strong MBE score.

[NolanRyan]

Has anyone used the Texas Bar Flash supplement?

[longhornlaw]

Has anyone used the Texas Bar Flash supplement?

I picked it up. Not worth it. Hasn't been updated fir several years. There are some mistakes. Difficult to read.

[NolanRyan]

Has anyone used the Texas Bar Flash supplement?

I picked it up. Not worth it. Hasn't been updated fir several years. There are some mistakes. Difficult to read.

Shoot. I ordered it and asked if it was updated with the 2015 stuff and the guy said yes...

[Harv]

A question for the people using Barbri and trying to answer a set amount of MBE questions every day: At this stage of the game, do you answer mixed subject matter questions before you have gone through all of the lectures, or do you focus on questions in the subject you are currently working on? If Barbri does not assign any MBE questions for a given day, do you just skip ahead until you find a set from the subject matter you are looking for, or do you take questions from the diagnostic, refresher, half day, full day, etc.? OR, do you use a separate program for MBE questions, like Adaptibar?

Thanks for your time

[umstah]

i took (and passed) the July 2014 california bar exam. lateraled to a firm in texas so i now have to take the july 2016 bar exam. i'm taking 5 weeks off to study. im starting my prep this weekend, but i probably wont be able to get in much time until my 5 weeks off. is that enough time, given that texas is slightly easier than california and that my last time taking it wasn't that long ago, so hopefully at least a bit is still in my brain? anyone else take it while working/general thoughts?

I was in your exact boat - took July 2014 in CA, then moved back to Texas and took the Feb 2016 exam.

Texas is easier in that they don't hide the ball on the essay questions, but don't underestimate it. The only crossover essay and MBE subject is property. Most of he essay topics in Texas aren't on the CA bar. You have significantly less time to do the PT than in CA. There are definite differences between the community property and wills rules. And there's definitely way less of an emphasis on the style of writing the essays - CA you underline and headline everything, but in Texas you just need one headline answer then irac from there.

Look at the sample answers on the Texas Bar's site. Those will help.

thanks for the reply. ive put in a few hours, but work has been to busy to get much substantive prep in. my plan is to put in 10-12 solid hours for the 5 weeks off, i definitely fear underestimating it and then failing it. so hoping that should be enough to walk confidently (as confidently as one can..) into the bar exam.

[Federalist]

Have you guys already done Consumer Law Essay 20? I know that the model answers are almost always very elaborated. But this one is just too much. Am I the only one seeing it that way? Other essay questions have been ok, but this one exceeds any regular standard.

[longhornlaw]

Has anyone used the Texas Bar Flash supplement?

I picked it up. Not worth it. Hasn't been updated fir several years. There are some mistakes. Difficult to read.

Shoot. I ordered it and asked if it was updated with the 2015 stuff and the guy said yes...

I for sure know that the numbers for child support were wrong. Kaplan had them wrong as well in their materials. Offhand I can't tell you what they are now though, but if you're doing BarBri you'll be fine

[DueProcessDoWheelies]

For people worried about the Texas essays, I was too. So much information they can test you on. What I did to prepare was just do a fuckton of the practice essays. I pretty much cleaned out the Barbri book. The examiners repeat themselves all the time, so you'll be prepared for the most part if you do that.



... unless the dbags do what they did last July and throw a nasty curveball with a mechanic's lien question

[jduluoz54]

Have you guys already done Consumer Law Essay 20? I know that the model answers are almost always very elaborated. But this one is just too much. Am I the only one seeing it that way? Other essay questions have been ok, but this one exceeds any regular standard.

I saw it the same way. It was ridiculous. Glad I'm not the only one.

[longhornlaw]

Have you guys already done Consumer Law Essay 20? I know that the model answers are almost always very elaborated. But this one is just too much. Am I the only one seeing it that way? Other essay questions have been ok, but this one exceeds any regular standard.

I saw it the same way. It was ridiculous. Glad I'm not the only one.

Consumer law essays always end up as outline dumps. It's absurd for only 30 minutes

[NolanRyan]

Did anyone else get murdered on their Wills essay evaluation?

[jduluoz54]

Did anyone else get murdered on their Wills essay evaluation?

Yes, but it was not a surprise. I did not even get to the second part of the question.

[Claire93]

It was a real disaster. If you are the same person as I am, better order it online last time I was using supreme essay. Can't compare with many others, you can check it on your own.

[lnh819]

So, it's obvious that the bar essays have certain things that pop up regularly (ie: spendthift clauses for Trusts, intestate distribution for Wills). Does anyone out there have a list of those topics for TX? I'd love to know how to better focus my essay studying - because I'm way behind in that.

[longhornlaw]

So, it's obvious that the bar essays have certain things that pop up regularly (ie: spendthift clauses for Trusts, intestate distribution for Wills). Does anyone out there have a list of those topics for TX? I'd love to know how to better focus my essay studying - because I'm way behind in that.

If you do a ton of practice essays - like all of them from the past 8 years - the patterns pop out. They often hit the PLLC requirements

[NolanRyan]

is anyone making outlines from the lecture notes?

[0lol]

currently going thru 12 tx essay answers a day and extracting the boilderplate.

3 days in. abt two weeks to go.

[AllDangle]

So this property question due today....I couldn't even attempt it. Not sure how in the hell they expect us to know enough to write out and submit an answer for that based off a few MBE problem sets and the lectures.

[Federalist]

For those of you taking Barbri. Are you planning to enroll for the TX Pro & Evidence Workshop? You think is a good or bad idea?