Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2017 Forum

[Bobzilla]

What's the consensus to do with extra time on the MBE questions? Except for Property and Civ Pro I always have 10-20 minutes left on the MBE PQs and expect to have a lot of time remaining on the actual exam. Is there one particular area of law that's easiest to work through the more time you give to it, if you might not know the exact rule?

[the_pakalypse]

Con Law MBE PQ2 had like 10 questions about topics that weren't covered in the lectures.

[robin600]

Omg the way some of these questions are worded is just idiotic. I've gotten like 4 or so questions wrong per PQ set when I've been able to correctly state the law before picking an answer. I don't remember the MBE being this dumb 3 years ago....

[Love With The Coco]

Comments from essay grader - another really solid essay, keep up the great work. Score =39

Where do you find the overall score for graded essays? All I can find are the 1-6 scales for different grading subjects. Do you just add those together?


Also, my very first graded essay had a score relative to others on Thesis. But that feature seems to have been removed. Anybody else notice this?

Green Course Progress tab > View Overall Progress > Graded Essays (View Details)

Thanks.

Seems some graders just plug in the same score every time....

Glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. On my last graded essay, I hit every issue but one small sub-issue. I correctly stated the law. I analyzed both sides of each issue pretty decently (discussed everything that was in the sample answer but came to contrary conclusions on a couple of issues). I organized it in a clear manner. I used IRAC. I still got a 43/100. My essay answer looks quite similar to the sample answer provided.

I just don't know what I need to do to get a decent score.

I would completely ignore these scores. I've gotten a 65 every time and the quality of my essays has certainly not been static.

[rdelaney]

Omg the way some of these questions are worded is just idiotic. I've gotten like 4 or so questions wrong per PQ set when I've been able to correctly state the law before picking an answer. I don't remember the MBE being this dumb 3 years ago....

I'm fairly certain it is just Themis. I don't know the percentage of MBE questions they license, but some of the questions just reek of being Themis-written.

[MelaPela]

Was the 5th Civ Pro MBE problem set way too nuanced, or is it just me?

I hope it isn't just you because I also felt the same way. These MBE PQs are getting on my last nerve. I understand increasing difficulty on these questions, but getting into this level of detail seems like a waste of time.

Yeah it's kind of ridiculous. There's no way in hell I'll be able to memorize the level of detail they include in the practice questions for every subject.

I almost had a panic attack while and after doing PQ 5... until I spoke to a friend who also took Themis last year and told me to ignore it... that he faced the same thing and knows for a fact that Barbri and Themis create these impossible question sets to scare you into studying harder.

[Steve2207]

Did anyone else struggle on the graded MPT? I went 5 minutes over and submitted an answer less than 4,000 characters. I am not really sure what to do to improve my MPT’s, but if I see something like that on the Bar I am going to bomb it.

ETA: Atleast this portion of the exam is only worth 10% in my jurisdiction!

[lavarman84]

Was the 5th Civ Pro MBE problem set way too nuanced, or is it just me?

I hope it isn't just you because I also felt the same way. These MBE PQs are getting on my last nerve. I understand increasing difficulty on these questions, but getting into this level of detail seems like a waste of time.

Yeah it's kind of ridiculous. There's no way in hell I'll be able to memorize the level of detail they include in the practice questions for every subject.

I almost had a panic attack while and after doing PQ 5... until I spoke to a friend who also took Themis last year and told me to ignore it... that he faced the same thing and knows for a fact that Barbri and Themis create these impossible question sets to scare you into studying harder.

Good to know. That's usually what I figure when I get to the last two PQ sets for each topic because so many questions seem ridiculously nuanced.

[Love With The Coco]

The PQ sets seem to be more difficult than the MBE Quiz Builder problems and the Practice Test problems. You guys agree?

I feel like they make the PQ sets unreasonably difficult to make us work.

[ihategunners]

Would anyone else consider suicide if they could not listen to Kramer on 2x speed? He had so many pointless comments during the property lecture ("I had a friend born on leap year. He's 7 now. I'm real proud of him.....This is comedy gold people...I don't actually live in the desert, i live in a house...if my hand goes left it's coffee, if it's right it's water....etc etc") that I decided to type them up for the Wills and Trusts sections. Fortunately though, the amount of inanity in those lectures was proportional to his amount of facial hair so it wasn't that much. But here you go for the Kramer fans or haters:

This will be my first sip of water. I’m very thirsty. Get used to it, I live in the desert.. and it’s good to hydrate.

I’m glad you’re still here I was worried you were gonna leave and never come back then I’d be here all alone. But you came back.

I know that you love the statute of frauds and dream about it often.

Empty trust- that also happens to be the name of my autobiography

My mug has a little thumb holder. See that? It’s so comfortable. You don’t normally think about a mug being comfortable. But trust me. Once you have a thumb holder, you never go back.

I thought I was gonna cough but I didn’t. I’ll just clear. I apologize if I sound sick. I’ve had a sinus infection for seven years. So I’m working it out.

[takes sip] My mug gets a co-star credit in this Themis production. Hopefully it will be up for an award: best mug. Dramatic…lecture…series. Sorry.

When I was a little kid and my parents would say “what do you want to do when you grow up?” I would say I want to become a law professor and I want to talk to law students about trust distributions and creditors rights. And my dream has come true.

You can see now why as I kid I found it thrilling. I put on a little suit and would be like “Mandatory!”

That’s the international sign for swarm. Sorry I was imagining bees swarming and I imagine myself trying to give someone a message like this [waves arms] and it would be super not helpful.

If you want to have fun one day, go around and ask people if they have heirs. They’ll all get it wrong.

It’s very important for me that you think that I’m hydrated .

How you doing? Good right?

That’s the thing about wills though, everybody dies. It’s a hard truth but you gotta deal with it. Anyway…

How cool is it that T-Bone knows somebody named X? I wish I did.

Imagine having to confess to your friends you were an omitted child?

[ihategunners]

And, by the way, what's w/ Kramer's T-Bone Taylor reference constantly? I get Hank Mardukas is from I Love You Man, but the only well known T-Bone Taylor I'm aware of is the notorious cop killer. I like to think I'm somewhat up on pop culture. am i missing something?

[J-english]

Would anyone else consider suicide if they could not listen to Kramer on 2x speed? He had so many pointless comments during the property lecture ("I had a friend born on leap year. He's 7 now. I'm real proud of him.....This is comedy gold people...I don't actually live in the desert, i live in a house...if my hand goes left it's coffee, if it's right it's water....etc etc") that I decided to type them up for the Wills and Trusts sections. Fortunately though, the amount of inanity in those lectures was proportional to his amount of facial hair so it wasn't that much. But here you go for the Kramer fans or haters:

This will be my first sip of water. I’m very thirsty. Get used to it, I live in the desert.. and it’s good to hydrate.

I’m glad you’re still here I was worried you were gonna leave and never come back then I’d be here all alone. But you came back.

I know that you love the statute of frauds and dream about it often.

Empty trust- that also happens to be the name of my autobiography

My mug has a little thumb holder. See that? It’s so comfortable. You don’t normally think about a mug being comfortable. But trust me. Once you have a thumb holder, you never go back.

I thought I was gonna cough but I didn’t. I’ll just clear. I apologize if I sound sick. I’ve had a sinus infection for seven years. So I’m working it out.

[takes sip] My mug gets a co-star credit in this Themis production. Hopefully it will be up for an award: best mug. Dramatic…lecture…series. Sorry.

When I was a little kid and my parents would say “what do you want to do when you grow up?” I would say I want to become a law professor and I want to talk to law students about trust distributions and creditors rights. And my dream has come true.

You can see now why as I kid I found it thrilling. I put on a little suit and would be like “Mandatory!”

That’s the international sign for swarm. Sorry I was imagining bees swarming and I imagine myself trying to give someone a message like this [waves arms] and it would be super not helpful.

If you want to have fun one day, go around and ask people if they have heirs. They’ll all get it wrong.

It’s very important for me that you think that I’m hydrated .

How you doing? Good right?

That’s the thing about wills though, everybody dies. It’s a hard truth but you gotta deal with it. Anyway…

How cool is it that T-Bone knows somebody named X? I wish I did.

Imagine having to confess to your friends you were an omitted child?

I have some serious love built up for Kramer at this point..... But I'm one of those that also loves a good dad joke.

[Slytherpuff]

Did anyone else struggle on the graded MPT? I went 5 minutes over and submitted an answer less than 4,000 characters. I am not really sure what to do to improve my MPT’s, but if I see something like that on the Bar I am going to bomb it.

ETA: Atleast this portion of the exam is only worth 10% in my jurisdiction!

I feel you, I struggled so much too. My answer didn't come close to hitting everything that was in the sample answer. I'm in a 25% MPT state so I really need to get better at these!

I am just SO BAD at the bar exam and it's really disheartening.

[whats an updog]

Would anyone else consider suicide if they could not listen to Kramer on 2x speed? He had so many pointless comments during the property lecture

A bit strong, esp considering I only listened at 1.5x, but I also was a Kramer-hater. Whenever he'd go on an aside, my brain says "not important" and I'd basically stop listening. Then I would forget to bring my attention back when he went back to the law. I don't want jokes or asides from a bar lecturer. Just give me the material.

I appreciate that most of the other lecturers who joke, work the joke directly into the material, so the reference/joke is relatively smoothly integrated (or as smooth as a law prof is gonna get).

[SeewhathappensLarry]

Would anyone else consider suicide if they could not listen to Kramer on 2x speed? He had so many pointless comments during the property lecture

A bit strong, esp considering I only listened at 1.5x, but I also was a Kramer-hater. Whenever he'd go on an aside, my brain says "not important" and I'd basically stop listening. Then I would forget to bring my attention back when he went back to the law. I don't want jokes or asides from a bar lecturer. Just give me the material.

I appreciate that most of the other lecturers who joke, work the joke directly into the material, so the reference/joke is relatively smoothly integrated (or as smooth as a law prof is gonna get).

A little bit got on my nerves. My real beef is with the profs that don't follow the lectures exactly and essentially try to paraphrase

[helpappreciated]

Wow I am SO bad at Evidence. For some reason I keep forgetting to actually say whether the evidence is relevant/material on my essays, and I'm missing PQs all over the place. I actually took this in law school and my class matched up almost perfectly with what we need to know for the MBE (thank you, Daniel Capra) but it was just too long ago.

I'm on Evidence PQ Session 2, and those character evidence questions are just tearing me apart.

[droit]

For anyone using Adaptibar, how are you incorporating it into your Themis schedule? I'm thinking of buying it just for this last month of bar prep.

[whats an updog]

For anyone using Adaptibar, how are you incorporating it into your Themis schedule? I'm thinking of buying it just for this last month of bar prep.

Been using it for about two weeks. I do 15 questions in the morning and 15 at night. I figure I'm on course to do at least 1,000 questions through adaptibar in addition to whatever the Themis PQ sets add up to.

[SplitMyPants]

just died after seeing your avatar

[MelaPela]

HAPPY JULY 1st EVERYONE.

In less than a month we'll be done.

[Slytherpuff]

just died after seeing your avatar

Oh my goodness, this is so great

[michelle3908]

HAPPY JULY 1st EVERYONE.

In less than a month we'll be done.

I know, July 25th is coming soon... not sure if I'm happy or scared!

[champloo]

Are any of the AB questions repeated in the themis sets? Considering AB for this last month as long as I dont see an overlap in questions.

[whats an updog]

I haven't seen any overlap, but only ~350 question deep.

[Bass]

I'm not getting Themis' explanation below...isn't the claim against the manufacturer arising out of the same transaction in the original claim against the contractor?

[+] Spoiler

Practice: Civil Procedure MBE PQs Session 5 (34) Question ID#5007 5 of 34

A homeowner filed a complaint against a contractor for damages arising from negligent construction of an addition to the homeowner’s house. The complaint was timely and properly filed in federal district court sitting in diversity jurisdiction. Nineteen days after the contractor filed his answer, the homeowner learned that material supplied by a manufacturer and used by the contractor was defective. The next day, without leave of the court or the contractor’s agreement, the homeowner amended the complaint to add the manufacturer as a defendant in this action. The manufacturer filed a motion to dismiss the complaint against her. The manufacturer pointed out that she had no knowledge of the action nor reason to know of it prior to the homeowner’s amendment of the complaint, and that the controlling statute of limitations had expired after the original complaint was filed and before the amended complaint was filed.

Should the court grant the manufacturer’s motion to dismiss?
A Yes, because the statute of limitations had expired before the amended complaint was filed.
B Yes, because the amended complaint was filed without leave of the court or the contractor’s agreement.
C No, because the relation back doctrine applies to this amendment.
D No, because the amendment was filed within the required time period for amending a complaint as of right.

SUBMIT ANSWER

C No, because the relation back doctrine applies to this amendment.

Sorry, that's not the best choice.

The answer you selected is not the best choice in this situation.

Answer choice A is correct. Because the statute of limitations with respect to the homeowner’s claim against the manufacturer had expired prior to the time that the homeowner amended the complaint to include this claim, the court should grant the manufacturer’s motion to dismiss. Answer choice B is incorrect because a plaintiff may amend a complaint once as of right without seeking leave of the court or consent of the defendant if the amendment if made within 21 days of the service of the defendant’s answer. Here, the homeowner filed the amendment 20 days after the defendant served the answer. Answer choice C is incorrect because the relation back doctrine does not apply in this situation. The amendment added a new claim against a new defendant. The amendment did not add a new claim against an existing defendant that arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set out, or attempted to be set out, in the original pleading. Also, the amendment did not change the defendant against whom the claim was asserted to a defendant who knew or should have known that the action would have been brought against him, but for a mistake concerning the proper party’s identity. Answer choice D is incorrect. Even though the homeowner’s filing of the amended complaint was within the 21-day time period for filing an amendment as of right, the court should grant the motion to dismiss based on expiration of the statute of limitations with regard to the homeowner’s complaint against the manufacturer.