Post
by Right in Two » Mon May 23, 2016 7:58 pm
Hi All,
Long time lurker and first time poster. I passed the bar on my second try after falling well short last time.
July 2015 scores: E1- 65, E2- 65, E3- 55, E4- 55, E5 - 55, E6 - 50, PTA - 50, PTB - 55
Scaled MBE - 1452
Scaled total- 1324
Study tools:
Tutor - 1 session to go over 3 of my essays
BarEssays Premium (the model answers are KEY. Also, I'm not a paid spokesperson)
Barbri (StudySmart MBEs and occasionally looked at CMR. I watched all the lectures the first time, so I mostly skipped them the second time)
Study strategy:
Essays
I was only able to get one session with a tutor due to procrastination on my part. He agreed to review 3 of my essays from July and I sent him my 3 55s. We discussed both what I did well and where I made mistakes in addition to my mental state during the exam.
I then went to BarEssays and printed nearly all the essays they had for each subject, thereby creating a property "packet", a con law "packet", etc, and each packet having 10-15 essays. I would then study in 3-5 hour blocks, staying in one subject per block and outlining/reviewing about 1 essay per hour. When I outlined, I would issue spot with a highlighter and then type out every rule that was relevant. When I reviewed, I would compare my outline to the model answer, type out every rule I missed, and read the analysis. The BarEssays model answers really helped me because they use the same rule statement every time. After missing the rules a couple of times and having to retype them, I had them memorized.
As I got deeper into each subject packet, the essays became easier to outline because of repeat issues. Reviewing also became easier because I had to retype less rules since I was getting them right on the outline. I only wrote out one essay for each of the 7 MBE subjects (although I wrote out 50 essays in prep for July). A few days before the test, I re-outlined the July 2015 essays and then laughed about how much I missed when I read over my old answers, even the 65s.
During the test, I made sure to IRAC every issue. The rule statements were mostly easy because I just replicated the rule statements that I had typed out over and over again while studying.
MBE
So my MBE score was not stellar, but it was passing. I recognized that there was not a huge amount of value to be added here, so I worked on maintenance. I had free Barbri for the repeat and I worked on the harder questions (StudySmart 5 and 6 for each subject) and reviewed the answers carefully. The harder questions teach you both the general rule and the finer limitations, so you can learn two rules at once. Additionally, i bought strategies and tactics (2012) and did several questions and took the practice MBE under real test conditions. I also actively reviewed the practice test, so I could think about each question twice.
On the day of the test, the MBE seemed pretty old hat. I could understand what most of the questions were asking for and could easily eliminate wrong answers even if I was unsure of the right answer.
PTs
I'm not a super speedy worker or writer, so I felt that the PTs were my greatest weakness. I wrote out about 4 full PTs and outlined, either entirely or partially, about 8 or so others. Additionally, I read the released answers from nearly all the PTs I attempted, taking note of the organizational structure and comparing them to my own.
On test day I made sure to organize the rules under the appropriate headings (four headings for each PT, if I recall) and then go through and fill in the facts for each rule. Still felt like my weakest section and I ran out of time on PTB, but my answer definitely looked better.
Hope this helps and good luck to those studying for July!!
