Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2014 Exam Forum

[Genuine4ps]

3-4 hours a day for four days and you're at 8%? That's actually pretty impressive.

Thank you. I only do quality studying. I'm not the kind of person that sits down with a book and then takes a bunch of breaks with Facebook and Youtube.

Also, it doesn't hurt that I'm not memorizing the outlines right now. That's a major time sink. Right now I'm just reading the large outlines, doing the lectures, and the MBE practice Q's. Time requirements may change in the future.

At first, I was an advocate for skipping the large outline and diving right into the handout. After doing a couple sets of MBEs for Con Law, I found several questions that weren't covered in the handout. It sucks, though, because those long outlines are a bear to get through.

So true. Con Law is generally my best subject, and I felt I had memorized the handout cold. But I barely made 50% on the MBE questions they gave us.

So now the problem is--HOW THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO MEMORIZE AN 80 PAGE OUTLINE FOR ONE SUBJECT ALONE? And where can we find the time to do it?

I might have to just continue skipping the large outline and trying to learn from drilling MBE questions. I hate not having a strategy.

[JJ556]

Anyone else suck at property? Yikes.

You're certainly not alone. I'm doing ok in property with the exception of mortgages. I suck at mortgages. Well, at least with respect to all of the aspects of mortgages that were not covered in the lectures. I pick an answer I think is right on the MBE PQs, and the explanation states: "generally this is the correct answer, however, since there's this doctrine that applies that you've never heard of, you're wrong on this one...." WTF!! I think I'm going to make my own outline from the mortgages section of the long outline. Hopefully that helps. I also feel that the property MBE PQs (in all areas) are much trickier than those of the other MBE subjects.

[Apple Tree]

I suck at property too, especially where there's a judgment lien creditor for the recording questions.

[Bronx Bum]

Trying to memorize the 80 page outline alone is a one way ticket to February retake. You need to figure out what's imporant and what isn't.

[Apple Tree]

Thank you. I only do quality studying. I'm not the kind of person that sits down with a book and then takes a bunch of breaks with Facebook and Youtube.

Also, it doesn't hurt that I'm not memorizing the outlines right now. That's a major time sink. Right now I'm just reading the large outlines, doing the lectures, and the MBE practice Q's. Time requirements may change in the future.

At first, I was an advocate for skipping the large outline and diving right into the handout. After doing a couple sets of MBEs for Con Law, I found several questions that weren't covered in the handout. It sucks, though, because those long outlines are a bear to get through.

So true. Con Law is generally my best subject, and I felt I had memorized the handout cold. But I barely made 50% on the MBE questions they gave us.

So now the problem is--HOW THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO MEMORIZE AN 80 PAGE OUTLINE FOR ONE SUBJECT ALONE? And where can we find the time to do it?

I might have to just continue skipping the large outline and trying to learn from drilling MBE questions. I hate not having a strategy.

It's impossible to memorize all of the outlines (and there are seven subjects). If you do a bunch of MBE q, I think you will see that some aspects are tested very frequently (at least Themis likes to) so if you just get those issues down you should be fine.

I actually bought a used Barbri's CMR to substitute for Themis' outline because the CMR is much more condensed, and yet I can probably only remember about 10% of the stuff I read before I do the PQ. That's just how our brains work.

[Bronx Bum]

I just looked ahead and Themis has me slated for full work days on Saturday and Sunday.

F*CK THAT!

If you don't want to do it, don't. LOL at this law student mentality. "OMGZ DA THEMIS TOLD ME I HAS TO STUDY THIS ON SAURDAY AND SUNDAY!"

[Bronx Bum]

This. Last year for NY, I had about two pages for each subject memorized cold. The other things I was familiar with but I didn't know it cold. That's just how it is.

[d3sp]

Has anybody else had trouble submitting your graded essay to advisor? I write mine and then type them in, and when I tried to submit after typing the themis page wouldn't load and I had to start over. It happened twice. I was wondering if anyone else had problems, and also, I wanted to give everyone a heads up if they are having technical difficulties.

[Tanicius]

Anyone else suck at property? Yikes.

You're certainly not alone. I'm doing ok in property with the exception of mortgages. I suck at mortgages. Well, at least with respect to all of the aspects of mortgages that were not covered in the lectures. I pick an answer I think is right on the MBE PQs, and the explanation states: "generally this is the correct answer, however, since there's this doctrine that applies that you've never heard of, you're wrong on this one...." WTF!! I think I'm going to make my own outline from the mortgages section of the long outline. Hopefully that helps. I also feel that the property MBE PQs (in all areas) are much trickier than those of the other MBE subjects.

Yeah, I don't get nervous breakdowns when I study or do stressful things, but I do get angry and depressed when things don't go my way. I got pretty angry and depressed two days back when I was doing the first round of Property MBE Q's.

[SilverE2]

Has anybody else had trouble submitting your graded essay to advisor? I write mine and then type them in, and when I tried to submit after typing the themis page wouldn't load and I had to start over. It happened twice. I was wondering if anyone else had problems, and also, I wanted to give everyone a heads up if they are having technical difficulties.

I haven't done mine yet, but thanks. I'll make sure to copy paste it into another document before trying to submit.

[Genuine4ps]

Trying to memorize the 80 page outline alone is a one way ticket to February retake. You need to figure out what's imporant and what isn't.

Bronx, did you use or even review the 80 page outline, or did you just study the handouts?

[puttycake]

I suck at property too, especially where there's a judgment lien creditor for the recording questions.

Yep. I'm actually fairly good at property, but these questions just make my brain hurt.

[Gotti]

Can you "uncheck" some of the tasks that you've done? I clicked on some of the workshops jsut to print out the handouts and it marked them as done...and I know i'm going to forget to do them later lol

[FlanAl]

anyone else seriously annoyed that you can't download anything onto your computer? I'd love to do some studying outside but I guess thats only going to work on my iPhone?

[071816]

Do we all have the same graded property essay? I have a question about the essay where Andy conveys Blackacre to Beth and Chris (I'm in CA btw).

[Evaly]

Do we all have the same graded property essay? I have a question about the essay where Andy conveys Blackacre to Beth and Chris (I'm in CA btw).

That's the one I had, also in CA

[j1987]

I'm sitting here eating and thinking about doing the graded essay, but I've gone nowhere near it. I'm fairly sure I'm gonna suck at it and not remember anything.

[j1987]

FYI, NY/NJ people - there is a message in the Themis communication center with links to the summary outlines. They specifically state the summaries are "not supposed to replace the long outlines." LOL oops.

[Evaly]

I'm sitting here eating and thinking about doing the graded essay, but I've gone nowhere near it. I'm fairly sure I'm gonna suck at it and not remember anything.

I tried to outline the graded essay without notes, but then give myself the chance to use notes if I really can't remember a rule statement. It takes the pressure off but I am sure it is pretty bad since it doesn't simulate the actual environment.

[Kincade12]

Do we all have the same graded property essay? I have a question about the essay where Andy conveys Blackacre to Beth and Chris (I'm in CA btw).

I'm in Michigan and its a single professional conduct essay. its also only 20 minutes timed because thats how much time you have for each essay in Michigan.

[j1987]

Do we all have the same graded property essay? I have a question about the essay where Andy conveys Blackacre to Beth and Chris (I'm in CA btw).

Mine was Greenacre, Roadland, and Backland with a couple who are in a marriage crisis.

[puttycake]

Do we all have the same graded property essay? I have a question about the essay where Andy conveys Blackacre to Beth and Chris (I'm in CA btw).

I'm in CA and that's the one I had.

[kapital98]

FYI, NY/NJ people - there is a message in the Themis communication center with links to the summary outlines. They specifically state the summaries are "not supposed to replace the long outlines." LOL oops.

Awesome! Thanks for the heads up.

These are the outlines I plan on memorizing for the MBE. They look just like the outlines I used to make for law school. Same length too.

[Burgstaller04]

There is an actual law professor named Johnny Rex Buckles......

[071816]

Do we all have the same graded property essay? I have a question about the essay where Andy conveys Blackacre to Beth and Chris (I'm in CA btw).

I'm in CA and that's the one I had.

I caught pretty much everything except for the restriction on alienation thing (which I understand now) and the adverse possession stuff. I didn't discuss adverse possession because I thought all of this happened within the 1970s, so I assumed the statutory period had not run and so adverse possession didn't even really cross my mind. In the model answer it says "Since his ouster occurred in 1978, it has been 32 years that he has possessed the property." It says In 1975, Andy by written deed conveyed Blackacre to Beth and Chris and then in 1978 Chris and Andy learned of the conveyance to Frank. Are we just supposed to assume that we are assessing everything now as of 2014? It doesn't say that anywhere, but I guess I'm retarded for not assuming it...

eta: I just thought about this a bit more and I have confirmed that, yes, I am retarded for not assuming this. So nevermind on my question I guess.