February 2015 Bar Exam Forum

[cooperlaserpup]

I could definitely see NY going above & beyond by writing a hypo concerning a divorce action where the attorney took a security interest in marital property to secure his fee... that's family law, professional responsibility, and secured transactions all in one hypo

I kind of doubt it. I've now read over 200 practice essays, about half of them essays from past administrations, and I've never seen that sort of cross over. In my opinion the essays are detailed and comprehensive, but always straightforward. They don't seem to try and "trick" you, and the scenario you posited would definitely be pretty tricky.

well FWIW, it's explicitly in the outline I have, and the rule is that informed consent of both parties + court approval in order to take security interest in marital property in a marital action. If it's on a house, it should be noted in the title. Has priority over anything that it obviously has priority over. BOOM there you have it, ESSAY ANSWERED.

BRING ON MORE HYPOS, I'M A COUPLE BEERS IN AND I'M NOT SCARED OF SHIT

I have it very slightly different in my barbri outline: "A lawyer may obtain a security interest to secure his fee [in a domestic relations matter] only if: (i) retainer agreement provides that security interest may be sought, (ii) notice of an application for a security interest has been given to the other spouse; and (iii) the court grants approval for the security interest."

Is the difference that you need both spouses consent if it specifically in marital prop? That would make sense.

[fslexcduck]

Oh no, you're probably right, I was just paraphrasing because that's the kind of person I am and the level of attention to detail I have.

[fslexcduck]

One more important piece of advice for NY peoples:

Just remember that the multiple choice is not worth very much, and they're very random and you're not expected to get very many anyway. ONE ESSAY is worth almost as much as the ENTIRE multiple choice section. Plus, points on essays are way more of a sure thing than points on those somewhat absurd MC questions.

Functionally this means that you should definitely do the essays before the MC no matter what anyone says, and if you are running over time on the essays and feel you have to give them 15 extra minutes to get yourself an additional 20 points, then do it. 20 points on an essay is 1.6% of your overall score. That's like 8 multiple choice questions that you'd have to get right instead of wrong using those 15 extra minutes. IT IS INCREDIBLY UNLIKELY THAT ANY TIME, ESPECIALLY 15 EXTRA MINUTES, will be the difference between getting 8 questions right where you otherwise would have gotten them wrong, given that your expected value on a multiple choice question is less than 50% as it is.

Minutes on essays where you can lock up points you know you are locking up are way more valuable than minutes on multiple choice for questions that will be arbitrary and unreasonable (get it, that's a legal standard!) anyway and which you will only be even money to get right even with full time to contemplate them.

GL everyone, crush it.

[Holly Golightly]

haha what a boss. if you have taken a bar in another state and/or you went to a decent law school and paid attention and have an exceptional memory, your odds are about 15% to pass. absent one of those conditions, i'd guess you're <3% to pass.

I'm absent both of those. BC grad with below median grades and never taken another bar exam. Very excited that I never have to practice law as I don't think I would enjoy the work. But at the same time thinking what someone a few posts up said.. may as well go and do it. It would be that or the gym, Fifa, and rewatching House of Cards seasons one and two in preparation for the 27th.

I'm decent with the MBE type topics, but have no idea what they even test on the MA specific stuff.

I went to NU but they don't really teach anything relevant to the bar.

[fslexcduck]

As an addendum to my last post, I was just playing around with the score calculator...

You could basically skip the multiple choice and it would have very little impact on your score.

[numbertwo88]

Good luck all you lucky people starting tomorrow! That way I see it, you're closer to finishing

Try to sleep so you're fully refreshed for this test of "minimum competence" or "a shit ton of memorization".

You all have made studying slightly less agonizing, and for that I'm gonna have to thank you.

[Holly Golightly]

To everyone who is nervous: relax, there is seriously no chance that you are more unprepared than I am.

[Tomego]

To everyone who is nervous: relax, there is seriously no chance that you are more unprepared than I am.

Thank you for doing your part to lower the average. I salute you!

[underthirty]

.

[Holly Golightly]

People who dress up for the bar: I judge you.

[LAWYER2]

I thought Secured Transaction MEE's were retired.

[jarofsoup]

Not to go into details, but that was a strange (but not hard). MPT.

[fslexcduck]

the whole test was strange. the topics were completely unpredictable and the subtopics within the predictable topics were unpredictable as well, whereas they had been so obvious in years past, and the MPT was weird. Crazy.

[Holly Golightly]

lol so that was a thing that happened.

[abogadesq]

I'm much more concerned about the MBE tomorrow. Good luck, all.

[numbertwo88]

Quick question for those of you lingering around - what is your "bubble in" strategy? I'm mostly just curious, honestly.

Are you a bubble in after every single question or are you a circle the answers in a 2 page spread and then bubble them in?

I'm in the latter category, thinking it gives me a small mental break, albeit just a few seconds, & to make sure I'm bubbling in the right answers because I'm super paranoid about bubbling in the wrong ones.

Can't wait for tomorrow to arrive & pass!!!

[underthirty]

.

[minnbills]

That was interesting.

I thought I crushed the MPT. Like, I either beat that shit into the ground so thoroughly that it was perfect, or I completely missed the point and am truly fucked.

The MEEs were much more dicey. I never felt like I knew the right answer or even the right rule. I had plenty to talk about though so hopefully I get some mercy points. I don't think I was way off too much either. I honestly might have bombed the essays.

[BeachedBrit]

Quick question for those of you lingering around - what is your "bubble in" strategy? I'm mostly just curious, honestly.

Are you a bubble in after every single question or are you a circle the answers in a 2 page spread and then bubble them in?

I'm in the latter category, thinking it gives me a small mental break, albeit just a few seconds, & to make sure I'm bubbling in the right answers because I'm super paranoid about bubbling in the wrong ones.

Can't wait for tomorrow to arrive & pass!!!

Personally, I don't run in to time issues with the MBE (at least in practice, I usually complete 100 in ~2 hours) but I tend to do worse after a mental break and much prefer to charge right through. Depending on how i'm feeling, I may bubble around 50 questions or just go all the way through. As for what I mark as I go, I just circle the letter I choose, then write it next to the number at the top of the question with various shapes around it depending on confidence level. If I have one that I am really unsure about, i'll also write it in a list I keep on the first page of the booklet so that I know when I get through with the full 100 I need to come back and spend some more time on that question.

If I get or got worried about time, i'd probably bubble every 20 questions or so.

[lalala21]

Yikes. I don't feel very good about that. I didn't even know what one sub question was even referring to. Very challenging subjects as well.

[Holly Golightly]

That was interesting.

I thought I crushed the MPT. Like, I either beat that shit into the ground so thoroughly that it was perfect, or I completely missed the point and am truly fucked.

The MEEs were much more dicey. I never felt like I knew the right answer or even the right rule. I had plenty to talk about though so hopefully I get some mercy points. I don't think I was way off too much either. I honestly might have bombed the essays.

There was one essay in particular that I had no idea what I was talking about and basically wrote in gibberish but tried to throw in some key words.

Now, time to try to cram in some last minute MBE knowledge.

[cooperlaserpup]

the whole test was strange. the topics were completely unpredictable and the subtopics within the predictable topics were unpredictable as well, whereas they had been so obvious in years past, and the MPT was weird. Crazy.

see, now I know I did terrible because I thought things were weirdly straightforward, with the exception of 1.5 essays where I was like I KNOW I must be missing the point, so ima make up some law now la dee da daaaa.

I mean, I had a well-edited, complete answer for every question. In my humble experience that plus studying = a passing score. knock on all the wood.

[ilovetypos]

UGH. I kept running out of time and space. Not in a good mood.

[ilovetypos]

Also since some jurisdictions have multiple mpts, couldn't our jurisdictions have chosen different ones to test? Don't know how that works.

[underthirty]

.