Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2015 Exam Forum

[sd5289]

Just got a 74% on a Property set.

I still feel like I'm guessing half the time.

[Raiden]

How are you all maintaining discipline and a focused schedule. I find myself being way too easily distracted, considering my wedding is soon after the Bar.

How are you even functioning? I specifically planned my wedding for before the bar (we just got married on April 25 ), but I would have lost my mind if I was on the hook for a wedding. Are you the bride or the groom?

Congrats on your wedding! Studying for the bar must be a great bonding experience I am the groom, so I try to act cool and nonchalant about it. Luckily I don't have too many wedding responsibilities to handle, but of course there are certain things you have to get ready for. I thought once I'd be studying for the bar I wouldn't think of anything else, but I keep on thinking about the wedding instead of the lovely three days of taking the bar exam. I need to temporary refocus my priorities here.

[sd5289]

How are you all maintaining discipline and a focused schedule. I find myself being way too easily distracted, considering my wedding is soon after the Bar.

How are you even functioning? I specifically planned my wedding for before the bar (we just got married on April 25 ), but I would have lost my mind if I was on the hook for a wedding. Are you the bride or the groom?

Congrats on your wedding! Studying for the bar must be a great bonding experience I am the groom, so I try to act cool and nonchalant about it. Luckily I don't have too many wedding responsibilities to handle, but of course there are certain things you have to get ready for. I thought once I'd be studying for the bar I wouldn't think of anything else, but I keep on thinking about the wedding instead of the lovely three days of taking the bar exam. I need to temporary refocus my priorities here.

Lol, yeah I also got married right before bar study started. Couldn't imagine trying to concentrate on all this if I still had the final details of the wedding to plan!

[kateebee]

I was supposed to get married June 20 but we ended up eloping last November. It is the best thing that I ever did.... if I were getting ready for the wedding we had been planning right now, I would be a basketcase and would certainly fail the bar and be miserable at my wedding.

[Nelson]

This evidence guy becomes creepier and creepier as it goes along. His intro smile is going to haunt my dreams.

[gr8scOtt!]

Today.... has been a struggle I think my ability to concentrate went on vacation, which is where I wish I could be!

[milesdavisjd]

How are you all maintaining discipline and a focused schedule. I find myself being way too easily distracted, considering my wedding is soon after the Bar.

How are you even functioning? I specifically planned my wedding for before the bar (we just got married on April 25 ), but I would have lost my mind if I was on the hook for a wedding. Are you the bride or the groom?

Congrats on your wedding! Studying for the bar must be a great bonding experience I am the groom, so I try to act cool and nonchalant about it. Luckily I don't have too many wedding responsibilities to handle, but of course there are certain things you have to get ready for. I thought once I'd be studying for the bar I wouldn't think of anything else, but I keep on thinking about the wedding instead of the lovely three days of taking the bar exam. I need to temporary refocus my priorities here.

Congratulations to you too! I married a lawyer, who, oddly, loved law school. He took the bar in 2006 (but he's only three years older than me)... so for a fun Friday night, we do MBE questions together and discuss the answers. Because he LIKES it. But good luck with your wedding! It's probably slightly easier as a Groom, you won't get super crazy until the week of the wedding!

[zot1]

So for today, Themis gave me the following tasks:

-Review
-5 lectures
-MPT
-Review
-Practice essay
-Graded essay
-Practice MBE

Yeah... Looks like it'll be an interesting day for you today I only need to learn all of Crim Pro, take 2 MBE sets, review Crim Law & Pro, and do a graded Crim Law essay.

But you were off yesterday

On other news, MPTs are rough! I mostly dislike the fact that they take so much time. I'd rather have several essays broken up into 30 min sessions, than 1 MPT for 90 mins... and my jurisdiction has 2 MPTs in a row. Woo hoo!

Barely done with half of the tasks and SOOOOOO READY to call it a day.

[MrMustache]

So for today, Themis gave me the following tasks:

-Review
-5 lectures
-MPT
-Review
-Practice essay
-Graded essay
-Practice MBE

Yeah... Looks like it'll be an interesting day for you today I only need to learn all of Crim Pro, take 2 MBE sets, review Crim Law & Pro, and do a graded Crim Law essay.

But you were off yesterday

On other news, MPTs are rough! I mostly dislike the fact that they take so much time. I'd rather have several essays broken up into 30 min sessions, than 1 MPT for 90 mins... and my jurisdiction has 2 MPTs in a row. Woo hoo!

Barely done with half of the tasks and SOOOOOO READY to call it a day.

Show must go on! Be strong!

[Underoath]

Is anyone wishing they had done Barbri instead? Not for the material, but because they aren't having any human interaction? It's starting to get to me.

[Confused7]

Is anyone wishing they had done Barbri instead? Not for the material, but because they aren't having any human interaction? It's starting to get to me.

A lot of my friends who have Barbri are only doing the online videos too. Too much effort to go to a class on time everyday. I think I actually prefer waking up at 10-11am and doing my own schedule everyday.

[Underoath]

Is anyone wishing they had done Barbri instead? Not for the material, but because they aren't having any human interaction? It's starting to get to me.

A lot of my friends who have Barbri are only doing the online videos too. Too much effort to go to a class on time everyday. I think I actually prefer waking up at 10-11am and doing my own schedule everyday.

Yeah, my friend is doing Barbri and I dislike the students at my school so I'm glad I'm not doing Barbri, but the lack of seeing other people is starting to mess with my head.

[PeggyCarter]

Here's a question I've been wondering:

How much leniency do we get with respect to stating the law on the essays? Are we expected to state most of the rules in their entirety? Or is it acceptable to have the general gist of the rules?

I only ask because it seems really overwhelming to be expected to memorize every element of every rule. I just got my second graded essay back and while I got 93%(!!) on structure and 75% on analysis (a good deal lower than the first essay unfortunately), I only got 55% on the law, so my overall was a 74. Would that 55% be acceptable on test day? Not that I'm settling for that, but it would be somewhat comforting...

When I failed (California), the essays that got passing scores had complete rule statements, stating all elements. The failing essays gave only the general gist. I finally passed so I don't know how my essays scored, but I focused my studying on getting the rules in their entirety and I remember being able to spit them out pretty well on the exam.

It's only mid-June. This whole month is kind of a clusterfuck -- feeling completely overwhelmed and not remembering a damn thing is normal. Keep practicing and reviewing, things will start to come together and you'll feel more confident by Independence Day.

[Confused7]

Oh god, so tired of these Evidence lectures. I was sooo happy to see that lectures 16 and 17 are review - not that I'm anywhere near there.

[zot1]

So for today, Themis gave me the following tasks:

-Review
-5 lectures
-MPT
-Review
-Practice essay
-Graded essay
-Practice MBE

Yeah... Looks like it'll be an interesting day for you today I only need to learn all of Crim Pro, take 2 MBE sets, review Crim Law & Pro, and do a graded Crim Law essay.

But you were off yesterday

On other news, MPTs are rough! I mostly dislike the fact that they take so much time. I'd rather have several essays broken up into 30 min sessions, than 1 MPT for 90 mins... and my jurisdiction has 2 MPTs in a row. Woo hoo!

Barely done with half of the tasks and SOOOOOO READY to call it a day.

Show must go on! Be strong!

Thanks, bro!

TOTALLY BOMBED the graded essay (thanks, Themis, for giving me too many exams in one day!) per the model answer. But whatever, just one more task to go before I can go watch the US game. Looooong day.

RE: Barbri

I don't mind not having too much contact. I absorb people's feelings easily, so a stressed crowd makes me stressed.

[milesdavisjd]

Ok so this is borderline lame and weird, but I'm also suffering from lack of human interaction, which is why I find myself spending more time on this forum lately. Is anyone else taking the IL bar in Chicago and wants to study together at a coffee shop or somewhere, like once or twice a week? I was a PT evening student, so most of my school friends are still working.

By study together, I mean just sit at a table together and occasionally bitch about all of this and then get back to work.

[zot1]

Did I just get punk'd by Themis?

I was doing a civ pro practice MBE when

[+] Spoiler

the fact pattern established that the plaintiff moved to a different state solely for purposes of getting diversity jurisdiction, but the answer that I chose, that the court had no jurisdiction because the plaintiff moved solely for that purpose, was incorrect. The "correct answer" was instead that DJ was proper because P and D were citizens of different states. WHAT?! Did I not learn the rule correctly?!

[kjartan]

Is anyone wishing they had done Barbri instead? Not for the material, but because they aren't having any human interaction? It's starting to get to me.

I must be an unusually solitary person because not being around other people doesn't bother me at all.

[Tripl3Espresso]

Did I just get punk'd by Themis?

I was doing a civ pro practice MBE when

[+] Spoiler

the fact pattern established that the plaintiff moved to a different state solely for purposes of getting diversity jurisdiction, but the answer that I chose, that the court had no jurisdiction because the plaintiff moved solely for that purpose, was incorrect. The "correct answer" was instead that DJ was proper because P and D were citizens of different states. WHAT?! Did I not learn the rule correctly?!

It could be a typo because unlike the other MBE subjects, they create their own CivPro questions.

[gr8scOtt!]

Did I just get punk'd by Themis?

I was doing a civ pro practice MBE when

[+] Spoiler

the fact pattern established that the plaintiff moved to a different state solely for purposes of getting diversity jurisdiction, but the answer that I chose, that the court had no jurisdiction because the plaintiff moved solely for that purpose, was incorrect. The "correct answer" was instead that DJ was proper because P and D were citizens of different states. WHAT?! Did I not learn the rule correctly?!

[+] Spoiler

Was this before it was filed? Because DJ is determined at the time of filing. So if move before (even if to get DJ) would be ok, I think. Moving with the purpose to destroy DJ is only a problem after the suit is filed. At least, I thiiiink that is how it works LOL

[sdphill]

Does anyone here actually read the outlines or the final review outlines that they task us to do? I feel unjustly enriched when I click complete without really doing said reading.

Take whatever "enrichment" you can get. I just hope you're reading the outlines at some point. I read them along with the lectures (or during).

I feel the lecture outlines are the most helpful. Are there other helpful resources from Themis we should regularly be using? Truth be told but I haven't really used their books yet.

I read the full outlines before the lectures, which is why I am behind... And for review, I usually go through their final review outline once to make sure I at least have a good framework of the law in my head.

I feel dumb, but... What is the final review outline, and how do you access it?

The Final Review Outlines can be found outline in your messages or you can look at it in the Themis book with our practice exams.

[MrBriggs360]

Checking in, have followed the whole thread. New York, 22.8%, but I just started 12 days ago (June 1) because I'm an idiot and took a long vacation to California after my graduation and party. I've been studying for 8-10 for just the last 12 days and working a couple odd shifts bartending, and I'm already starting to lose my mind!

Although I don't wish anybody else to suffer, it has been kinda great reading through and seeing others with the exact same struggle! Anyway, since I've been reading this for days and not responded, I've accumulated a couple of thoughts that I wanted to share:


1. The recommended pace % is absolutely worthless. Wednesday it recommended 1.5%, Thursday it said 1.7%, and today it said 1.9%, even though I've completed between 1.8-2.2 on each of the last three days. I've started just subtracting my total % completed from 100 and then dividing by the days I have left to calculate it myself.

2. I can't stand how arbitrary the awards of % for each task are allocated! They don't seem to line up to time spent on them at all, which is really frustrating. I pretty much have an idea what things are worth now and try to plan my day accordingly.

3. I almost blew a gasket today on MBE for K's #4. On the first one I got a 65%, then a 68%, then a 77%, so I thought I finally thought I knew what I was doing but on this one I was just absolutely flustered by these mile long fact patterns that are almost identical and was totally freaking out and dropped back to 65.

4. Geis? Yaaay!! Clark? Boooo! Kramer? Yaaaay!!!

5. Kramer looks like Johnny Hendricks from the UFC but acts like Steve Carrell.

[collegewriter]

Is anyone wishing they had done Barbri instead? Not for the material, but because they aren't having any human interaction? It's starting to get to me.

I must be an unusually solitary person because not being around other people doesn't bother me at all.

I am really ok being alone too but there was a day or two that started to get to me. I think getting a group together to study st your school is a good idea--at least once or twice a week. Most people I kmow doing Barbri just stay home. Also a lot of schools host students from all over so you might not even know anyone in your class. My little sister's friend is a Barbri proctor and they think it's hilarious that only 1 person shows up every day. I'm not sure who is more bored of the two of them...

[zot1]

Did I just get punk'd by Themis?

I was doing a civ pro practice MBE when

[+] Spoiler

the fact pattern established that the plaintiff moved to a different state solely for purposes of getting diversity jurisdiction, but the answer that I chose, that the court had no jurisdiction because the plaintiff moved solely for that purpose, was incorrect. The "correct answer" was instead that DJ was proper because P and D were citizens of different states. WHAT?! Did I not learn the rule correctly?!

[+] Spoiler

Was this before it was filed? Because DJ is determined at the time of filing. So if move before (even if to get DJ) would be ok, I think. Moving with the purpose to destroy DJ is only a problem after the suit is filed. At least, I thiiiink that is how it works LOL

[+] Spoiler

it was prior to filing. P moved in order to create jurisdiction and file. I'm fairly certain that the lecture specifically said that you couldn't do move just to create DJ. Anyway, I emailed them so we will see.

[zot1]

Did I just get punk'd by Themis?

I was doing a civ pro practice MBE when

[+] Spoiler

the fact pattern established that the plaintiff moved to a different state solely for purposes of getting diversity jurisdiction, but the answer that I chose, that the court had no jurisdiction because the plaintiff moved solely for that purpose, was incorrect. The "correct answer" was instead that DJ was proper because P and D were citizens of different states. WHAT?! Did I not learn the rule correctly?!

It could be a typo because unlike the other MBE subjects, they create their own CivPro questions.

I emailed them and asked about it. I hope your right.