Barbri paced program question? Forum

[beachbum]

How much MPT practice are you all doing? I've done basically none, now wondering if I should be worried.

[crossem]

How much MPT practice are you all doing? I've done basically none, now wondering if I should be worried.

Three in May, three in late June, and I'm planning on doing three or more next week. It took me four to get decent results.

It seems like people either get it quickly or you have to slog like me.

[Xferr]

Did anyone else find the half-day exam in the barbri book to be really, really difficult? I was doing okay on the MBE questions recently and then straight-up bombed the half-day exam.

Yes. I thought the midterm was difficult, but everything after the midterm has been absolutely insane.

Yeah. I don't get their pedagogic logic (rhyme intended) in having the Mixed Sets be not so bad and then the half-day exam be much harder. Is it even worth doing the full-day exam then?

The full day exam is completely fucked. The questions are weird as hell and test on obscure rules found only in the dankest, darkest places of the full outlines. It seems like it's designed specifically to induce a last-minute panic attack.

The test is clearly leagues harder than the 100-question simulated final afterwards, yet they report a higher average score for the full-day than for the SFE. If you take both, you'll see that's clearly bullshit.

I think the SFE and the 50-question sets are probably the best bet at this point.

If you do the full-day, do it in learning mode and relax and don't worry about your score. Just use it to learn the obscure rules and treat it as a study tool rather than as a performance gauge.

[mvpforme]

PSA: The Everett Chambers video under additional resources on what to do when you don't know a rule of law on an essay is surprisingly helpful. The Gist is to make up some rule of law that will allow you to discuss all the facts. That way you will have a wrong rule of law and probably a wrong conclusion, but you can still pick up a ton of points on the analysis. According to the video, the examiner will think you're competent but you just got the wrong conclusion bc you relied upon the wrong rule of law. Still, you show you can make a strong, thoughtful analysis.

You may have already known that, but it was news to me. I hope it's helpful to others.

[mvpforme]

Did anyone else find the half-day exam in the barbri book to be really, really difficult? I was doing okay on the MBE questions recently and then straight-up bombed the half-day exam.

Yes. I thought the midterm was difficult, but everything after the midterm has been absolutely insane.

Yeah. I don't get their pedagogic logic (rhyme intended) in having the Mixed Sets be not so bad and then the half-day exam be much harder. Is it even worth doing the full-day exam then?

The full day exam is completely fucked. The questions are weird as hell and test on obscure rules found only in the dankest, darkest places of the full outlines. It seems like it's designed specifically to induce a last-minute panic attack.

The test is clearly leagues harder than the 100-question simulated final afterwards, yet they report a higher average score for the full-day than for the SFE. If you take both, you'll see that's clearly bullshit.

I think the SFE and the 50-question sets are probably the best bet at this point.

If you do the full-day, do it in learning mode and relax and don't worry about your score. Just use it to learn the obscure rules and treat it as a study tool rather than as a performance gauge.

What is a good score for the SFE?

[Heat]

I'm confused, because I found the full day and the SFE to be almost identically difficult, got almost identical scores, and the averages from the front of the MPQ seem to back me up on that, yet "Xferr" seems to indicate otherwise.

To the poster above me, the average on the SFE was a 60/100 according to the front of the MPQ.

[Xferr]

I'm confused, because I found the full day and the SFE to be almost identically difficult, got almost identical scores, and the averages from the front of the MPQ seem to back me up on that, yet "Xferr" seems to indicate otherwise.

To the poster above me, the average on the SFE was a 60/100 according to the front of the MPQ.

I scored a good raw 20 points higher on the SFE than the full-day. Almost everyone I've talked to agreed that the SFE was much easier than the full day. Admittedly a small sample size, but from my perspective it doesn't look like those numbers are completely forthright.

[pkt63]

I'm confused, because I found the full day and the SFE to be almost identically difficult, got almost identical scores, and the averages from the front of the MPQ seem to back me up on that, yet "Xferr" seems to indicate otherwise.

To the poster above me, the average on the SFE was a 60/100 according to the front of the MPQ.

I scored a good raw 20 points higher on the SFE than the full-day. Almost everyone I've talked to agreed that the SFE was much easier than the full day. Admittedly a small sample size, but from my perspective it doesn't look like those numbers are completely forthright.

I got a bit lower on the SFE than the Simulated MBE/mid-term. 4% points lower. I think it was because before the Simulated I had just finished all the lectures on the MBE topics. Before the SFE, I had spent 2-3 weeks (?) on CA topics and hadn't so much as glanced at the MBE topics in the interim, so I lost a little ground. This week, I've done Set A and B for each MBE topic as I started my final review and am back up at the same level as the Simulated MBE. Which I guess I should not actually feel so great about since I would like to actually improve rather than be doing all this work to do just as well as I did a month ago….hmmm.

[jd20132013]

what I wouldn't give to see what a median essay looks like. I don't give a shit about the model answers, what do I need to shoot for so that my MBE will carry me

[aquasalad]

what I wouldn't give to see what a median essay looks like. I don't give a shit about the model answers, what do I need to shoot for so that my MBE will carry me

Totally agree. I know I'm median on half of the essay topics, and for sure way below median on the other half. Just trying to get by over here. I think we have enough time to pull it off.

[ZyzzBrah]

Finally got around to doing the SFE, scored a 73/100.

What I don't get, however, is that I am finishing the 100 question sections with 30-45 mins left easily--anyone else finding themselves finishing faster by a considerable margin (i.e. i did the first 50 Q's in about 45-50 mins, as opposed to 90 mins, then slowed down a bit)

[Xferr]

Finally got around to doing the SFE, scored a 73/100.

What I don't get, however, is that I am finishing the 100 question sections with 30-45 mins left easily--anyone else finding themselves finishing faster by a considerable margin (i.e. i did the first 50 Q's in about 45-50 mins, as opposed to 90 mins, then slowed down a bit)

Not by that much, but yeah. Barbri trains you to go a lot faster - trains you to do 3 every 5 minutes on those 18-set MPQs rather than the real 1 every 2 minutes, and the MPQs are longer and harder. I hear the real MBE is even more lax on time because the problems aren't very long.

[bendurnotes4me]

Man some of these sets 5 & 6 are tough. Anyone think Torts was particularly tough?

Right? I was doing pretty well on the MC sets 1-4 and did pretty well on the midterm. But I've been bombing the set 5s comparatively. Does anyone else find them to be more difficult? Is that on purpose? Are the sets supposed to get progressively harder? Or am I just getting dumber?

[pkt63]

Finally got around to doing the SFE, scored a 73/100.

What I don't get, however, is that I am finishing the 100 question sections with 30-45 mins left easily--anyone else finding themselves finishing faster by a considerable margin (i.e. i did the first 50 Q's in about 45-50 mins, as opposed to 90 mins, then slowed down a bit)

Same. Can we leave early on Wed if we finish early? (I'm in CA.)

[ZyzzBrah]

Man some of these sets 5 & 6 are tough. Anyone think Torts was particularly tough?

Right? I was doing pretty well on the MC sets 1-4 and did pretty well on the midterm. But I've been bombing the set 5s comparatively. Does anyone else find them to be more difficult? Is that on purpose? Are the sets supposed to get progressively harder? Or am I just getting dumber?

fwiw i've read not to do them because they test obscure rules/exceptions--i'd rather not spend the last week and a bit crushing what little confidence I have in the mbe

[Xferr]

Man some of these sets 5 & 6 are tough. Anyone think Torts was particularly tough?

Right? I was doing pretty well on the MC sets 1-4 and did pretty well on the midterm. But I've been bombing the set 5s comparatively. Does anyone else find them to be more difficult? Is that on purpose? Are the sets supposed to get progressively harder? Or am I just getting dumber?

fwiw i've read not to do them because they test obscure rules/exceptions--i'd rather not spend the last week and a bit crushing what little confidence I have in the mbe

I wouldn't say don't do them, but take them for what they are and don't sweat the results if your simulated scores are on track. My understanding of the MPQs is that they try to hit the subject from all angles, and doing them helps you see how the rarer rules play out. Useful, even if you get them wrong.

[Flips88]

Man some of these sets 5 & 6 are tough. Anyone think Torts was particularly tough?

Right? I was doing pretty well on the MC sets 1-4 and did pretty well on the midterm. But I've been bombing the set 5s comparatively. Does anyone else find them to be more difficult? Is that on purpose? Are the sets supposed to get progressively harder? Or am I just getting dumber?

fwiw i've read not to do them because they test obscure rules/exceptions--i'd rather not spend the last week and a bit crushing what little confidence I have in the mbe

I've done them for con law and Ks so far and they were on the whole about really obscure, nuanced rules. Got 11-12 out of 18 on all of them when I'm normally 2-4 questions better on both.

[jd20132013]

am I the only person starting to not get why answers are right anymore? I used to be able to definitely get the answer after reading the explanation (see why it was right)

now i'm not even seeing that sometimes nymore...

[beachbum]

Guys, I can't think thoughts anymore.

[MoneyMay]

Man some of these sets 5 & 6 are tough. Anyone think Torts was particularly tough?

Right? I was doing pretty well on the MC sets 1-4 and did pretty well on the midterm. But I've been bombing the set 5s comparatively. Does anyone else find them to be more difficult? Is that on purpose? Are the sets supposed to get progressively harder? Or am I just getting dumber?

fwiw i've read not to do them because they test obscure rules/exceptions--i'd rather not spend the last week and a bit crushing what little confidence I have in the mbe

I'm not doing them... I'm focusing on shit that is guaranteed to be on there, not some weird shit that BarBri made up to scare us, or that it on there very rarely.

[northwood]

Guys, I can't think thoughts anymore.

its not big deal.. bar review makes you think incoherently according to a normal person, but to the bar examiners and for the bar examiners its what you need to do ( because who really starts an essay with Under......( law vomit) Here ( fact vomit) Therefore/ Thus ( repeat of last sentence in application).

[adonai]

Memorizing everything...not happening and won't happen. Can't even remember pretty much everything about community property, the subject I studied on monday. Only have vague conceptualizations. Everybody told me the two weeks was enough, that somehow something miraculous would happen during that time. THEY LIED TO ME

[Heat]

I'm confused, because I found the full day and the SFE to be almost identically difficult, got almost identical scores, and the averages from the front of the MPQ seem to back me up on that, yet "Xferr" seems to indicate otherwise.

To the poster above me, the average on the SFE was a 60/100 according to the front of the MPQ.

I scored a good raw 20 points higher on the SFE than the full-day. Almost everyone I've talked to agreed that the SFE was much easier than the full day. Admittedly a small sample size, but from my perspective it doesn't look like those numbers are completely forthright.

I'm not saying you are wrong. I'm just saying that Barbri if anything seems to lie in the opposite direction. They want you to work harder. So if they were going to lie about the averages I'd think they would make them higher to motivate you to work harder, not lower.

Regardless, I think my averages are all screwed up as my averages are up significantly on the questions everyone here says are really hard (the later mixed questions) and only right around where Barbri says the average is for all the other question sets.

[JJDancer]

Memorizing everything...not happening and won't happen. Can't even remember pretty much everything about community property, the subject I studied on monday. Only have vague conceptualizations. Everybody told me the two weeks was enough, that somehow something miraculous would happen during that time. THEY LIED TO ME

I'm concerned about this as well. Don't feel like I am retaining enough or if I am, I'm forgetting what I learned a week ago :/
I think the last 10 days will be CLUTCH. Just keep going, keep working.
Work on recall - like take a topic and just recite everything you know about it in an organized way. I did this yesterday for murder.
Murder - definition
malice definition
1st degree- maybe 3-4 sentences/bullet points worth and on and on for voluntary manslaughter etc.
Recalling helps with memory and I know I will be relying on my short term memory the days of the exam

[jd20132013]

anyone have any idea whether we get penalized for arguing in the alternative on an essay?
I just did one where I wasn't sure what rule applied. I know you get points for that type of thing on a law school exam, but will you be penalized on a bar exam (since the rules are supposed to be obvious).

as long as i'm not penalized I'm fine if I get no credit.