February 2016 California Bar Exam Forum

[a male human]

I also found out I failed the test by a single MBE question. My response has been like that of a woman on Maury who is being given the results of a lie detector test about her cheating husband. Just me shouting, "Are you SERIOUS?!?!" about a million times and storming around back and forth; perhaps a few chairs flipped over.

Jesus Christ, that's like my worst nightmare.

On the bright side, it means you have the skills to pass?

[LastTimePls]

Hi all, checking in!

Long time lurker, but finally decided to make an account tonight. Took the July 2015 administration, and as you can probably already tell, did not make it this time around. But no time to be sad, gotta pick up, gear up, and ready up to take Feb 2016.

Went with BarBri the first time and supplemented with Emmanuel's Strategies and Tactics for MBE's, the Law in a Flash MBE set, as well as the usual past essays and PTs.

Probably going to re-use what I had with BarBri for substantive materials only, but very likely going to be adding BarMax MBEs and/or Adaptibar for MBE's and BarEssays.com and/or BarIssues.com.

If anyone happens to have a coupon or any discount code at all for any of these, I'd very much appreciate if you could send them my way! Every bit helps!

Anyway, best of luck to all of us taking Feb 2015.
Fight the good fight!

[BrokenMouse]

Guys key is to pass on the first read. Second read = averaged = death sentence.

[KatieSpades]

Guys key is to pass on the first read. Second read = averaged = death sentence.

I feel like the entire purpose of a second read is just to give us false hope.

Like, "yeah guys don't worry! If you're close to passing, we'll look at it again just to make sure that we didn't miss anything! And then, we'll still fail you!" Ugh.

[injun]

After being made aware of the mbe score advisory report, I signed up and found out that I had over a 150 mbe scaled score. This is shocking because my previous high was a 137. So there is definitely no way of knowing the exact score? For those wondering, I used adaptibar only. This was the second time I used it. I made sure to really understand why right answers were right and wrong answers were wrong

[AntiHuman]

Long time lurker on the threads. I've helped several people pass their 2nd time around on the exam. Some of my stats:

1. Took LSAT at 18 years old. Failed. High GPA combined with low LSAT I ended up at a good school.
2. Horrible law school grades. Never used IRAC or learned how to spot issues. Did virtually no studying in law school.
3. Took bar exam at 22 years old and failed first time. Studied about 30 hours total and attended no barbri classes or did any homework. So far from this story you can tell I am not a good test taker(aka didn't know wtf I was doing).

Scores my first time:

Essays: 55, 55, 60, 60, 85, 55
PTs: 55, 60
MBE: Slightly below passing

The 85 may jump out at you. This isn't an intelligence test. You will do well if you know how to approach the exam and study smart(not hard). Most importantly, you must know how to spot ALL the issues(or as many as you can). I asked a professor why the huge discrepancy on my essays. On the contracts essay, I spotted every issue and got an 85. I failed the rest because I didn't spot several minor issues. Issue spotting DETERMINES your score. Not analysis. People might bash me on this. Everyone will know the rules and have analysis. Shoutout to Injun on this for commending me, but I am big on spotting issues.

2nd time: I walked out of the exam and went straight to the bar to buy everyone shots because I knew I passed. It was that easy. No matter your score the first time, you can pass the 2nd time. It's just a matter of knowing how to approach the exam. I just put the first exam behind me, took a deep breathe and started researching strategies on what to do differently.

Failing sucks, but nobody has ever asked me my law school grades or how many times I took the bar exam. It will all be laughable in a few years.

PM me for exact details on what I did differently the 2nd time around on each section of the exam(MBE, essays, PTs).

[101670944]

Anybody here working full time while studying?

If so, please let me know how you plan to structure your study. I'm trying to think of the best strategy to work and study.

Thanks in advance!

[fadedsunrise]

Anybody here working full time while studying?

If so, please let me know how you plan to structure your study. I'm trying to think of the best strategy to work and study.

Thanks in advance!

Maybe we should brainstorm together! My managing partner is giving me the option of taking time off to study. However, the firm is short staffed and may not be able to find a substitute for me to meet the workload. I can afford not to work for 6 weeks or so, but not sure if it's actually the best idea or if I can manage working full time and studying. Currently checking TLS at the office after everyone's left so the work load is real...

My preliminary plan is to work full time through Christmas and then start dropping down. So the timeline looks like this:
Now-Christmas: full time, try to keep it to no more than 45 hours a week. Buy barbri's outlines, read and rewrite them by hand in the morning before work, approximately 1-2 hours/day depending on how early I can get in. (Am morning person)

Jan 1-Jan 15(?): Work part time, 15-30 hours. Hopefully work lets me keep it closer to 20-25 rather than 30.

Jan 15-30: off to study full time, or continue 15-30 hours.

Feb 1-test: definitely off to study full time.

[storge]

Anybody here working full time while studying?

If so, please let me know how you plan to structure your study. I'm trying to think of the best strategy to work and study.

Thanks in advance!

Worked full time as an attorney in another state while studying for the July bar. Took last two weeks off work for final study. Completed 85% of BarBri, but felt very unprepared and did a lot less studying than I did when I passed the bar in the state I practice. Work full time did not bode well for me in CA. I was able to pass in another state first try without work.

LESSON: working and studying did not work for me. Of course, there are numerous factors that can affect one's experience with this scenario depending on demands of your job, whether or not you have flexibility throughout the work day to squeeze in some studying, commute to/from work, etc. Mine were not favorable. I was billing 200+ hours, had trials and was also facilitating a cross country move.

NOTE: I am not saying it's not possible, because I know plenty of people have been successful on the CA bar working full time and studying. However, IMO it was difficult to get my head in the bar exam study game, because the bar seemed less important amidst my daily caseload despite my prior experience with the exam. Lack of time was always an issue even though I spent most of my free time studying. You have to be disciplined enough to take the studies seriously...VERY SERIOUSLY...and likely stick to a fairly rigid schedule. Again, people have done it and I've seen posts to that end throughout some of the forums on TLS. Good luck!

[BrokenMouse]

I also found out I failed the test by a single MBE question. My response has been like that of a woman on Maury who is being given the results of a lie detector test about her cheating husband. Just me shouting, "Are you SERIOUS?!?!" about a million times and storming around back and forth; perhaps a few chairs flipped over.

Ask for regrading of ur mbe. 25 bucks. Only way to appeal. See july 2015 thread

[BrokenMouse]

Hi all i have a quick q. For Baressay does standard subscription give you any essay feedback? If so how many? Also does it have scored examples of essays that you can sort by subject and score?

What more do you get with premium?

[FinallyPassedTheBar]

Hi all i have a quick q. For Baressay does standard subscription give you any essay feedback? If so how many? Also does it have scored examples of essays that you can sort by subject and score?

What more do you get with premium?

No, there is no feedback for the standard subscription. Yes you can sort the search results by subject, year, score range etc.. With premium you get feedback from past answers. In addition you get model answers for each past bar question. Plus you get a template on how to answer each previous bar question.

To get feedback on your own personal essays though, you have to pay additional for their "Essay Submission Program". $99 for 2 essays or $200 for 5 essays. There's also a feature where you get over-the phone tutoring for $60/30 minutes.

[BrokenMouse]

Does anybody have any insight into this book: "Strategies & Tactics" by Emanuel released in 2012?

I need some real MBE questions and I think this book has several hundred questions. If anybody has any other real MBE books you can recommend, please let me know.

[InTheWideLand I Walk]

that feeling when you are at work, you have 6 hours left to go, and you feel like you should be studying but you know you cant because have to pay your bills. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and its only like day 5 of studying.

[a male human]

Hi all i have a quick q. For Baressay does standard subscription give you any essay feedback? If so how many? Also does it have scored examples of essays that you can sort by subject and score?

What more do you get with premium?

There are essays that do come with grader feedback, so you can use that as a guide to check if you got everything. I posted some sample feedback comments previously in this topic or the July topic (just search through my post history). I can post an actual sample if you want.

[BrokenMouse]

that feeling when you are at work, you have 6 hours left to go, and you feel like you should be studying but you know you cant because have to pay your bills. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and its only like day 5 of studying.

holy crap you already started?

[KatieSpades]

that feeling when you are at work, you have 6 hours left to go, and you feel like you should be studying but you know you cant because have to pay your bills. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and its only like day 5 of studying.

holy crap you already started?

I started studying like 6 weeks ago, in anticipation of failing and I'm at the library now. But I need all of the help that I can get so...yeah. I also studied the night we got results just because I like to torture myself.

[BrokenMouse]

Let's get a headcount on folks living in or near Los Angeles who want to have a once in a while study session strictly just for practice exams. Please also state if you are a repeater so we can gauge where everyone's at in life.

[FearnLoathing]

As part of the five stages of grief, I thought I would finally post in this forum and acknowledge to myself and everyone else that I have have to retake the CBX. If anyone has a nice and witty way to tell their friends and family that they failed the bar exam, I would love to hear it. I seriously can't stand the pity. I'm thinking of just not letting people know I'm taking it in February. It's bad enough to disappoint yourself, but when you have witnesses to your bar failure it just makes it worse.

So, like an Alon meeting, here's my breakdown.

1-60
2-65
3-55
4-55
5-50
6-55
PTA -60
PTB -65
Scaled Written: 1361.3310
Scaled MBE: 1317.0000
Total: 1345.8152 <---- nearly 100 points below the golden ticket

My name is FearNLoathing and I have failed the CA bar exam.

First, while I appreciate some people stating that they knew they passed and hit 65+ on their essays and we should all feel the same. *cough - bullshit*. Yep, I'm calling gigantic bullshit on that. I was shocked when I got my results back because I thought I KILLED the essays. Hell, Exam 2 was a modified previously administered CA essay from the 2000s that I recognized. I remembered the model answer my bar company provided for it on game day. So, yeah, I too thought I NAILED IT. How could anyone not if you remembered the model answer??!! And, yet I didn't. I thought I had a flawless Essay 1,2,5 -- surely one of them would get me above 70. Nothing.

So, I'm feeling rather angry and disgruntled. Either the graders didn't give a flying fuck or my bar prep company's (Not BarBri, Themis or Kaplan) essay answers sucked ass and therefore so do mine.

I'd love to hear what people would recommend with the above. I've already signed up for AdaptiBar and will be working tirelessly to get my MBE score way up -- I know there's room for improvement there. However, I don't know what to do about my essays (aside from signing up for Bar Essays) to get a fix on what the hell went wrong. I will admit that my headings were not issue statements. Rather, my bar company had told me to simply to ie. 1) NEGLIGENCE; A) duty B) breach C) Prox Cause D) Actual Cause E) Damages. However, I know I spotted all the issues in Essay 2 -- yet nothing. So what the hell??

I've contacted 1 tutor; however I'm reluctant to shell out another 4K. Any advice would be welcome --especially from those who finally passed the second time.

[BrokenMouse]

As part of the five stages of grief, I thought I would finally post in this forum and acknowledge to myself and everyone else that I have have to retake the CBX. If anyone has a nice and witty way to tell their friends and family that they failed the bar exam, I would love to hear it. I seriously can't stand the pity. I'm thinking of just not letting people know I'm taking it in February. It's bad enough to disappoint yourself, but when you have witnesses to your bar failure it just makes it worse.

So, like an Alon meeting, here's my breakdown.

1-60
2-65
3-55
4-55
5-50
6-55
PTA -60
PTB -65
Scaled Written: 1361.3310
Scaled MBE: 1317.0000
Total: 1345.8152 <---- nearly 100 points below the golden ticket

My name is FearNLoathing and I have failed the CA bar exam.

First, while I appreciate some people stating that they knew they passed and hit 65+ on their essays and we should all feel the same. *cough - bullshit*. Yep, I'm calling gigantic bullshit on that. I was shocked when I got my results back because I thought I KILLED the essays. Hell, Exam 2 was a modified previously administered CA essay from the 2000s that I recognized. I remembered the model answer my bar company provided for it on game day. So, yeah, I too thought I NAILED IT. How could anyone not if you remembered the model answer??!! And, yet I didn't. I thought I had a flawless Essay 1,2,5 -- surely one of them would get me above 70. Nothing.

So, I'm feeling rather angry and disgruntled. Either the graders didn't give a flying fuck or my bar prep company's (Not BarBri, Themis or Kaplan) essay answers sucked ass and therefore so do mine.

I'd love to hear what people would recommend with the above. I've already signed up for AdaptiBar and will be working tirelessly to get my MBE score way up -- I know there's room for improvement there. However, I don't know what to do about my essays (aside from signing up for Bar Essays) to get a fix on what the hell went wrong. I will admit that my headings were not issue statements. Rather, my bar company had told me to simply to ie. 1) NEGLIGENCE; A) duty B) breach C) Prox Cause D) Actual Cause E) Damages. However, I know I spotted all the issues in Essay 2 -- yet nothing. So what the hell??

I've contacted 1 tutor; however I'm reluctant to shell out another 4K. Any advice would be welcome --especially from those who finally passed the second time.

Put it this way, on the property essay, I got a 75 on the first read. My scores were close enough for a 2nd read. Well on the second read I got a 60.

So I went from very high passing to fail. You might actually have really killed it. The fact is if the 2nd reader was the only one who read my property essay I might not even have made the 2nd read and I would have never known I did in fact kill it (because I did).

The problem I think most of us have is that we are not signaling our issues and rules clearly enough. I learned first hand bar graders ACTUALLY DONT READ YOUR ESSAY THEY JUST LOOK FOR KEY WORDS AND ISSUE AND RULE IN THE HEADING. Next one I am going to underline and bold the fuck out of that shit.

[Underoath]

Let's get a headcount on folks living in or near Los Angeles who want to have a once in a while study session strictly just for practice exams. Please also state if you are a repeater so we can gauge where everyone's at in life.

Count me in...I will be taking the exam for the second time.

[horrorbusiness]

First, while I appreciate some people stating that they knew they passed and hit 65+ on their essays and we should all feel the same. *cough - bullshit*. Yep, I'm calling gigantic bullshit on that. I was shocked when I got my results back because I thought I KILLED the essays. Hell, Exam 2 was a modified previously administered CA essay from the 2000s that I recognized. I remembered the model answer my bar company provided for it on game day. So, yeah, I too thought I NAILED IT. How could anyone not if you remembered the model answer??!! And, yet I didn't. I thought I had a flawless Essay 1,2,5 -- surely one of them would get me above 70. Nothing.

Since you feel that you wrote half of your essays flawlessly, how about posting them up on here for objective commentary? Maybe another set of eyes can see where you went wrong. Assuming that's permissible under TLS and CBX policies.

[fadedsunrise]

It seems like my score report post got passed over on the July 2015 thread, so if anyone here would be kind enough to offer some analysis I'd really appreciate it.

For what it's worth, I scored 1424.5 scaled.
Essay 1: 75/70 (72.5)
Essay 2: 65/70 (67.5)
Essay 3: 70/60 (65)
Essay 4: 55/65 (60)
Essay 5: 60/60
Essay 6: 50/50
PT A: 60/70 (65)
PT B: 60/60

Raw Written: 625
Scaled Written: 1466
Scaled MBE: 1346
Total: 1424.57

I'm not sure whether 18 points is off by a lot. I see people who are off by less than 5, and have heard somewhere that it's common to just improve by 10 something pts for a retake. I'm also not sure if I can repeat those scores on essays 1-3, those were really high for what I got during practice!

[injun]

It seems like my score report post got passed over on the July 2015 thread, so if anyone here would be kind enough to offer some analysis I'd really appreciate it.

For what it's worth, I scored 1424.5 scaled.
Essay 1: 75/70 (72.5)
Essay 2: 65/70 (67.5)
Essay 3: 70/60 (65)
Essay 4: 55/65 (60)
Essay 5: 60/60
Essay 6: 50/50
PT A: 60/70 (65)
PT B: 60/60

Raw Written: 625
Scaled Written: 1466
Scaled MBE: 1346
Total: 1424.57

I'm not sure whether 18 points is off by a lot. I see people who are off by less than 5, and have heard somewhere that it's common to just improve by 10 something pts for a retake. I'm also not sure if I can repeat those scores on essays 1-3, those were really high for what I got during practice!

Passed on 4th attempt. If you have the resources, a program like barmax, adaptibar or other programs that include real mbes would be worth it. I received scaled scores of 135, 136 and 137 previous to this attempt. According to a score advisory report, I got a 150 or higher in the exam that I passed. When taking the mbe exam, I felt like I understood the issue and general rule being tested because I had seen a question testing those very same issues or rules. In other words, I felt like the program I used (Adaptibar) tested me on a broader scope of issues than Barbri. While I believe it's true that the questions from this exam were not exactly the same with respect to format, I can say that I felt comfortable with a good majority of them as a result of my preparation

[InTheWideLand I Walk]

that feeling when you are at work, you have 6 hours left to go, and you feel like you should be studying but you know you cant because have to pay your bills. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and its only like day 5 of studying.

holy crap you already started?

yes, and according to adaptibar, the average amount of MBE questions everyone has finished already is 586. this means everybody else has been studying to.