February 2015 Bar Exam Forum

[sparty99]

The entire MBE was bull-shit.

[cooperlaserpup]

I thought those were pretty hard overall, with a lot of trick/tricky stuff and lots of stuff I didn't think they would test much that came up multiple times.

My only other note is that I literally just took Crim Pro: Investigation (everything before trial covered) as one of my last classes in law school, got an A in it, never missed a single warrants/search question in Barbri or the released questions I did (~500 total) and had two search/warrants questions on the test today that I didn't think had a really good answer option available. I could have written a multi-page essay on those question's material but if the answer choice isn't there, what can ya do?

hm. I'm a public defender and thought I had a handle on all the crim pro stuff today. I will say though that there were a few crim law (by far my best subject in practice questions) that were kind of head scratchers to me. Didn't seem like there was a great answer.

Honestly I found today super demoralizing. Having now studied this stupid test for months and knowing I'm capable of scoring above average on it, I felt like no amount of studying could have really prepared me for that. At the very least, Themis practice questions in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM prepared me for today's MBE.

I felt like I was guessing a lot. I also felt like the ENTIRE THING was property. Which I know can't be true. But it felt that way. God. I am in a crap mood. Drinking alone know.

[cooperlaserpup]

Passed Texas in July with a 155. I think this MBE was easier overall. That said, there was still some weird ass shit to deal with.

This morning I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Didn't not feel like I was definitely getting right answers most of the time. This afternoon went by pretty easily and felt more like the normal MBE stuff I am used to. In both sessions, the civ pro stuff was weird and I was basically guessing. Evidence was straightforward, property was straightforward (no marshalling/judicial liens like July), torts was almost non-existent, homicide was heavily tested, con law was difficult.

There is definitely something to be said for a rigorous professional prep routine for the MBE. doing practice questions after work for a few weeks resulted in an interesting experience...

I must have blacked out all the homicide, I barely remember any. There was some contracts stuff that I found surprisingly difficult. Just some murky concepts. Basically hated the whole thing and if I get a 130 scaled I will be thrilled.

[aquasalad]

If you studied, you most likely passed. That is to anyone - you probably passed.

[ilovetypos]

That was absolutely terrible. In my prior jurisdiction, I scored a 165 and I would be shocked if I even came close to that. Hopefully I score high enough to pass

[Neidermeyer]

I am already licensed in Kentucky, so I was taking Indiana to get licensed there as well. No reciprocity ever and no MBE transfer; Indiana makes you do the whole damn thing over again. That being said, I took the bar this last July, and can certainly attest to how difficult the MBE was. It was a mortgage slaughter fest. Kentucky does not release your score, and since I passed I know I at least got a 132, but that's all I know. (According to Barbri I was scoring in the 160-170 range) I came out of that exam feeling like I probably passed, but I was not sure. Barbri prepared me for most of the MBE, but not all of it; especially not for the mortgage questions.

I did not prepare a ton for this exam, because I have been practicing law since October and prepared for the last exam so thoroughly. I honestly felt like this MBE was overall slightly easier than July, but not exactly by a lot. This may be a false sense of confidence because I did not let myself get overly stressed this time. I definitely ran into some questions that threw me completely off, and was surprised by the lack of extremely difficult property questions. Con law felt a little trickier than usual, torts was minimal, crim law focused more on murder than last time, evidence felt like it focused on the same exceptions over and over, civ pro felt easy (I think they even had a question pulled directly from the sample set they posted), and contracts was a little trickier this time. Lots of SOF stuff, not as much Article 2.

[aquasalad]

There was definitely a civ pro question straight from the NCBE's website. I agree with your general analysis of the exam's contents.

[abogadesq]

I'm pretty good in crim pro and civ pro, and I didn't have much of a problem with crim pro on the MBE. However, I thought many civ pro questions concentrated too much on these sub-sub-sub topics, and didn't test on many of the "really important" subject areas my bar review preped me for. Bah.

[BlueDiamond]

Haha just got smoked by the MBE. Finished the AM in about 1.75 hours and PM in 1.5. Think I got most down to 2 potential answers, but then the feeling became "well I don't know the law, so thinking about it won't make a difference, so which answers seems logical" then picked that one. Not sure I'm showing up for essay day tomorrow.

[Neidermeyer]

Haha just got smoked by the MBE. Finished the AM in about 1.75 hours and PM in 1.5. Think I got most down to 2 potential answers, but then the feeling became "well I don't know the law, so thinking about it won't make a difference, so which answers seems logical" then picked that one. Not sure I'm showing up for essay day tomorrow.

I will say this, I noticed on the a.m. portion that I have a lot of questions I got down to two answers very easily, and looked at both and had to make a judgment call generally on what just seemed more equitable or more reasonable! Same Boat.

[Neidermeyer]

I'm pretty good in crim pro and civ pro, and I didn't have much of a problem with crim pro on the MBE. However, I thought many civ pro questions concentrated too much on these sub-sub-sub topics, and didn't test on many of the "really important" subject areas my bar review preped me for. Bah.

I guess I had a really good civil procedure professor, and have always just done really well with the subject, so some of the nuances I've had ingrained in my head for a while now. I definitely noticed the examiners trying to trick people on certain issues, and couldn't help but laugh a little as they asked questions where you knew the result, but they gave you two methods to get there, and unless you knew the distinction, it was like "well, flip a coin"

[WORLDSTAR]

Quick question, is a closing date necessary in a real estate sales agreement?

[abogadesq]

Quick question, is a closing date necessary in a real estate sales agreement?

Not according to my notes.

[underthirty]

.

[WORLDSTAR]

Quick question, is a closing date necessary in a real estate sales agreement?

Not according to my notes.

thank god.

[cooperlaserpup]

Quick question, is a closing date necessary in a real estate sales agreement?

Not according to my notes.

thank god.

agreed. the funny thing about this is it not something I even really thought about until today.....needless to say I was surprised.

[abogadesq]

Quick question, is a closing date necessary in a real estate sales agreement?

Not according to my notes.

thank god.

agreed. the funny thing about this is it not something I even really thought about until today.....needless to say I was surprised.

And there were multiple questions on it, just to piss us off.

[dueprocess14]

Wow. That was a clusterfuck. Maybe it's me, maybe Themis didn't prep me well, maybe it was just my weak spots exposed bare, but that was way harder than anything I experienced in any practice format.

[redblueyellow]

WTF was that part 2 MBE bullshit?!

Morning session was at least "OK" but the afternoon was ridiculous.

Does the fucking 5th amendment right against self incrimination apply to criminal or criminal+civil cases, cause my notes are saying both versions.

Everything was phrased so ambiguously. YES, C COULD BE RIGHT IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR THE EXCEPTION. ARE YOU LOOKING FOR THE EXCEPTION, MR. MBE? CAUSE IF NOT, I'LL PICK D. WHAT DO YOU WANT, BAR PEOPLE? THEY'RE BOTH THE RIGHT ANSWER.

Goddamit.

[dueprocess14]

WTF was that part 2 MBE bullshit?!

Morning session was at least "OK" but the afternoon was ridiculous.

Totally agree. I felt OK, but not great, about the morning. The afternoon I felt like I was wildly strafing. A few of the civ pro questions I did not feel like I had a qualified reason to eliminate a single answer choice...

[WORLDSTAR]

WTF was that part 2 MBE bullshit?!

Morning session was at least "OK" but the afternoon was ridiculous.

Totally agree. I felt OK, but not great, about the morning. The afternoon I felt like I was wildly strafing. A few of the civ pro questions I did not feel like I had a qualified reason to eliminate a single answer choice...

my approach on those types of questions is to find the "excessive" information in the question. sometimes, that will help you answer. sometimes, the examiners aren't very good at disguising it (like when they go out of their way to say someone acted reasonably when they did something or when they say that something arbitrary was part of the contract). then, find the answer choice that fits.

other times, i notice the fact pattern wants you to think that it's totally unjust for someone to be awarded something, which automatically pulls me toward the answer choice that awards it

[aquasalad]

Felt like the morning was harder. Who knows if we all took the same exams am to pm.

[minnbills]

My morning exam was noticeably harder

[mclilazng]

My morning exam was noticeably harder

Test form 7's morning portion was pretty easy.

[mclilazng]

Compared to July, which literally slaughtered me and shit on me and set my ass on fire, I felt better about today's MBE experience. But to be fair, I didn't do a lot of practice questions in the summer whereas I did a shit-ton of them this time.

July was definitely MUCH harder.