BarBri Bar Review Hangout - July 2015 Exam Forum

[rinkrat19]

I got my first graded essay back--crim/crimpro. Was reasonably pleased that I got a 3 until I remembered I did it open book. (And that crim is probably my best subject.) Sigh.

[Neff]

I got my first graded essay back--crim/crimpro. Was reasonably pleased that I got a 3 until I remembered I did it open book. (And that crim is probably my best subject.) Sigh.

The grades mean nothing. For the first assignment, I did it open book and pretty much just rewrote the model answer. The grader wrote like two sentences and failed me for no reason. I haven't turned in any more essays and I don't plan to. Essay grading is a total flame unless you shell out another $1000 or however much it is for "private tutoring." You're fine.

[myrtlewinston]

Actually, with stuff piling up, i think everyone should google "ny bar essay frequency" and decide for themselves how to focus cramming. Wills is by far the most important state subject to know, but for example, secured transactions, no fault insurance, or conflicts of law or even trusts don't show up too much. Corporations, Wills, Domestic Relations seem to be pretty important though.

Plus NY Practice!

How is LeanSheets working out for you? Sufficient info to answer the MBE questions and write essays?

Lean sheets is good, but I actually have been stuck on the essays. I feel I need to cram a little more and do them a little later, so I have a bunch piled up. I've been keeping up with the lectures though, and doing mbe questions. I'm undecided about doing a few essays open book, but I need to figure that out soon too.

Have you been reading CMR and/or the lecture notes? I'm reluctant to do the essays open-book till I finish my overall review.

[kykiske]

Just graded my first full MBE: 108/200 (raw). 54%.

Ouch. Here's to spending the next month cramming.

[Danger Zone]

I take back everything I said about other lecturers.

Paula Franzese is the absolute worst. Stop wasting my time with your fucking god awful singing and stupid personal stories.

[musicfor18]

I take back everything I said about other lecturers.

Paula Franzese is the absolute worst. Stop wasting my time with your fucking god awful singing and stupid personal stories.

I thought she was enjoyable and clear, and I didn't mind her songs and stories. But she left out so much important stuff, even on topics that she did cover. How could she teach adverse possession and not include the exclusivity requirement? And how could she not include the distinction that an easement by prescription doesn't require exclusive use?

[Danger Zone]

Because she's too busy wasting time singing.

[Birdnals]

I take back everything I said about other lecturers.

Paula Franzese is the absolute worst. Stop wasting my time with your fucking god awful singing and stupid personal stories.

Seriously. The WORST. That could have been a single 3.5 hour lecture if you took out her shitty songs and stories about her family which are in no way related.

[musicfor18]

I take back everything I said about other lecturers.

Paula Franzese is the absolute worst. Stop wasting my time with your fucking god awful singing and stupid personal stories.

Seriously. The WORST. That could have been a single 3.5 hour lecture if you took out her shitty songs and stories about her family which are in no way related.

It was still better than torts with Schechter.

[Danger Zone]

Nope, just have to disagree man. I'm dying listening to her right now. At least I didn't realize how much Schecter sucked until I took the questions afterwards.

[LawGuy321]

I have torts with roger schechter scheduled for tomorrow. Serious question: am I better off just outlining from the CMR?

Serious answer: definitely, yes

I liked his lecture but it turned out to be almost useless when it came time to do practice questions.

Man. You had him out in California too? Is this the only guy they have teaching torts?

Do you guys mind expaining why you didn't like him? Is it just because you have to outline yourself as you go? I thought he taught it pretty well, but it was also the subject I started with, so maybe he's not as good relative to the others? My favorites have been Franzeze for property and Esptein for Contracts!

[rinkrat19]

I take back everything I said about other lecturers.

Paula Franzese is the absolute worst. Stop wasting my time with your fucking god awful singing and stupid personal stories.

Seriously. The WORST. That could have been a single 3.5 hour lecture if you took out her shitty songs and stories about her family which are in no way related.

It took me like 4 days to struggle through Property, she was so painful.

[LawGuy321]

Just graded my first full MBE: 108/200 (raw). 54%.

Ouch. Here's to spending the next month cramming.

Not to be a total n00b, but are we aiming for again? 60% correct? 55? 70? Or, is it different every test due to curve?

personally, much more worried about these exam topics...

[musicfor18]

I have torts with roger schechter scheduled for tomorrow. Serious question: am I better off just outlining from the CMR?

Serious answer: definitely, yes

I liked his lecture but it turned out to be almost useless when it came time to do practice questions.

Man. You had him out in California too? Is this the only guy they have teaching torts?

Do you guys mind expaining why you didn't like him? Is it just because you have to outline yourself as you go? I thought he taught it pretty well, but it was also the subject I started with, so maybe he's not as good relative to the others? My favorites have been Franzeze for property and Esptein for Contracts!

It has nothing to do with having to outline myself. Instead, it's the fact that almost every torts MBE and essay question assigned since his lecture has been based on concepts that he either didn't cover in sufficient detail or didn't cover at all. He was just way too cursory on certain things.

[LawGuy321]

I take back everything I said about other lecturers.

Paula Franzese is the absolute worst. Stop wasting my time with your fucking god awful singing and stupid personal stories.

Seriously. The WORST. That could have been a single 3.5 hour lecture if you took out her shitty songs and stories about her family which are in no way related.

It took me like 4 days to struggle through Property, she was so painful.

I'm actually surprised at the Franzese hate... I thought she took what most people find painful and tried to make it more interesting. I busted out laughing on at least 3 occasions in the first video alone. That said, I can definitely see how people might prefer rushing through the topic and just getting the blanks filled. Anyway, her singing isn't that bad, and it's still decent at 1.75X!

Did anyone else love Epstein? Sharon Stone in the shower was just classic...

[kmp127]

For Barbri Texas people:

Apparently 7/1 we have a "simulated written exam." However, all 56 pages of it are only listed in the info section online (meaning we have to print out everything). I'm thinking this exercise is self-graded but I am not seeing model answers anywhere. Anybody have more color on this?

Hey I just saw it on the schedule too, but where is it exactly? You're right, there's barely any direction...

I thought it was in one of our books? I have one more book in my box that says simulated MBE but I've never opened it.

Tx barbri folks - I emailed them about it and she replied with the 56 page pdf for me to print out and said it's self graded, answers will be on the Info page.

[LawGuy321]

For Barbri Texas people:

Apparently 7/1 we have a "simulated written exam." However, all 56 pages of it are only listed in the info section online (meaning we have to print out everything). I'm thinking this exercise is self-graded but I am not seeing model answers anywhere. Anybody have more color on this?

Hey I just saw it on the schedule too, but where is it exactly? You're right, there's barely any direction...

I thought it was in one of our books? I have one more book in my box that says simulated MBE but I've never opened it.

Tx barbri folks - I emailed them about it and she replied with the 56 page pdf for me to print out and said it's self graded, answers will be on the Info page.

Just to clarify something: The thing that is AVAILABLE on July 1, is actually scheduled for July 6! It's very confusing, but they're trying to do a Half-Day on 7/6 and Full-Day MBE on 7/7. The 7/6 is self-graded. 7/7 is graded by hard copy scantron or by inputting answers.

The confusion is not helped by a typo -- Under "My Progress" / "Simulated Multistate Exam Personal Analysis," It says the test is June 30! pretty sure this is a mistake, as the 7/6 and 7/7 tests seem to be all there is...

Does this sound right?

[kmp127]

For Barbri Texas people:

Apparently 7/1 we have a "simulated written exam." However, all 56 pages of it are only listed in the info section online (meaning we have to print out everything). I'm thinking this exercise is self-graded but I am not seeing model answers anywhere. Anybody have more color on this?

Hey I just saw it on the schedule too, but where is it exactly? You're right, there's barely any direction...

I thought it was in one of our books? I have one more book in my box that says simulated MBE but I've never opened it.

Tx barbri folks - I emailed them about it and she replied with the 56 page pdf for me to print out and said it's self graded, answers will be on the Info page.

Just to clarify something: The thing that is AVAILABLE on July 1, is actually scheduled for July 6! It's very confusing, but they're trying to do a Half-Day on 7/6 and Full-Day MBE on 7/7. The 7/6 is self-graded. 7/7 is graded by hard copy scantron or by inputting answers.

The confusion is not helped by a typo -- Under "My Progress" / "Simulated Multistate Exam Personal Analysis," It says the test is June 30! pretty sure this is a mistake, as the 7/6 and 7/7 tests seem to be all there is...

Does this sound right?

OMG so on top of learning ALLLLLLLLLL THIS LAWWWWW we need to figure this ish out too????? ha jk, i'm just annoyed

[myrtlewinston]

I have torts with roger schechter scheduled for tomorrow. Serious question: am I better off just outlining from the CMR?

Serious answer: definitely, yes

I liked his lecture but it turned out to be almost useless when it came time to do practice questions.

Man. You had him out in California too? Is this the only guy they have teaching torts?

Do you guys mind expaining why you didn't like him? Is it just because you have to outline yourself as you go? I thought he taught it pretty well, but it was also the subject I started with, so maybe he's not as good relative to the others? My favorites have been Franzeze for property and Esptein for Contracts!

It has nothing to do with having to outline myself. Instead, it's the fact that almost every torts MBE and essay question assigned since his lecture has been based on concepts that he either didn't cover in sufficient detail or didn't cover at all. He was just way too cursory on certain things.

Exactly. I had him for Torts and Domestic Relations, which is an important NY subject. What a shame!

[ash0117]

Part of the problem with many of the lecturers is that they do their own thing with the lectures, but BARBRI asks the same questions. So Schechter, for instance, doesn't cover things he doesn't deem important/ likely to appear on the bar, but BARBRI still asks practice questions on the stuff he doesn't teach. Same goes for several other lecturers. There is a disconnect between what the lecturers view as important and what BARBRI views as important. There should be some sort of correlation between the two - otherwise it becomes difficult for students and we don't think we are covering everything. Either make lecturers teach what BARBRI feels needs to be taught, or conform the questions to the lecturers preference, but don't allow a lecturer to decide whatever he wants to do is fine and then test on a whole additional body of law we weren't exposed to (this is especially true for subjects such as domestic relations, which some people may not have taken in law school, but still holds true for torts and the like as well).

[victortsoi]

I dont know, I'm barely going outside so franzeze's cheery attitude was kind of heartwarming, doesnt deserve the hate IMO. With schechter, I'm dreading not being able to fast forward because i have to make notes.

Question- when doing an MPT, is there a general consensus over whether to read the file or library first?

[BuckinghamB]

I dont know, I'm barely going outside so franzeze's cheery attitude was kind of heartwarming, doesnt deserve the hate IMO. With schechter, I'm dreading not being able to fast forward because i have to make notes.

Question- when doing an MPT, is there a general consensus over whether to read the file or library first?

In the video I watched dude said to read library because then you have an idea of what issues to flag in the case file.

Also, put me down as a Franzese hater. Horrible horrible horrible.

[victortsoi]

I dont know, I'm barely going outside so franzeze's cheery attitude was kind of heartwarming, doesnt deserve the hate IMO. With schechter, I'm dreading not being able to fast forward because i have to make notes.

Question- when doing an MPT, is there a general consensus over whether to read the file or library first?

In the video I watched dude said to read library because then you have an idea of what issues to flag in the case file.

Also, put me down as a Franzese hater. Horrible horrible horrible.

Thanks. Also, property was my worst subject in all of law school. I listened to her lectures, and got an outline from an older friend. Is her lecture/handout not good enough?

Since we're speaking of lectures, I kind of wish chemerinsky put those anectodes/court cases in the handout, it woudl make things easier to remember I feel.

[rinkrat19]

In the video I watched dude said to read library because then you have an idea of what issues to flag in the case file.

Isn't that backwards? Case file has the facts. Library has cases, in which you don't know what is important until you know the facts and the issues.

[BuckinghamB]

Also, this is probably a dumb question, but here it goes.

If your state differs from MBE, the state-specific stuff will apply on the MBE day right?

Or do they just have the exact same MBE questions in every state on the MBE day?

Example: My state doesn't have RAP. My barbri simulated MBE had some RAP questions. Am I supposed to expect to see RAP on my actual MBE day? Or does the RAP-less world only apply on the state essay day?