Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2014 Exam Forum

[Lilly76]

I'd be curious to hear how far along people are who will be testing in the famously easy jurisdictions (Illinois, Mass., any others?).

I'm at 10% in Illinois and not terribly worried. Getting a little more serious about studying this week, then I'll turn it on after July 4.

Any others from easy jurisdictions want to check in? (Or are you all at the beach...?)

+1 would like to know this too.

Also, pretty behind as well. I don't think we're in that bad of a position, thought, because we're only supposed to complete 75%. I think if we stick to the schedule from here on out, we should be able to meet that goal. Could be wrong.

I read an article online that ranked each state by bar exam difficulty and apparently PA is one of the easier jurisdictions (who knew), somewhere between Illinois and Mass. I'm at 30%. I don't doubt that I'll get to at least 75% with a few days to spare, but as a chronic worrier, I'm still a bit concerned about whether getting to 75% will be enough to pass. I'm also about 2 days behind in the schedule.

[Kincade12]

I'd be curious to hear how far along people are who will be testing in the famously easy jurisdictions (Illinois, Mass., any others?).

I'm at 10% in Illinois and not terribly worried. Getting a little more serious about studying this week, then I'll turn it on after July 4.

Any others from easy jurisdictions want to check in? (Or are you all at the beach...?)

+1 would like to know this too.

Also, pretty behind as well. I don't think we're in that bad of a position, thought, because we're only supposed to complete 75%. I think if we stick to the schedule from here on out, we should be able to meet that goal. Could be wrong.

Just so everyone knows, if you do happen to fail, you won't get another course free unless you have done 75% of each category. So, for example, if you did not finish 75% of practice essays, you're out of luck. Its not measured by 75% of the entire course.
Don't mean to bring up any possibility of failing, I just figured the guarantee meant 75% of the whole course and apparently it does not.

[Genuine4ps]

I'd be curious to hear how far along people are who will be testing in the famously easy jurisdictions (Illinois, Mass., any others?).

I'm at 10% in Illinois and not terribly worried. Getting a little more serious about studying this week, then I'll turn it on after July 4.

Any others from easy jurisdictions want to check in? (Or are you all at the beach...?)

+1 would like to know this too.

Also, pretty behind as well. I don't think we're in that bad of a position, thought, because we're only supposed to complete 75%. I think if we stick to the schedule from here on out, we should be able to meet that goal. Could be wrong.

Just so everyone knows, if you do happen to fail, you won't get another course free unless you have done 75% of each category. So, for example, if you did not finish 75% of practice essays, you're out of luck. Its not measured by 75% of the entire course.
Don't mean to bring up any possibility of failing, I just figured the guarantee meant 75% of the whole course and apparently it does not.

Huh, so you could finish 100% of everything, but if you only to 65% of the practice essays, you're not covered? This hypothetical scenario would put you at probably 95% of the course.

[bedefan]

Just so everyone knows, if you do happen to fail, you won't get another course free unless you have done 75% of each category. So, for example, if you did not finish 75% of practice essays, you're out of luck. Its not measured by 75% of the entire course.
Don't mean to bring up any possibility of failing, I just figured the guarantee meant 75% of the whole course and apparently it does not.

Huh. I don't recall being told that. I call dibs on the UDAP class action. (I now insert a "jk" for paranoia's sake.) Or are we all subject to mandatory binding arbitration agreements? We probably are.

Anyway, looking at this -- https://www.ilbaradmissions.org/Percent ... lentCharts -- it seems pretty impossible that I'll fail as long as I continue to study a reasonable amount between now and the exam.

Back to the Real Property videos...

[Kincade12]

I'd be curious to hear how far along people are who will be testing in the famously easy jurisdictions (Illinois, Mass., any others?).

I'm at 10% in Illinois and not terribly worried. Getting a little more serious about studying this week, then I'll turn it on after July 4.

Any others from easy jurisdictions want to check in? (Or are you all at the beach...?)

+1 would like to know this too.

Also, pretty behind as well. I don't think we're in that bad of a position, thought, because we're only supposed to complete 75%. I think if we stick to the schedule from here on out, we should be able to meet that goal. Could be wrong.

Just so everyone knows, if you do happen to fail, you won't get another course free unless you have done 75% of each category. So, for example, if you did not finish 75% of practice essays, you're out of luck. Its not measured by 75% of the entire course.
Don't mean to bring up any possibility of failing, I just figured the guarantee meant 75% of the whole course and apparently it does not.

Huh, so you could finish 100% of everything, but if you only to 65% of the practice essays, you're not covered? This hypothetical scenario would put you at probably 95% of the course.

lol yeah. Its 75% of all of the tasks that show up in your course. So if you complete 75% of the course and have done 85% of the essays but only 65% of the mbe questions, you won't qualify for the free course/refund if you don't pass. Feel free to call your rep to double check on that, but thats what I was told and wanted to make you all aware.

[Lilly76]

lol yeah. Its 75% of all of the tasks that show up in your course. So if you complete 75% of the course and have done 85% of the essays but only 65% of the mbe questions, you won't qualify for the free course/refund if you don't pass. Feel free to call your rep to double check on that, but thats what I was told and wanted to make you all aware.

What if you finished 85% of the essays, but only finished 65% of the property essays?

[JoeFish]

I mean, we're all planning on completing 100% of the course... right?

[Gotti]

Is everyone doing the milestone exam closed book in exam conditions?

[TooManyLoans]

So I'm not sure if my condensed Property outline is missing pages or they just decided not to cover mortgages at all. Does anybody's condensed outline have a section on mortgages? I find it odd that in the MBE workshop they tell us to focus on mortgages yet they don't cover it in the condensed outline.

[lawyerwannabe]

Is everyone doing the milestone exam closed book in exam conditions?

I have proceeded under the assumption that every MBE practice is done closed book but would be curious if others are approaching these PQs differently.

[Apple Tree]

So I'm not sure if my condensed Property outline is missing pages or they just decided not to cover mortgages at all. Does anybody's condensed outline have a section on mortgages? I find it odd that in the MBE workshop they tell us to focus on mortgages yet they don't cover it in the condensed outline.

I don't have my long outline with me, but I remember thinking that they are missing a section in their outline when I read it.

[Kiwi917]

So I'm not sure if my condensed Property outline is missing pages or they just decided not to cover mortgages at all. Does anybody's condensed outline have a section on mortgages? I find it odd that in the MBE workshop they tell us to focus on mortgages yet they don't cover it in the condensed outline.

On my summary outline, it's covered in a short paragraph toward the bottom of page 7 - just the 4 bullet points under "Security Interest."

Because the MBE questions on mortgages all seem to be about such nitpicky details of the rules, I'm not sure how much a summary overview helps anyway. I'm sticking to the ~10 pages of the long outline for this particular topic, and after doing around 120 MBE questions and seeing how often these tiny nuances get tested, I feel like it is worth it to spend a little time on the long outline.

[Gotti]

So I'm not sure if my condensed Property outline is missing pages or they just decided not to cover mortgages at all. Does anybody's condensed outline have a section on mortgages? I find it odd that in the MBE workshop they tell us to focus on mortgages yet they don't cover it in the condensed outline.

On my summary outline, it's covered in a short paragraph toward the bottom of page 7 - just the 4 bullet points under "Security Interest."

Because the MBE questions on mortgages all seem to be about such nitpicky details of the rules, I'm not sure how much a summary overview helps anyway. I'm sticking to the ~10 pages of the long outline for this particular topic, and after doing around 120 MBE questions and seeing how often these tiny nuances get tested, I feel like it is worth it to spend a little time on the long outline.

Yeah, it's definitely worth it to go through the long outline for property, because even the handout--which is pretty detailed--doesn't cover all the stuff that is asked in the MBE questions. I've done MBE questions from Kaplan too (which I've heard are the kind of questions closest to those that you get on the actual MBE), and they're REALLY nuanced.
I'm definitely going to be flashcarding from the long property outline instead of the handout.

[Tanicius]

Christ, the Evidence assessment question answers either include information not taught in the lecture or even directly contradict Schott at least once every other lecture.

[Genuine4ps]

Christ, the Evidence assessment question answers either include information not taught in the lecture or even directly contradict Schott at least once every other lecture.

Haven't gotten to evidence yet, but I heard this was the case. Major bullshit.

[Genuine4ps]

Holy shit, Professor Kramer (property) sounds identical to Steve Carell.

[Kiwi917]

Did anyone else get only 17 Criminal Law MBE questions and then 101 exclusively Criminal Procedure questions? Criminal law is definitely my weaker area of the two, and I thought the MBE workshop said the two are tested roughly half and half. I assume I'll get more practice on criminal law in Milestone #2 and the mixed sets later on, but I sort of wish there were more in the single-subject sets.

As a related question, does anyone have a good strategy for keeping track of all the rules for conspiracy, including distinguishing from accomplice liability? I keep messing up things like when withdrawal or renunciation is possible, liability for subsequent crimes, and what the requirements are as far as timing, thwarting the crime, etc. Not to mention the common law / MPC / federal law breakdowns... Something about the way it was laid out in the outlines and lectures just isn't sticking for me. Maybe there are no tricks for this and I just need to spend more time memorizing, but I'm curious how other people think through this material.

[puttycake]

The Return of Jeffries. He does Civ Pro in addition to Conlaw. And the handout requires taking a ton of extra notes because he talks about things that are not in the handout. He just talked about how all of the defendants must agree to a removal and they have 30 days, etc. and none of that is on the handout.

I don't remember the Conlaw handout being bad.

[Gotti]

ughhhhhhhhhhhhh 64% on the milestone. I got pretty good scores on conlaw & torts and then property just killed me

[Genuine4ps]

ughhhhhhhhhhhhh 64% on the milestone. I got pretty good scores on conlaw & torts and then property just killed me

Yeah, property is killing me too. There are just so much information and terms in it. 64% doesn't seem that bad at all, though.

[Genuine4ps]

For those of you that are a behind in preparation, does Themis automatically catch you up by increasing the workload each day, or do we just work ahead? Thanks.

[Genuine4ps]

Is everyone doing the milestone exam closed book in exam conditions?

Yes, I am.

On a related note, I'm a little bit below average (i.e., 5-7 percentage points). Hoping that this is because at least some people are referring to their notes during essays/MBE.

[jigglypuffdreams]

Is everyone doing the milestone exam closed book in exam conditions?

Yeah. I actually sat down at my desk and did the physical copy version of it (the MBE workbook has all the milestone exams in it) and circled answers with a pencil. I walked up and got some water at one point because I was thirsty, and didn't really set a timer, just started at 2 and figured I'd stop myself at 3:30 if it came to that. I know it's silly, but it really made me FEEL like I was taking a little test run for the bar.

[iLoveFruits&Veggies]

Is everyone doing the milestone exam closed book in exam conditions?

Yeah. I actually sat down at my desk and did the physical copy version of it (the MBE workbook has all the milestone exams in it) and circled answers with a pencil. I walked up and got some water at one point because I was thirsty, and didn't really set a timer, just started at 2 and figured I'd stop myself at 3:30 if it came to that. I know it's silly, but it really made me FEEL like I was taking a little test run for the bar.

That's a really good idea!

[Burgstaller04]

Christ, the Evidence assessment question answers either include information not taught in the lecture or even directly contradict Schott at least once every other lecture.

F. N. A. This is annoying as balls