Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2014 Exam Forum

[Genuine4ps]

Hoping for some help on a property question.

In the question, an owner of a mansion devises that mansion to a charity "so long as the charity keeps it open to the public." I got this question correct but for the wrong reason. I thought that it violated RAP? Can someone explain how it doesn't?

Thanks!

Charities are not subject to the RAP.

Thanks!

[Shawshank33]

" There were several essays that included wording that was just too perfect, so I wanted to make sure you know you should be doing the graded essays as if it were the exam - no books, no notes, no looking at the Sample Answer before you write. " - Advisor

.... is anybody really doing the graded essays cold? When does everyone plan to start doing them closed books?

[kapital98]

" There were several essays that included wording that was just too perfect, so I wanted to make sure you know you should be doing the graded essays as if it were the exam - no books, no notes, no looking at the Sample Answer before you write. " - Advisor

.... is anybody really doing the graded essays cold? When does everyone plan to start doing them closed books?

I plan on doing them cold after July 4th. Right now I'm looking up the rules so that I can practice learning them.

[puttycake]

" There were several essays that included wording that was just too perfect, so I wanted to make sure you know you should be doing the graded essays as if it were the exam - no books, no notes, no looking at the Sample Answer before you write. " - Advisor

.... is anybody really doing the graded essays cold? When does everyone plan to start doing them closed books?

I plan on doing them cold after July 4th. Right now I'm looking up the rules so that I can practice learning them.

Same here. I'm getting decent at a couple of topics, but I still look up things I'm iffy on even for them.

[whirledpeas86]

" There were several essays that included wording that was just too perfect, so I wanted to make sure you know you should be doing the graded essays as if it were the exam - no books, no notes, no looking at the Sample Answer before you write. " - Advisor

.... is anybody really doing the graded essays cold? When does everyone plan to start doing them closed books?

As far as I can tell from TLS, most folks are still doing them open book, myself included. I basically take 10 minutes to read the fact pattern, issue spot, and make a super quick outline closed book. Sometimes, if there's something I think I know for sure, I'll write up the rule statement and whatnot without looking up first. Then when I finish doing that, I look at the outlines and fill in the stuff that I missed/add in the proper rule statement wording/etc.

Your grader sounds like a douche.

[klbisho4]

" There were several essays that included wording that was just too perfect, so I wanted to make sure you know you should be doing the graded essays as if it were the exam - no books, no notes, no looking at the Sample Answer before you write. " - Advisor

.... is anybody really doing the graded essays cold? When does everyone plan to start doing them closed books?

As far as I can tell from TLS, most folks are still doing them open book, myself included. I basically take 10 minutes to read the fact pattern, issue spot, and make a super quick outline closed book. Sometimes, if there's something I think I know for sure, I'll write up the rule statement and whatnot without looking up first. Then when I finish doing that, I look at the outlines and fill in the stuff that I missed/add in the proper rule statement wording/etc.

Your grader sounds like a douche.

I'm doing the graded essays cold, but still doing the practice essays open book.

[Genuine4ps]

I'm doing everything cold. Don't know if this is a good strategy or not. Are you guys looking up the rules because you don't know them, or are you looking them up to precisely state the terms and definitions?

[hous]

I got my second graded essay back. I felt like I did way better on this one but I did 3 points lower than average. I knew I bombed (understatement) the first essay but I was only 1 point below average on that one. That said, my reviewer did offer some decent advise so I guess essay is just my weakness (no surprises). Scary thing is I actually glanced at the table of contents (it actually helped alot) and I still did worse than average.

I also did the first milestone and am happy with the results. I got a 70% but like everyone else I did poorly on real property. I missed 4 con law, 4 torts, and 7 property. I felt like the last 25 or so questions were WAY harder than the first 25. I missed 4 questions in the first 25 but 11 in the last 25. I think Themis does these things on purpose.

Also, apparently I'm being schedule by 4%.

[hous]

I'm doing everything cold. Don't know if this is a good strategy or not. Are you guys looking up the rules because you don't know them, or are you looking them up to precisely state the terms and definitions?

I do all MC questions without assistance, I look at notes on essays and try to do the graded essays under test conditions but I'm really bad at them.

[Genuine4ps]

I got my second graded essay back. I felt like I did way better on this one but I did 3 points lower than average. I knew I bombed (understatement) the first essay but I was only 1 point below average on that one. That said, my reviewer did offer some decent advise so I guess essay is just my weakness (no surprises). Scary thing is I actually glanced at the table of contents (it actually helped alot) and I still did worse than average.

I also did the first milestone and am happy with the results. I got a 70% but like everyone else I did poorly on real property. I missed 4 con law, 4 torts, and 7 property. I felt like the last 25 or so questions were WAY harder than the first 25. I missed 4 questions in the first 25 but 11 in the last 25. I think Themis does these things on purpose.

Also, apparently I'm being schedule by 4%.

70% sound like a great score.

I wonder if you perceived the second 25 as more difficult, because you were fatigued. I need to get my LSAT endurance back. Even on the MPRE I got fatigued.

Edit: where are you seeing the average for your essays? Does you grader mark give you this information?

[puttycake]

Edit: where are you seeing the average for your essays? Does you grader mark give you this information?

If you go to your progress and click on graded essays, it will show the average and your own score. My scores are so far below average that it's very sad.

[Genuine4ps]

Edit: where are you seeing the average for your essays? Does you grader mark give you this information?

If you go to your progress and click on graded essays, it will show the average and your own score. My scores are so far below average that it's very sad.

Got it. Thanks.

I don't know how much stock you can put into these averages, because you could have an easy/hard grader.

[puttycake]

For everyone in California, if you can afford it, the BarEssays service really makes essays less intimidating, at least it did for me. They have bought a ton of essays in all different ranges and you can read what people really said in answer to the questions and compare it to your own answers on the same questions rather than trying to rely on the graders.

Some of the answers are truly hilarious, too.

[Prime]

Real property really sucks.

[SilverE2]

Got a 60% on my first milestone. Below the average, but hit the goal...so I guess I'll take it. Also got 13/17 right on real property, which has been my worst subject so...that's weird.

[kapital98]

Real property really sucks.

YES! Property is probably the worst MBE subject. Both by difficulty and mind numbing, soul crushing, minutia.

Also, why do we need 8+ hours of property lectures? No other subject is that long. In addition, in my state, there is an extra 90 minutes of state specific video.

[Genuine4ps]

Real property really sucks.

YES! Property is probably the worst MBE subject. Both by difficulty and mind numbing, soul crushing, minutia.

Also, why do we need 8+ hours of property lectures? No other subject is that long. In addition, in my state, there is an extra 90 minutes of state specific video.

The lectures in general suck. Yesterday, I had to view the final Torts lecture. The day felt like it took forever.

Today, I put in more time, but I only had MBE questions and review. Day zipped by.

[hous]

Real property really sucks.

Totally.

My scores are all over the place for the real property section. Generally, I have been improving with each subsequent practice set in each subject. The outlier is property.

Did anyone else notice that real property practice sets 2 and 3 were much more difficult than 1 and 4?

[Genuine4ps]

Got a 60% on my first milestone. Below the average, but hit the goal...so I guess I'll take it. Also got 13/17 right on real property, which has been my worst subject so...that's weird.

This. The length of some of the questions are insane.

[Genuine4ps]

Real property really sucks.

Totally.

My scores are all over the place for the real property section. Generally, I have been improving with each subsequent practice set in each subject. The outlier is property.

Did anyone else notice that real property practice sets 2 and 3 were much more difficult than 1 and 4?

I've only completed 1 and 2. I thought 1 was impossible. I did great on 2, but I think I got lucky.

[hous]

Got a 60% on my first milestone. Below the average, but hit the goal...so I guess I'll take it. Also got 13/17 right on real property, which has been my worst subject so...that's weird.

This. The length of some of the questions are insane.

I noticed this too. The length of the questions were noticeably shorter in the milestone exam.

[hous]

Real property really sucks.

Totally.

My scores are all over the place for the real property section. Generally, I have been improving with each subsequent practice set in each subject. The outlier is property.

Did anyone else notice that real property practice sets 2 and 3 were much more difficult than 1 and 4?

I've only completed 1 and 2. I thought 1 was impossible. I did great on 2, but I think I got lucky.

1 was my best with 4 coming in a close second. 3 was impossible for me. I was really demoralized doing PQ3. I did PQ4 today without doing any other studying and did way better. I also felt like the questions were easier though. The nuances that PQ 3 tested on...

[kapital98]

I just took the milestone exam. 56%. Obviously I need to improve this score. I'm very strong with Torts. I'm average with Con Law. I'm weak at Property. I won't be happy until I'm at least around 70%.

The bright side: I've studied property the least of all my subjects. I've only taken one practice set (17 questions) and still have a lot to learn. If I can improve my property score I'll be up around the recommended score. After taking some more practice sets on torts and con law I should be able to significantly improve my results.

I'm also only using 2/3rds of the alloted time. Both on the milestone exam and the practice sets. I need to spend more time on each individual question.

So, there is a lot of work to do. It's still early.

[bport hopeful]

I also havent been using all of the allotted time. Wonder if slowing down would help. My gut instinct is that it wouldnt.

Havent taken the milestone yet because property was so demoralizing (PQ1), that I havent done any of the others.

[Bigbub75]

" There were several essays that included wording that was just too perfect, so I wanted to make sure you know you should be doing the graded essays as if it were the exam - no books, no notes, no looking at the Sample Answer before you write. " - Advisor

.... is anybody really doing the graded essays cold? When does everyone plan to start doing them closed books?

I've been doing them "cold" in that I write the essay closed book, but if I know I have an essay to do I review that topic earlier in the day so the information is still fresh in my mind. My wording is usually a little off, but it am still able to remember the general concepts.