FLORIDA BAR - JULY 2014 Forum

[Dripworx]

Had to start it! Living in sunny sofla

Typical underachiever

Using Themis to prep!

I'll be taking a week off after graduation (May 10)

All thoughts, anxieties, and delusions are welcome

[bjohnsobf]

.

[bld2414]

In in. Let's do this.

[letsdoit]

In. Doing the BarBri course in St Pete. Probably won't go to a single live class.

[bld2414]

Im using Themis. I was pretty happy with how it prepared me for the MPRE. Hopefully things will go as smooth for the bar.

[Dripworx]

Im using Themis. I was pretty happy with how it prepared me for the MPRE. Hopefully things will go as smooth for the bar.

Same. Rocked that MPRE after a little review from the Themis books. Class does nothing for me. I just need solid lectures, outlines, and endless practice questions.

[rummya87]

FWIW....

I just took (and passed) the Fl bar in feb. '14. I did Barbri and added adaptibar. I'll offer a full explanation of how I utilized barbri/adaptibar if posters want. I scored 158 FL side and 157 MBE side. best of luck!

[MoneyMay]

Checking in. Haven't done shit, don't know a single thing about the FL bar, etc. Also just realized the bar prep company I am using (BarBri) has assigned stuff for this week and I doubt I'll do it because my entire family is in town for my graduation. And speaking of BarBri, does anyone know what the hell BarBri AMP is? I skimmed through the BarBri website and clicked on it, and it is not what I envisioned bar prep being.

FWIW....

I just took (and passed) the Fl bar in feb. '14. I did Barbri and added adaptibar. I'll offer a full explanation of how I utilized barbri/adaptibar if posters want. I scored 158 FL side and 157 MBE side. best of luck!

I would like to hear what you did.

[rummya87]

Ok...

First you must understand the grading of the test, inside and out. From the beginning, I wrote out all of my goals for bar prep. I first settled on obtaining a score of 160 for the MBE, as the key to passing the FL bar is by obtaining a high MBE score. The theory is that a high MBE score is more easily achievable than a high Fl score because the MBE subject are more predictable and the scale is better settled (you have to understand how the MBE is scaled and I simply don't want to do a full writeup of MBE grading). Further, FL bases its scale for the FL side off of the MBE. I have yet to see a FL score that doesn't correlate somewhat closely with that individual's MBE score (in fact, one of my friends got scaled DOWN on the FL side due to a lower MBE score). I set an overall goal of doing 1750 practice MBE questions. As I met this goal, I would amend, adding 250 additional questions. I ultimately did around 3000 including practice MBE's.

In order to succeed on the MBE one needs to know both the law and how to do the questions. I started with relearning the law from scratch. I did about 1/3 of the barbri amps focusing on the shortest turnaround modules (the short ones). I got to about 40% just prior to starting the barbri class. I watched the daily assigned lecture and took the required notes each day. I started by doing sets of ten MBE questions using barbri materials and doing all of the assigned barbri MBE assignments. I tried to average one minute per question throughout practice. For the first 4 weeks I followed barbri fairly closely. About two/three weeks into bar study I picked up Adaptibar. After each substantive MBE lecture, I did 50 adaptibar questions in that subject. I did this until I completed all 6 MBE subjects. Then I switched adaptibar to random subject and did as many as I could stand each day. I worked up my stamina from 30-40 MBE's to 100 some days (depending on the rest of my study load and mood). During the meat of bar prep, I mixed adaptibar and barbri MBE practice questions. About a month out, I started to deviate heavily away from barbri's schedule. I realized I could steer away when I acheived a 131 raw on the barbri practice (average was 109 raw) Towards the last two-three weeks I utilized solely adaptibar. I used the recommended adaptibar method of diagnosing weak areas, studying outlines, and repeating. I ended up doing 1062 adaptibar questions in total. The Friday prior to the bar I did OPE 4. Also, I did all required barbri practice exams, including the Fl Facts exam (more below). After about 2000 MBE practice q's you REALLY get a feel for MBE's. On the real exam, I finished the first section with 1:09 to go and the second with just less than an hour, more than enough time to go over my answers approximately 4 times per section to ensure that I did my best.

For Florida, I used a similar technique. Knowing I was a strong essay writer, I focused on the (horrible) FLMC. I did all barbri lectures/notes and then hit conviser hard. I went over conviser outlines multiple times for each subject, focusing extra hard on the Procedures (Crim and Civ). I used the essay advantage book and the outlines for the short essay strategies lectures to memorize the important elements. I attempted to predict (successfully) the essays and memorize the most critical elements for each of the most testable subject areas in essays. I did three practice essays in sum (the three from the FL Facts exam). Towards the end of bar study, I would read essays and answers in each subject, focusing on my predicted test essays. For the FLMC section, I successfully predicted what the MC subjects would be. I focused heavily on memorizing the minutiae in order to tackle the FLMC section. When studying for the FLMC section, imagine that it will be worse than the barbri practice questions, you will be better prepared that way. Try to do FLMC in bursts of 100. I also, like my MBE practice, focused on timing to one minute per question. I finished FLMC in one and a half hours on the real exam. Do NOT try to leave the essays early. I used every minute I had. You SHOULD be writing from the time the proctor says go until the end. I personally used the answer entry area to outline and filled in using headings. This technique may work for some and not others.

Overall, this is a pretty cursory (and probably a little disorganized) review of how I studied. If anyone would like more information, I would be glad to clarify.

Key Points:

Try to practice under higher time constraints than the real exam, you will thank me later.
Do more practice questions than you think you need to.
Use Adaptibar, best $345 I spent on bar prep. (Adaptibar predicted my MBE score fairly well, the company says that you will be right around your overall % with your raw score on the real exam. Mine was 72.5-73% so i ended up slightly higher than that)
Do practice sets of 50 or more at the end of your study sessions when you are wiped. You won't like that you're getting them all wrong, but you will be thankful that you did this. When I got to the last 50 questions on the MBE, my hand was cramping so bad I thought I would have to stop, I had a pounding headache from testing all day after not sleeping from nervousness, and generally felt shitty. Training under the worst conditions helped get me through that. Remember that under stress, you will devolve to your lowest level of training.

Also:

I managed to squeeze all of this into the hours of 8-6 pm every day. I took copious breaks for coffee, lunch, ect. I felt it was important to take breaks for my sanity and tried to spend time with the gf, family, friends. I recall going out for drinks more than a few times with mere weeks to go until the exam. Try to do more work front end so you'll slide into the exam ready to go. Some may disagree, but it worked for me.

[letsdoit]

I'm hoping I can squeeze BarBri work into 8-6 Monday-Friday. I know I won't be able to get it all done, but I'm probably going to watch all lectures, lean on the Conviser mini outline, and focus on MBE practice questions. And I'll work some practice essays into there too. I imagine this would be enough to pass....or at least I hope.

[rummya87]

Don't stress about completing barbri assignments. I finished 60% of the assignments overall but did way more MBE and FLMC practice than req.

[MoneyMay]

Reading comp fail on my part--- thanks for the advice!

[hous]

Tagged. Also doing Themis in Sofla!

[MoneyMay]

Sort of started today so wanted to give this a bump and see how you bros are doing. I am doing BarBri and AMP is already the bane of my fucking existence-- it's going to be a very long summer.

[letsdoit]

Haven't (and probably won't) do any of the AMP work. I am doing the lectures, CMR reading, and lecture note review assignments though. And once we have practice problems, I'll be doing those as well. Also didn't do the pre-course MBE.

[MoneyMay]

Haven't (and probably won't) do any of the AMP work. I am doing the lectures, CMR reading, and lecture note review assignments though. And once we have practice problems, I'll be doing those as well. Also didn't do the pre-course MBE.

I think this will be my approach as well, and maybe I will use AMP as a review for topics I need more practice in later down the road. Without the AMPs, the workload is somewhat manageable if I just treat it like a workday (9:00-4:00 or w/e) and for the first month at least it seems like I will have my nights/ weekends free.

[letsdoit]

Haven't (and probably won't) do any of the AMP work. I am doing the lectures, CMR reading, and lecture note review assignments though. And once we have practice problems, I'll be doing those as well. Also didn't do the pre-course MBE.

I think this will be my approach as well, and maybe I will use AMP as a review for topics I need more practice in later down the road. Without the AMPs, the workload is somewhat manageable if I just treat it like a workday (9:00-4:00 or w/e) and for the first month at least it seems like I will have my nights/ weekends free.

My thoughts exactly. Are you going to a "live" class or working from home?

[MoneyMay]

Haven't (and probably won't) do any of the AMP work. I am doing the lectures, CMR reading, and lecture note review assignments though. And once we have practice problems, I'll be doing those as well. Also didn't do the pre-course MBE.

I think this will be my approach as well, and maybe I will use AMP as a review for topics I need more practice in later down the road. Without the AMPs, the workload is somewhat manageable if I just treat it like a workday (9:00-4:00 or w/e) and for the first month at least it seems like I will have my nights/ weekends free.

My thoughts exactly. Are you going to a "live" class or working from home?

Home. I like being able to pause the videos, rewind etc. You?

[letsdoit]

Haven't (and probably won't) do any of the AMP work. I am doing the lectures, CMR reading, and lecture note review assignments though. And once we have practice problems, I'll be doing those as well. Also didn't do the pre-course MBE.

I think this will be my approach as well, and maybe I will use AMP as a review for topics I need more practice in later down the road. Without the AMPs, the workload is somewhat manageable if I just treat it like a workday (9:00-4:00 or w/e) and for the first month at least it seems like I will have my nights/ weekends free.

My thoughts exactly. Are you going to a "live" class or working from home?

Home. I like being able to pause the videos, rewind etc. You?

Same. Spent half the day getting distracted though...hopefully that'll change as the course goes on and I get more used to being in study mode.

[MoneyMay]

Same. Spent half the day getting distracted though...hopefully that'll change as the course goes on and I get more used to being in study mode.

lol same. I think all we had to do was watch that introductory video and read the Ks outline (which I only read a third of since the lecture is split into 3 days). I feel like I should be doing something but I don't know what at this point.

[hous]

Today is the start date for Themis.

[Hannibal]

Checking in.

I'll be doing all the amp stuff, but avoiding the outlines mostly until the end.

David Epstein really wants to bang Sharon Stone.

[Shawshank33]

Does anyone taking Themis know if the grading scale for the Torts essay is the same as the scale used for the Florida Bar Exam? I see the average score was 24...

[MoneyMay]

I know it's early still, but any predictions for the FL portion? I am praying we don't get one of the new subjects that hasn't been tested yet....

[Dripworx]

I know it's early still, but any predictions for the FL portion? I am praying we don't get one of the new subjects that hasn't been tested yet....

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