Bar prep Forum

[robin600]

I feel like a total fucking idiot. I am doing Kaplan's online bar course and I keep getting btw 60-40% of the MBE questions right, granted I've only done two questions. I feel like I understand the material but the questions are weird. Anyone else having issues with this? I'm starting to freak out a bit

[Mr. Pink]

I am taking Kaplan's as well (for California). I was having the same issues- rocking the books and other sources of MBEs, but bombing the Kaplan checkpoint quizzes... turns out that Kaplan typically takes the harder questions (ones with the lowest percentage of correct responses) from the past exams.

So far I am liking the Kaplan course, especially the amount of feedback on essays and PTs.

[robin600]

I am taking Kaplan's as well (for California). I was having the same issues- rocking the books and other sources of MBEs, but bombing the Kaplan checkpoint quizzes... turns out that Kaplan typically takes the harder questions (ones with the lowest percentage of correct responses) from the past exams.

So far I am liking the Kaplan course, especially the amount of feedback on essays and PTs.

I'm bombing the MBE questions in the book so I'm still confused on how to improve.

[Mr. Pink]

I am taking Kaplan's as well (for California). I was having the same issues- rocking the books and other sources of MBEs, but bombing the Kaplan checkpoint quizzes... turns out that Kaplan typically takes the harder questions (ones with the lowest percentage of correct responses) from the past exams.

So far I am liking the Kaplan course, especially the amount of feedback on essays and PTs.

I'm bombing the MBE questions in the book so I'm still confused on how to improve.

Practice and more practice. Are you reading the explanations? That helps me a lot and I tend to not miss any questions once I have read the explanations. The fact patterns start to stick too, so you start to learn what answer to look for.

Do you have any particular approach you are using? It's typically pretty easy to eliminate two answers, then you just have to decide between the remaining answers. Look for ones with more clear/expanded rule statements.

For example in Torts- if the question deals with an intentional tort, immediately scratch off any answer that speak to "reasonableness" or "should have known" (there is usually always one) because you know those are about negligence. There is usually another choice with a wrong rule statement or application which you can easily knock out too.

[duskfall]

I feel like a total fucking idiot. I am doing Kaplan's online bar course and I keep getting btw 60-40% of the MBE questions right, granted I've only done two questions. I feel like I understand the material but the questions are weird. Anyone else having issues with this? I'm starting to freak out a bit

review in detail the questions you got wrong. Determine why you got it wrong (i.e., did you misread something, didn't understand a rule, ect). If it is a rule that you were unsure of, write it down on a list. Review that list daily. I found it helpful to break down the anatomy of these questions. After a while, everything looked the same.

I separated this list into the substantive areas. (i.e., Con Law, Contracts, ect.). I reviewed my notes for wrong answers daily.

The purpose of keeping this running list is to prevent the same question from fooling you a second time.