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Just curious how you guys/girls go about outlining the MPT?

Do you note the rule you want to use in the case and then just refer to the case for the rule, or do you actually put an abbreviated version of the rule in your outline? Do you take notes of facts in your outlines?

I don't know how close the MPT is to the CPT (calif) version, but this is what I did last time:

0. Look at call of question
1. Read through materials in order (I believe it went: extrinsic evidence (such as a "newspaper" article) --> codes/law --> cases)
2. Highlight/underline any relevant info in the text
3. In examsoft, notate what I saw/page number/relevancy for each item marked in 2
4. At the end of the final document, I went and thought of the answer I wanted to reach for the call of the question
5. This was a bad idea: make a mental outline of how I wanted to get there (instead of writing it down in an outline form)
6. Write
7. Constantly flip through the documents provided to find the exact quote or fact--took a lot of time flipping through pages, rereading passages, and then figuring out why I had marked it in the first place

Got 60s on both with maybe 4 hours preparation on the CPT


This time around, I'll study the CPT for a whole day. I need to figure out a system that will prevent me from having to go through #7 as much as I did.

Perhaps actually typing/lifting the actual highlighted portion into exam soft so when I need it, I know EXACTLY where to look, and I can copy/paste without needing to refer back. More time invested up front for ease of writing/organization during the last hour or so.

redblueyellow - i have been struggling with the MPTs myself and I have the exact opposite problem so I would advise you don't follow my lead! my strat in the past had been to type out any potentially very relevant statements so i could c/p them into the essay, but i did this for like 3 practice MPTs, and every time i spent way too much time typing out useless stuff and didn't have enough time to incorporate the facts into my argument meaningfully. i think this was especially bad because from the choice of the two evils, i'd rather restate the law they've given us in my own words and meaningfully engage with the facts than cite my sources and my quotations really well from materials they provide and fail to make a meaningful argument. if you can do both of those things given the time constraints, then great for you, but i kept finding that 45 min had passed and i was JUST getting done reading all legal materials and still had to read the facts, make an argument, and write the argument. the fact that i already had my law statements typed out just wasn't enough.

i think the biggest takeaway from the MPT is that it really underscores just how pointless and stupid the whole bar exam process is. I mean, it was pretty obvious when they asked me to memorize the entire body of US and state law for no apparent reason. But everything solidified when I spent my first few hours practicing the task of skimming documents without analyzing in depth and slapping together shoddy legal arguments as quickly as possible, paying attention only to incorporating and regurgitating as much text as possible. Because THAT will be helpful when we're lawyers...

fslexcduck wrote:redblueyellow - i have been struggling with the MPTs myself and I have the exact opposite problem so I would advise you don't follow my lead! my strat in the past had been to type out any potentially very relevant statements so i could c/p them into the essay, but i did this for like 3 practice MPTs, and every time i spent way too much time typing out useless stuff and didn't have enough time to incorporate the facts into my argument meaningfully. i think this was especially bad because from the choice of the two evils, i'd rather restate the law they've given us in my own words and meaningfully engage with the facts than cite my sources and my quotations really well from materials they provide and fail to make a meaningful argument. if you can do both of those things given the time constraints, then great for you, but i kept finding that 45 min had passed and i was JUST getting done reading all legal materials and still had to read the facts, make an argument, and write the argument. the fact that i already had my law statements typed out just wasn't enough.

i think the biggest takeaway from the MPT is that it really underscores just how pointless and stupid the whole bar exam process is. I mean, it was pretty obvious when they asked me to memorize the entire body of US and state law for no apparent reason. But everything solidified when I spent my first few hours practicing the task of skimming documents without analyzing in depth and slapping together shoddy legal arguments as quickly as possible, paying attention only to incorporating and regurgitating as much text as possible. Because THAT will be helpful when we're lawyers...

Ah, I was hoping my alternate way of doing this would be a good idea, but not so much after reading your experience

Your outline depends on number of legal questions. If legal question is one, then outline based on statutes or case law.