Florida Bar Exam - Official Thread Forum

[PT20003]

Licensed in another state and it was my first time taking the FL bar. I passed the mbe portion and failed Fl.

Can anyone that has been through this let me know what to expect in regards to next steps?

I know I have to wait for the letter from the bar, but in terms of the application....do I need to do all that shit all over again? Because I might vomit. Or is it a condensed version? And then on Top of that I have to pay the full price again?

I’m just sick right now.

TIA

Welcome to my life, I failed Part A (only took Part A). I'm so disappointed in myself right now. I'm licensed in another state and transferred by MBE to Fl. I wasn't expecting this to be a problem (went to a great school/grades, practice in state law issues frequently, and did very well on my UBE). Seriously, though, bad luck for me. I didn't study wills/trust or business entities more than reading the outline once two months before the exam. I feel like such an idiot for not taking Part A more seriously. I don't think I'm going to take it again.

[Azwildcat]

I’ll tell you this sucked. I’m a solo practitioner from Texas. I failed the Texas bar twice. Was lucky on my 3rd time there. This was my first time taking Florida and somehow passed. I didn’t have as much time to study since I was dealing with clients in the day and would start hitting the books around 5-6pm until 2am or so. My practice got horribly behind and I stopped working out. I got fat and out of shape. I used the same techniques to pass that I did on my 3rd time doing Texas. I read the lecture handouts then retyped them out. Then I read those condensed versions about 3-4 times. I did about 800 practice MBE questions. I read quite a few Barbri Florida essay answers and took about 200 practice FL MC questions. I felt ok on the essays. I felt like I got all the FL MC wrong. And I felt like crap on the MBE as usual. I passed both sections though. So, these bar exams are just memorizing crap and regurgitating it. MBE is mostly practice and knowing the law pretty well too. I used that Emanuel MBE Strategies and Methods book. That helped quite a bit. I bought all my materials from eBay. All Barbri stuff. Good luck to those who didn’t do it this time and don’t give up. And congrats to those who passed. Now you can relax for a few days or so.

[Jmart082]

Licensed in another state and it was my first time taking the FL bar. I passed the mbe portion and failed Fl.

Can anyone that has been through this let me know what to expect in regards to next steps?

I know I have to wait for the letter from the bar, but in terms of the application....do I need to do all that shit all over again? Because I might vomit. Or is it a condensed version? And then on Top of that I have to pay the full price again?

I’m just sick right now.

TIA

Welcome to my life, I failed Part A (only took Part A). I'm so disappointed in myself right now. I'm licensed in another state and transferred by MBE to Fl. I wasn't expecting this to be a problem (went to a great school/grades, practice in state law issues frequently, and did very well on my UBE). Seriously, though, bad luck for me. I didn't study wills/trust or business entities more than reading the outline once two months before the exam. I feel like such an idiot for not taking Part A more seriously. I don't think I'm going to take it again.

T-14 grad here. Anyone can fail regardless of how well you’ve done leading up to this. If the out-of-state numbers are as bad as they look, then it doesn’t defy logic that I’m not the only T-14 grad that bombed the thing. I do get your sense of disappointment and overall embarrassment, believe me, but try and regroup and see if tomorrow or some other day thereafter you have the wherewithal to give it another shot. I’m just taking the day to process, tbh.

[johngotti]

Failed

Shouldn’t be surprised but thought the essays might save me. Fuck my life

I feel your pain, man. I cannot point to a single thing that I would have changed in my preparation. I worked hard, and if I tried any harder, I’d have probably pushed myself past the brink. The essays felt like a points grab, but other than that, the whole thing was thoroughly painful and sort of a forgone conclusion for me. Judging from the numbers on that sheet, a lot of people are not having a good day.

57% of first time takers means definitely under 50% including retakers and I'd guess it's a lot lower than that (low 40s?). Not getting Critical Pass flashcards feels like my biggest mistake. I thought I was doing okay on Barbri questions (between 60-70% on pretty much all question sets towards the end) but not good enough.

Yeah, there is definitely a disparity between what I’m seeing on the school comparison sheet and the ocean of “no’s” that line the actual results sheet from top to bottom. If I don’t quit law altogether, I need to rethink my prep course situation, because I’m not sure that BarBri’s method of doing as much work as humanly possible suits me at all. I needed to be finding ways to work smarter. I’d have never completed the course, even if I pushed myself to do so, and my preparation for the state portion definitely suffered because of how things were structured.

Well it's impossible to tell because I saw a lot of "no's" even with passes which means character and fitness stuff. I guess the non-FL school firs time takers is always low in February but 33% is nuts. I'm not sure if I'm gonna do it again n July and I have no idea what prep I'd do other than Critical Pass a billion times.

Ugh, Florida... Their stats are a joke. To re-take is the question of me. I transferred my MBE score to FL and failed part a. I felt decent/good about the essays, but the multiple choices were a joke! I didn't study business entities or wills/trusts at all for the bar (at most I skimmed the Barbri CMR on the subject). Focused on other subjects, such as FL con law and tort distinctions. Needless to say, I didn't study and failed! First test I've ever failed. Passed my first bar last year (UBE) with flying colors. Grew up and family in FL, but no other connections. I'll never move back to that place or practice there. Worth it to re-take just because FL pissed me off with this stupid part a test?

Evidence will be one of the multiple choice topics in July along with FL Crim/Civ Pro. If you absolutely kill it on those multiple choice topics you'll probably be fine regardless of how bad everyone gets fucked in either BE/Wills.

From skimming other stuff I'm tired of reading how people "made up the law" and apparently got the 40+ needed on essays.

[Flalwyer]

I am a t14 graduate who failed my first time (0.5 in one section and 1 point in the other) but passed the second time. Thankfully it was the last administration before they added secured transactions, commercial paper, and dependency.

A friend is a t6 graduate who passed MBE and failed Florida but averaged to a pass.

One of my classmates was at a top NYC firm and moved to Texas and had to retake the whole bar bc he hadn’t been sworn in while a fed clerk so he couldn’t waive in. He swears the MBE now is a lot harder than when we graduated.

The bar is a brutal hazing ritual that every lawyer should work to dismantle.

[kinseyjo]

Passed the MBE and am ecstatic. Not so worried about taking FL in July. If anyone has advice on passing solely Florida please send it my way!

[Dtor05]

I passed on the second try! I was so nervous because I only had to take the mbe (thankfully I avoided this horrible FL essays) and my July score was a 128. If I can do it, an academically middle of the pack person whose never been super amazing or bad at school, literally anyone can pass this exam. I 100% only used adaptibar this go around and studied form the questions.

[JakeTappers]

I passed on the second try! I was so nervous because I only had to take the mbe (thankfully I avoided this horrible FL essays) and my July score was a 128. If I can do it, an academically middle of the pack person whose never been super amazing or bad at school, literally anyone can pass this exam. I 100% only used adaptibar this go around and studied form the questions.

What was your MBE score v. Adaptibar percentage if you don’t mind?

[Common stock]

Anyone just take FL in the past? What did you use to study? And succeed.

[flbartaker]

I passed the MBE portion but failed the Florida portion.

I must of bombed FL pretty bad, because I felt like I crushed the MBE easily, but it seems the extra MBE points weren't enough for the Overall Pass.

I will be back in July to sit just for the FL portion and seal the deal. Happy that I at least finally slayed the MBE dragon.

[Jmart082]

A big congrats to those who at least got the MBE out of the way, as well. I actually felt less confident about that portion than the FL portion, given the fact that my LLM is specialized in BE/Corporate matters. Too much partnership material this time around for me to make any use of that knowledge. Overall, this whole experience felt like a missed opportunity. It'll be a minute before I'm able to regain momentum for the next attempt. I'm also upset at how much of this exam, at least in this jurisdiction, feels geared to getting as many people to retake as possible, and to be honest, it feels like the graduates of the local schools have a clear advantage. These things are all extraneous, and even considering them feels like externalizing my own fault in my poor performance, but I'll be damned if they don't get the mind racing and wondering whether I should even bother trying to practice in Florida.

[kinseyjo]

If anyone wants to buy critical pass or the MBE strategies and tactics off of me, message me and I'll give you a good price for both.

[Smiddywesson]

Failed

Shouldn’t be surprised but thought the essays might save me. Fuck my life

I feel your pain, man. I cannot point to a single thing that I would have changed in my preparation. I worked hard, and if I tried any harder, I’d have probably pushed myself past the brink. The essays felt like a points grab, but other than that, the whole thing was thoroughly painful and sort of a forgone conclusion for me. Judging from the numbers on that sheet, a lot of people are not having a good day.

57% of first time takers means definitely under 50% including retakers and I'd guess it's a lot lower than that (low 40s?). Not getting Critical Pass flashcards feels like my biggest mistake. I thought I was doing okay on Barbri questions (between 60-70% on pretty much all question sets towards the end) but not good enough.

Yeah, there is definitely a disparity between what I’m seeing on the school comparison sheet and the ocean of “no’s” that line the actual results sheet from top to bottom. If I don’t quit law altogether, I need to rethink my prep course situation, because I’m not sure that BarBri’s method of doing as much work as humanly possible suits me at all. I needed to be finding ways to work smarter. I’d have never completed the course, even if I pushed myself to do so, and my preparation for the state portion definitely suffered because of how things were structured.

Well it's impossible to tell because I saw a lot of "no's" even with passes which means character and fitness stuff. I guess the non-FL school firs time takers is always low in February but 33% is nuts. I'm not sure if I'm gonna do it again n July and I have no idea what prep I'd do other than Critical Pass a billion times.

Ugh, Florida... Their stats are a joke. To re-take is the question of me. I transferred my MBE score to FL and failed part a. I felt decent/good about the essays, but the multiple choices were a joke! I didn't study business entities or wills/trusts at all for the bar (at most I skimmed the Barbri CMR on the subject). Focused on other subjects, such as FL con law and tort distinctions. Needless to say, I didn't study and failed! First test I've ever failed. Passed my first bar last year (UBE) with flying colors. Grew up and family in FL, but no other connections. I'll never move back to that place or practice there. Worth it to re-take just because FL pissed me off with this stupid part a test?

Evidence will be one of the multiple choice topics in July along with FL Crim/Civ Pro. If you absolutely kill it on those multiple choice topics you'll probably be fine regardless of how bad everyone gets fucked in either BE/Wills.

From skimming other stuff I'm tired of reading how people "made up the law" and apparently got the 40+ needed on essays.

"...tired of reading how people "made up the law.""

I believe the essays are really a substitute for a job interview. The grader is determining whether they want to practice law with you or keep you out. I also believe that you are juggling four or five different skills in the essays, and the law is actually the least important one because they have the MBE to assess that skill. Therefore, if you forget the law, you can still get the same score if you just do a better job juggling with what's left. Forgot the law? Just weave ALL those facts into your response, using whatever law you can cobble together, do a better job articulating your conclusion, etc.

On the other hand, I regard the MPT as a big check list. You are not juggling skills, where misusing a form can be overcome by doing a better job with the facts. Use the wrong form, and those points are gone forever. The essays are like painting a beautiful landscape, it's all subjective. The MPT is the opposite, it's much more objective, the MPT is like painting a barn.

[kinseyjo]

Alright - this is mainly for folks who found out they passed the MBE yesterday but not the FL portion (I am one of those folk.)

I went through the whole pdf of results and calculated who only took FL and of those who did that actually passed.

This past February, 247 people sat for only part A. Of those 247, 161 passed. That's 65% of people, which are much higher odds than those who passed and sat for the whole thing. I'm now fully convinced I'll just sit for part A in July.

[johngotti]

A big congrats to those who at least got the MBE out of the way, as well. I actually felt less confident about that portion than the FL portion, given the fact that my LLM is specialized in BE/Corporate matters. Too much partnership material this time around for me to make any use of that knowledge. Overall, this whole experience felt like a missed opportunity. It'll be a minute before I'm able to regain momentum for the next attempt. I'm also upset at how much of this exam, at least in this jurisdiction, feels geared to getting as many people to retake as possible, and to be honest, it feels like the graduates of the local schools have a clear advantage. These things are all extraneous, and even considering them feels like externalizing my own fault in my poor performance, but I'll be damned if they don't get the mind racing and wondering whether I should even bother trying to practice in Florida.

I checked and the BE "study guide" on the FL bar's website is 33 pages long with about the half the topics on each page noted as "areas that will be emphasized". That seems like the section where they can throw the kitchen sink at you and weed out those who thought they could get by based on what they learned a year or two ago in law school. I'm kicking myself for not doing a better job on the MC based on what I presume was my weak spot.

[flbartaker]

So I took the liberty of ordering my MBE score through the NCBE before receiving the letter from the FL Bar and was pleased to see that I scored a 143! However, despite of those 7 extra points above the required 136, it was still not enough to get the overall pass, which seems extremely odd. I'm hoping there was some type of mathematical mistake in the calculation of the FL score, otherwise I must have really collapsed in the FL portion and those 7 extra MBE points were still not enough.

Ugh!

[JakeTappers]

So I took the liberty of ordering my MBE score through the NCBE before receiving the letter from the FL Bar and was pleased to see that I scored a 143! However, despite of those 7 extra points above the required 136, it was still not enough to get the overall pass, which seems extremely odd. I'm hoping there was some type of mathematical mistake in the calculation of the FL score, otherwise I must have really collapsed in the FL portion and those 7 extra MBE points were still not enough.

Ugh!

Partial congrats. That's a good score--hoping your hopes come true. How were you doing on mbe before hand (adaptibar or otherwise)?

[pika-pika]

So I took the liberty of ordering my MBE score through the NCBE before receiving the letter from the FL Bar and was pleased to see that I scored a 143! However, despite of those 7 extra points above the required 136, it was still not enough to get the overall pass, which seems extremely odd. I'm hoping there was some type of mathematical mistake in the calculation of the FL score, otherwise I must have really collapsed in the FL portion and those 7 extra MBE points were still not enough.

Ugh!

That's a good MBE result. What was your simulated score?

[mystikal]

I was one of the fortunate individuals who passed the Part A portion. I passed July 2018 Part B section, and opted to only focus all my attention to the Florida portion. With that said, I busted my *** and worked to get a passing score (dont know what the score is yet, should be in the mail). But It can be done. I was working FT, and had to deal with a family and two kids.

If you are taking the MBE- Critial Pass, Adapti bar, and Kaplan worked for me.

If you are taking the Florida portion-Read all of the Examiners "published" essays on the site. Then take multiple practice exams coupled with the Multiple choice practice questions from one of the prep companies. (I used Barbris book) Although the questions are NOT the same, or even remotely similar, practicing helps. Specifically for the "Big" subjects, know the FL distinctions...

If anyone needs any of the above, I will be posting them FS in the forum...

[not guilty]

I was one of the fortunate individuals who passed the Part A portion. I passed July 2018 Part B section, and opted to only focus all my attention to the Florida portion. With that said, I busted my *** and worked to get a passing score (dont know what the score is yet, should be in the mail). But It can be done. I was working FT, and had to deal with a family and two kids.

If you are taking the MBE- Critial Pass, Adapti bar, and Kaplan worked for me.

If you are taking the Florida portion-Read all of the Examiners "published" essays on the site. Then take multiple practice exams coupled with the Multiple choice practice questions from one of the prep companies. (I used Barbris book) Although the questions are NOT the same, or even remotely similar, practicing helps. Specifically for the "Big" subjects, know the FL distinctions...

If anyone needs any of the above, I will be posting them FS in the forum...

I think one of the issues with FL Part A is that the bar companies do not anticipate certain subtopics/issues at all or don't anticipate exactly how they will be touched on. For example, a dependency/family issue with primary focus on adoption. It is fair to blame the student for not being fully prepared, but many students are mislead via the "just know the basics it is just a minimum competency exam" mantra.

[flbartaker]

I was one of the fortunate individuals who passed the Part A portion. I passed July 2018 Part B section, and opted to only focus all my attention to the Florida portion. With that said, I busted my *** and worked to get a passing score (dont know what the score is yet, should be in the mail). But It can be done. I was working FT, and had to deal with a family and two kids.

If you are taking the MBE- Critial Pass, Adapti bar, and Kaplan worked for me.

If you are taking the Florida portion-Read all of the Examiners "published" essays on the site. Then take multiple practice exams coupled with the Multiple choice practice questions from one of the prep companies. (I used Barbris book) Although the questions are NOT the same, or even remotely similar, practicing helps. Specifically for the "Big" subjects, know the FL distinctions...

If anyone needs any of the above, I will be posting them FS in the forum...

Are you selling the FL Barbir MC questions book?! How can I contact you?

[JoeSeperac]

To any F19 FL failers, I can make a score calculator for your exam if you submit your scores here so I can figure out the scale:

https://seperac.com/scoreform-FL.php

I have done this for the past 2 FL exams. For example, the following calculator will accurately estimate a Part A score for July 2018 or February 2018 Florida bar exam administration based on the scores you enter. F19 Florida examinees can use the F18 calculator to test various scoring scenarios and estimate their F19 exam performance since the scales should be close:

https://mberules.com/florida-part-a-score-calculator/

As an added incentive to FL examinees to fill out the above score form, I will also tell you exactly how much the Florida essays are worth as compared to the Florida multiple choice (from what I have found, they are NOT worth the same, but I want to make sure it is consistent from exam to exam). Knowing this will allow you to better allocate your study-time based on how much each area is expected to contribute to your total score.

[johngotti]

I was one of the fortunate individuals who passed the Part A portion. I passed July 2018 Part B section, and opted to only focus all my attention to the Florida portion. With that said, I busted my *** and worked to get a passing score (dont know what the score is yet, should be in the mail). But It can be done. I was working FT, and had to deal with a family and two kids.

If you are taking the MBE- Critial Pass, Adapti bar, and Kaplan worked for me.

If you are taking the Florida portion-Read all of the Examiners "published" essays on the site. Then take multiple practice exams coupled with the Multiple choice practice questions from one of the prep companies. (I used Barbris book) Although the questions are NOT the same, or even remotely similar, practicing helps. Specifically for the "Big" subjects, know the FL distinctions...

If anyone needs any of the above, I will be posting them FS in the forum...

I think one of the issues with FL Part A is that the bar companies do not anticipate certain subtopics/issues at all or don't anticipate exactly how they will be touched on. For example, a dependency/family issue with primary focus on adoption. It is fair to blame the student for not being fully prepared, but many students are mislead via the "just know the basics it is just a minimum competency exam" mantra.

Did any bar prep companies take dependency seriously until after July 2017? I did okay on that question you referenced from July 2018 but it was the essay with the lowest mean, Barbri specifically said "if you get a family law question be happy because it's all factor based." With the increase in part A topics/nuances there's less time to focus on old reliable topics like FL Con Law.

[kinseyjo]

I need some help understanding my scores. My raw score for FL was 157 and scaled 131. How would the curve scale me back that much to failing? That makes no sense. Feeling pretty angry as it sure as hell looks like I passed before whatever scale magic they used.

[yennem]

I need some help understanding my scores. My raw score for FL was 157 and scaled 131. How would the curve scale me back that much to failing? That makes no sense. Feeling pretty angry as it sure as hell looks like I passed before whatever scale magic they used.

Ive been through this road many times... I think the secret to the FL portion is the balance of points between MC and Essays. Telling by your score you probably did well on essays but were about average to below average on your MC.