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I have gone through Kaplan's approach to the performance test and also sat through BarExam101's approach. I even followed the method through ipassedmybar.com... But I just suck at the PT. I get overwhelmed with the amount of information. I get confused with extracting the law from the cases. I have trouble managing time throughout Kaplan's 6 step method and BarExam101's organizational approach.

I received two 60's for the performance tests on the February 2015 bar exam. The Evidence/Con Law PT should have been one where I did well in, but I could not get the rules straight in time to write a passing essay.

Can you all share what approach you take to the performance test? Do you strictly follow Kaplan's approach? What types of things are easy for you when writing this part of the exam? What is the most difficult part for you?

Hi, I had a tutor and althought i didn't pass...i did get a 70 on one of my PTs. What i do is like they say outline for 90 minutes and write for 90. However, i take notes on three different sheets of paper (1) for library (2) for file (3) instructions in the memo. I start with the library first because that will tell you what law & facts you are going to need to pull from the file to analyze. You should cite each case at least once in your PT. Also, make sure that you are following the order in the cases. If there's a three prong test in one of the case law, you need to have that 3 prong test in your PT. Your PT analysis should follow the case or whatever it is their asking you. Not sure if this is clear but that's what I did for the Feb 15 exam and I got a 70 on the first PT and 60 on the second one. I was dead tired by the second one but I still followed the same instructions.

Thanks!

EZ as AsDf wrote:I have gone through Kaplan's approach to the performance test and also sat through BarExam101's approach. I even followed the method through ipassedmybar.com... But I just suck at the PT. I get overwhelmed with the amount of information. I get confused with extracting the law from the cases. I have trouble managing time throughout Kaplan's 6 step method and BarExam101's organizational approach.

I received two 60's for the performance tests on the February 2015 bar exam. The Evidence/Con Law PT should have been one where I did well in, but I could not get the rules straight in time to write a passing essay.

Can you all share what approach you take to the performance test? Do you strictly follow Kaplan's approach? What types of things are easy for you when writing this part of the exam? What is the most difficult part for you?

Make sure you are aware: 1. why the particular case is in the file and 2. how to work the case into your answer. A lot of people struggle with the PT (including me) because we have trouble with synthesizing rules from the cases. Once you know all the rules, and the relevance of the cases, the important facts in the file will also become obvious.

The other thing to make sure is to properly budget for all the different tasks you need to do. The most basic approach is 90 min read/outline and 90 min writing. But you can break it down more than that if it's not enough.

What is the time allocation that we should use for the CA Bar PT's. I know for the PT's we need 90mins to right but i forget how Kaplan distinguished the time allocations reading the file and the library. I know all totally 90mins as well but what did they say would be the best. Also for the Essays how much time should one use for the read read read, write and weave and analyze?