Advice on obtaining higher MBE score Forum

[Dotson525]

I am preparing for the July Bar in Mass. Unfortunately this will be my third time. My weakness is within the MBE. On my first attempt I score 118 (scaled Mass does not provide raw score) on the MBE. For February's exam I focused most of my time on the MBE and scored a 130.5. Unfortunately, I spent very little time on the Mass essays. This time I am looking to score around 140 (would love to score 150 if possible). ON my first two attempts I used Barbri (offered a free course if failed). Now I am using Kaplan. Also during my second attempt I used Critical Pass flashcards, and past MBE questions. These last two times preparing have been difficult. Currently I work full time and have a part time job as well. Hopefully, I will not have to endure this again.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated!

[Dotson525]

Is a scaled score of 130.5 to 150 too unrealistic? From the July exam to February exam I was able raise my score from 118 to 130.5.

[PJP]

I hear your pain. I failed the bar once while I was working and then I moved to CA and passed the bar there. It was 4 years ago. Now I am moving back to the same state I failed to take the bar again next month to be closer to family. The first time I failed, I used Barbri and I didn't really get into the MBE studying as much as I did the second time in CA. I failed because of MBE. My essays were decent. For the CA bar, I used the PMBR red book and did the entire thing (around 1200 questions) plus 300 more questions on NCBE. My MBE score improved dramatically at that point. I was able to see the call of the question, whatever the little nuance that was the issue, and determine from what two likely correct choices what the better one was. Your speed will naturally improve too. Of course there are impossibly difficult ones but for at least 2/3, you'll get a pretty good idea. Doing a lot of questions really help. 1500 minimum I would say. The red book really helped me learn a lot of nuances. The type of nuances you need to know for MBE is rarely something you'd memorize for the essays so i have a separate outline just for all the MBE nuances. Good luck.

[TXlawyer17]

Critical Pass is good for memorizing the black letter law (basically Barbri's CMR in flashcard format), but if you can afford it, go with Adaptibar. If you are trying to save money, Barmax is comparable to Adaptibar, but it doesn't contain the same bells and whistles for tracking your progress and it requires an iOS device. Emanuel's Strategies and Tactics for the MBE is also a great book to get if you have the time to read through it and do the practice questions. Good luck.

[nvbar2015]

I failed my first time due to essay writing, i got 140. Second time I got a 144. Enough to pass both times if only I had done better on the essays the first time.

My advice is:

1. Quality over quantity. At first you want to go through all of your answers, even ones you got correct because you might have gotten them correct for the wrong reason. If you're doing hundreds of questions per day you don't have time to thoroughly go through your questions. Then as the bar exam gets closer go through wrong answers only. Also, after you go through and mark your questions don't put the correct answers by them. Elimate the wrong answer choice and try to figure out the right answer.

One thing I liked about Barbri was the studysmart online software. If I was consistently getting a certain type of question wrong (for me it was character evidence), I could select to do only that type of question. I'm not sure if there is another course that offers something similar. It was extremely helpful. Also, the studysmart software allowed me to see my percentile rank versus all of the other barbri takers who took questions on the software. My point is, going through thousands of questions is useless if you don't know why you got a question wrong.

2. Practice under timed conditions. Get a timer app on your phone and set it for 30 minutes. You should be able to complete 18 questions in 30 minutes. There is no excuse to have trouble with timing on the day of the bar exam on the mbe.

3. Keep using critical pass flashcards. I loved them even though most of them felt like outlines as opposed to traditional flashcards. Do one subject per day with flashcards as review.

[Dotson525]

Sorry for replying late. Thank you all for the advice. This weekend involved intense reviews of each subject. I found that reading my outlines aloud helped me locate my trouble spots easier. I repeat certain sections over and over again. I did this until I could state the rule without reading my outline. After the review I complete the questions within the Kaplan MBE Bank. For each incorrect answer, I wrote the explanation in a notebook. I also used the Critical Pass Flashcards on my weaker sections of each subject.

As I proceed through the Kaplan course, there certain things I found useful and other things which I don't like. For instance, I like the fact that Kaplan narrows down sections within a subject to display your strengths and weakness. I loved the foundation course! However, I do not like the fact that additional questions are only in online format (unlike Barbri, which are PDF- Mixed questions). Maybe I am wrong.

If anyone is aware how to access Kaplan additional questions on paper format (ex. pdf), please let me.