1 week out - what are you doing for final prep? Forum

[Danger Zone]

Why were you posting at 5am. Take a pill. You're way above passing with that score

[trustmouse83]

I'm in the UK! It's almost 2pm right now.
I'm on a 9-5 schedule.

And like others have said, I doubt the veracity of the score because I have seen these questions before, and they don't include Civ Pro!

[murray18]

I'm running through the CMR for all of the state subjects, and filling the rest of my day with memorization, the odd MBE set, and issued spotting essays. I feel like I understand everything, but I can only remember the rule for a few things cold.

I moved to my new city about a week ago, so I'm taking pretty frequent "breaks" to rearrange my stuff with the tv on.

[starryski]

memorizing as many of the mnemonics as i can. i found that they are really all i need on NY essays.

[phillyboy101]

6 days to learn all the non-mbe subjects smh

[kraeton]

Still going through Property... still clueless about a good 1/3 of it. Seriously don't understand the nuances of Future Interest..ugh.. didn't learn any of this shit during Property class. Probably had the only T-20 Prof to be fired immediately after my class (not kidding). I've all but given up on RAP. Hell, Kaplan audio lecturer essentially says in the beginning, 'No one understands this shit anyway, just fuck it, you'll get 1 question on this maybe. Just take a stab and move on. Not a big deal.'

I'm doing ok on the other subject MBE's.. around the 70-72% mark at least in Adapti-Bar even taking into account their ridiculous Civ Pro questions.

My jurisdiction is 50% MBE/ 50% ESSAYS= 33.3% (6 MEE)/11.1% (1 MPT), 5.4% (LOCAL QUESTION) or some crap like that.

Something like: [6X (MEE) + 2X (MPT) + 1X (LOCAL QUESTION)]/9

Essentially, I'm trying to pull off the Desert Fox AUTO-PASS strategy of doing well on the MBE to essentially make the other 50% a moot point.

I'm guessing that at most I'll be getting 3 MEE essays considering that once taking into account for the inclusion of Civ. Pro in the MBE, MBE subjects represent minimum 50%+ of the MEE subjects anyway.

I'm absolutely clueless as to Secured Transactions and Conflicts in Law, so what's the strategy? Fuck it, just read over the outlines as many times as feasible and start phoning it in.

Practice some an MPT or 2, and that's it. What more can I do... other than prepare a suicide note?

Gonna spend the remaining 6.5 days just doing MBE stuff ad nauseum.

[summeisruined]

Hi...

I feel depressed..I scored 62% on the adaptibar 2011 set... is it that bad?

[Elston Gunn]

6 days to learn all the non-mbe subjects smh

pretty much

Trying to actually memorize some rule statements too.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

I am working on three subjects a day' and:
1. going over my notes, and highlighting rules I don't know
2. completing essays I haven't done, and going over past essay answers to make sure i know the rules
3. Making a master sheet with key terms from each subject. I will have 2 8.5x11" sheets like this when I walk to the test on Tuesday. The reason is that there are certain important terms (Ex. NY's Slayer Defense) that I want to have in mind when I write the essays.

Monday I am going to be reviewing the highlighted rules, and the master sheet with terms, then have a couple beers and relax in the evening.

[Learned Throw Hands]

I'm so paralyzed with fear I don't think I can study anymore this week. Anyone else feeling this way?

[mr.hands]

I'm so paralyzed with fear I don't think I can study anymore this week. Anyone else feeling this way?

Yeah im terrified but I'm also so tired of doing this. I can stand looking at my outlines any longer.

Just let me take the test and move on with life. I'm not going to dramatically improve in the next 3-4 days. At this point whatever happens happens.

[freestallion]

I'm so paralyzed with fear I don't think I can study anymore this week. Anyone else feeling this way?

I feel the same way. Sometimes I feel confident momentarily and then I get crushed by an essay for which I forgot all the rules / didn't know them and then feel paralyzed. And at the same time, it's so hard to keep focus and study any longer. But we can do it! I hope..

[diowad]

At this point, I'm not writing out the essays or MPT's. Just glossing through and seeing if I can spot the issue. Doing between 50 and 80 MC's a day and calling it.

After 10 weeks, I really have nothing left. If I don't know it by now, then I don't know it. I haven't shown any substantial improvement in probably 3 weeks. Just let me take the thing.

I actually study for probably only 5 hours a day. At this point, I'm fighting boredom more than anything.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

For people in NY, this is extremely helpful:
http://www.smartbarprep.com/SmartBarPre ... alysis.pdf

[orangecup]

For people in NY, this is extremely helpful:
http://www.smartbarprep.com/SmartBarPre ... alysis.pdf

Yep, I've been using that as well. It's amazing the large bar prep companies don't offer something similar.

Kaplan's "test analysis", for example, straight up gives incorrect information.

[kykiske]

This may sound counter-intuitive, but I've actually been studying less.

I front-loaded most of my studying. Studied every day for 4-6 hours from end of May to mid-July. Missed a lot of birthday parties/invitations to go out drinking. A girl who I'm pretty sure is interested has asked me out 3 times in the past month, and I've said no to all of them. Though, I am grabbing dinner with her the weekend after the bar--I took the initiative this time.

Not going to lie, I've hit burnt-out moments, as we all do. So, because we're only a week out now, I'm focusing on my maintaining a healthy mentality and a proper sleep cycle. I know, at least for me, if I were to go into this test mentally exhausted from not sleeping enough, I'd really struggle.

So, aside from doing 50 MBEs and writing out 3-4 MEEs each day--which takes 3-4 hours--I'm just going over the administrative things--i.e. what to bring on exam day, what's banned, directions to the testing location, parking, etc.

I've also purposefully ignored the mounting FB statuses on how stressed out my classmates are. I swear there are certain people who can only talk about bar prep on FB.

[kraeton]

I'm so paralyzed with fear I don't think I can study anymore this week. Anyone else feeling this way?

You're lucky. I experience 2-3 hours of fear paralysis, but the even greater fear of failure compounded by my lack of preparation pushes me to experience moments of pure focus mixed with adrenalin.

[kraeton]

For people in NY, this is extremely helpful:
http://www.smartbarprep.com/SmartBarPre ... alysis.pdf

Yep, I've been using that as well. It's amazing the large bar prep companies don't offer something similar.

Kaplan's "test analysis", for example, straight up gives incorrect information.

Honestly, the bar prep companies are, for the most part, all lackluster imho. Maybe it's just cause i'm dumb, but their organization and lectures do nothing to illuminate the issues with commonsense principles and words. Like you said, many are sometimes just plain wrong, or so badly explained they might as well be wrong. Someone else posted this on the Critical Pass Flashcards thread, but despite them being so highly lauded, I can recall around 4x where they were just plainly wrong, not simply incomplete but wrong. Themis Evidence Outline spending 20+ pages on Character Evidence mounting exception after exception after exception in the most disorganized fashion humanly possible. I spent 10+ hours going through Themis, then Kaplan audio lectures, then some online resources to see what's really going on. I now have a 1 page Microsoft Word Chart (not quite a Flow Chart) that will get you the right answer so far, all the time.

Once again, maybe i'm just dumb, but I swear I could probably come up with a better bar exam course after this experience if you give me 2-3 months locked in a room. Don't tell me we're paying for quality with Themis/Barbri. Jesus, stop with the typos at least you numbskulls. And yeah.. i'm also talking to you Adapti-Bar Civ Pro questions, you know how distracting it is when seemingly one out of every 15 questions has a typo on it?

Honestly, for Civ. Pro, it was a much better idea to just read Freer's Civ Pro book (he has a shorter "Shortcut to Civ. Pro" book on Amazon, that's around 150+ pages compared to his 1,000 page book). Still far clearer than bar exam lectures/outlines i've read. Just read that book around twice, and I score 60%+ on even the bullshit Adaptibar Civ Pro questions, which I thought blew but uh.. yeah, people are getting posterized by these questions apparently. You guys using Adaptibar ever come across that one Civ. Pro question where the national accuracy was like 8%? lololol...

[InTheWideLand I Walk]

I'm so paralyzed with fear I don't think I can study anymore this week. Anyone else feeling this way?

lol.....not me.

[Tripl3Espresso]

Writing out my attack outlines and issue spotting exams I have not already looked at. I'm sure most of us have had that "aHa" moment and it's clicked, so we can't learn much more with less than a week left.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

I'm so paralyzed with fear I don't think I can study anymore this week. Anyone else feeling this way?

lol.....not me.

I'm the opposite, I'm trying to get motivated.
Keep in mind that in every state there are many people who don't study for the bar or have major impediments to success (ex. not completely fluent in English).

[orangecup]

For people in NY, this is extremely helpful:
http://www.smartbarprep.com/SmartBarPre ... alysis.pdf

Yep, I've been using that as well. It's amazing the large bar prep companies don't offer something similar.

Kaplan's "test analysis", for example, straight up gives incorrect information.

Honestly, the bar prep companies are, for the most part, all lackluster imho. Maybe it's just cause i'm dumb, but their organization and lectures do nothing to illuminate the issues with commonsense principles and words. Like you said, many are sometimes just plain wrong, or so badly explained they might as well be wrong. Someone else posted this on the Critical Pass Flashcards thread, but despite them being so highly lauded, I can recall around 4x where they were just plainly wrong, not simply incomplete but wrong. Themis Evidence Outline spending 20+ pages on Character Evidence mounting exception after exception after exception in the most disorganized fashion humanly possible. I spent 10+ hours going through Themis, then Kaplan audio lectures, then some online resources to see what's really going on. I now have a 1 page Microsoft Word Chart (not quite a Flow Chart) that will get you the right answer so far, all the time.

Once again, maybe i'm just dumb, but I swear I could probably come up with a better bar exam course after this experience if you give me 2-3 months locked in a room. Don't tell me we're paying for quality with Themis/Barbri. Jesus, stop with the typos at least you numbskulls. And yeah.. i'm also talking to you Adapti-Bar Civ Pro questions, you know how distracting it is when seemingly one out of every 15 questions has a typo on it?

Honestly, for Civ. Pro, it was a much better idea to just read Freer's Civ Pro book (he has a shorter "Shortcut to Civ. Pro" book on Amazon, that's around 150+ pages compared to his 1,000 page book). Still far clearer than bar exam lectures/outlines i've read. Just read that book around twice, and I score 60%+ on even the bullshit Adaptibar Civ Pro questions, which I thought blew but uh.. yeah, people are getting posterized by these questions apparently. You guys using Adaptibar ever come across that one Civ. Pro question where the national accuracy was like 8%? lololol...

I couldn't agree more. It's really pathetic the quality of product they have for how much they receive from each student in tuition.

By the way, instead of getting frustrated with RAP (it's really confusing...), I think it might be more helpful to just memorize / recognize some major warning signs.

(a) condition isn't personal to someone (e.g., O to A for life, then to B, but If the land is ever used for a tavern, then to C);
(b) there's an identified time period of more than 21 years;
(c) an interest Is given to a generation after the next generation (e.g., grandchildren);
(d) a conveyance requires that a holder survive someone who is merely described rather than named (e.g., O to A for life, then to A's widow for life, then to A's children then living);
(e) an identified event that would normally happen within 21 years, but might not

[freestallion]

For people in NY, this is extremely helpful:
http://www.smartbarprep.com/SmartBarPre ... alysis.pdf

Yep, I've been using that as well. It's amazing the large bar prep companies don't offer something similar.

Kaplan's "test analysis", for example, straight up gives incorrect information.

Yeah, this is SO helpful. Making sure we know those top 25 rules is going to be key. Honestly, there's only so much we can know - the bar exam courses should be more helpful in telling us what is MOST COMMON and likely to pop up and help us prioritize this info. Annoying that they don't even do that. It would be a more effective way of studying, esp for essays.

[old_soul]

I now have a 1 page Microsoft Word Chart (not quite a Flow Chart) that will get you the right answer so far, all the time.

Cough, could be so kind as to upload that 1 page Microsoft Word chart for us? I'm sure many will benefit. Thanks.

[fadedsunrise]

For people in NY, this is extremely helpful:
http://www.smartbarprep.com/SmartBarPre ... alysis.pdf

Yep, I've been using that as well. It's amazing the large bar prep companies don't offer something similar.

Kaplan's "test analysis", for example, straight up gives incorrect information.

Honestly, the bar prep companies are, for the most part, all lackluster imho. Maybe it's just cause i'm dumb, but their organization and lectures do nothing to illuminate the issues with commonsense principles and words. Like you said, many are sometimes just plain wrong, or so badly explained they might as well be wrong. Someone else posted this on the Critical Pass Flashcards thread, but despite them being so highly lauded, I can recall around 4x where they were just plainly wrong, not simply incomplete but wrong. Themis Evidence Outline spending 20+ pages on Character Evidence mounting exception after exception after exception in the most disorganized fashion humanly possible. I spent 10+ hours going through Themis, then Kaplan audio lectures, then some online resources to see what's really going on. I now have a 1 page Microsoft Word Chart (not quite a Flow Chart) that will get you the right answer so far, all the time.

Once again, maybe i'm just dumb, but I swear I could probably come up with a better bar exam course after this experience if you give me 2-3 months locked in a room. Don't tell me we're paying for quality with Themis/Barbri. Jesus, stop with the typos at least you numbskulls. And yeah.. i'm also talking to you Adapti-Bar Civ Pro questions, you know how distracting it is when seemingly one out of every 15 questions has a typo on it?

Honestly, for Civ. Pro, it was a much better idea to just read Freer's Civ Pro book (he has a shorter "Shortcut to Civ. Pro" book on Amazon, that's around 150+ pages compared to his 1,000 page book). Still far clearer than bar exam lectures/outlines i've read. Just read that book around twice, and I score 60%+ on even the bullshit Adaptibar Civ Pro questions, which I thought blew but uh.. yeah, people are getting posterized by these questions apparently. You guys using Adaptibar ever come across that one Civ. Pro question where the national accuracy was like 8%? lololol...

God I thought I was crazy about Critical Pass being just ok to frustrating. I spent the longest time trying to figure out when it conflicted with Kaplan whether Kaplan was wrong or whether Critical Pass was, or whether I was going crazy and they didn't actually conflict.