MD Bar Exam- July 2015- Thoughts

[NYKfanAIesq]

Has anyone else taken the Maryland Bar Exam in here?

[NYKfanAIesq]

So, there was no civil procedure essay this year... kinda crazy..

[FrattyBoh]

No crim law either.

[NYKfanAIesq]

They doubled down on evidence! Both times it was the last question of the session, unbelievable!

[Barrister2015]

Soo, I don't know. I think the local day was pretty easy overall - no secured transactions, no MD civil procedure. But in a way, it was almost a "non-state" day, since no questions (aside from professional responsibility) had anything to do with Maryland law or distinctions. And although the questions were easy, I really think my performance was limited by the anxiety. When I first got the questions, the whole mental impact of "I'm taking the bar now . . . don't mess this up . . . don't faint . . . wouldn't it be funny if you fainted?" hit me, and it took a while for me to even start the MPT. Disappointing.

I thought the first part of the MBE went great; the 3 hours flew by, no fatigue, and the questions were easier than BARBRI. That second half though...just disastrous. About 45 minutes in, the fatigue hit me, and I almost thought I couldn't finish the rest of the questions. In my head, I started justifying an early departure from the test by saying to myself that the second half of the MBE was probably only worth 22% and I could still pass even if I left (and some other foolishness).

I ended up staying and finishing the questions (just barely). But there were maybe 35 questions in a row right in the middle of the test that I had absolutely no clue on. It was rough.

[NYKfanAIesq]

Soo, I don't know. I think the local day was pretty easy overall - no secured transactions, no MD civil procedure. But in a way, it was almost a "non-state" day, since no questions (aside from professional responsibility) had anything to do with Maryland law or distinctions. And although the questions were easy, I really think my performance was limited by the anxiety. When I first got the questions, the whole mental impact of "I'm taking the bar now . . . don't mess this up . . . don't faint . . . wouldn't it be funny if you fainted?" hit me, and it took a while for me to even start the MPT. Disappointing.

I thought the first part of the MBE went great; the 3 hours flew by, no fatigue, and the questions were easier than BARBRI. That second half though...just disastrous. About 45 minutes in, the fatigue hit me, and I almost thought I couldn't finish the rest of the questions. In my head, I started justifying an early departure from the test by saying to myself that the second half of the MBE was probably only worth 22% and I could still pass even if I left (and some other foolishness).

I ended up staying and finishing the questions (just barely). But there were maybe 35 questions in a row right in the middle of the test that I had absolutely no clue on. It was rough.

Don't forget NO commercial paper!!

Don't beat yourself up over having bar exam anxiety because it affected everyone whether they will admit it or not. What did you think of the MPT? I think it was straightforward enough..

For some reason, I also felt the morning MBE session was easier than the afternoon session, BUT for both sessions some lady kept coughing uncontrollably and it threw me off a bit. She also started coughing uncontrollably during the afternoon of essay day as well

[Barrister2015]

Yes!! The coughing lady! Luckily, I wasn't in the "zone of danger" so I only heard a faint cough from where I was sitting. But a few of my friends were right next to her and described it as completely unbearable and very distracting.

I thought that was an extremely easy MPT! Very straightforward assignment, and the materials were easy to digest (no super long cases, and no ambiguous holdings). That being said, I think my performance was affected by the anxiety and stress. I think I wrote up a pretty decent memo, but I didn't cite cases by name (although, of course, I referred to them and compared the facts). I hope that isn't a big deal for the graders.

My other essays were OK, I hope. Unlike the BARBRI samples, the issues for the real thing seemed to be few and obvious on their face. I was second-guessing myself a lot about whether I missed some issues. Also, while I tried to maintain the structured RAC format, I ended up blurring the lines a lot, especially with the multi-part evidence questions (ex: I would just say this is a business record because (1) blank is a business, (2) keeps blank in the ordinary course, etc.

Also, I gotta say, the room was not ideal for taking a test. I wear glasses and found it extremely difficult to focus on the paper and my computer screen. The room was sooo large, and there was so much activity in my peripheral vision that made it hard to focus.

[nomolawskool2]

1. MPT - pretty straightforward. I didn't use case names / cites either bc it was supposed to be a client letter, but who knows...

2. Essays - super relieved. wish i hadnt spent xxx hours studying bad checks and repo sales. evidence questions at the end of each session were tough mainly because of fatigue

3. MBE
a. AM Session - felt terrible but upon further review there weren't too many of which I was unsure
b. PM session - fuck off...sooo many guesses

[NYKfanAIesq]

Sounds like you stayed on track despite the anxiety and distractions. With those multi-part evidence questions, I was pretty brief. I stated law and tried to analyze facts the best I could..

[NYKfanAIesq]

1. MPT - pretty straightforward. I didn't use case names / cites either bc it was supposed to be a client letter, but who knows...

2. Essays - super relieved. wish i hadnt spent xxx hours studying bad checks and repo sales. evidence questions at the end of each session were tough mainly because of fatigue

3. MBE
a. AM Session - felt terrible but upon further review there weren't too many of which I was unsure
b. PM session - fuck off...sooo many guesses

This almost completely represents how I felt about the whole ordeal!

[NYKfanAIesq]

I felt like on essay day I wasn't even thinking, I was just writing, and writing, and writing.. who knows if I got the right issues down on paper..

[Barrister2015]

1. MPT - pretty straightforward. I didn't use case names / cites either bc it was supposed to be a client letter, but who knows...

2. Essays - super relieved. wish i hadnt spent xxx hours studying bad checks and repo sales. evidence questions at the end of each session were tough mainly because of fatigue

3. MBE
a. AM Session - felt terrible but upon further review there weren't too many of which I was unsure
b. PM session - fuck off...sooo many guesses

This almost completely represents how I felt about the whole ordeal!

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. This is totally unsurprising, but for what it's worth, a ton of people were freaking out. After day 1, I was having dinner with a few friends and a bunch of us realized we screwed up that one, seemingly obvious family law question. One of my friends didn't even finish the MPT and completely blanked out about easements (for some reason, he just couldn't think up the word "easement""), and had a difficult time on the other essays.

After day 2, it was just complete chaos, which was relieving because it means everyone is in the same boat. Back at the hotel bar, a ton of people were freaking out about the afternoon MBE session. Although we're advised not to talk about the exam, not to talk to others, and just forget it---I couldn't do that. If it wasn't for sharing grievances with others, I don't think I would've been able to go home and face my family without looking like something went wrong.


Gahhhhhgg

[Barrister2015]

I felt like on essay day I wasn't even thinking, I was just writing, and writing, and writing.. who knows if I got the right issues down on paper..

I know what you mean. In law school, every time after I take an exam I'll look back at it and be like "wow, I can't believe I wrote of all that! I'm impressed with you, me." But with this, its a little unnerving that I don't even have a copy of what I submitted just for my own piece of mind. I'm really hoping that the whole "auto pilot" exam-writing process took place, because I don't think I was capable of consciously writing anything coherent.

[NYKfanAIesq]

Part of the reason I am worried about essay day is that I didn't proofread some of the essays for lack of time, so I'm afraid there are some typos in some of the essays I wrote. Good news is that I proofread my MPT answer..

[Barrister2015]

Part of the reason I am worried about essay day is that I didn't proofread some of the essays for lack of time, so I'm afraid there are some typos in some of the essays I wrote. Good news is that I proofread my MPT answer..

Typos?!? Oh man, I had SOOO many typos. Is that a big deal? I know that presentation is important, but I hadn't heard anything about getting docked for some spelling errors. I was also worried about fixing them since I thought I might accidentally delete my entire essay by doing so.

[NYKfanAIesq]

Whenever I copy and pasted, it would double paste for some reason on that crappy exam soft program..

[Barrister2015]

Whenever I copy and pasted, it would double paste for some reason on that crappy exam soft program..

Ahh, so frustrating. So anyway, what do you think the odds are of passing this thing? 70% passage rate...more likely than not to have made the cut, right?

[FrattyBoh]

Kind of bummed that they wasted an extract on that easy easement question. Also, I think that a lot of people messed up the family law question. There's a Md statute that's directly on point, and I don't think many people got that.

And yes. What was up with that afternoon MBE? The morning was incredibly easy, but the afternoon was ridiculous. There were even Wills questions!

[Backpacker]

Kind of bummed that they wasted an extract on that easy easement question. Also, I think that a lot of people messed up the family law question. There's a Md statute that's directly on point, and I don't think many people got that.

And yes. What was up with that afternoon MBE? The morning was incredibly easy, but the afternoon was ridiculous. There were even Wills questions!

What do you mean? There is actually SCOTUS law on point RE the grandparents

[FrattyBoh]

Kind of bummed that they wasted an extract on that easy easement question. Also, I think that a lot of people messed up the family law question. There's a Md statute that's directly on point, and I don't think many people got that.

And yes. What was up with that afternoon MBE? The morning was incredibly easy, but the afternoon was ridiculous. There were even Wills questions!

What do you mean? There is actually SCOTUS law on point RE the grandparents

Exactly. I think the bar examiners were looking for an analysis on how Troxel applies to the Md statute and its application to the facts of the case.

[NYKfanAIesq]

Kind of bummed that they wasted an extract on that easy easement question. Also, I think that a lot of people messed up the family law question. There's a Md statute that's directly on point, and I don't think many people got that.

And yes. What was up with that afternoon MBE? The morning was incredibly easy, but the afternoon was ridiculous. There were even Wills questions!

What do you mean? There is actually SCOTUS law on point RE the grandparents

Exactly. I think the bar examiners were looking for an analysis on how Troxel applies to the Md statute and its application to the facts of the case.

Wow, I didn't mention troxel but said it was unlikely that the g-parents get visitation

[NYKfanAIesq]

Kind of bummed that they wasted an extract on that easy easement question. Also, I think that a lot of people messed up the family law question. There's a Md statute that's directly on point, and I don't think many people got that.

And yes. What was up with that afternoon MBE? The morning was incredibly easy, but the afternoon was ridiculous. There were even Wills questions!

The afternoon session was

[NYKfanAIesq]

Whenever I copy and pasted, it would double paste for some reason on that crappy exam soft program..

Ahh, so frustrating. So anyway, what do you think the odds are of passing this thing? 70% passage rate...more likely than not to have made the cut, right?

7/10 will pass? Sounds like good odds to me

[Elston Gunn]

I basically just answered the family law question based off knowing grandparents weren't guaranteed anything + rational person analysis. Had no idea about the SCOTUS case.

[nomolawskool2]

For the family law essay, I understood analysis to be as follows: Bio parents have fundamental right to decide who can come into contact with child (Trox). If parent objects to third party visitation, then the TP must show (1) bio parent is unfit OR (2) exceptional circumstances. If TP can show either of these then do best interests of child analysis to determine whether granting visitation is warranted. In that question, no evidence that surviving parent was unfit or that exceptional circumstnaces exist to override his objection to continued contact with maternal grandparents.