February 2016 California Bar Exam Forum

[BrokenMouse]

Barbri has decent black letter law teaching. But... and this is a big but... look for another MBE source. Barbri MBE materials are just trash. Straight garbage. I had 65-70 essays (not PT including) and below average for MBE. I didn't recognize anything from Barbri MBE on the real MBE. This is evidenced by the fact that on Ebay Barbri MBE books are dirt cheap while all other brands who use real or highly similar simulated material, are $200+. Market prices are a good indicator of what people actually buy and use. I'm also glad Barbri slashed their price by a $1000 because people are learning that Barbri is totally unnecessary to pass.

[storge]

If anyone is looking for a Critical Pass Flashcard discount, use link below to get $10 off. I searched everywhere for a coupon/discount code and couldn't find one anywhere so I figured I'd share.

I got this as a referral so you have to use the link to get the discount: http://criticalpass.refr.cc/NQBJZZ7
Wish I had access to someone else's referral link before I paid full price, but didn't have any luck finding any current ones . Sharing the love. Anyone interested, feel free to utilize.

[Neko1]

Hi there--I have a full set of critical pass flashcards, Strategies & Tactics 5th edition (unused), and Essay Writing for the California Bar Exam book (light highlighting) I am looking to get rid of if anyone is interested--pm me.

[cldiva1]

Hey guys. I am thinking about starting adaptibar for mbe help. Do you think it is too late to start?

[FinallyPassedTheBar]

Hey guys. I am thinking about starting adaptibar for mbe help. Do you think it is too late to start?

No it's not too late. Nationwide average of completed questions for this current bar study period to date is around 600...but if you average 50 questions per day starting today, you will have completed about 3000 questions by early February. PM me if you need a $50 off coupon for it.

[duskfall]

I also found out I failed the test by a single MBE question. My response has been like that of a woman on Maury who is being given the results of a lie detector test about her cheating husband. Just me shouting, "Are you SERIOUS?!?!" about a million times and storming around back and forth; perhaps a few chairs flipped over.

I watched an episode of Maury because of this post. It was hilarious

[rcharter1978]

I also found out I failed the test by a single MBE question. My response has been like that of a woman on Maury who is being given the results of a lie detector test about her cheating husband. Just me shouting, "Are you SERIOUS?!?!" about a million times and storming around back and forth; perhaps a few chairs flipped over.

I watched an episode of Maury because of this post. It was hilarious

Did he end up being the father?

[KatieSpades]

I also found out I failed the test by a single MBE question. My response has been like that of a woman on Maury who is being given the results of a lie detector test about her cheating husband. Just me shouting, "Are you SERIOUS?!?!" about a million times and storming around back and forth; perhaps a few chairs flipped over.

I watched an episode of Maury because of this post. It was hilarious

YouTube has THE BEST Maury compilations. I watch them when I need a self-esteem boost.

[MarcZero]

I also found out I failed the test by a single MBE question. My response has been like that of a woman on Maury who is being given the results of a lie detector test about her cheating husband. Just me shouting, "Are you SERIOUS?!?!" about a million times and storming around back and forth; perhaps a few chairs flipped over.

I watched an episode of Maury because of this post. It was hilarious

YouTube has THE BEST Maury compilations. I watch them when I need a self-esteem boost.

Maury is my best source of schadenfreude therapy. No matter how bad my day (or life) is going, at least I'm not as bad off as the people on that show.

[BrokenMouse]

Let's pass this shit people. Most of us were so close or at least in the ballpark of passing.

Forget what happened in the past. 1 point 100 points. Same fail. Learn from our mistakes and study smarter.

[rcharter1978]

I also found out I failed the test by a single MBE question. My response has been like that of a woman on Maury who is being given the results of a lie detector test about her cheating husband. Just me shouting, "Are you SERIOUS?!?!" about a million times and storming around back and forth; perhaps a few chairs flipped over.

I watched an episode of Maury because of this post. It was hilarious

YouTube has THE BEST Maury compilations. I watch them when I need a self-esteem boost.

Maury is my best source of schadenfreude therapy. No matter how bad my day (or life) is going, at least I'm not as bad off as the people on that show.

Yeah, but on Maury someone is always winning.

Either the guy who is NOT the father and runs around on stage whopping and celebrating

Or the girl who just proved the guy IS the father, and can spend the next five minutes saying "I TOLD you, I TOLD you"

Its such a high stakes game on Maury.....

[BrokenMouse]

Does anybody have Critical Pass flash cards or Kaplan PMBR (red book) to donate or sell cheap? Please pm me for lots of love.

[chinny123]

Best of luck to everyone taking the Feb bar! I thought I would share some unconventional advice on how I studied. I took July 2015 Cal after lateraling from NY, so I had only a month off to study.

I used Barbri this time because I was curious to see how it compared to Themis, which is what I used for New York a couple of years back. Conclusion? No real difference that I could discern. Lectures are pretty useless, and if you do watch them, always have it at 2x, otherwise it's just too much of a time suck.

I studied by myself for both NY and CA. Avoid study groups at all costs. Studying with other lawyers is the worst - everyone is neurotic and just ends up freaking the entire group out. On a related note, I made sure to avoid burnout. I would take naps after lunch and swim a few laps between MBE practice sets. This, combined with avoiding other people studying like the plague, made it a much more relaxing experience. Relaxed studying = more effective retention of info.

I wrote no practice essays. I found it to be a waste of time. Instead, I went through every single sample essay barbri provided, not just to see if I spotted all the issues, but also to see how they structured their essays. For each Cali topic, I would handwrite outlines of the topics, based on essay structures. Handwriting helps me memorize, and by the time the exam rolled around, I had outlines of all the topics memorized and ready to be filled in with issue fact patterns.

I did not even look at any MPTs. What's the point. ALL the information that you need to write the answer is given to you. The fact that the MPTs are weighted heavily just make it basically a gift. Each case or statute provided will be there for a reason.

MBEs - no trick. All you can do is practice these.

YMMV, but thought I'd share my experiences that worked for me twice and that differ a bit from the usual advice. Best of luck!

[duskfall]

I also found out I failed the test by a single MBE question. My response has been like that of a woman on Maury who is being given the results of a lie detector test about her cheating husband. Just me shouting, "Are you SERIOUS?!?!" about a million times and storming around back and forth; perhaps a few chairs flipped over.

I watched an episode of Maury because of this post. It was hilarious

YouTube has THE BEST Maury compilations. I watch them when I need a self-esteem boost.

Maury is my best source of schadenfreude therapy. No matter how bad my day (or life) is going, at least I'm not as bad off as the people on that show.

Yeah, but on Maury someone is always winning.

Either the guy who is NOT the father and runs around on stage whopping and celebrating

Or the girl who just proved the guy IS the father, and can spend the next five minutes saying "I TOLD you, I TOLD you"

Its such a high stakes game on Maury.....

The episode I watched had a two'fer: man was father and wife sucked other guys dick

[KatieSpades]

Maury is my best source of schadenfreude therapy. No matter how bad my day (or life) is going, at least I'm not as bad off as the people on that show.

Yeah, but on Maury someone is always winning.

Either the guy who is NOT the father and runs around on stage whopping and celebrating

Or the girl who just proved the guy IS the father, and can spend the next five minutes saying "I TOLD you, I TOLD you"

Its such a high stakes game on Maury.....

The episode I watched had a two'fer: man was father and wife sucked other guys dick

I recently watched an episode where a woman had paternity tests done for one kid on nine men. My mind was spinning. She didn't seem too embarrassed or stressed out about the situation so I was figured that the pregnancy was the result of a gangbang porn mishap, that she was a prostitute (none of the men really seemed to know her well), or that Maury paid her to say those things. Also, a lot of people go on Maury just for a free trip.

Happy Friday!

[rcharter1978]

Maury is my best source of schadenfreude therapy. No matter how bad my day (or life) is going, at least I'm not as bad off as the people on that show.

Yeah, but on Maury someone is always winning.

Either the guy who is NOT the father and runs around on stage whopping and celebrating

Or the girl who just proved the guy IS the father, and can spend the next five minutes saying "I TOLD you, I TOLD you"

Its such a high stakes game on Maury.....

The episode I watched had a two'fer: man was father and wife sucked other guys dick

I recently watched an episode where a woman had paternity tests done for one kid on nine men. My mind was spinning. She didn't seem too embarrassed or stressed out about the situation so I was figured that the pregnancy was the result of a gangbang porn mishap, that she was a prostitute (none of the men really seemed to know her well), or that Maury paid her to say those things. Also, a lot of people go on Maury just for a free trip.

Happy Friday!

I remember a special two-part Maury where the women had like 15 potential fathers. And no, none of these women are ever embarrassed. Neither are the men. It's like a world without shame on the Maury stage. I love it when these dudes bring their mothers with them to Maury and baby grandma declares that there is no way the baby could be her sons because they don't have the same number of neck folds or something ridiculous. Or because the baby is definitely too light skinned to be her grandbaby. Aww man, I'm going to at least waste an hour watching Maury today.

[KatieSpades]

I remember a special two-part Maury where the women had like 15 potential fathers. And no, none of these women are ever embarrassed. Neither are the men. It's like a world without shame on the Maury stage. I love it when these dudes bring their mothers with them to Maury and baby grandma declares that there is no way the baby could be her sons because they don't have the same number of neck folds or something ridiculous. Or because the baby is definitely too light skinned to be her grandbaby. Aww man, I'm going to at least waste an hour watching Maury today.

Please don't forget to watch the episode where two blonde, white parents have their very clearly half-black children tested. I think the episode is called "Your Baby Looks Like My Cousin Tu-Tu...I'm Not The Dad!"

[a male human]

Forget what happened in the past.

Anyone have advice for doing this in general? It's easier said than done.

[InTheWideLand I Walk]

Forget what happened in the past.

Anyone have advice for doing this in general? It's easier said than done.

the ONLY thing you can do is channel your anger and turn it into mental energy to use to increase your speed when doing practice exams or in the few moments when you get the time to go to the gym (my squat and deadlift are higher than ever because of this, despite that I am underfed because the bar review process sucked away all my money).

but you can never forget what happened, especially since we are constantly reminded of our past failures. Everytime someone asks about our job status, the answer is "I am studying for the bar." then they ask, "I thought you took it already", then we say "yes but I didnt pass", then they say "what happened, were you close?" then we have to come up with some bs explanation.

and then its worse when we have to explain to people how the bar exam is causing us to be too broke to do just about anything, and how we have to live in the ghetto, despite that we are law school graduates AND went to undergrad at schools like stanford, uc berkeley, harvard, ect...

the social humiliation is the worst part of the bar exam. its a complete nightmare. Especially when you have to explain this to your significant other's family. its so embarrassing and awkward. Not to mention that your past failures are driving your signifcant other insane, because she has to explain this to all of her friends and family as well and has to put up with you not giving her any attention because you have to study.

[rcharter1978]

Forget what happened in the past.

Anyone have advice for doing this in general? It's easier said than done.

the ONLY thing you can do is channel your anger and turn it into mental energy to use to increase your speed when doing practice exams or in the few moments when you get the time to go to the gym (my squat and deadlift are higher than ever because of this, despite that I am underfed because the bar review process sucked away all my money).

but you can never forget what happened, especially since we are constantly reminded of our past failures. Everytime someone asks about our job status, the answer is "I am studying for the bar." then they ask, "I thought you took it already", then we say "yes but I didnt pass", then they say "what happened, were you close?" then we have to come up with some bs explanation.

and then its worse when we have to explain to people how the bar exam is causing us to be too broke to do just about anything, and how we have to live in the ghetto, despite that we are law school graduates AND went to undergrad at schools like stanford, uc berkeley, harvard, ect...

the social humiliation is the worst part of the bar exam. its a complete nightmare. Especially when you have to explain this to your significant other's family. its so embarrassing and awkward. Not to mention that your past failures are driving your signifcant other insane, because she has to explain this to all of her friends and family as well and has to put up with you not giving her any attention because you have to study.

I can't even imagine the stress it would put on a relationship. I have the option of just hiding out until early March. I'm dreading a family party I have to attend on Sunday, but I plan on being in and out of there in an hour or two. I wish there was a way you didn't have to tell everyone you were preparing for February, so you didn't have that additional "friends and family" pressure on you. Just two more months, though.

[BrokenMouse]

Forget what happened in the past.

Anyone have advice for doing this in general? It's easier said than done.

the ONLY thing you can do is channel your anger and turn it into mental energy to use to increase your speed when doing practice exams or in the few moments when you get the time to go to the gym (my squat and deadlift are higher than ever because of this, despite that I am underfed because the bar review process sucked away all my money).

but you can never forget what happened, especially since we are constantly reminded of our past failures. Everytime someone asks about our job status, the answer is "I am studying for the bar." then they ask, "I thought you took it already", then we say "yes but I didnt pass", then they say "what happened, were you close?" then we have to come up with some bs explanation.

and then its worse when we have to explain to people how the bar exam is causing us to be too broke to do just about anything, and how we have to live in the ghetto, despite that we are law school graduates AND went to undergrad at schools like stanford, uc berkeley, harvard, ect...

the social humiliation is the worst part of the bar exam. its a complete nightmare. Especially when you have to explain this to your significant other's family. its so embarrassing and awkward. Not to mention that your past failures are driving your signifcant other insane, because she has to explain this to all of her friends and family as well and has to put up with you not giving her any attention because you have to study.

^THIS x 100. Also the constant feeling and reality knowing that your life is on hold for another 6 months.

[FinallyPassedTheBar]

My life has been in a holding pattern for the last decade or so...I need to get this plane landed already.

[a male human]

Forget what happened in the past.

Anyone have advice for doing this in general? It's easier said than done.

the ONLY thing you can do is channel your anger and turn it into mental energy to use to increase your speed when doing practice exams or in the few moments when you get the time to go to the gym (my squat and deadlift are higher than ever because of this, despite that I am underfed because the bar review process sucked away all my money).

but you can never forget what happened, especially since we are constantly reminded of our past failures. Everytime someone asks about our job status, the answer is "I am studying for the bar." then they ask, "I thought you took it already", then we say "yes but I didnt pass", then they say "what happened, were you close?" then we have to come up with some bs explanation.

and then its worse when we have to explain to people how the bar exam is causing us to be too broke to do just about anything, and how we have to live in the ghetto, despite that we are law school graduates AND went to undergrad at schools like stanford, uc berkeley, harvard, ect...

the social humiliation is the worst part of the bar exam. its a complete nightmare. Especially when you have to explain this to your significant other's family. its so embarrassing and awkward. Not to mention that your past failures are driving your signifcant other insane, because she has to explain this to all of her friends and family as well and has to put up with you not giving her any attention because you have to study.

That's a sound description, and it helps to commiserate with others who didn't pass, and also people who did pass (they know it was difficult bullshit they feel lucky to be done with).

I was actually asking more in general, but I guess this isn't really the place to ask a broad, non-bar question like that. Perhaps channel the emotions into something productive? Or let go?

[duskfall]

I remember a special two-part Maury where the women had like 15 potential fathers. And no, none of these women are ever embarrassed. Neither are the men. It's like a world without shame on the Maury stage. I love it when these dudes bring their mothers with them to Maury and baby grandma declares that there is no way the baby could be her sons because they don't have the same number of neck folds or something ridiculous. Or because the baby is definitely too light skinned to be her grandbaby. Aww man, I'm going to at least waste an hour watching Maury today.

Please don't forget to watch the episode where two blonde, white parents have their very clearly half-black children tested. I think the episode is called "Your Baby Looks Like My Cousin Tu-Tu...I'm Not The Dad!"

I just watched it! That fat lady was so insistent, what a bitch.

[KatieSpades]

the ONLY thing you can do is channel your anger and turn it into mental energy to use to increase your speed when doing practice exams or in the few moments when you get the time to go to the gym (my squat and deadlift are higher than ever because of this, despite that I am underfed because the bar review process sucked away all my money).

but you can never forget what happened, especially since we are constantly reminded of our past failures. Everytime someone asks about our job status, the answer is "I am studying for the bar." then they ask, "I thought you took it already", then we say "yes but I didnt pass", then they say "what happened, were you close?" then we have to come up with some bs explanation.

and then its worse when we have to explain to people how the bar exam is causing us to be too broke to do just about anything, and how we have to live in the ghetto, despite that we are law school graduates AND went to undergrad at schools like stanford, uc berkeley, harvard, ect...

the social humiliation is the worst part of the bar exam. its a complete nightmare. Especially when you have to explain this to your significant other's family. its so embarrassing and awkward. Not to mention that your past failures are driving your signifcant other insane, because she has to explain this to all of her friends and family as well and has to put up with you not giving her any attention because you have to study.

You described it perfectly. This isn't my first repeat and during all this time, I've basically become a hermit. I skip all holidays because my family feels like they have to ask me 21,000 questions about the bar and why I haven't passed yet. I don't use social media at all because "friends" from law school message me to ask me if I passed when I know they already searched my name on the pass list.

I was so tired of telling people that I didn't pass the bar and feeling like I had to explain to them and having to listen to their "you'll pass next time!!" BS and their unsolicited advice that I just disappeared completely. Part of me missing having friends and an actual social life but a bigger part of me is like YES PEACE FINALLY. I'm also not telling anyone that I'm taking it again.

When people ask me where I work or what I do, I make up something depending on how I feel that day. I'm currently a kindergarten teacher.