BarBri Bar Review Hangout - February 2016 Exam Forum

[BrokenMouse]

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[Sue]

Well, at least he is helpful with giving the chart with subjects that have been on the exam since Feb 2011. Whether anyone takes his predictions seriously or not is another story. Appreciate his trying to help. Don't know if we are talking about the same guy or not though.

As for the topics, I think CivPro, Evidence, Family Law, and ConLaw will be there.

[MrMustache]

So there is this guy who calls himself a doctor (phd) who gives predictions. He sounds too Looney to take seriously.

Is there a consensus on at least a few topics that will surely show up?

Professional Responsibility, either as a full question or a mixed question. The only time it wasn't tested on the essays since 2002 was on Feb 2007, and Feb 2015.

Also, do not put any faith in those predictions. There was this guy last summer, who was a professor or something and supposedly never wrong, he predicted something like 13 subjects with predictions ranging from "very like" "likely" "not likely," and he STILL managed to miss a subject or two.

Edit: for California.

[Sue]

Oh, I was talking about UBE states.

[gtg]

Any NY predictions?

[rcharter1978]

So there is this guy who calls himself a doctor (phd) who gives predictions. He sounds too Looney to take seriously.

Is there a consensus on at least a few topics that will surely show up?

He is a doctor....I would trust him

Having said that, I like to just look for the overlaps in the predictions. I once watched an episode of House where someone discussed how collective thinking can come up with the best answers.

[MrMustache]

So there is this guy who calls himself a doctor (phd) who gives predictions. He sounds too Looney to take seriously.

Is there a consensus on at least a few topics that will surely show up?

He is a doctor....I would trust him

But he doesn't have a TARDIS! Never trust a Doctor without a TARDIS.

[NY_Sea]

Any NY predictions?

I'd say NYP... It's the last NY Bar Exam ever, why wouldn't they put NYP on there? I'd also say Admin Law... They only introduced it last February and only used it once last summer. They always do the big ones... Wills, K's, Property. There was a tiny Crim Law issue this past summer, so I'd be willing to bet there's a bigger Crim Law/Pro one this year. Too many NY distinctions in Crim Pro to leave it off the table.

It's really just a crapshoot.

[MrMustache]

Is anyone else outlining lecture notes instead of CMR, or is this a bad idea?

[BrokenMouse]

Is anyone else outlining lecture notes instead of CMR, or is this a bad idea?

I've only read through the CMR for MBE subjects. For CA subjects I read through the handbook. MBE subjects are tested twice on essays and MBE. CA essay is just essay. When I get a CA essay, I expect to receive a 55 or 60. When I get an MBE essay I expect to get at least a 65. That's the plan anyway.

[crumpetsandtea]

FWIW I never read a single CMR outline and passed in CA. I don't think it's necessary at all. Obviously, it would HELP though, because more knowledge is always better, but IMO it's not a make or break thing.

[rinkrat19]

FWIW I never read a single CMR outline and passed in CA. I don't think it's necessary at all. Obviously, it would HELP though, because more knowledge is always better, but IMO it's not a make or break thing.

What DID you read? Just lecture notes?

I can't find my lecture note book from July, and I didn't watch the lectures this time around.

[crumpetsandtea]

FWIW I never read a single CMR outline and passed in CA. I don't think it's necessary at all. Obviously, it would HELP though, because more knowledge is always better, but IMO it's not a make or break thing.

What DID you read? Just lecture notes?

I can't find my lecture note book from July, and I didn't watch the lectures this time around.

When I watched the video, I took typed notes instead of just filling out the handouts. I had the handouts out as a reference to use while typing my own outlines, so that I got the key points. I found this considerably more helpful than passively watching, because it forced me to think about what I was listening to, and IMO typing things out helps me to remember them. ALSO, it was WAY WAY WAY easier to reference my notes later by ctrl-f searching for a key word, and I could always add in more information later that I learned through CMR fact-checking/MBE questions/essay answers.

Then, after I had watched all the videos, I took my lecture handouts and re-formatted/typed them into a much shorter, condensed "boilerplate" language that was mostly rule statements written out. Like, you could take the statements and just insert them into an essay. That kind of thing. It helped b/c there was more repetition and again, forced me to think about how I would structure an essay response. I found Epstein's "Armadillos From Texas Play Tennis Riding Elephants" mnemonic to be SUPER helpful, so I tried to organize the notes into something that would logically flow in an essay.

I should also disclaim this by saying that CA weighs the essays 65% and the MBE 35%. I pretty much stopped preparing with MBE questions for the last 2-3 weeks of the course and entirely focused on preparing for essays & memorizing rule statements. I could possibly have passed entirely on the essay portion. I know my MBE score on the actual test day was between 133-141, but I don't know what a "passing MBE" would have been in CA.

[MrMustache]

Quick bar question.

Contracts

Can a gratuitous assignment be revoked if the assignee knows and relied on it, or assented to it? (his rights have "vested")

The reason I'm confused it that with normal assignments - if it vests, you can't revoke. And If assignment was for consideration, assignee automatically assents to it because he is the one giving consideration, so it also vests. I don't see why the "gratuitous" distinction even matters.

EDIT: I mixed up assignment of rights and third-party beneficiary.

Third-party beneficiary is someone who was intended to benefit in the original contract, from the examples I've seen, the third party will be named in the contract, and his rights will vest when he either (1) knows and relies on the contract, or (2) assents to the contract in a way that he was requested to do.

Assignment of Rights, is when you try to pass your rights in the contract to someone else. They were never named in the contract and could be anyone. So unless there is consideration on their part, your promise to give them your rights under the contract for nothing is just that, a "promise," and not a contract. The only thing that could stop you is Promissory Estoppel.

[BVest]

Quick bar question.

Contracts

Can a gratuitous assignment be revoked if the assignee knows and relied on it, or assented to it? (his rights have "vested")

The reason I'm confused it that with normal assignments - if it vests, you can't revoke. And If assignment was for consideration, assignee automatically assents to it because he is the one giving consideration, so it also vests. I don't see why the "gratuitous" distinction even matters.

I don't think "assented to" makes the gratuitous assignment irrevocable. I think only detrimental reliance vests the gratuitous assignees rights. Well, that and performance; the right can't be revoked after the contract has been performed (e.g. if father assigned right to be paid under the contract to his daughter, he can't revoke after the other party actually pays the daughter.)

ETA: Disclaimer: Could be wrong. Don't have any references here, at least not that I looked at.

ETA2: According to Rest (2d) of K, there's no assent-based irrevocability. There is (1) detrimental reliance, (2) payment or satisfaction of the obligation (and that subsection also includes a couple other things that are unlikely to be tested on the bar*), or (3) another way that is unlikely to appear on the bar.**






* & ** If you're interested in these, which you shouldn't be because you have a lot of stuff that you NEED to learn right now, and this is not part of that stuff:

[+] Spoiler

* the payment subsection also includes obtaining a judgment against the obligor on the obligation or entering a new K with the obligor upon novation

** a writing of the gift, signed by the assignor and delivered to the assignee, which the example in the restatement calls a deed of gift

[fadedsunrise]

Man you all were right about Wills and Trusts being TERRIBLY organized Ground through both lectures in one day and just about melted from trying to understand his lecture handouts.

FWIW on the question of outlining CMR vs. lecture handouts: I'm filling in the lecture handouts (except when they're really bad like Wills and Trusts) and making my own typed outlines. I reference CMR when I've done some questions and feel like I'm still missing stuff. I didn't make any outlines the first time around and it felt like nothing stuck despite doing significantly more quantity of practice questions than this time.

[jamescastle]

I found Johanson's wills and trusts notes to be really good but horribly horribly disorganized.
My outline kept a ton of his text but moved it all around in a way that made sense to me.

[MrMustache]

Quick bar question.

Contracts

Can a gratuitous assignment be revoked if the assignee knows and relied on it, or assented to it? (his rights have "vested")

The reason I'm confused it that with normal assignments - if it vests, you can't revoke. And If assignment was for consideration, assignee automatically assents to it because he is the one giving consideration, so it also vests. I don't see why the "gratuitous" distinction even matters.

I don't think "assented to" makes the gratuitous assignment irrevocable. I think only detrimental reliance vests the gratuitous assignees rights. Well, that and performance; the right can't be revoked after the contract has been performed (e.g. if father assigned right to be paid under the contract to his daughter, he can't revoke after the other party actually pays the daughter.)

ETA: Disclaimer: Could be wrong. Don't have any references here, at least not that I looked at.

ETA2: According to Rest (2d) of K, there's no assent-based irrevocability. There is (1) detrimental reliance, (2) payment or satisfaction of the obligation (and that subsection also includes a couple other things that are unlikely to be tested on the bar*), or (3) another way that is unlikely to appear on the bar.**






* & ** If you're interested in these, which you shouldn't be because you have a lot of stuff that you NEED to learn right now, and this is not part of that stuff:

[+] Spoiler

* the payment subsection also includes obtaining a judgment against the obligor on the obligation or entering a new K with the obligor upon novation

** a writing of the gift, signed by the assignor and delivered to the assignee, which the example in the restatement calls a deed of gift

Thank you! It hit me, thanks to you, that I was mixing up gratuitous assignment revocation rule with the third-party beneficiary rule. Now the world of contracts makes sense again.

[MrMustache]

Coffee is for amateurs. Caffeine pills is where it's at! Not only can you monitor your dosage, but it also cuts down on restroom breaks!

[rcharter1978]

Coffee is for amateurs. Caffeine pills is where it's at! Not only can you monitor your dosage, but it also cuts down on restroom breaks!

Do they just help you stay awake, or do they help with focus too? I've purchased some red bulls but I'm scared!

Maybe I should ask that doctor with the CA predictions, he is a doctor after all.....

[MrMustache]

Coffee is for amateurs. Caffeine pills is where it's at! Not only can you monitor your dosage, but it also cuts down on restroom breaks!

Do they just help you stay awake, or do they help with focus too? I've purchased some red bulls but I'm scared!

Maybe I should ask that doctor with the CA predictions, he is a doctor after all.....

It's basically coffee, they just give me the mental energy to keep studying.

I still need to test 5hour energy and redbull to see how they effect me to see if it's something I want to use during the actual bar.

I wouldn't trust that doctor. Next thing you know he'll predict that he's prescribing you Adderall and give you crystal meth instead.

[Sue]

Coffee is for amateurs. Caffeine pills is where it's at! Not only can you monitor your dosage, but it also cuts down on restroom breaks!

Do they just help you stay awake, or do they help with focus too? I've purchased some red bulls but I'm scared!

Maybe I should ask that doctor with the CA predictions, he is a doctor after all.....

It's basically coffee, they just give me the mental energy to keep studying.

I still to test 5hour energy and redbull to see how they effect me to see if it's something I want to use during the actual bar.

I wouldn't trust that doctor. Next thing you know he'll predict that he's prescribing you Adderall and give you crystal meth instead.

There is this Peruvian superfood Maca too, rumor has it that it helps with focusing, attention, energy boost, and things like that. You can look it up...

[cjusticenu]

First time taking the bar (and first time posting on this website). UBE state - thank god.

Was feeling fairly confident in my bar prep until now. Sifted through a lot of the posts here, and my 58-64% on MBE practice tests doesn't seem too promising. Is it just that people who are doing well are the only ones posting, or do I just suck at MBE questions?

I've done nearly all of the Barbri assigned work, and have just recently started going through CP cards with my girlfriend at night before bed. What should I be doing to improve my score? Just running MBE questions off the Barbri website? Reading and rereading the lecture notebook or the outline book? I'm starting to get really worried I wont pass...

[THE_U]

First time taking the bar (and first time posting on this website). UBE state - thank god.

Was feeling fairly confident in my bar prep until now. Sifted through a lot of the posts here, and my 58-64% on MBE practice tests doesn't seem too promising. Is it just that people who are doing well are the only ones posting, or do I just suck at MBE questions?

I've done nearly all of the Barbri assigned work, and have just recently started going through CP cards with my girlfriend at night before bed. What should I be doing to improve my score? Just running MBE questions off the Barbri website? Reading and rereading the lecture notebook or the outline book? I'm starting to get really worried I wont pass...

A lot of the people posting (including myself) failed in July, so that probably accounts for at least some of the high scores you are seeing.

[cjusticenu]

First time taking the bar (and first time posting on this website). UBE state - thank god.

Was feeling fairly confident in my bar prep until now. Sifted through a lot of the posts here, and my 58-64% on MBE practice tests doesn't seem too promising. Is it just that people who are doing well are the only ones posting, or do I just suck at MBE questions?

I've done nearly all of the Barbri assigned work, and have just recently started going through CP cards with my girlfriend at night before bed. What should I be doing to improve my score? Just running MBE questions off the Barbri website? Reading and rereading the lecture notebook or the outline book? I'm starting to get really worried I wont pass...

A lot of the people posting (including myself) failed in July, so that probably accounts for at least some of the high scores you are seeing.

Yeah, I gathered as much. My thought is that I should stop worrying about overloading myself with MBE questions, and to study for the essays. That's where I can actually make up points (since the MBE is either right or wrong, you can't appeal for them to look at it again for points they may have missed if I don't pass), plus that should help me learn the BLL which should in turn help with the MBE anyway. The CP cards are so detailed - I pretty much learned all of the Con Law ones, but it only improved my score by a marginal amount. Moved on to property, which is hands down one of my worst subjects, and it's just so minute that it overwhelms me. But such is life for bar prep, eh?