New Jersey Bar Exam February 2016 Forum

[law732]

Figured I'd get it started for the Garden State. 8 days and counting. Good luck to all!

[law732]

Anyone hear anything about the release date for NJ other than "sometime in mid May?"

[sdimo]

Anyone hear anything about the release date for NJ other than "sometime in mid May?"

nothing yet. the website says by may 15. i'm thinking (hoping) the 6th. last year they released may 8th, may 9th the year before, so seems like friday of the first full week (maybe?).

[law732]

Anyone hear anything about the release date for NJ other than "sometime in mid May?"

nothing yet. the website says by may 15. i'm thinking (hoping) the 6th. last year they released may 8th, may 9th the year before, so seems like friday of the first full week (maybe?).

Ugh. This wait... Thank you!!

[Njbar]

What you guys think about the essays? I had the contract at the end, and feel terrible becuase of the timing issue.

[futurelawyer12]

What you guys think about the essays? I had the contract at the end, and feel terrible becuase of the timing issue.

Same! And after taking NY too by the end of the third day my brain was fried. I could barely even remember the definition of a contract lol.

[Njbar]

What you guys think about the essays? I had the contract at the end, and feel terrible becuase of the timing issue.

Same! And after taking NY too by the end of the third day my brain was fried. I could barely even remember the definition of a contract lol.

I remember that I discussed about express condition and contract formation. I dont think there were a lot of issues we need to discuss in that contract essay . Also for torts, i forgot to discuss about false imprisonment. What you think about other essays?

[law732]

What you guys think about the essays? I had the contract at the end, and feel terrible becuase of the timing issue.

Same! And after taking NY too by the end of the third day my brain was fried. I could barely even remember the definition of a contract lol.

I remember that I discussed about express condition and contract formation. I dont think there were a lot of issues we need to discuss in that contract essay . Also for torts, i forgot to discuss about false imprisonment. What you think about other essays?

I don't think you needed to discuss false imprisonment b/c I don't remember there being intent, but rather negligence. Could be wrong though because my mind was mush on the essay day.

How about the Con Law and Crim essays?

[sdimo]

you guys have impressive memories. i think i instantly blanked out my mind. I remember something about a hummer and that's it haha.
looks like NY got results last night. hopefully that means we're up next though I'm feeling round two for me in July

[FallonJ]

Yup, New York got their results last night. I'm sure way more people did NY, yet we wait.

[jl1004]

I took both NY and NJ and I believe last year's Feb exam's results came out on 5/5. So the results could come out in a week or so.

[FDR6]

How's everyone doing, this forum is real quiet. Good luck everyone

[FallonJ]

This wait absolutely sucks and it's messing with my sleep patterns. Lol! All of my friends in other states received their results.

[FDR6]

This wait absolutely sucks and it's messing with my sleep patterns. Lol! All of my friends in other states received their results.

Yeah tell me about it, i literally had a dream about this shit last night. I'm going to need a 136 on the essay with my MBE score (took NY) so idk how manageable that is.

[udonisandtrinity]

I scored a 138 on my MBE so I need 128+. Last time around, I scored 132 on my essays despite trying not giving a F and writing down nonsense. I did not even try because what I thought to be a poor MBE performance (I was right - scored a 122).

[L_William_W]

I attended CUNY Law School in NYC. I flunked the February and July 2014 NY Bar Exam. On the July exam, my score was an embarrassing 580. After realizing that there was no chance in hell of me passing the NY Bar, I took the NJ Bar in February 2015. I received a 126 (passing is 133). My MBE was 123.2 and my essays were 127.8 With the exception of the Torts essay in which I got a 5, all of my essays sucked. I received 3's on the criminal law, evidence, civ pro, and property essays. I received 2's on the con law and contracts essay. On the latter two essays, I basically wrote nothing.

After changing my approach to the bar (using the Kaplan MBE book and memorizing the fact patterns and answers for every NJ essay since the year 2000), I passed the July 2015 NJ Bar. My MBE was a weak 130.2. They didn't write down what my essay score was, but it was obviously 136 or higher.

I think they're making the NJ Bar harder, but I learned that when in doubt, kitchen sink and data dump. In crim, I noticed that conspiracy comes up on almost every essay. Felony murder and warrant exceptions are also popular topics. Literally go line by line looking for an issue. Even if you don't know a rule, make something up halfway coherent. An example is if a person in a fact pattern is senile or crazy. I forgot the MPC rule for insanity, but I made some stuff up. In torts, the rules are easy, but if you don't pay attention then you can miss an issue. In con law, when in doubt, talk about the levels of scrutiny and due process. In evidence, simply look at past exams. The rules are hard but predictable. The same fact patterns always come up. I'm weaker in property and contracts. Civ pro is the bane of my existence.

In NJ, a strong performance on the essays can offset a weak performance on the MBE. That's not the case in NY. In NJ, you know what's coming. In NY, you don't. The essays in NY are different almost every time. The NY multiple choice is unfair since they don't release the past questions. I utterly abhor the MPT since the grading is subjective. Unlike the NJ essays were they only care about the answer, in NY, the essay answers have to have a specific format. The NJ bar exam isn't a cakewalk, but it's 10 times easier than the NY bar.

I was the dumbest person in my law school and I passed the NJ bar. I wouldn't worry.

[FDR6]

Haha im sure your a lot smarter then you give yourself credit for! My exact score is also a 130.2. Didn't make NY. Missed it by 10. I did feel good about the NJ essays answered all of them, but there's just no way of predicting the outcome let alone how they convert the raw to scale so the uncertainty dies sucks. I suppose I'm in the ball park but just slightly so I'm praying for that 136 on the essays.

[FDR6]

I scored a 138 on my MBE so I need 128+. Last time around, I scored 132 on my essays despite trying not giving a F and writing down nonsense. I did not even try because what I thought to be a poor MBE performance (I was right - scored a 122).

Good luck! I think your in pretty decent shape!

[Njbar]

What is raw essay score for a 136 scaled score? I think feb curve is aleays lower than july. Also I noticed that NJ always give lower score when they regrad essays.

[law732]

How's everyone doing, this forum is real quiet. Good luck everyone

Hanging in. Missed July by 4 points. MBE was my downfall. Hoping for results this week!! How is everyone else??

[sdimo]

stressing over here, too! it was my first attempt at the bar--only took NJ. I finished from NYLS in Dec 2014, so I had to work to save up for the prep course & test itself. My fear was not enough time and being out of practice of studying haha--was working FT doing doc review while studying (which will continue if I retake in July) so I was clocking maybe 5-6 study hours during the week and sleeping like 3-4 hours a night. Oh well!! Few more days! I still don't get why we get ours after NY, though, even though NJ tests a quarter of the people lol

[FDR6]

What is raw essay score for a 136 scaled score? I think feb curve is aleays lower than july. Also I noticed that NJ always give lower score when they regrad essays.

There's no real way to assess it, and that's what so frustrating about it, and you can't get much information from the NJbar. Best way to get an idea is by looking at what others scored, but even then every exam score will depend on the performance of the takers of that specific exam cycle. So I have no idea, I've seen a few people come up with some ideas but it's probably not precise.

[FallonJ]

stressing over here, too! it was my first attempt at the bar--only took NJ. I finished from NYLS in Dec 2014, so I had to work to save up for the prep course & test itself. My fear was not enough time and being out of practice of studying haha--was working FT doing doc review while studying (which will continue if I retake in July) so I was clocking maybe 5-6 study hours during the week and sleeping like 3-4 hours a night. Oh well!! Few more days! I still don't get why we get ours after NY, though, even though NJ tests a quarter of the people lol

Maybe they take longer because they try to complete the C&F before they release the results. Could be the reason but still, it's taking too long.

[sdimo]

Maybe they take longer because they try to complete the C&F before they release the results. Could be the reason but still, it's taking too long.

ah, you could be right. they probably do the c&f where they can. I didn't even think of that.

[Dallynana]

Anyone have any idea when the results will be posted? I keep obsessively refreshing the page :/