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Discuss.

Basically, I feel like their multiple choice tests deal with tiny nuances in the law. They assign essays that often contain law that we haven't reviewed yet. Am I nuts, or is anyone else stressed by this?

You are not nuts you should be stressed. Also you paid Barbri 3k just trust the process and you will pass

If they wrote them so you got 100% consistently - or even 80% - you would start skipping those assignments. Some of them are pickier than I think is fair, but the answer explanations almost always contain a little nugget that is useful. You'll be fine.

Just stick with it, they know what they're doing. Stress is part of the process, unfortunately.

what i want to know is where can we find extra MBE questions...i think all of the MBE questions in the fat book and the question sets in the StudySmart area will all be assigned eventually. Anyone know if there are extra questions lying around or am i wrong with this?

Thanks all, for the reassuring advice. At this point, is it normal to feel like I'm not retaining a huge amount of information? Partially due to stress, and partially due to the fact that we have a ton of information being thrown at us, I feel like I'm not memorizing a whole lot at this point, and things feel kind of hazy.

Barbri makes it a point to try and scare the hell out of the students (they have an incentive to do so so that they can report higher pass rates). For more of an objective sense of your chances, determine exactly how your state grades the bar exam and determine what you need to do to meet the minimum (don't strive for minimum but understand the threshold). In many states the MBE can get you most of the way there, which is a fairly objective way to get a sense of your standing. Also, take a couple of the official MBE tests, not Barbri, to get a reality check.

learntolift wrote:what i want to know is where can we find extra MBE questions...i think all of the MBE questions in the fat book and the question sets in the StudySmart area will all be assigned eventually. Anyone know if there are extra questions lying around or am i wrong with this?

Go up to the "enrolled student center" (under the "settings" looking icon in the top right corner of your study plan homepage), and on the right-hand side there will be a link with practice questions for the MBE subjects, including released MBE questions. i haven't checked to see if they are repeats from previously assigned ones though. hope that helps!

learntolift wrote:what i want to know is where can we find extra MBE questions...i think all of the MBE questions in the fat book and the question sets in the StudySmart area will all be assigned eventually. Anyone know if there are extra questions lying around or am i wrong with this?

If I recall correctly, there are extra MBE question sets in the "Enrolled Student" section. I went through BarBri in 2 states - passed first try in one state right after law school and used it again 4 years later to pass in California. I felt BarBri was sufficient to pass in the first state, but I definitely had to supplement in CA - not sure how much was the fact that I'd been out of law school for several years vs. CA just being notoriously picky about what they look for in their essays.

As for the MBE, if anyone is interested, I'm selling my Strategies & Tactics for the MBE + MBE 2 books by Emanuel as a set. I'll also send the additional CivPro Q's that came with the books when I bought them. PM me for the listing link.

Hope everyone keeps their head up. Remind yourself daily that you can do it! I remember I created some daily affirmations to read every morning per the advice of someone on these forums, which helped keep me somewhat sane through the process.

Good luck to all!!

doctoroflaw91 wrote:Thanks all, for the reassuring advice. At this point, is it normal to feel like I'm not retaining a huge amount of information? Partially due to stress, and partially due to the fact that we have a ton of information being thrown at us, I feel like I'm not memorizing a whole lot at this point, and things feel kind of hazy.

Yes, this is normal. You will not feel like information is sticking until your last 2-4 weeks of studying, when you get serious about memorization. You're in the immersion phase now. Just trust the process and stick to the grind. It will gel later.

Make sure you keep track of your errors and study them!

learntolift wrote:what i want to know is where can we find extra MBE questions...i think all of the MBE questions in the fat book and the question sets in the StudySmart area will all be assigned eventually. Anyone know if there are extra questions lying around or am i wrong with this?

I'd recommend using Emmanuel's Strategies & Tactics. A new version just came out this summer that includes civ pro questions.

I also like Adaptibar, but that is a bit pricer than Emmanuel's. PM me with your email address if you want a $50 discount.

I disagree with some of the posters above. Barbri is a cookie cutter program and is NOT designed with your particular learning method in mind. I'm not saying that you should reject the whole program, but if you feel that a portion of the program (ex: lectures or AMP), find another method/source to learn the material. It may cost you a bit more to find these other methods, but if it saves you from taking the bar exam again, it's worth it in the long run.

goodoldmacintosh wrote:Barbri makes it a point to try and scare the hell out of the students (they have an incentive to do so so that they can report higher pass rates). For more of an objective sense of your chances, determine exactly how your state grades the bar exam and determine what you need to do to meet the minimum (don't strive for minimum but understand the threshold). In many states the MBE can get you most of the way there, which is a fairly objective way to get a sense of your standing. Also, take a couple of the official MBE tests, not Barbri, to get a reality check.

This. BARBRI has great essay materials, but like everyone else, it's really kind of hard to make MBE materials that are representative of the real thing... Especially when I'm sure the NCBE is looking at what the bar companies were focusing on the previous year and drafting questions accordingly. BARBRI is definitely the bar prep program that utilizes the "doom and gloom" method the most, IMO. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you know it going in, though. I think the more important thing to have in this whole process is confidence and the ability to forgive yourself. Have confidence in your answers... And at the same time, know that if you bomb one question set or get a 45 on an essay, it's not the end of the world.

Took and passed the CA bar last year. I found Barbri's MBE questions to be very different from the real thing. I recommend Emanuel or Adaptibar. Though, the real MBE questions I think are also very tricky and test you on stupid nuances and the exception to the exception to the rule.

The important thing is, don't freak out. Try to follow along Barbri's insane schedule as much as you can, with the understanding that they don't expect you to do 100% of the assignments. Don't be like me and get overwhelmed and stop studying for a month because you're too freaked out and then cram for the last few weeks and give yourself an ulcer. It's going to be very overwhelming and you'll feel like you can't possibly be expected to memorize all of these subjects until about 2 weeks before the exam when you'll find that you're actually remembering a lot of it.