July 2016 DC Bar (UBE) Forum

lawstoodent · Post by **lawstoodent** » Thu Jul 14, 2016 1:43 am

I know it's pretty late in the game, but just wanted to start this thread to see if anyone is taking the DC Bar. Seems like mostly NY UBE, FL and VA. Any DC UBE people here?

joeyc328 · Post by **joeyc328** » Thu Jul 14, 2016 8:30 am

New York is UBE...

lawstoodent · Post by **lawstoodent** » Thu Jul 14, 2016 2:13 pm

joeyc328 wrote:New York is UBE...

Yes. I opened this thread for DC UBE bar takers...

styr · Post by **styr** » Fri Jul 15, 2016 6:51 pm

Thanks for posting this thread. I was almost tempted to do a little rant myself. Here goes.

lawstoodent wrote:I know it's pretty late in the game, but just wanted to start this thread to see if anyone is taking the DC Bar.

DC Bar exam candidate here. I just received my letter and sample admission card for the exams. The letter states that there will be over 700 examinees. I guess not many have heard of TLS. If you look at previous years' pass lists, 700 seems like a manifold increase over the usual summer exam takers.

The letter has some questionable language. "The five-digit number appearing in red on the Admission Card is your Exam ID No. and should match the number at the top of this letter. This number must be placed on all examination materials as instructed and is the only identifying mark you may use on your non-MBE test material." Actually, "this letter" has no number at the top. I assume the Exam ID is the same as from the letter that was sent a month ago to confirm receipt of filing.

It's unclear as to how they expect people to bring laptops and how to stow any bags that they have to be carried in. Also, the letter says you can't bring cell phones, etc. (basically the same stuff you can't bring for the MPRE), so leave them in your car. Then it says there's no parking, so don't bring your own car. Instead, take Uber, Lyft, etc. Good luck getting one of those without your cell phone. Just hope Metro isn't on fire.

There's also an advisory about 700+ examinees needing to go to lunch all at once and only having an hour, so order your food in advance. Good luck doing that without your cell phone, again (not to mention most restaurants there just don't do such orders). It's also going to be 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM on weekdays, so you have to compete with the usual lunch crowds of people who work there.

They graciously provide a list of "affordable lunch options" allegedly "within walking distance" of the test site. Some are in Northeast, and others are up to 1.5 miles away (30+ minutes walking each way, for a one-hour lunch break, do the math; even driving/cabbing, that's 15-25 minutes each way in DC), and some of these restaurants have been out of business for months now. They're supposed to be under $16 per person, but some on the list are notoriously more than that, even for lunch.

Whoever made this list and instructions hasn't had to walk around Mt. Vernon Square for lunch on a weekday and cram it all into an hour. It will be entertaining to watch the pandemonium when people start showing up late. I just hope that's not me.

jwilson56 · Post by **jwilson56** » Fri Jul 15, 2016 7:09 pm

styr wrote:Thanks for posting this thread. I was almost tempted to do a little rant myself. Here goes.
lawstoodent wrote:I know it's pretty late in the game, but just wanted to start this thread to see if anyone is taking the DC Bar.
DC Bar exam candidate here. I just received my letter and sample admission card for the exams. The letter states that there will be over 700 examinees. I guess not many have heard of TLS. If you look at previous years' pass lists, 700 seems like a manifold increase over the usual summer exam takers.

The letter has some questionable language. "The five-digit number appearing in red on the Admission Card is your Exam ID No. and should match the number at the top of this letter. This number must be placed on all examination materials as instructed and is the only identifying mark you may use on your non-MBE test material." Actually, "this letter" has no number at the top. I assume the Exam ID is the same as from the letter that was sent a month ago to confirm receipt of filing.

It's unclear as to how they expect people to bring laptops and how to stow any bags that they have to be carried in. Also, the letter says you can't bring cell phones, etc. (basically the same stuff you can't bring for the MPRE), so leave them in your car. Then it says there's no parking, so don't bring your own car. Instead, take Uber, Lyft, etc. Good luck getting one of those without your cell phone. Just hope Metro isn't on fire.

There's also an advisory about 700+ examinees needing to go to lunch all at once and only having an hour, so order your food in advance. Good luck doing that without your cell phone, again (not to mention most restaurants there just don't do such orders). It's also going to be 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM on weekdays, so you have to compete with the usual lunch crowds of people who work there.

They graciously provide a list of "affordable lunch options" allegedly "within walking distance" of the test site. Some are in Northeast, and others are up to 1.5 miles away (30+ minutes walking each way, for a one-hour lunch break, do the math; even driving/cabbing, that's 15-25 minutes each way in DC), and some of these restaurants have been out of business for months now. They're supposed to be under $16 per person, but some on the list are notoriously more than that, even for lunch.

Whoever made this list and instructions hasn't had to walk around Mt. Vernon Square for lunch on a weekday and cram it all into an hour. It will be entertaining to watch the pandemonium when people start showing up late. I just hope that's not me.

I too found this instruction letter to be a bit terrifying.

lawstoodent · Post by **lawstoodent** » Fri Jul 15, 2016 7:12 pm

styr wrote:Thanks for posting this thread. I was almost tempted to do a little rant myself. Here goes.
lawstoodent wrote:I know it's pretty late in the game, but just wanted to start this thread to see if anyone is taking the DC Bar.
DC Bar exam candidate here. I just received my letter and sample admission card for the exams. The letter states that there will be over 700 examinees. I guess not many have heard of TLS. If you look at previous years' pass lists, 700 seems like a manifold increase over the usual summer exam takers.

The letter has some questionable language. "The five-digit number appearing in red on the Admission Card is your Exam ID No. and should match the number at the top of this letter. This number must be placed on all examination materials as instructed and is the only identifying mark you may use on your non-MBE test material." Actually, "this letter" has no number at the top. I assume the Exam ID is the same as from the letter that was sent a month ago to confirm receipt of filing.

It's unclear as to how they expect people to bring laptops and how to stow any bags that they have to be carried in. Also, the letter says you can't bring cell phones, etc. (basically the same stuff you can't bring for the MPRE), so leave them in your car. Then it says there's no parking, so don't bring your own car. Instead, take Uber, Lyft, etc. Good luck getting one of those without your cell phone. Just hope Metro isn't on fire.

There's also an advisory about 700+ examinees needing to go to lunch all at once and only having an hour, so order your food in advance. Good luck doing that without your cell phone, again (not to mention most restaurants there just don't do such orders). It's also going to be 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM on weekdays, so you have to compete with the usual lunch crowds of people who work there.

They graciously provide a list of "affordable lunch options" allegedly "within walking distance" of the test site. Some are in Northeast, and others are up to 1.5 miles away (30+ minutes walking each way, for a one-hour lunch break, do the math; even driving/cabbing, that's 15-25 minutes each way in DC), and some of these restaurants have been out of business for months now. They're supposed to be under $16 per person, but some on the list are notoriously more than that, even for lunch.

Whoever made this list and instructions hasn't had to walk around Mt. Vernon Square for lunch on a weekday and cram it all into an hour. It will be entertaining to watch the pandemonium when people start showing up late. I just hope that's not me.

When did you get your letter? Haven't gotten mine yet. 700 is about 3x the amount in previous years -- wonder if grading/scores will be significantly delayed. Did it mention if there any lockers in the convention center?

jwilson56 · Post by **jwilson56** » Fri Jul 15, 2016 8:27 pm

It was in an email yesterday. Could be in spam.

styr · Post by **styr** » Sat Jul 16, 2016 11:50 am

Some people got them early on Thursday, and others got them late on Thursday. Some had the Exam ID, while others did not. If you don't have your letter today, I think your only option is to go to the court house on Monday and raise hell.

I could not see any information about lockers. MPRE sites, usually being at schools, have lockers for phones, etc. All bets are off for this convention center.

Morning registration starts early on Tuesday, which they suggest is for setting up laptops. Afternoon registration is a lot shorter, so I assume that laptops are just being left where they are during the lunch hour.

lawstoodent · Post by **lawstoodent** » Sat Jul 16, 2016 1:06 pm

styr wrote:Some people got them early on Thursday, and others got them late on Thursday. Some had the Exam ID, while others did not. If you don't have your letter today, I think your only option is to go to the court house on Monday and raise hell.

I could not see any information about lockers. MPRE sites, usually being at schools, have lockers for phones, etc. All bets are off for this convention center.

Morning registration starts early on Tuesday, which they suggest is for setting up laptops. Afternoon registration is a lot shorter, so I assume that laptops are just being left where they are during the lunch hour.

Got mine but no exam ID. Got an exam ID on my first correspondence though. Not sure what to think here...

Also regarding transportation, does anyone know of any reasonably priced parking garages in the area? Planning to drive and plan my route sometime this week.

lizards10 · Post by **lizards10** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 12:39 pm

Anyone have insight on the MPT/MEE score weighting? The letter seemed to indicate that they're weighted equally (25% each), but UBE says it's always 20% MPT and 30% MEE.

cho8583 · Post by **cho8583** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 10:59 pm

styr wrote:DC Bar exam candidate here. I just received my letter and sample admission card for the exams. The letter states that there will be over 700 examinees. I guess not many have heard of TLS. If you look at previous years' pass lists, 700 seems like a manifold increase over the usual summer exam takers.

Wow, 700? It's just too many to believe.. That just scared the heck out of me planning to take DC bar on next Feb.

squiggle · Post by **squiggle** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 11:05 pm

cho8583 wrote:
styr wrote:DC Bar exam candidate here. I just received my letter and sample admission card for the exams. The letter states that there will be over 700 examinees. I guess not many have heard of TLS. If you look at previous years' pass lists, 700 seems like a manifold increase over the usual summer exam takers.
Wow, 700? It's just too many to believe.. That just scared the heck out of me planning to take DC bar on next Feb.

I suspect that has something to do with DC now being UBE.

Lemming · Post by **Lemming** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 11:57 pm

squiggle wrote:
cho8583 wrote:
styr wrote:DC Bar exam candidate here. I just received my letter and sample admission card for the exams. The letter states that there will be over 700 examinees. I guess not many have heard of TLS. If you look at previous years' pass lists, 700 seems like a manifold increase over the usual summer exam takers.
Wow, 700? It's just too many to believe.. That just scared the heck out of me planning to take DC bar on next Feb.
I suspect that has something to do with DC now being UBE.

There was no point in taking DC before since a 130ish MBE allowed you to waive in. I was expecting it to be way more saying there's at least 2500-3000 students graduating from DC law schools plus all the people with big law jobs lined up in DC. Though they didn't announce that DC was UBE until pretty late in the year. I definitely know a couple classmates who'd already submitted application to states like CA before DC announced the change (however I was hearing rumors from professors that DC was going UBE back in October/November).

As an aside on parking, while the convention center may not have parking there's an enormous amount of 3rd party garages you can park in for $20-25/day. With safe track going on on top of metro's usual problems, there's no way in hell I'm trusting it to get me there on time. Worse case scenario I call an uber as I'm getting ready to leave and just not bring my phone.

lawstoodent · Post by **lawstoodent** » Thu Jul 21, 2016 12:55 am

Lemming wrote:
squiggle wrote:
cho8583 wrote:
styr wrote:DC Bar exam candidate here. I just received my letter and sample admission card for the exams. The letter states that there will be over 700 examinees. I guess not many have heard of TLS. If you look at previous years' pass lists, 700 seems like a manifold increase over the usual summer exam takers.
Wow, 700? It's just too many to believe.. That just scared the heck out of me planning to take DC bar on next Feb.
I suspect that has something to do with DC now being UBE.
There was no point in taking DC before since a 130ish MBE allowed you to waive in. I was expecting it to be way more saying there's at least 2500-3000 students graduating from DC law schools plus all the people with big law jobs lined up in DC. Though they didn't announce that DC was UBE until pretty late in the year. I definitely know a couple classmates who'd already submitted application to states like CA before DC announced the change (however I was hearing rumors from professors that DC was going UBE back in October/November).

As an aside on parking, while the convention center may not have parking there's an enormous amount of 3rd party garages you can park in for $20-25/day. With safe track going on on top of metro's usual problems, there's no way in hell I'm trusting it to get me there on time. Worse case scenario I call an uber as I'm getting ready to leave and just not bring my phone.

Was thinking of taking an uber too, but with morning traffic, could be just as risky. Probably will leave around 7:30 to be sure

RebelAmoeba · Post by **RebelAmoeba** » Thu Jul 21, 2016 5:57 pm

So there's no dress code, right? I didn't see anything about one, but I know some states have one and want to cover my bases.

Lemming · Post by **Lemming** » Thu Jul 21, 2016 6:51 pm

RebelAmoeba wrote:So there's no dress code, right? I didn't see anything about one, but I know some states have one and want to cover my bases.

For the July exam since it's between memorial day and labor day you'll need at least one piece of seersucker.

lawstoodent · Post by **lawstoodent** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 1:48 pm

DC Bar takers, what's your opinion on the low DC bar passage rate? I believe it's about or less than 50%

Lemming · Post by **Lemming** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 5:36 pm

lawstoodent wrote:DC Bar takers, what's your opinion on the low DC bar passage rate? I believe it's about or less than 50%

Any stats from a prior administrations are irrelevant. Being able to waive into DC with a 133 MBE made the pool of applicants completely different. Since DC uses the UBE now there is zero meaningful distinction regarding a jurisdictions pass rate.

styr · Post by **styr** » Sun Jul 24, 2016 11:37 pm

Lemming wrote:
lawstoodent wrote:DC Bar takers, what's your opinion on the low DC bar passage rate? I believe it's about or less than 50%
Any stats from a prior administrations are irrelevant. Being able to waive into DC with a 133 MBE made the pool of applicants completely different. Since DC uses the UBE now there is zero meaningful distinction regarding a jurisdictions pass rate.

That's generally true, but if I've heard right, DC actually used to give the same MBE, MEE, and MPT combination in the past. The only difference with UBE was compatibility with the "portable score" now finally harmonized. That means that prior DC bar examinees were failing the same test (I don't know the actual pass rates for any given year). I have no idea why anyone would have sat for the DC bar then instead of getting a state plus DC all the same for taking only one round of exams.

Maybe for all the years when Antioch/UDC was not ABA accredited, UDC grads could only sit for the DC Bar? I am not aware of other DC schools recently not being accredited. Whatever the answer is to those questions, I think there will be more graduates of top-100 schools sitting in DC this time around with the portable UBE scores, and probably more to come in the future now that people will know what to expect. That size of a shift would also render old years' pass rates irrelevant, even on the same testing criteria.

For anyone sitting in February, I would still expect the number to be less than in July, but probably more than the handful of previous winters (in the single digits?).

If anyone hasn't gotten the exam ID / ticket / e-mail / letter by now, call 202-879-2710 ASAP. I just got an "emergency message" about that. Maybe that should have gone out a week ago.

lawstoodent · Post by **lawstoodent** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 9:21 pm

What a crapfest

styr · Post by **styr** » Wed Jul 27, 2016 7:22 am

lawstoodent wrote:What a crapfest

Beat me to it. We should play a game here naming all the rules that were broken or inconsistently enforced. Quite the excrement show indeed.

kellyfrost · Post by **kellyfrost** » Wed Jul 27, 2016 10:19 am

styr wrote:
lawstoodent wrote:What a crapfest
Beat me to it. We should play a game here naming all the rules that were broken or inconsistently enforced. Quite the excrement show indeed.

I'm intrigued. Please elaborate.

achewood · Post by **achewood** » Wed Jul 27, 2016 10:28 am

The DC Bar is always a shitshow (I took it last year). The experiences in this post are similar to what I had.

http://abovethelaw.com/2016/02/bar-exam ... tell-time/

cho8583 · Post by **cho8583** » Wed Jul 27, 2016 10:53 am

achewood wrote:The DC Bar is always a shitshow (I took it last year). The experiences in this post are similar to what I had.

http://abovethelaw.com/2016/02/bar-exam ... tell-time/

Actually heard that story actually happened last feb. Hopefully it wont happen this time. Good luck people! Im just waiting for the stories after the exam

RetakeFrenzy · Post by **RetakeFrenzy** » Wed Jul 27, 2016 8:56 pm

http://abovethelaw.com/2016/07/reports- ... -bar-exam/

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