Essay help needed (any essay grader recommendation?)-3rd time taker Forum

[freemark]

This July exam is my second bar exam (UBE states) and I took one whole month off to make sure I passed it this time. However, I only passed MBE with 137 but only got 119 in essay part. I could not believe that I make little progress in essay from my first time I felt I should get lots of points and did not miss that much I will take only essay part for Feb, but this decision itself means i have to improve my essay by 10 points, since i have to live with 137 MBE.

So i am looking forward to your advice for essay/MPT (I have not received my score in mail, so not sure about the grading for each essay), any good advice? Also I will really appreciate if you can make a recommendation of the essay tutor/essay grader/former bar grader you used in your preparation. I have to understand what did the grader think about.

thanks all. figure crossed for 2018 feb!

[Tony48]

How do you do your essays? Do you use the CRAC method or the IRAC method? And what would you say is your biggest issue?

[streetlawyer]

So i am looking forward to your advice for essay/MPT (I have not received my score in mail, so not sure about the grading for each essay), any good advice? Also I will really appreciate if you can make a recommendation of the essay tutor/essay grader/former bar grader you used in your preparation. I have to understand what did the grader think about.

thanks all. figure crossed for 2018 feb!

I'm in the same boat as well. I followed the BarBri program and failed by 12 points. I suggest you get your actual response back from the bar examiners so you can see what you didn't do. I would also look into what Seperac.com has to offer.

I've started my studying early (since late October), staying away from big box bar review programs like BarBri (I think that they are way behind the times and their model questions and answers are less and less useful with each administration of the exam). I'm going to study old school style. I'm spending one whole week studying the BBL of a topic (this week its Evidence) and doing an essay or two a night. I am going to rely on Seperac's outline the closer I get towards the exam to remember the things I studied weeks ago and to go over the stuff that isn't sufficiently covered in Convisor. By the time January comes around I would have finished up my studying and will concentrate on MBE questions and doing essays on a daily basis. Seperac also has a bank of answers giving by failing and passing students from prior exams that can give you an idea as to what a passing exam looks like. I think that simply being able to see what a passing exam looks like is extremely useful. Everyone has a system that works for them this one is mine.

Let me know if you are taking the Connecticut exam. It looks like Connecticut is way underrepresented here.

[JDAdvisingLLC]

It is good you are focusing on the essay -- I actually think it is much easier to improve your essay score than your MBE score. I would recommend doing the following:

-First, focus on the highly tested essay topics within each subject. There are actually a lot of topics that are tested over and over again. The NCBE certainly does not reinvent the wheel every time. By doing this, you are studying effectively and making the most of your study time. (We were able to predict the subjects as well as several of the topics for the July 2017 exam which just goes to show how predictable they are.)
- Practice!! So many students have an over-confidence when approaching the essay portion so they do not practice. This is especially true for the MPT portion, which is worth 20% of your score.
- Third, self-grade your essay answer after you practice. This means you should compare it side by side with the NCBE sample answer. Literally grade your answer as if you were a grader. Ask yourself: Was my answer well organized? Are my rule statements accurate? Did I analyze the issues correctly? I would recommend printing your answer out and then writing with a colored pen anything you would correct. (Or just type in a different color font anything you would correct.) Then keep reviewing your corrected essays.

These tips should give you a good start. I would also dissect your score report when you get it to see exactly where you did well and where you did not do so well. If you can request your essays from your jurisdiction, that would be very helpful in evaluating what you have room to improve on.