Graded essays (Barbri)? Trust the scores? Forum

[pfunkera]

So I turned one of my essays in and I thought it was worth a 1 or 2 at the most but got a 4. There were 3 questions to answer but I came to the wrong conclusion on 2 of them plus I did not discuss the relevant law in one of them. I was a little freaked out after I completed the essay without notes and in the 30 minute time frame. I felt like I needed to study WAY more to even come close to a passing essay grades. I have no clue why the essay is worth a 4, do you get points for just sounding like you know what you are talking about even though you don't?

Can I actually trust these grades? I don't want to kill myself with the remaining time if this is all I need to do. Thanks for any replies, I am basically alone studying for this. This forum helps my sanity

[MissT]

So I turned one of my essays in and I thought it was worth a 1 or 2 at the most but got a 4. There were 3 questions to answer but I came to the wrong conclusion on 2 of them plus I did not discuss the relevant law in one of them. I was a little freaked out after I completed the essay without notes and in the 30 minute time frame. I felt like I needed to study WAY more to even come close to a passing essay grades. I have no clue why the essay is worth a 4, do you get points for just sounding like you know what you are talking about even though you don't?

Can I actually trust these grades? I don't want to kill myself with the remaining time if this is all I need to do. Thanks for any replies, I am basically alone studying for this. This forum helps my sanity

I’ve submitted some essays for grading to Barbri that I thought were absolutely atrocious- straight out incorrect misapplication of the facts, bad law, issues that I totally missed... and i’ve gotten well over passing scores on them all. On the other hand, many people have complained that they submitted an answer that hit all the points and was well-written, but got an “F” from Barbri, so who knows. I would just continue what you’re doing!

P.S. I took am studying on my own. It’s really isolating and can be bad for your insanity at times lol.

[Mr. Archer]

Some of the essays you can miss a ton of points and still get a passing grade. Others, missing a major issue might keep you from passing. You also might get a bump for a well-written essay even if your conclusion or discussion of the law wasn't completely correct. You should compare your own essay to the model answer, which should be an answer that is definitely passing but not necessarily perfect. In any case, you should never leave an answer blank. Just take a stab at what you think the law is and then apply the law to fact. You're bound to get some points, which is better than nothing. Also, I would generally not trust someone who says they wrote a great essay but got like a 1 or 2 out of 6 unless you see the essay for yourself. Sometimes people think they did great and can't accept that they just didn't do the essay correctly (i.e., gave correct conclusions and think that's all that matters but missed tons of points by not following IRAC or CIRAC formatting).

[Nicolena.]

Does anyone have suggestions for essay grading since Barbri seems unreliable?

[RCinDNA]

Download some old exams with model answers and start comparing your attempts to the model answers.

TBH, though, I would love if someone could release official score keys - that would be more useful than doing the practice essays released.

[pfunkera]

The model answers in the Barbri book are not helpful because I doubt I can write those with my notes in front of me and 3 times as much time. The model answers released from actual Bar exams are also not helpful because they are the 1 or 2 best answers from a pool of a couple hundred people. I could care less about having the best answer, I just want a passing answer.

I am turning another one in later today - I'll see how that goes. 13 days, 2 hours, 41 minutes until this misery is over!

[Thecharmishere]

The model answers in the Barbri book are not helpful because I doubt I can write those with my notes in front of me and 3 times as much time. The model answers released from actual Bar exams are also not helpful because they are the 1 or 2 best answers from a pool of a couple hundred people. I could care less about having the best answer, I just want a passing answer.

I am turning another one in later today - I'll see how that goes. 13 days, 2 hours, 41 minutes until this misery is over!

The first 8 essays for each subject in Barbri's book represents the highly tested topics.
Use Barbri's model answer narrow down topics and to study these topics and how they are tested or at least review them in case something similar will come up in the exam.

[pfunkera]

So the one I turned in yesterday they got back to me quickly. I thought I hit more of the points and my answer was way better than the other one but I only got a 3 this time. The reviewer seemed a little irritated with my answers but I got the notice of the completed review after midnight so they must have been reviewing them all day.

I will be doing mostly essays from now until the exam. The ones I turned in were the only ones I did so far. I need to hit the "buzzwords" more.