July 2018 Texas Bar Exam Forum

[dtjustice]

I'm setting this up for the July 2018 takers....You can also download the WhatsApp app and text me your first name if you'd like to join! It was AMAZINGLY helpful for Feb exam. Whether we passed or have to take again, the group is soooo supportive!!

Debbie
(325) 267-1160

[HMG1986]

Hi Debbie, I sent you a message on the app! Thank you for helping us out

If anyone will be in Austin, and not doing an in-person prep plan (or if you are and just want a study group) feel free to get in touch with me. I'm from Austin, but am attending law school out-of-state. I will be back in Austin on May 16th, and would love to get together with a few people to run through problems. You can reach me on the WhatsApp app at 850-339-3769

Happy end of 3L (for those graduating this semester) and happy studying!

[vandyclark]

Hello! What study prep is everyone using? I have taken BarBri in the past but don't want to use it this time. I'm trying to figure out what will be best as I start preparing

[mendianne]

If anyone knows of any bar exam tutors for texas I’d really appreciate the information. I don’t want to do a prep course again and I don’t want to study on my own again I just want to pass! Help

[ChiliBowlWonder]

Checking in. I will be sitting in Austin also. I am willing to join the whats app group. I am using the following prep:

- Barbri
- Critical Pass
- Separac

I am a full time work/part time study psychopath, lol

[eastwardway]

Happy to say I passed Texas in Feb 2018 by a safe margin. Used Themis, and now selling my materials - please see the for sale forum for my posting.

[christinabear4]

I posted this elsewhere before seeing this topic. My main question is opinions regarding taking either the Kaplan or Themis course. I already have Barbri books and Bar Flash. Also is it possible to get them to negotiate price?

[tommypickles]

Checking in. I plan to use Barbri and Critical Pass. I will be attending one of the Houston in-person Barbri courses. Moving back to TX after law school in California.

Quick question, for the Texas BLE website, how do we know our application has been approved? On the website it says submitted, and I had gotten an email saying my application was received. Are they going to send out emails later?

[christinabear4]

I went with Kaplan. I got a good discount off of published price by calling the representative. She was very nice. By comparison Themis seemed impersonal and unwilling to lower their price. I talked to some folks and read reviews posted of the companies. I couldn't find anything to justify paying substantially more for Themis. I will also be using Barbri 2016 books primarily for Texas questions and Convisor, Adaptibar, Emanual Stategies & Tactics.

I am considering flash cards, but not critical pass or brainscape. I looked at their sample cards. I just didn't think that material looked helpful after having done a number of Adaptibar and Barbri MBE questions. The questions test on multiple rules and nuances that are sometimes not even in bar review outlines. I am considering creating my own flash cards from MBE practice questions using anki, but have not done that yet. I am interested in Serious Spaced Repetition, but am concerned material may be like the other aforementioned.

[vandyclark]

You should be good to go if you receive your admission ticket. They will contact you if they have any issues, otherwise you don’t hear much from them. They don’t actually complete the investigation & approval until after the exam.

Checking in. I plan to use Barbri and Critical Pass. I will be attending one of the Houston in-person Barbri courses. Moving back to TX after law school in California.

Quick question, for the Texas BLE website, how do we know our application has been approved? On the website it says submitted, and I had gotten an email saying my application was received. Are they going to send out emails later?

[vandyclark]

I’m concerned about the P&E section. I need every point I can muster & I know the criminal P&E has been very odd since the new examiner took over. I’m trying to figure out the best way to prepare for it. Any suggestions or plans?

[tommypickles]

Okay cool. When do they send out admission tickets?

You should be good to go if you receive your admission ticket. They will contact you if they have any issues, otherwise you don’t hear much from them. They don’t actually complete the investigation & approval until after the exam.

Checking in. I plan to use Barbri and Critical Pass. I will be attending one of the Houston in-person Barbri courses. Moving back to TX after law school in California.

Quick question, for the Texas BLE website, how do we know our application has been approved? On the website it says submitted, and I had gotten an email saying my application was received. Are they going to send out emails later?

[TxBarTaker09]

If anyone knows of any bar exam tutors for texas I’d really appreciate the information. I don’t want to do a prep course again and I don’t want to study on my own again I just want to pass! Help

Depends on the section you struggled on, if its MBE, I have a recommendation, she will get you past it, she originally started PMBR before Kaplan bought her out, she knows the MBE forward and backwards.

[vandyclark]

They come out a few weeks before the bar exam, if I remember correctly. But you should know if you can't sit before then- your Analyst will let know if there is more information required or if they have an issue. Honestly, they very very seldom do!

Okay cool. When do they send out admission tickets?

You should be good to go if you receive your admission ticket. They will contact you if they have any issues, otherwise you don’t hear much from them. They don’t actually complete the investigation & approval until after the exam.

Checking in. I plan to use Barbri and Critical Pass. I will be attending one of the Houston in-person Barbri courses. Moving back to TX after law school in California.

Quick question, for the Texas BLE website, how do we know our application has been approved? On the website it says submitted, and I had gotten an email saying my application was received. Are they going to send out emails later?

[MBernard]

I’m concerned about the P&E section. I need every point I can muster & I know the criminal P&E has been very odd since the new examiner took over. I’m trying to figure out the best way to prepare for it. Any suggestions or plans?

Hey there. I passed the Feb 2018 bar and the P&E was a concern for me as well. My advice would be to look over one section of the P&E every other day and work out the answers. The more exposure you get the better you will fare. From what I remember, the civil portion of the P&E is still very easy but the criminal portion is a different story (as you have heard). The new examiner is definitely digging into minutia in an attempt to create an unnecessarily difficult exam. Expect a few questions delving into timing requirements. Fortunately, I recall the Feb. 2018 Crim. section actually repeated questions asked in July 2017. So be sure to go over those two exams first. I was told that you should aim for at least 15/20 for both sections. Good luck!

[thisiswater]

Checking in. Will be sitting in Dallas.

Using
-Themis (starts tomorrow)
- Critical Pass card

Debbie - I'll text you tomorrow about the WhatsApp group. Thanks!

[barexamracket]

Hello all,
I took and just missed passing the TX Feb exam (scored 668/1000). I did not purchase a bar prep course, but am considering one now to make sure i get over the hump. Any recommendations on the best way to go for TX? I was considering Themis, but based on the above post comparing Themis to Kaplan, maybe Kaplan is a better value. I wrote Themis explaining that my financial situation is extremely tight right now in hope of receiving a discount, but as the above poster mentioned, it doesn't appear that there is any wiggle room with them. If anyone else is interested in selling (or donating!) their TX materials, please let me know! Also, I'm planning to take CA after passing TX, so trying to find the best value for getting state specific materials for both. Does anyone know, for example, if I bought Themis (or Kaplan) for TX and passed, is there any chance that they will offer just the CA materials at a significant discount? Would appreciate any recommendations on a good plan for someone in my situation. As for the specifics of my score, I actually bombed the MPT (I had some severe eye issues the week of the exam - I've had cornea transplants in both eyes and was dealing with a bad infection in one eye, which especially inhibited me at the very start of it, and I ended up not even finishing the MPT on time), did well on TX civil and criminal, average MBE (138), and okay on most TX essays (except very uncomfortable on the oil and gas, family law and commercial paper questions, none of which I knew quite well enough). Thanks very much for any suggestions or help. Also, will join the above mentioned study group. I'm located in Fort Worth if anyone is interested in forming a study group.

[thisiswater]

Best hotel for the texas bar at arlington?

[austinselliott]

For anyone who is interested:

I just ordered BarMax to supplement my Barbri studying since they have almost 2,000 real MBE questions, unlike Barbri. Chose it over Adaptibar since you can access the questions on Barmax for life since there is no expiration. The question set also comes with analytics (which track your progress/tells you what you need to improve on). They are currently offering a 10% discount for the set of 1,750+ questions, which makes the price $270. PM if you want the 10% off code.

[austinselliott]

For anyone who is interested:

I just ordered BarMax to supplement my Barbri studying since they have almost 2,000 real MBE questions, unlike Barbri. Chose it over Adaptibar since you can access the questions on Barmax for life since there is no expiration. The question set also comes with analytics (which track your progress/tells you what you need to improve on). They are currently offering a 10% discount for the set of 1,750+ questions, which makes the price $270. PM if you want the 10% off code.

[TX_UH]

Checking in!

[thisiswater]

i hate the themis consumer rights lecturer so so much that i am not watching the lectures. i literally can't make myself do it

[Blackacrediznuts2018]

First time poster here, third time bar taker, first time *Texas* bar taker. Question/novel for anyone whose taken both the California and Texas bar exam (or any states bar before taking Texas’s). Currently find myself in a position where, after taking California bar *twice*, I’m now back home (as planned) and gearing up to take the TX bar (as was always the plan)

Now after doing the move, and mentally prepping for the sitting and mental aspect of the bar, I’ve neglected to do research up until now. And NOW I find myself with a lot of doubt due to the fact that the TX bar SO different than California’s -in subject, style and format. Just about everything but MBE/PT

So being that I went to law school in CA, im obviously comfortable with its format: *six* 1-hour essays, all classes I took in school. I know CA likes essays broken down. 1 year of practice will do that. But I don't have 1 year to practice and acquaint myself to TX’s bar. I have two months.

Some Key differences:
California has NUMEROUS resources out there that go short of a full on comprehensive prep course. There are certain websites that provide thousands of actual bar tested sample answers –not just model answers, but also answers that failed, barely passed, passed comfortably etc. There are essay frequency charts galore online which can be useful at times to gauge what will likely, and wont show up. Overall, yes California’s bar is notoriously one of the worst, its not looking so bad from the perspective of someone whose both new to TX law *and* bar exam format –yet also is 2months away.

In *TEXAS*, day 3 consists of *12* 30-minute essays. Further, there really isn’t any information available for people from different states. With the exception of BA and Real Property, all essay subjects cover classes I’ve never taken (ie., secured transactions, oil and gas, family law, consumer law etc…). Plus, all the model answers I’ve seen seem waaay different in format, organization and headings and extremely short. I’ve never even heard of the style of those *Procedure and Evidence* questions on Day 1 (answers are like 1 sentence??) All in all, relative to California’s, there really is minimal amount of information out there for people like me who went from 1 State with a unique bar to another state with its own unique bar.

I have no idea what these topics are, how to go about adjusting my writing style, what’s most often tested, or what the Texas bar examiners like to see insofar as their essays go. Seems like I have to not only learn new subjects, but I need to adjust my writing style to account for the 30min instead of 1hr essays.

Soo… yea from my end the benefit of being licensed in two states doesn't seem so advantageous at the moment –shouldve kept working. In any case, I know this may get buried in here –or may seem to lengthy to respond but I opted to create an account in a forum to ask because there really isn’t ANY anecdotal info from people who’ve been in a similar boat as me.
Can anyone who taken 1 state’s bar before taking Texas’s shed some light on how they prepared for a totally different exam? I just signed up for Reeds prep course due to (a) anxiety and (b) recommendation of the 1 sole person I know whose ever taken the Texas bar.

ANY tips, recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[dtjustice]

i hate the themis consumer rights lecturer so so much that i am not watching the lectures. i literally can't make myself do it

This is so funny to me.... I was listening to a Kaplan video and it gave me horrible flashbacks of one of my writing professors in law school. I can't make it through that video either! Our professor had (I'm sure still has) the habit of saying almost everything in a question and ending with "what." Drove us CRAZY. We only survived by counting the number of times he would say "what" and were thankful it was only writing he was trying to teach! LOL

[dtjustice]

First time poster here, third time bar taker, first time *Texas* bar taker. Question/novel for anyone whose taken both the California and Texas bar exam (or any states bar before taking Texas’s). Currently find myself in a position where, after taking California bar *twice*, I’m now back home (as planned) and gearing up to take the TX bar (as was always the plan)

Now after doing the move, and mentally prepping for the sitting and mental aspect of the bar, I’ve neglected to do research up until now. And NOW I find myself with a lot of doubt due to the fact that the TX bar SO different than California’s -in subject, style and format. Just about everything but MBE/PT

So being that I went to law school in CA, im obviously comfortable with its format: *six* 1-hour essays, all classes I took in school. I know CA likes essays broken down. 1 year of practice will do that. But I don't have 1 year to practice and acquaint myself to TX’s bar. I have two months.

Some Key differences:
California has NUMEROUS resources out there that go short of a full on comprehensive prep course. There are certain websites that provide thousands of actual bar tested sample answers –not just model answers, but also answers that failed, barely passed, passed comfortably etc. There are essay frequency charts galore online which can be useful at times to gauge what will likely, and wont show up. Overall, yes California’s bar is notoriously one of the worst, its not looking so bad from the perspective of someone whose both new to TX law *and* bar exam format –yet also is 2months away.

In *TEXAS*, day 3 consists of *12* 30-minute essays. Further, there really isn’t any information available for people from different states. With the exception of BA and Real Property, all essay subjects cover classes I’ve never taken (ie., secured transactions, oil and gas, family law, consumer law etc…). Plus, all the model answers I’ve seen seem waaay different in format, organization and headings and extremely short. I’ve never even heard of the style of those *Procedure and Evidence* questions on Day 1 (answers are like 1 sentence??) All in all, relative to California’s, there really is minimal amount of information out there for people like me who went from 1 State with a unique bar to another state with its own unique bar.

I have no idea what these topics are, how to go about adjusting my writing style, what’s most often tested, or what the Texas bar examiners like to see insofar as their essays go. Seems like I have to not only learn new subjects, but I need to adjust my writing style to account for the 30min instead of 1hr essays.

Soo… yea from my end the benefit of being licensed in two states doesn't seem so advantageous at the moment –shouldve kept working. In any case, I know this may get buried in here –or may seem to lengthy to respond but I opted to create an account in a forum to ask because there really isn’t ANY anecdotal info from people who’ve been in a similar boat as me.
Can anyone who taken 1 state’s bar before taking Texas’s shed some light on how they prepared for a totally different exam? I just signed up for REEDS prep course due to (a) anxiety and (b) recommendation of the 1 sole person I know whose ever taken the Texas bar.

ANY tips, recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated.

There are a variety of members of my WhatsApp group (2018 Texas Bar Exam)....it has first time, repeaters, all types of situations and FANTASTIC advice for preparing for Texas v. another state. Feel free to text me or send a message through WhatsApp with your name if you'd like to join us!

Deb
(325) 267-1160