MPRE March 2019 Study Forum

[MRSP]

Hey all,

I am starting to study for the MPRE today and am using Themis. I took the MPRE once before two years ago and passed but but my score just expired out here under the Hawai'i bar rules so I need to take it again having just taken he bar exam out here and passing this past July. Thought I would start a thread for any of us prepping for the MPRE this month and help one another out.

A few tips to take or leave that helped me pass the first time:

1. What helped me the most was actually going through the outline and organizing the mandatory (must) and aspirational rules (should) in my notes outline so I could get those straight. The questions can be tricky and mixing the two up could cause many missed points.

2. I read or at least skimmed through every comment attached to each rule. I felt this helped me immensely to gain context and get examples of situations where the rules would apply. I would add those examples to my notes.

3. The test is extremely heavy on attorney-client privilege, along with conflict of interest scenarios. Don't forget the judicial conduct rules as well those are easy gimmies if you study them.

3. Do all of the practice exams or questions you can under timed conditions.

4. On test day, when reading the questions, I immediately circled must or should to determine what kind of rule it was referring to. I am a visual person and this helped me out.

5. Don't rely largely on your sense of ethics or morals to pass this thing. The questions can be tricky and the most "ethical" answer isn't always the right one.

[justanotheruser]

It's been a while since I passed the MPREs, but I remember failing the first time because I (like a fool) bought into everyone saying you could pass the darn thing with one night of cram studying.

On my retry, I got the Barbri book, did questions + reviewed for 1.5-2 hours a day, repeated this for 5 days, and passed the MPRE with flying colors.

[bacillusanthracis]

I passed the July 2018 bar too, but have yet to pass the MPRE for a gaggle of stupid reasons, mainly involving not taking it seriously enough.

So here's to third time's a charm for this POS test.

All that said, I began kind of studying with Themis a couple weeks ago and I'm in the 80s and even 90%. HOWEVER, those questions are way too easy. So I got a book, 500 MPRE Practice Questions for 2019 on Amazon, and these are much more like the real thing. The questions are long, complicated, and the answer choices are not so clear cut.

I started today with this book and it's been sobering. I'm at 60%. Granted, I've started at conflicts, which are the hardest questions, but on Themis I was cruising through the COIs like they were nothing.

The bad thing about the book is that it doesn't have answer explanations. All you have is the right answer, which may or may not provide you with enough information to understand the rule. So you end up having to look stuff up, which isn't all bad because I tend to notice other little things while doing so.

So it's a lot more work than Themis, but much more realistic.

Good luck to all of us.

[rcharter1978]

It's been a while since I passed the MPREs, but I remember failing the first time because I (like a fool) bought into everyone saying you could pass the darn thing with one night of cram studying.

On my retry, I got the Barbri book, did questions + reviewed for 1.5-2 hours a day, repeated this for 5 days, and passed the MPRE with flying colors.

Taking any test with just a cram session of studying just sounds like a bad idea, but yeah a lot of people advocated that approach.

Having said that, no need to go overboard IMO. I got the Barbri book, did practice questions and listened to some (not all) of the lectures. The practice questions seemed to be pretty spot on with the mpre questions. I definitely think doing a lot of practice questions is a good thing.

I maybe did one and a half weeks of half ass studying and I passed in California with more than enough points.

[rcharter1978]

Also, word on the street is that the most ethical answer is almost never the right one. You're supposed to think "what would Jesus do?" And then you pick the answer that is a little less ethical

[albanach]

It's been a while since I passed the MPREs, but I remember failing the first time because I (like a fool) bought into everyone saying you could pass the darn thing with one night of cram studying.

On my retry, I got the Barbri book, did questions + reviewed for 1.5-2 hours a day, repeated this for 5 days, and passed the MPRE with flying colors.

Taking any test with just a cram session of studying just sounds like a bad idea, but yeah a lot of people advocated that approach.

I think people mention it because it has worked for them. It's certainly the approach I, and a great many others I know took.

That's not to boast - I'm sure there was an element of good fortune. However, I took the MPRE with plenty of time that I could retake if I failed. I also took the exam after taking PR which is bound to make a huge difference. I think that's pretty much the ideal approach - take the exam shortly after completing PR in school (but with enough time to retake if you mess it up) and study the evening before. Then you don't waste time studying unnecessarily and have the opportunity to self-correct if it doesn't work out.

[rcharter1978]

It's been a while since I passed the MPREs, but I remember failing the first time because I (like a fool) bought into everyone saying you could pass the darn thing with one night of cram studying.

On my retry, I got the Barbri book, did questions + reviewed for 1.5-2 hours a day, repeated this for 5 days, and passed the MPRE with flying colors.

Taking any test with just a cram session of studying just sounds like a bad idea, but yeah a lot of people advocated that approach.

I think people mention it because it has worked for them. It's certainly the approach I, and a great many others I know took.

That's not to boast - I'm sure there was an element of good fortune. However, I took the MPRE with plenty of time that I could retake if I failed. I also took the exam after taking PR which is bound to make a huge difference. I think that's pretty much the ideal approach - take the exam shortly after completing PR in school (but with enough time to retake if you mess it up) and study the evening before. Then you don't waste time studying unnecessarily and have the opportunity to self-correct if it doesn't work out.

If it works for you, that's great. But for me, if I'm paying money to take an examination why take a relatively high risk of throwing that money away with the idea that you can just pay the money again to take the exam? Seems easier just to put in a reasonable amount of effort to pass the first try. However, I was in a different position because I had passed the bar before I took the MPRE.

But I'd like to think that I wouldn't have wanted to take what I consider a risky study strategy for any examination that I paid money to take.

FWIW, I didn't find my PR class nearly as helpful as the Barbri materials. Honestly, I think people could easily get away with not taking a PR class (it was required at my school) and just doing 2 weeks of kinda half studying with the Barbri materials and do fine. But a night of cramming is not a strategy that I would use or suggest for any exam. Though, as you've said it worked for you and others, so mileage clearly varies.

[albanach]

If it works for you, that's great. But for me, if I'm paying money to take an examination why take a relatively high risk of throwing that money away with the idea that you can just pay the money again to take the exam? Seems easier just to put in a reasonable amount of effort to pass the first try. However, I was in a different position because I had passed the bar before I took the MPRE.

I think a lot hangs on timing. The cost is a little over $100 bucks which, compared to $200k in law school tuition, barely registers in the total cost of a US legal education. If you're taking the exam during the school year, the priority is generally law school exams - certainly for anyone who doesn't have a graduation job lined up. So cramming on a Friday evening minimizes the impact on school and the financial hit for retaking is comparatively small.

Had I been taking the exam post-bar, the cost/benefit equation would look quite different, as would my approach.

[MRSP]

Thanks for the heads up about Themis being on the easy side! I am just starting their MPRE study so I will look into extra questions

I passed the July 2018 bar too, but have yet to pass the MPRE for a gaggle of stupid reasons, mainly involving not taking it seriously enough.

So here's to third time's a charm for this POS test.

All that said, I began kind of studying with Themis a couple weeks ago and I'm in the 80s and even 90%. HOWEVER, those questions are way too easy. So I got a book, 500 MPRE Practice Questions for 2019 on Amazon, and these are much more like the real thing. The questions are long, complicated, and the answer choices are not so clear cut.

I started today with this book and it's been sobering. I'm at 60%. Granted, I've started at conflicts, which are the hardest questions, but on Themis I was cruising through the COIs like they were nothing.

The bad thing about the book is that it doesn't have answer explanations. All you have is the right answer, which may or may not provide you with enough information to understand the rule. So you end up having to look stuff up, which isn't all bad because I tend to notice other little things while doing so.

So it's a lot more work than Themis, but much more realistic.

Good luck to all of us.

[bacillusanthracis]

Also, word on the street is that the most ethical answer is almost never the right one. You're supposed to think "what would Jesus do?" And then you pick the answer that is a little less ethical

No offense to you personally, but that's terrible advice.

[rcharter1978]

Also, word on the street is that the most ethical answer is almost never the right one. You're supposed to think "what would Jesus do?" And then you pick the answer that is a little less ethical

No offense to you personally, but that's terrible advice.

None taken. It's not my personal advice, mostly because I doubt jesus would find himself in these sticky ethical dilemmas to begin with, and I'm sure I couldnt know what he would do if he did.

I mostly just did the Barbri multiple choice questions which were a lot like the test questions IMO.

[Bingo_Bongo]

I think you can absolutely pass the MPRE without studying... if you take it right after your Ethics class, and that Ethics class actually covers the ABA rules in detail, and you still have the material fresh in your head. That's what I did when I took it. But I think the MPRE is a very underestimated test. You can pass it with minimal studying, but you DO need to put in that minimal studying and not just wing it.

But a good rule about law school is to never believe what other students say, especially when they're talking about how much they studied for something.

It's cool to say, "Yeah, I AmJur'd that class after I strolled into the final hung over, got up in the middle of it and lit up a joint, walked over to the student union and [misogynistic content redacted], came back, took a nap. Then I woke up and realized I hadn't studied a damn thing, but I just started writing and I got the highest grade in the class because I'm just so freaking smart. How'd you do?"

It's not so cool to say, "Yeah, for the last month I've been studying neurotically with absolutely no social life..."

[MRSP]

How is everyone feeling for tomorrow? For themis users- how did you score on the practice tests and practice questions? I am just doing practice questions up until tomorrow

[LaShuanMichelle]

I feel pretty good. I also failed it a few times because of not studying or studying the day before & doing a practice exam. I always get a score between 65 - 70...

This time I studied for about 2 weeks, a couple of hours 4-5 days a week & I feels pretty good. I took 3 practice exams based on retired questions... I got 46 out of 60, then 43 out of 60 and then 58 out of 60 (but this was pretty much a repeat of the questions in the first 2 exams).

I was reading that if you get 33 - 35 of the questions correct than your scaled score should be around 75.

Based on that I am feeling great.

Wishing everyone the best of luck... I’ll check back in around the first week of May!

[QContinuum]

If it works for you, that's great. But for me, if I'm paying money to take an examination why take a relatively high risk of throwing that money away with the idea that you can just pay the money again to take the exam? Seems easier just to put in a reasonable amount of effort to pass the first try. However, I was in a different position because I had passed the bar before I took the MPRE.

I think a lot hangs on timing. The cost is a little over $100 bucks which, compared to $200k in law school tuition, barely registers in the total cost of a US legal education. If you're taking the exam during the school year, the priority is generally law school exams - certainly for anyone who doesn't have a graduation job lined up. So cramming on a Friday evening minimizes the impact on school and the financial hit for retaking is comparatively small.

Had I been taking the exam post-bar, the cost/benefit equation would look quite different, as would my approach.

I agree law school grades >>> MPRE score (which literally doesn't matter so long as you pass). However, hardly anyone studies nonstop during the school year. The MPRE test dates are in late March, early August, and early November. None of those test dates falls in that critical period right before/after finals. I find it exceedingly unlikely and implausible that studying more than one night for the MPRE would have any discernible impact on one's law school GPA. No one's recommending that people skip classes and lock up their casebooks for two weeks to do MPRE prep.

My recommendation is to do 3-4 half-days of studying using commercial prep materials, spread out over the week before the MPRE.

I also don't think it's helpful to compare the MPRE's $125 cost with law school tuition. Yes, almost every expense pales in comparison with law school tuition. That doesn't mean it's a good idea to start lighting $50 bills on fire as a stress-relief mechanism, for example, even though that expense would also pale in comparison to $200k. There are so many better things to do with $125 than to donate it to the NCBE for the "privilege" of spending half of a perfectly good Saturday at a test center.

Anyhow, best of luck to all of our TLSers taking the March 2019 iteration! You guys are making history as the last cohort to take a "pure" LSAC-administered MPRE prior to the shift to a digital test.

[March232019MPRE]

I found this exam to be easy. I hope my results reflect my experience. Studied with barbri, took all three practice exams 3 times each until I was averaging 92%. The actual exam seemed much easier than barbri practice exams. Kudos to barbri!

[QContinuum]

I found this exam to be easy. I hope my results reflect my experience. Studied with barbri, took all three practice exams 3 times each until I was averaging 92%. The actual exam seemed much easier than barbri practice exams. Kudos to barbri!

If you were averaging 92% on PTs, of course it's to be expected that you would find the actual test "easy."

Congrats on your strong performance and kudos on your diligent preparation.

[Jmart082]

I found this exam to be easy. I hope my results reflect my experience. Studied with barbri, took all three practice exams 3 times each until I was averaging 92%. The actual exam seemed much easier than barbri practice exams. Kudos to barbri!

Definitely did not prepare this diligently, and because of it, found the actual exam to be more difficult than the practice exams provided by BarBri. That being said, if you put in this kind of work, it stands to reason that you wouldn't have much trouble with the real thing. Congrats.

[March232019MPRE]

I have yet to see the results, I am simply saying I felt very good about the exam. For me, circumstances were such that I was not working for the month prior to the exam and had no other responsibilities, ... so I simply immersed myself in the materials. This exam is not rocket science, but not studying IMO is not good as the questions are worded in ways to distinguish those that studied from those that did not. I strongly believe, however, that if some studying was engaged in, the chances of attaining an 86 is not too difficult. From reading other forums, I think many either struggle to make sufficient time for study due o other obligations; or, take the exam too lightly as some are under the belief that the exam is a cake walk such that little or no study is required. IMO, I think this exam really should be taken more seriously. I have worked with attorneys and they are tripped up more by ethical issues than any other issues. Ultimately, failing to meet your ethical obligations in practice can destroy your future career. Finally. IMO, the exam has nothing to do with determining how ethical you are or how ethically you think, ... the exam is designed to determine if you know the ethical rules.

I wish everyone the best of luck!

[March232019MPRE]

BTW, my study pattern was as follows:

BARBRI,

1. Read outlines as directed by course (I did not watch video lectures),
2. Took the three practice exams three times (after taking the practice exams, I outlined every question I missed taking note of the rules, ... for me, putting "pen to paper" helped me to commit the rules to memory), and
3. The above was begun exactly one month before the exam and concluded the day before the exam. My goal was to pace myself so that the rules would remain fresh in my mind.

[March232019MPRE]

NCBE@NCBEX
Posted Apr 1, 2019

Scores for the March MPRE will be posted April 18, 2019.

[Ankc]

NCBE@NCBEX
Posted Apr 1, 2019

Scores for the March MPRE will be posted April 18, 2019.

Hi, where did you get this info? I was looking for a while and couldn't find anything although I guess it takes 4 weeks. Thanks

[March232019MPRE]

https://twitter.com/hashtag/mpre?lang=en

it's a twitter post by the NCBE.

[Omoboy]

Read on another forum that the result is usually posted a day to the anticipated official release day. Hopefully,I will be released today.

[legallyadog]

Scores are up.