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Hi TLS!

It's been week 4 of bar prep (coming into week 5). And I've been really really discouraged about how to approach these performance tests.... It's been taking me TWICE as long to do them, and sometimes I didnt even hit all the little legal nuances that the model answer has.

The people that I've talked to so far seems to find these really easy, which kind of makes it more discouraging to think about how much I'm struggling with it. I've always interned at transactional related jos, so I didnt have much exposure to these type of memos (aside from the legal writing classes I had as a 1L).

If anyone has struggled and found a tip to approach these faster and more methodologically, please help a struggling bar prep student out? I've been trying to put more practice into these, as much as the crazy Barbri schedule would let me do it without getting too behind...

placidstate wrote:Hi TLS!

It's been week 4 of bar prep (coming into week 5). And I've been really really discouraged about how to approach these performance tests.... It's been taking me TWICE as long to do them, and sometimes I didnt even hit all the little legal nuances that the model answer has.

The people that I've talked to so far seems to find these really easy, which kind of makes it more discouraging to think about how much I'm struggling with it. I've always interned at transactional related jos, so I didnt have much exposure to these type of memos (aside from the legal writing classes I had as a 1L).

If anyone has struggled and found a tip to approach these faster and more methodologically, please help a struggling bar prep student out? I've been trying to put more practice into these, as much as the crazy Barbri schedule would let me do it without getting too behind...

You are not alone

I gained a modicum of confidence by “ practicing” all the PTs that are downloadable from the NCBE website. The included Point Sheets for each gave me insights on how to score points. Every Sunday I practiced a PT.

The Chicago Bar Association has a video on YouTube in which Patrick Gould explains an “always be writing” approach that I found helpful to make the best use of the limited time. I finished the July 2018 PT with time to spare.

A search of this site using the term “PT” will give you tips from others on PTs. A user named Moabit had good tips.

Practice, practice, practice...you will probably never feel competent, but you will get better at them with practice.

ReasonablePersonSSC wrote:

placidstate wrote:Hi TLS!

It's been week 4 of bar prep (coming into week 5). And I've been really really discouraged about how to approach these performance tests.... It's been taking me TWICE as long to do them, and sometimes I didnt even hit all the little legal nuances that the model answer has.

The people that I've talked to so far seems to find these really easy, which kind of makes it more discouraging to think about how much I'm struggling with it. I've always interned at transactional related jos, so I didnt have much exposure to these type of memos (aside from the legal writing classes I had as a 1L).

If anyone has struggled and found a tip to approach these faster and more methodologically, please help a struggling bar prep student out? I've been trying to put more practice into these, as much as the crazy Barbri schedule would let me do it without getting too behind...

You are not alone

I gained a modicum of confidence by “ practicing” all the PTs that are downloadable from the NCBE website. The included Point Sheets for each gave me insights on how to score points. Every Sunday I practiced a PT.

The Chicago Bar Association has a video on YouTube in which Patrick Gould explains an “always be writing” approach that I found helpful to make the best use of the limited time. I finished the July 2018 PT with time to spare.

A search of this site using the term “PT” will give you tips from others on PTs. A user named Moabit had good tips.

Practice, practice, practice...you will probably never feel competent, but you will get better at them with practice.

Thanks for the helpful and encouraging response ReasonablePersonSSC, I'll check out these resources and keep my head up. I feel like the Bar Exam is half mental game and trying not to get too discouraged early on haha

I had the hardest time with the PTs when I took the California bar several years back. I was consistently scoring 80-90% on the MBEs, and getting 70+s on the BARBRI essays, but when it came to the PTs for some reason I just wouldn't shine and all my classmates who usually under-performed me ending up outdoing me everytime. I just couldn't write that good of a work product incorporating ALL the facts and law that the model answers wanted in the short amount of time. Which was weird, because I've always been one to be able to research and draft memos way quicker than my colleagues IRL. I think part of my problem was that in real life I was always inclined to sift through the B.S., get to the heart of the matter, and really just attack the thing that the issue will turn on. These PTs want you to incorporate every little stupid fact into the answer, which I personally don't think is necessary for a real work product.

I never really mastered the PT. Going into the bar, BARBRI was still telling me that I was scoring 50-55 on them. I still passed. I have no idea how I did on the PTs, but my MBE and subject essays must have been good enough that I didn't need to do well on the PT section. Maybe that can be your strategy, too.

ReasonablePersonSSC wrote:

placidstate wrote:Hi TLS!

It's been week 4 of bar prep (coming into week 5). And I've been really really discouraged about how to approach these performance tests.... It's been taking me TWICE as long to do them, and sometimes I didnt even hit all the little legal nuances that the model answer has.

The people that I've talked to so far seems to find these really easy, which kind of makes it more discouraging to think about how much I'm struggling with it. I've always interned at transactional related jos, so I didnt have much exposure to these type of memos (aside from the legal writing classes I had as a 1L).

If anyone has struggled and found a tip to approach these faster and more methodologically, please help a struggling bar prep student out? I've been trying to put more practice into these, as much as the crazy Barbri schedule would let me do it without getting too behind...

You are not alone

I gained a modicum of confidence by “ practicing” all the PTs that are downloadable from the NCBE website. The included Point Sheets for each gave me insights on how to score points. Every Sunday I practiced a PT.

The Chicago Bar Association has a video on YouTube in which Patrick Gould explains an “always be writing” approach that I found helpful to make the best use of the limited time. I finished the July 2018 PT with time to spare.

A search of this site using the term “PT” will give you tips from others on PTs. A user named Moabit had good tips.

Practice, practice, practice...you will probably never feel competent, but you will get better at them with practice.

Here's the link to the Patrick Gould video referenced above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbg4G93E--k