2019 July Pennsylvania (PA) Bar Exam Forum

[gooptroop456]

Hi all - starting a thread b/c...why not?

Former PA passers - any advice on writing / studying for essays?

Current PA studiers - how are y'all feeling?

[max_p]

Took the NJ bar and passed last July. Studying for PA now while working. PA not being UBE totally sucks but overall I feel just as prepared as I did when I took NJ. The amount of topics on the PA exam is definitely a struggle though.

[kms181]

Passed PA July 2018

Personally, I didn't do a whole ton of practice essays, but I did read the prompts and model answers for many. Sometimes I would read the essay and just outline my answer (each issue, rule, application and analysis in bullet points) and compare that to the model. Highlight what you missed and what you got correct.

TBH, studying the MBE questions really helped with the essays because you learn the black letter law. I found they aren't really trying to trick you in the essays- just go through slowly to make sure that you have answered EVERY QUESTION, and that you answered it completely. Even with a half wrong or missing rule, if you apply what you're stating with good analysis/reasoning you will still get points.

As for the MPT, I only did 3-4 of them completely, and that's because they were assignments for legal writing in law school. These too are basically easy points- just follow the directions, all the answers are there. I also wouldn't recommend doing the other essays before this- many people try this and spend too much time on them, only to leave the MPT unfinished. Again, these are easy, higher weighted points. Just crank it out and then switch gears to focus on the other essays.

Don't panic, make yourself eat a good breakfast and lunch and get plenty of sleep.

[PALawyer]

Hi folks,
I passed the PA bar in 2018. After graduating law school I needed to make money immediately so I began document review through Special Counsel. Given the fact that I needed to begin working full time immediately, I learned all South Carolina Law in law school and needed to bring myself up to speed on the PA distinctions, and that my daughter was 8 months at the time i decided to delay taking the bar until February. This is not ideal for everyone (especially many of you as I know you are preparing to sit for the exam in just a few short weeks) but for me it's what made the most sense.

In terms of actual bar prep, my advice would be to do as many multiple choice questions as you can. I did over 2800 practice multiple choice questions from various resources (Barbri, Kaplan, Emanuel's) which really helped because I got a ton of exposure to different styles and formats and felt prepared for the questions on the actual bar.

My goal was to complete 60 essays. I was able to find previous PA exams online which really helped. I completed about 10 previous PA MPT's.

Given the amount of time I had to prepare I probably did more than many but I really felt prepared. You can never feel 100% confident when taking the bar but I had plenty of time and I felt as though I had a pretty good grasp on all of the material. After passing the bar Special Counsel helped me land a full time position as a corporate attorney.

[aw2768]

Does anyone have an idea if the results will be posted this upcoming Friday? I’m hoping for an email today telling us to expect them, but knowing PA they will wait til next week.

[rwhyAn]

Last year, the results were posted on 10/5 and we got an email two days before notifying us of the release date. Best of luck, everyone!