NY Bar Feb Exam: Support Group Forum

[myrtlewinston]

Here goes, NY Sea and Starryski.

[a mouse duh]

My boyfriend recently failed the NY bar--by 5 points. I recently passed the TX bar, and stalking these forums helped a lot. I know the way I studied, and I know it worked for me, but I'm trying to help him develop a new strategy for himself to own the February exam. He took BarBri over the summer, so he is signed up again for free. However, the "class"/schedule does not begin until 12/21.

For any retakers who were successful on your second try, how did you decide where to pick up your studies? What did you do to start or while you were waiting for your "class"? He is signing up for Seperac to help with essays, and perhaps Adaptibar to get an extra MBE edge.

Any advice about how to hit the ground running in an efficient manner? (Just start doing more AMPs? Start outlining MBE subject? Start doing practice tests? Start reading CMR chapters?)

[NY_Sea]

My boyfriend recently failed the NY bar--by 5 points. I recently passed the TX bar, and stalking these forums helped a lot. I know the way I studied, and I know it worked for me, but I'm trying to help him develop a new strategy for himself to own the February exam. He took BarBri over the summer, so he is signed up again for free. However, the "class"/schedule does not begin until 12/21.

For any retakers who were successful on your second try, how did you decide where to pick up your studies? What did you do to start or while you were waiting for your "class"? He is signing up for Seperac to help with essays, and perhaps Adaptibar to get an extra MBE edge.

Any advice about how to hit the ground running in an efficient manner? (Just start doing more AMPs? Start outlining MBE subject? Start doing practice tests? Start reading CMR chapters?)

Sorry to your BF... My GF and I had the exact same outcome as you two. Both took NY and she passed while I failed by 11 points. As for studying, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of BARBRI's stuff just doesn't work for me... The way that BARBRI uses AMPs is dumb. Taking AMPs before you've reviewed the material is pointless to me. Maybe I'll flip it around and do them after I look over a particular subject, but doing them before just seems like setting you up to get discouraged when in reality, you really shouldn't be since you haven't gone over the material yet.

Until the class starts I've just been reading my outlines/CP cards and doing questions on Adaptibar... Don't really know what else to do aside from maybe throw some essays into the mix. I'm also working full time so I try to get 20 hours a week in (2 hours a night after work and 5 hours a day on the weekends)... I'm thinking that will be enough for what is essentially a refresher and the fact that I'm going to be practicing more MBE Qs, which I didn't the first time around and was my downfall, I think will help me.

[iwantmybar]

I'm in.

I wanted to go to the Library on saturday but given the events in Paris, it was closed so I started today to read smartbarprep outline (I bought it last july ) .

I also bought again Adaptibar.

I 'm not going to take a bar prep again, I kept my books from LLM Bar exam which were okay.

I might try to buy some questions from barbrii though because a lot of people said shit about barbri and the preparation given for the MBE but they actually passed....

Personally I think I just need to rock the MBE (I scored 121).

[NY_Sea]

Almost 3 weeks into studying and I've at least looked over and started to do MBE Qs for Evidence, Ks, Torts, and Property... Stopped doing AMPs because I feel the way that BARBRI utilizes them makes no sense (do them BEFORE you watch the lectures?). Scoring low 60% in sporadic questions, but that seems to be getting better the more and more I read the outlines (which makes sense haha). How does everyone else do the outline/Qs balance? I think I'm going to start doing a system where I don't do Qs until I read through the outline 3 times.

What's everyone else's plan system for studying and doing practice Qs?

[nyny]

Almost 3 weeks into studying and I've at least looked over and started to do MBE Qs for Evidence, Ks, Torts, and Property... Stopped doing AMPs because I feel the way that BARBRI utilizes them makes no sense (do them BEFORE you watch the lectures?). Scoring low 60% in sporadic questions, but that seems to be getting better the more and more I read the outlines (which makes sense haha). How does everyone else do the outline/Qs balance? I think I'm going to start doing a system where I don't do Qs until I read through the outline 3 times.

What's everyone else's plan system for studying and doing practice Qs?

Amps are totally pointless, I attribute failing the exam to wasting so much time on trying to complete the entire barbri course that I did not study important things... Amps could easily take an hour and a half out of your day for no apparent reason.

Truth be told I would not even redo the lectures, that another 3 hours per day when you already have the notes from the last time you took the exam. So between the amps and lectures you wasting 4 hours that you truly do not have to waste. You have to study smarter not harder. Watching the lectures again will have you learn the materials again in a different way from a different professor.

As a repeater I used my old lecture notes, and issue spotted all 150 or so essays in the Barbri Model Essay book. Then I did about 3000 MBE's on Adaptibar. I know there are about 1800 adaptibar questions but I repeated a lot of them. That jumped my mbe from 126 to 148.

The bolded is what I did during my study prep and I passed. Study smarter, not harder.

[HLBE689]

Hi all - I have a set of critical pass flash cards that I purchased brand new for $100. I wrote the NY distinctions on most of the cards to which any distinctions apply, so I am trying to re-sell them to a NY taker/re-taker, for obvious reasons!

I would like to sell them for half price at $50. If anyone is interested, PM me.

I know many people find these to simply regurgitate the CMR, but for those not using Barbri they would definitely be helpful. And even for those that are using Barbri, I liked using the flashcards before bed, while walking around, etc. It was nice to mix it up.

Edited to add: includes Civ Pro

[starryski]

Almost 3 weeks into studying and I've at least looked over and started to do MBE Qs for Evidence, Ks, Torts, and Property... Stopped doing AMPs because I feel the way that BARBRI utilizes them makes no sense (do them BEFORE you watch the lectures?). Scoring low 60% in sporadic questions, but that seems to be getting better the more and more I read the outlines (which makes sense haha). How does everyone else do the outline/Qs balance? I think I'm going to start doing a system where I don't do Qs until I read through the outline 3 times.

What's everyone else's plan system for studying and doing practice Qs?

Amps are totally pointless, I attribute failing the exam to wasting so much time on trying to complete the entire barbri course that I did not study important things... Amps could easily take an hour and a half out of your day for no apparent reason.

Truth be told I would not even redo the lectures, that another 3 hours per day when you already have the notes from the last time you took the exam. So between the amps and lectures you wasting 4 hours that you truly do not have to waste. You have to study smarter not harder. Watching the lectures again will have you learn the materials again in a different way from a different professor.

As a repeater I used my old lecture notes, and issue spotted all 150 or so essays in the Barbri Model Essay book. Then I did about 3000 MBE's on Adaptibar. I know there are about 1800 adaptibar questions but I repeated a lot of them. That jumped my mbe from 126 to 148.

The bolded is what I did during my study prep and I passed. Study smarter, not harder.

126 to 148? goals.

[NY_Sea]

126 to 148? goals.

I think it's doable if do somewhere near that number of Qs... Even since I wrote my comment yesterday I've started to kind of pick out the fact patterns that correlate with certain topics tested. Issue spotted and wrote rules/conlusions a couple past essays and got everything, so it kind of cemented for me that the MBE and how they word questions is probably my things.

You can do it starry!!

[myrtlewinston]

Almost 3 weeks into studying and I've at least looked over and started to do MBE Qs for Evidence, Ks, Torts, and Property... Stopped doing AMPs because I feel the way that BARBRI utilizes them makes no sense (do them BEFORE you watch the lectures?). Scoring low 60% in sporadic questions, but that seems to be getting better the more and more I read the outlines (which makes sense haha). How does everyone else do the outline/Qs balance? I think I'm going to start doing a system where I don't do Qs until I read through the outline 3 times.

What's everyone else's plan system for studying and doing practice Qs?

Amps are totally pointless, I attribute failing the exam to wasting so much time on trying to complete the entire barbri course that I did not study important things... Amps could easily take an hour and a half out of your day for no apparent reason.

Truth be told I would not even redo the lectures, that another 3 hours per day when you already have the notes from the last time you took the exam. So between the amps and lectures you wasting 4 hours that you truly do not have to waste. You have to study smarter not harder. Watching the lectures again will have you learn the materials again in a different way from a different professor.

As a repeater I used my old lecture notes, and issue spotted all 150 or so essays in the Barbri Model Essay book. Then I did about 3000 MBE's on Adaptibar. I know there are about 1800 adaptibar questions but I repeated a lot of them. That jumped my mbe from 126 to 148.

The bolded is what I did during my study prep and I passed. Study smarter, not harder.

Hi,
I took Barbri in preparation for the July Bar, but didn't pass. Did you read the Conviser or just the lecture notes? What did you do for the MPT? Thanks.

[UnfrozenCaveman]

This sounds stupid, but I feel like I'm missing something. All we need is to register online and then send in the handwriting sample and we are good to go? Is there anything else I need to do? Do they send location assignments later?

[starryski]

126 to 148? goals.

I think it's doable if do somewhere near that number of Qs... Even since I wrote my comment yesterday I've started to kind of pick out the fact patterns that correlate with certain topics tested. Issue spotted and wrote rules/conlusions a couple past essays and got everything, so it kind of cemented for me that the MBE and how they word questions is probably my things.

You can do it starry!!

thanks! WE can do it! and i definitely see similar fact patterns with different twists (using adaptibar)

[NY_Sea]

This sounds stupid, but I feel like I'm missing something. All we need is to register online and then send in the handwriting sample and we are good to go? Is there anything else I need to do? Do they send location assignments later?

Don't even need to send in the handwriting sample I think... They'll ask you for a new one if they need it. They send location assignments maybe 2ish weeks out from the exam. At least that's how it was in July.

[NY_Sea]

126 to 148? goals.

I think it's doable if do somewhere near that number of Qs... Even since I wrote my comment yesterday I've started to kind of pick out the fact patterns that correlate with certain topics tested. Issue spotted and wrote rules/conlusions a couple past essays and got everything, so it kind of cemented for me that the MBE and how they word questions is probably my things.

You can do it starry!!

thanks! WE can do it! and i definitely see similar fact patterns with different twists (using adaptibar)

I'm seeing that too... I'm also just seeing what they're asking for with more consistency now. Idk what I did the first go around, but it seems like it's quite a bit easier this time. It's gonna be just as horrible to try and memorize outlines as last time for the last couple weeks, but other than that, reviewing my outlines and doing practice MBE/Essays seems to be working a lot better this time.

[UnfrozenCaveman]

This sounds stupid, but I feel like I'm missing something. All we need is to register online and then send in the handwriting sample and we are good to go? Is there anything else I need to do? Do they send location assignments later?

Don't even need to send in the handwriting sample I think... They'll ask you for a new one if they need it. They send location assignments maybe 2ish weeks out from the exam. At least that's how it was in July.

Sorry, I should add that I'm a first time taker.

[NY_Sea]

This sounds stupid, but I feel like I'm missing something. All we need is to register online and then send in the handwriting sample and we are good to go? Is there anything else I need to do? Do they send location assignments later?

Don't even need to send in the handwriting sample I think... They'll ask you for a new one if they need it. They send location assignments maybe 2ish weeks out from the exam. At least that's how it was in July.

Sorry, I should add that I'm a first time taker.

My school had a graduation fair where we would go and do a handwriting sample and then the school would send them off to BOLE... I have no idea how it goes otherwise.

[NY_Sea]

thanks! WE can do it! and i definitely see similar fact patterns with different twists (using adaptibar)

What's your study schedule look like, Starry?

[nyny]

Almost 3 weeks into studying and I've at least looked over and started to do MBE Qs for Evidence, Ks, Torts, and Property... Stopped doing AMPs because I feel the way that BARBRI utilizes them makes no sense (do them BEFORE you watch the lectures?). Scoring low 60% in sporadic questions, but that seems to be getting better the more and more I read the outlines (which makes sense haha). How does everyone else do the outline/Qs balance? I think I'm going to start doing a system where I don't do Qs until I read through the outline 3 times.

What's everyone else's plan system for studying and doing practice Qs?

Amps are totally pointless, I attribute failing the exam to wasting so much time on trying to complete the entire barbri course that I did not study important things... Amps could easily take an hour and a half out of your day for no apparent reason.

Truth be told I would not even redo the lectures, that another 3 hours per day when you already have the notes from the last time you took the exam. So between the amps and lectures you wasting 4 hours that you truly do not have to waste. You have to study smarter not harder. Watching the lectures again will have you learn the materials again in a different way from a different professor.

As a repeater I used my old lecture notes, and issue spotted all 150 or so essays in the Barbri Model Essay book. Then I did about 3000 MBE's on Adaptibar. I know there are about 1800 adaptibar questions but I repeated a lot of them. That jumped my mbe from 126 to 148.

The bolded is what I did during my study prep and I passed. Study smarter, not harder.

Hi,
I took Barbri in preparation for the July Bar, but didn't pass. Did you read the Conviser or just the lecture notes? What did you do for the MPT? Thanks.

Sorry for the late response, but I did use the Conviser (which was the smaller outlines) and the larger NY Outlines from Barbri. I made sure I knew the NY laws cold though, mainly using my lecture notes.

For the MPT I looked at Barbri's MPT book about two weeks prior to the exam to learn what type of MPTs could be tested. But truth be told the MPT could be anything, even something we never seen. Just make sure you devote the entire 90 minutes they recommend for it (45 mins to read thoroughly and set it up, and then 45 mins to write). Its hard to do the MPT correctly in less than 90 mins.

[myrtlewinston]

Almost 3 weeks into studying and I've at least looked over and started to do MBE Qs for Evidence, Ks, Torts, and Property... Stopped doing AMPs because I feel the way that BARBRI utilizes them makes no sense (do them BEFORE you watch the lectures?). Scoring low 60% in sporadic questions, but that seems to be getting better the more and more I read the outlines (which makes sense haha). How does everyone else do the outline/Qs balance? I think I'm going to start doing a system where I don't do Qs until I read through the outline 3 times.

What's everyone else's plan system for studying and doing practice Qs?

Amps are totally pointless, I attribute failing the exam to wasting so much time on trying to complete the entire barbri course that I did not study important things... Amps could easily take an hour and a half out of your day for no apparent reason.

Truth be told I would not even redo the lectures, that another 3 hours per day when you already have the notes from the last time you took the exam. So between the amps and lectures you wasting 4 hours that you truly do not have to waste. You have to study smarter not harder. Watching the lectures again will have you learn the materials again in a different way from a different professor.

As a repeater I used my old lecture notes, and issue spotted all 150 or so essays in the Barbri Model Essay book. Then I did about 3000 MBE's on Adaptibar. I know there are about 1800 adaptibar questions but I repeated a lot of them. That jumped my mbe from 126 to 148.

The bolded is what I did during my study prep and I passed. Study smarter, not harder.

Hi,
I took Barbri in preparation for the July Bar, but didn't pass. Did you read the Conviser or just the lecture notes? What did you do for the MPT? Thanks.

Sorry for the late response, but I did use the Conviser (which was the smaller outlines) and the larger NY Outlines from Barbri. I made sure I knew the NY laws cold though, mainly using my lecture notes.

For the MPT I looked at Barbri's MPT book about two weeks prior to the exam to learn what type of MPTs could be tested. But truth be told the MPT could be anything, even something we never seen. Just make sure you devote the entire 90 minutes they recommend for it (45 mins to read thoroughly and set it up, and then 45 mins to write). Its hard to do the MPT correctly in less than 90 mins.

Thanks! I really mismanaged my time and had less than 30m for the MPT. I relied on the Barbri lecture notes (except for Schechter's). Another mistake, but I learn from my errors!

[nyny]

Almost 3 weeks into studying and I've at least looked over and started to do MBE Qs for Evidence, Ks, Torts, and Property... Stopped doing AMPs because I feel the way that BARBRI utilizes them makes no sense (do them BEFORE you watch the lectures?). Scoring low 60% in sporadic questions, but that seems to be getting better the more and more I read the outlines (which makes sense haha). How does everyone else do the outline/Qs balance? I think I'm going to start doing a system where I don't do Qs until I read through the outline 3 times.

What's everyone else's plan system for studying and doing practice Qs?

Amps are totally pointless, I attribute failing the exam to wasting so much time on trying to complete the entire barbri course that I did not study important things... Amps could easily take an hour and a half out of your day for no apparent reason.

Truth be told I would not even redo the lectures, that another 3 hours per day when you already have the notes from the last time you took the exam. So between the amps and lectures you wasting 4 hours that you truly do not have to waste. You have to study smarter not harder. Watching the lectures again will have you learn the materials again in a different way from a different professor.

As a repeater I used my old lecture notes, and issue spotted all 150 or so essays in the Barbri Model Essay book. Then I did about 3000 MBE's on Adaptibar. I know there are about 1800 adaptibar questions but I repeated a lot of them. That jumped my mbe from 126 to 148.

The bolded is what I did during my study prep and I passed. Study smarter, not harder.

Hi,
I took Barbri in preparation for the July Bar, but didn't pass. Did you read the Conviser or just the lecture notes? What did you do for the MPT? Thanks.

Sorry for the late response, but I did use the Conviser (which was the smaller outlines) and the larger NY Outlines from Barbri. I made sure I knew the NY laws cold though, mainly using my lecture notes.

For the MPT I looked at Barbri's MPT book about two weeks prior to the exam to learn what type of MPTs could be tested. But truth be told the MPT could be anything, even something we never seen. Just make sure you devote the entire 90 minutes they recommend for it (45 mins to read thoroughly and set it up, and then 45 mins to write). Its hard to do the MPT correctly in less than 90 mins.

Thanks! I really mismanaged my time and had less than 30m for the MPT. I relied on the Barbri lecture notes (except for Schechter's). Another mistake, but I learn from my errors!

Yea you have to have a strict game plan going into the exam, and stick to it. I had a different plan for NY day AM and PM. It makes sense because you get 15 more minutes in the AM then in the PM (3 hours 15 mins to 3 hours). I told myself in the morning I would not go over 50 mins per essay, which left me 45 mins for the NYMC. And if I go over on an essay I decrease it from my NYMC time, because I decided to do my essays first, to not frustrate myself with the difficult NYMC.

Then in the PM I made sure I started with the MPT, Devoted 90 mins to it, then 45 mins each for the last two essays, which for what ever reason always seems to call for less content than the AM 3 essays to me. But yea create your plan of execution early, and base your studies on how to execute it.

[Nj2Ma]

Anyone having issues with Themis? These technical problems is disrupting my studies.

[NY_Sea]

Anyone having issues with Themis? These technical problems is disrupting my studies.

Doing BARBRI again and their "class" doesn't start until Late December... Only thing up there to work on now is AMPs and lectures. I'm not doing AMPs anymore and I already have my lecture notes filled in from July, so the majority of the lectures are gonna be skipped other than subjects that really give me a hard time. Don't know if you're a first time taker, but if you have offline materials you can look at, I would do that when themis acts up.

[Nevergiveup15]

Almost 3 weeks into studying and I've at least looked over and started to do MBE Qs for Evidence, Ks, Torts, and Property... Stopped doing AMPs because I feel the way that BARBRI utilizes them makes no sense (do them BEFORE you watch the lectures?). Scoring low 60% in sporadic questions, but that seems to be getting better the more and more I read the outlines (which makes sense haha). How does everyone else do the outline/Qs balance? I think I'm going to start doing a system where I don't do Qs until I read through the outline 3 times.

What's everyone else's plan system for studying and doing practice Qs?

Amps are totally pointless, I attribute failing the exam to wasting so much time on trying to complete the entire barbri course that I did not study important things... Amps could easily take an hour and a half out of your day for no apparent reason.

Truth be told I would not even redo the lectures, that another 3 hours per day when you already have the notes from the last time you took the exam. So between the amps and lectures you wasting 4 hours that you truly do not have to waste. You have to study smarter not harder. Watching the lectures again will have you learn the materials again in a different way from a different professor.

As a repeater I used my old lecture notes, and issue spotted all 150 or so essays in the Barbri Model Essay book. Then I did about 3000 MBE's on Adaptibar. I know there are about 1800 adaptibar questions but I repeated a lot of them. That jumped my mbe from 126 to 148.

The bolded is what I did during my study prep and I passed. Study smarter, not harder.

Nyny you have given me hope! My MBE was 121 and I've just purchased Adaptibar in the hope I can improve on my MBE score!

[nyny]

Almost 3 weeks into studying and I've at least looked over and started to do MBE Qs for Evidence, Ks, Torts, and Property... Stopped doing AMPs because I feel the way that BARBRI utilizes them makes no sense (do them BEFORE you watch the lectures?). Scoring low 60% in sporadic questions, but that seems to be getting better the more and more I read the outlines (which makes sense haha). How does everyone else do the outline/Qs balance? I think I'm going to start doing a system where I don't do Qs until I read through the outline 3 times.

What's everyone else's plan system for studying and doing practice Qs?

Amps are totally pointless, I attribute failing the exam to wasting so much time on trying to complete the entire barbri course that I did not study important things... Amps could easily take an hour and a half out of your day for no apparent reason.

Truth be told I would not even redo the lectures, that another 3 hours per day when you already have the notes from the last time you took the exam. So between the amps and lectures you wasting 4 hours that you truly do not have to waste. You have to study smarter not harder. Watching the lectures again will have you learn the materials again in a different way from a different professor.

As a repeater I used my old lecture notes, and issue spotted all 150 or so essays in the Barbri Model Essay book. Then I did about 3000 MBE's on Adaptibar. I know there are about 1800 adaptibar questions but I repeated a lot of them. That jumped my mbe from 126 to 148.

The bolded is what I did during my study prep and I passed. Study smarter, not harder.

Nyny you have given me hope! My MBE was 121 and I've just purchased Adaptibar in the hope I can improve on my MBE score!

Yea man anytime! The MBE became really personal for me. At first it was a task, then it became a like a video game that I was trying to score high in. With Adaptibar it tracks your time per question and also gives you your percentages in each subject and compares them to others in your state and nationally. I would work on my computer and on my phone all day, doing about 40 per day.

[myrtlewinston]

Almost 3 weeks into studying and I've at least looked over and started to do MBE Qs for Evidence, Ks, Torts, and Property... Stopped doing AMPs because I feel the way that BARBRI utilizes them makes no sense (do them BEFORE you watch the lectures?). Scoring low 60% in sporadic questions, but that seems to be getting better the more and more I read the outlines (which makes sense haha). How does everyone else do the outline/Qs balance? I think I'm going to start doing a system where I don't do Qs until I read through the outline 3 times.

What's everyone else's plan system for studying and doing practice Qs?

Amps are totally pointless, I attribute failing the exam to wasting so much time on trying to complete the entire barbri course that I did not study important things... Amps could easily take an hour and a half out of your day for no apparent reason.

Truth be told I would not even redo the lectures, that another 3 hours per day when you already have the notes from the last time you took the exam. So between the amps and lectures you wasting 4 hours that you truly do not have to waste. You have to study smarter not harder. Watching the lectures again will have you learn the materials again in a different way from a different professor.

As a repeater I used my old lecture notes, and issue spotted all 150 or so essays in the Barbri Model Essay book. Then I did about 3000 MBE's on Adaptibar. I know there are about 1800 adaptibar questions but I repeated a lot of them. That jumped my mbe from 126 to 148.

The bolded is what I did during my study prep and I passed. Study smarter, not harder.

Hi,
I took Barbri in preparation for the July Bar, but didn't pass. Did you read the Conviser or just the lecture notes? What did you do for the MPT? Thanks.

Sorry for the late response, but I did use the Conviser (which was the smaller outlines) and the larger NY Outlines from Barbri. I made sure I knew the NY laws cold though, mainly using my lecture notes.

For the MPT I looked at Barbri's MPT book about two weeks prior to the exam to learn what type of MPTs could be tested. But truth be told the MPT could be anything, even something we never seen. Just make sure you devote the entire 90 minutes they recommend for it (45 mins to read thoroughly and set it up, and then 45 mins to write). Its hard to do the MPT correctly in less than 90 mins.

Thanks! I really mismanaged my time and had less than 30m for the MPT. I relied on the Barbri lecture notes (except for Schechter's). Another mistake, but I learn from my errors!

Yea you have to have a strict game plan going into the exam, and stick to it. I had a different plan for NY day AM and PM. It makes sense because you get 15 more minutes in the AM then in the PM (3 hours 15 mins to 3 hours). I told myself in the morning I would not go over 50 mins per essay, which left me 45 mins for the NYMC. And if I go over on an essay I decrease it from my NYMC time, because I decided to do my essays first, to not frustrate myself with the difficult NYMC.

Then in the PM I made sure I started with the MPT, Devoted 90 mins to it, then 45 mins each for the last two essays, which for what ever reason always seems to call for less content than the AM 3 essays to me. But yea create your plan of execution early, and base your studies on how to execute it.

Maybe I'll save the NYMC for last this time. I've enrolled in Pieper's Early Start Review as I'm nervous about the essays and MPTs. Wondering whether to reactivate Adaptibar or get Kaplan's book.