Massachusetts Bar - February 2017 Forum

[davidtothej05]

Passed. 2 for 2 baby!

150.11 on Essay. 153.1 for MBE.

[jimvonhorn]

Passed by the skin of my teeth. Now to wait for RI. Still reading the email several times for it to sink in

[happyhour1122]

Wow congrats guys!!

[JDNE]

Passed.

[keepgoing2016]

Well done guys!

Fingers crossed for those of us in NY still waiting! Arghhh

[gboston87]

Passed.

2nd Time Taker, used Barbri both times

July 16: Sim MBE 94, Actual MBE 140, Essays 126 (266 Total)
Feb 17: Sim MBE 127, Actual MBE 135, Essays 141 (276 Total)

[happyhour1122]

Passed.

2nd Time Taker, used Barbri both times

July 16: Sim MBE 94, Actual MBE 140, Essays 126 (266 Total)
Feb 17: Sim MBE 127, Actual MBE 135, Essays 141 (276 Total)

Assuming there is no typo here. Very unpredictable outcome. Especially the actual MBE for feb 17

[happyhour1122]

Well done guys!

Fingers crossed for those of us in NY still waiting! Arghhh

is NY the last UBE released????

[gboston87]

Passed.

2nd Time Taker, used Barbri both times

July 16: Sim MBE 94, Actual MBE 140, Essays 126 (266 Total)
Feb 17: Sim MBE 127, Actual MBE 135, Essays 141 (276 Total)

Assuming there is no typo here. Very unpredictable outcome. Especially the actual MBE for feb 17

The MBE is a crapshoot. I worked a lot more on essays my second time taking it and that's the reason for the increase there.

[happyhour1122]

Passed.

2nd Time Taker, used Barbri both times

July 16: Sim MBE 94, Actual MBE 140, Essays 126 (266 Total)
Feb 17: Sim MBE 127, Actual MBE 135, Essays 141 (276 Total)

Assuming there is no typo here. Very unpredictable outcome. Especially the actual MBE for feb 17

The MBE is a crapshoot. I worked a lot more on essays my second time taking it and that's the reason for the increase there.

How did you improve your essay?

[gboston87]

Passed.

2nd Time Taker, used Barbri both times

July 16: Sim MBE 94, Actual MBE 140, Essays 126 (266 Total)
Feb 17: Sim MBE 127, Actual MBE 135, Essays 141 (276 Total)

Assuming there is no typo here. Very unpredictable outcome. Especially the actual MBE for feb 17

The MBE is a crapshoot. I worked a lot more on essays my second time taking it and that's the reason for the increase there.

How did you improve your essay?

My July essays were poorly formatted and unorganized because I didn't study for the essays at all during bar prep (I thought I felt comfortable writing essays, I was wrong). There is no secret to passing the bar, to do well on the MBE you have to answer 1000+ practice questions and read the explanations of the questions you get wrong. To do well for the essays, you need to actually sit down and write out essays under timed conditions and submit them for grading.

[happyhour1122]

Passed.

2nd Time Taker, used Barbri both times

July 16: Sim MBE 94, Actual MBE 140, Essays 126 (266 Total)
Feb 17: Sim MBE 127, Actual MBE 135, Essays 141 (276 Total)

Assuming there is no typo here. Very unpredictable outcome. Especially the actual MBE for feb 17

The MBE is a crapshoot. I worked a lot more on essays my second time taking it and that's the reason for the increase there.

How did you improve your essay?

My July essays were poorly formatted and unorganized because I didn't study for the essays at all during bar prep (I thought I felt comfortable writing essays, I was wrong). There is no secret to passing the bar, to do well on the MBE you have to answer 1000+ practice questions and read the explanations of the questions you get wrong. To do well for the essays, you need to actually sit down and write out essays under timed conditions and submit them for grading.

Did you submit it to barbri? I always didn't like their grading..its just gives me a number. no explanations...

[gboston87]

Passed.

2nd Time Taker, used Barbri both times

July 16: Sim MBE 94, Actual MBE 140, Essays 126 (266 Total)
Feb 17: Sim MBE 127, Actual MBE 135, Essays 141 (276 Total)

Assuming there is no typo here. Very unpredictable outcome. Especially the actual MBE for feb 17

The MBE is a crapshoot. I worked a lot more on essays my second time taking it and that's the reason for the increase there.

How did you improve your essay?

My July essays were poorly formatted and unorganized because I didn't study for the essays at all during bar prep (I thought I felt comfortable writing essays, I was wrong). There is no secret to passing the bar, to do well on the MBE you have to answer 1000+ practice questions and read the explanations of the questions you get wrong. To do well for the essays, you need to actually sit down and write out essays under timed conditions and submit them for grading.

Did you submit it to barbri? I always didn't like their grading..its just gives me a number. no explanations...

I did, for what it's worth they gave me 5's on all my essays.

[happyhour1122]

Passed.

2nd Time Taker, used Barbri both times

July 16: Sim MBE 94, Actual MBE 140, Essays 126 (266 Total)
Feb 17: Sim MBE 127, Actual MBE 135, Essays 141 (276 Total)

Assuming there is no typo here. Very unpredictable outcome. Especially the actual MBE for feb 17

The MBE is a crapshoot. I worked a lot more on essays my second time taking it and that's the reason for the increase there.

How did you improve your essay?

My July essays were poorly formatted and unorganized because I didn't study for the essays at all during bar prep (I thought I felt comfortable writing essays, I was wrong). There is no secret to passing the bar, to do well on the MBE you have to answer 1000+ practice questions and read the explanations of the questions you get wrong. To do well for the essays, you need to actually sit down and write out essays under timed conditions and submit them for grading.

Did you submit it to barbri? I always didn't like their grading..its just gives me a number. no explanations...

I did, for what it's worth they gave me 5's on all my essays.

5 out of?
When I submit it for NY,,,its out of 10. They always gave me 4...

[gboston87]

Assuming there is no typo here. Very unpredictable outcome. Especially the actual MBE for feb 17

The MBE is a crapshoot. I worked a lot more on essays my second time taking it and that's the reason for the increase there.

How did you improve your essay?

My July essays were poorly formatted and unorganized because I didn't study for the essays at all during bar prep (I thought I felt comfortable writing essays, I was wrong). There is no secret to passing the bar, to do well on the MBE you have to answer 1000+ practice questions and read the explanations of the questions you get wrong. To do well for the essays, you need to actually sit down and write out essays under timed conditions and submit them for grading.

Did you submit it to barbri? I always didn't like their grading..its just gives me a number. no explanations...

I did, for what it's worth they gave me 5's on all my essays.

5 out of?
When I submit it for NY,,,its out of 10. They always gave me 4...

I believe it's a 5 out of 7, which is the MA grade scale. I could be wrong.

[happyhour1122]

When I submit it for NY,,,its out of 10. They always gave me 4...[/quote]

I believe it's a 5 out of 7, which is the MA grade scale. I could be wrong.[/quote]

sigh...I failed my first exam because of essays. It was horribly organized. I used CIRAC this time. hopefully it worked.... finished all MPT and essays with conclusion (even if I wasn't finished...just to look like it was done). I really do think presentation of your writing is 50% of the grade..sigh

[ttho520]

PASSED!

Also a 2nd timer, used Barbri the 1st time. For the 2nd time, I studied the Barbri lecture notes, and created my own outlines (didn't listen to lectures as I think it's a waste of time), used Adaptibar instead of Barbri questions, and hired a tutor to review my essays. My problem on essays for the first exam was likely caused by not doing enough practices, so, even though I know the rules reasonably well, I didn't get to score enough issues. The tutor made sure I did enough of them before the 2nd bar, which reflected on my improvement of essay score. I was also fortunate to score some points on Secured Transactions and Commercial Paper essays because I only quickly reviewed their outlines the night before the essay exams and didn't have time to write practice essays.

July 16: Actual MBE 142.90, Essays 126.27 (269.17 Total - almost there!)
Feb 17: Actual MBE 146.90, Essays 143.52 (290 Total)

[happyhour1122]

PASSED!

Also a 2nd timer, used Barbri the 1st time. For the 2nd time, I studied the Barbri lecture notes, and created my own outlines (didn't listen to lectures as I think it's a waste of time), used Adaptibar instead of Barbri questions, and hired a tutor to review my essays. My problem on essays for the first exam was likely caused by not doing enough practices, so, even though I know the rules reasonably well, I didn't get to score enough issues. The tutor made sure I did enough of them before the 2nd bar, which reflected on my improvement of essay score. I was also fortunate to score some points on Secured Transactions and Commercial Paper essays because I only quickly reviewed their outlines the night before the essay exams and didn't have time to write practice essays.

July 16: Actual MBE 142.90, Essays 126.27 (269.17 Total - almost there!)
Feb 17: Actual MBE 146.90, Essays 143.52 (290 Total)

wow...I can't believe you had to retake with that high MBE score. MA must require a very high score...but either way, congrats!!!!

[maxmartin]

PASSED!

Also a 2nd timer, used Barbri the 1st time. For the 2nd time, I studied the Barbri lecture notes, and created my own outlines (didn't listen to lectures as I think it's a waste of time), used Adaptibar instead of Barbri questions, and hired a tutor to review my essays. My problem on essays for the first exam was likely caused by not doing enough practices, so, even though I know the rules reasonably well, I didn't get to score enough issues. The tutor made sure I did enough of them before the 2nd bar, which reflected on my improvement of essay score. I was also fortunate to score some points on Secured Transactions and Commercial Paper essays because I only quickly reviewed their outlines the night before the essay exams and didn't have time to write practice essays.

July 16: Actual MBE 142.90, Essays 126.27 (269.17 Total - almost there!)
Feb 17: Actual MBE 146.90, Essays 143.52 (290 Total)

wow...I can't believe you had to retake with that high MBE score. MA must require a very high score...but either way, congrats!!!!

I have to retake with 158 lol

[bluesky77]

Congrats to those who passed!

I failed with a 263. (Essay scaled score 117.17; MBE scaled score 145.4)

I was not expecting to do so poorly on the essay portion. I could have spent more time memorizing rules, but I felt confident in my ability to spot issues and to use CREAC. I'm sure that I can improve my explanation of rules in term of accuracy, but I'm assuming that a 117 means that my struggles on the essays went far beyond an inaccurate rule explanation.

Hopefully looking over my answers will point me in the right direction, but does anyone have any advice while I wait for those? I'm really struggling to cope with this failure. Maybe I just needed to vent a bit...

[seeyouatthenextexam]

Well done guys!

Fingers crossed for those of us in NY still waiting! Arghhh

is NY the last UBE released????

Alabama is UBE ... We're supposed to get ours on the 21st. If your prediction of your release date is correct, we'll be after you guys

[happyhour1122]

PASSED!

Also a 2nd timer, used Barbri the 1st time. For the 2nd time, I studied the Barbri lecture notes, and created my own outlines (didn't listen to lectures as I think it's a waste of time), used Adaptibar instead of Barbri questions, and hired a tutor to review my essays. My problem on essays for the first exam was likely caused by not doing enough practices, so, even though I know the rules reasonably well, I didn't get to score enough issues. The tutor made sure I did enough of them before the 2nd bar, which reflected on my improvement of essay score. I was also fortunate to score some points on Secured Transactions and Commercial Paper essays because I only quickly reviewed their outlines the night before the essay exams and didn't have time to write practice essays.

July 16: Actual MBE 142.90, Essays 126.27 (269.17 Total - almost there!)
Feb 17: Actual MBE 146.90, Essays 143.52 (290 Total)

wow...I can't believe you had to retake with that high MBE score. MA must require a very high score...but either way, congrats!!!!

I have to retake with 158 lol

serious??????????

[maxmartin]

PASSED!

Also a 2nd timer, used Barbri the 1st time. For the 2nd time, I studied the Barbri lecture notes, and created my own outlines (didn't listen to lectures as I think it's a waste of time), used Adaptibar instead of Barbri questions, and hired a tutor to review my essays. My problem on essays for the first exam was likely caused by not doing enough practices, so, even though I know the rules reasonably well, I didn't get to score enough issues. The tutor made sure I did enough of them before the 2nd bar, which reflected on my improvement of essay score. I was also fortunate to score some points on Secured Transactions and Commercial Paper essays because I only quickly reviewed their outlines the night before the essay exams and didn't have time to write practice essays.

July 16: Actual MBE 142.90, Essays 126.27 (269.17 Total - almost there!)
Feb 17: Actual MBE 146.90, Essays 143.52 (290 Total)

wow...I can't believe you had to retake with that high MBE score. MA must require a very high score...but either way, congrats!!!!

I have to retake with 158 lol

serious??????????

Yep, CB bar, MBE only counts 35%

[scoomer]

Passed MA! MBE score of 148.4. Still waiting on NY results. Essays were tougher for NY- wondering how easy it is to get a 118 (266-148) on the MEE/MPT portion to pass NY? My MPT's were alright, finished everything on time- but not so certain about how I did on the essays.

[maxmartin]

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