MEE for UBE states - quality of answer for not-failing essays Forum

[cunninghat]

The game-day paranoia is starting to get to me. Every time I look at a sample answer (Themis), it seems like everything is set up so cleanly, with great introductory language, all the elements cleanly laid out. Then I go to write my essay, and it's basically just short sentences, imprecise statements of law often with elements missing, and everything kind of jumbled together in a stream of consciousness way.

Still working through memorizing all the law for the MEE specific subjects, but even with the topics that overlap with the MBE, I'm struggling to regurgitate accurately. I'm doing fine on the MBE MC, but that's only because I have a sense of how the law works rather than being able to spit the actual law out.

Can anyone give me a sense of how high (or low) the bar is for MEE essays? Thanks!

[CknNgtz]

100% same boat. Banking on the MEE bar being low, per some of the other threads that have discussed this

[Leagle_Beagle]

I was under the impression that each state grades them independently, so it will likely depend on the state. The Minnesota Bar Committee website has a bunch of the past MEEs with sample answers and theirs seem a bit more jumbled and word vomity.

I'm in the same boat as you, definitely a little worried about the essays. I'm hoping a simple IRAC that's straight to the point is enough to pass.

[Futuregohan14]

This is my greatest fear as well. I feel decent about the MBE, but the MEE still makes me very anxious.

However, from what I can gather, the fears we have and the problems we're talking about are widespread. Very few folks are writing anything close to the sample answers. Very few have anything resembling a strong hold on the MEE topics. Most are quite nervous about the essays overall.

Thus, we're all in the same boat for the most part. You're probably not having a harder time than most. On test day, most people will enter with the same issues and same nervousness you've got. This means that the "bar" for getting a decent MEE score is probably not as high as you might imagine it to be.
At the end of the day, if you feel you're doing fine with the MBE prep, this should leave you with less to worry about for the MEE. Go in and execute the way you've prepared to execute and you should be fine.

[Samarcan]

Anyone (maybe past Bar Takers reading this?) have a sense of how deep into the Art 9 rules the secured transactions essay question is likely to go? I have a sense of the basic rules and priorities, but the super-detailed stuff like priorities for PMSI's in inventory v. PMSI's in goods, fixture rules, accessions, etc -- pretty sure I won't be able to remember that, and if I risk coming up with my own rule, essay-grader can easily see I'm BS-ing. How specific do Secured Transactions essay questions get?

[Thrive]

Anyone (maybe past Bar Takers reading this?) have a sense of how deep into the Art 9 rules the secured transactions essay question is likely to go? I have a sense of the basic rules and priorities, but the super-detailed stuff like priorities for PMSI's in inventory v. PMSI's in goods, fixture rules, accessions, etc -- pretty sure I won't be able to remember that, and if I risk coming up with my own rule, essay-grader can easily see I'm BS-ing. How specific do Secured Transactions essay questions get?

I don't know what Bar Prep Company you're using but BarBri provides most of the recent essay topics that you can look through to get an idea of likely questions. That's what I've done to narrow what I need to absolutely remember.

[cnk1220]

I was under the impression that each state grades them independently, so it will likely depend on the state. The Minnesota Bar Committee website has a bunch of the past MEEs with sample answers and theirs seem a bit more jumbled and word vomity.

I'm in the same boat as you, definitely a little worried about the essays. I'm hoping a simple IRAC that's straight to the point is enough to pass.

I would recommend doing CIRAC as opposed to IRAC. Often times the MEE essays asks a direct question. It's best to start out with answering that Q. Ex: Is Adam liable for battery?

CIRAC:
Yes adam is liable for battery
At issue is ...
Rule is ...
Here, ...
Thus, ...

I sounded like a robot on my essays doing CIRAC and ended up with a 151. It helps the reader follow along easily. I also recommend bolding/underlining the buzz words especially in your rule statements in your essays to make them stand.

And yes each state grades their essays independently, so everyone sitting in NY will be graded against each other not against other states for the MEE/MPT portions.