2018 February CA Bar Forum

[mimim8]

Anyone know how to sign up for this “Productive Mindset Intervention Program”

trying to figure out the same thing.

any leads?

[Hammoud25]

By the Grace of God I was able to pass the exam on my first try's I used barbri study materials to pass. I have the entire 2017-2018 barbri books including the conviser mini review, the lecture handouts all filled out, simulated MBE, MBE practice book, and the rest of the books. Also, I will include critical pass cards for the MBE topics. If you are interested please let me know. I am located in Orange County area.

[Mxmasterr]

By the Grace of God I was able to pass the exam on my first try's I used barbri study materials to pass. I have the entire 2017-2018 barbri books including the conviser mini review, the lecture handouts all filled out, simulated MBE, MBE practice book, and the rest of the books. Also, I will include critical pass cards for the MBE topics. If you are interested please let me know. I am located in Orange County area.

Grace of God and a whole lot of work. I was getting up at 5 am and picking up at 7pm after work. Two jury trials in thay 2 month period of study. Working full time and taking that test was the most intense thing ever. It makes passing so much better. I want to see the answers cause even now I'm not clear on some of the essays

[KT33]

Honestly, they changed the Bar so much from last time to this one that I think a big part of this one was luck. They did so many cross-over issues on the essays and majorly turned up the heat on the MBE, focussing on a lot of random sub-issues and neglecting some of the major big issues they normally include, I think that was really disarming for a lot of us. I have major test taking anxiety, failed the first time, and finally passed the second time after waiting almost two years to take it again -- if I can do it you definitely can!

I know how painful it is to pick yourself up, but my main advice is just really soul search on if whatever study strategy you're doing is working for you and keep doing that whatever it is and avoid any of the extra stuff that's not working, even if everyone else is doing it. Also, find out how to stay calm and collected during it (easier said than done I know). One of the main things over anything else that I prioritized this time around was mental health, meditation, and actually went and got a massage once a week. I think that was one of the main things that made it possible to be perfectly honest because it made me feel more like I was taking the exam on autopilot rather than killing myself with stress.

The other thing that helps a lot is doing nonstop MBE problems. I know that's an obvious one, but I didn't really fathom how many it would take to truly get solid on it and since the actual exam is soo much harder I think than any practice problems I've seen, you really need to get to the point that narrowing down the questions is automatic. The only way to do that is to do 1) minimum 1500 problems, and 2) to thoroughly read and understand the ones you got wrong. I had an ongoing handwritten outline specifically on issues I was routinely getting wrong and why, including logic tricks that commonly tripped me up. I re-read this again and again before Day 2. I had a completely separate outline for essays that I read again and again before Day 1 because the way you need to think for the essays is a complete 180 from how you should be thinking on the MBE. For the MBE it's "how can I read this with blinders on and only look for relevant info?" and on the essays it's "how can I make any and every fact relevant in a logical and organized way?"

Anyway, I know this is really general advice, but that's partly because I think a major thing that helped me this time was focusing on what I needed personally from trial and error and being honest with myself, rather than having someone tell me how to study. I wish you the best and good luck! Don't focus on "what if I fail?", focus on how much better you're going to feel when you finally get this silly meaningless exam under your belt and keep visualizing it until it happens. It definitely will.

I passed and this was my 3rd time; the struggle was real.

For those who didn't pass, no matter how hard you tried this time, remember you CAN still improve and pass next time.

I’m feeling overly defeated. Failed July ‘17 by 59 points with barbri. Hired a tutor this time, took a different approach, still failed. Feeling like it’s impossible to pass. I was overwhelmed this past bar being consumed with the thought of this happening again, not sure how much that affected me. I am having a hard time comprehending how to approach this 3rd time. Any advice? How did you change it up each time?

[scard]

Has anyone here been able to register for July 2018 exam as a repeater? I've been unable to do so; I get a message stating that my info doesn't match the "immediate repeater file"....

I was able to, my roomate was able to, and my brother was able to.

That’s three repeaters that we’re able to register for July... maybe you passed but for some reason it’s glitching

[bpnichol1]

Ok thanks, I really appreciate your response. Maybe it's a glitch, maybe not, so I'll post once I get to the bottom of it. Cheers

[suicide_sally]

I wish I had killed myself 2 years ago if I had known a 27% pass rate was even possible for the CA bar. This is one deadline I won't miss!

[suicide_sally]

It's a lie!!!! This is just a another sick joke by the CA Bar to get law students to KILL THEMSELVES!!!! I wish I had money left for a less painful suicide method, but after failing 4 times in CA my only options left are (1) high place to jump or (2) plastic garbage bag over my head after taking a bottle of tylenole PM.

uote="mimim8"]

Anyone know how to sign up for this “Productive Mindset Intervention Program”

trying to figure out the same thing.

any leads?[/quote]

[suicide_sally]

suicide is the least expensive option for me after failing 4 times.

quote="KT33"]Honestly, they changed the Bar so much from last time to this one that I think a big part of this one was luck. They did so many cross-over issues on the essays and majorly turned up the heat on the MBE, focussing on a lot of random sub-issues and neglecting some of the major big issues they normally include, I think that was really disarming for a lot of us. I have major test taking anxiety, failed the first time, and finally passed the second time after waiting almost two years to take it again -- if I can do it you definitely can!

I know how painful it is to pick yourself up, but my main advice is just really soul search on if whatever study strategy you're doing is working for you and keep doing that whatever it is and avoid any of the extra stuff that's not working, even if everyone else is doing it. Also, find out how to stay calm and collected during it (easier said than done I know). One of the main things over anything else that I prioritized this time around was mental health, meditation, and actually went and got a massage once a week. I think that was one of the main things that made it possible to be perfectly honest because it made me feel more like I was taking the exam on autopilot rather than killing myself with stress.

The other thing that helps a lot is doing nonstop MBE problems. I know that's an obvious one, but I didn't really fathom how many it would take to truly get solid on it and since the actual exam is soo much harder I think than any practice problems I've seen, you really need to get to the point that narrowing down the questions is automatic. The only way to do that is to do 1) minimum 1500 problems, and 2) to thoroughly read and understand the ones you got wrong. I had an ongoing handwritten outline specifically on issues I was routinely getting wrong and why, including logic tricks that commonly tripped me up. I re-read this again and again before Day 2. I had a completely separate outline for essays that I read again and again before Day 1 because the way you need to think for the essays is a complete 180 from how you should be thinking on the MBE. For the MBE it's "how can I read this with blinders on and only look for relevant info?" and on the essays it's "how can I make any and every fact relevant in a logical and organized way?"

Anyway, I know this is really general advice, but that's partly because I think a major thing that helped me this time was focusing on what I needed personally from trial and error and being honest with myself, rather than having someone tell me how to study. I wish you the best and good luck! Don't focus on "what if I fail?", focus on how much better you're going to feel when you finally get this silly meaningless exam under your belt and keep visualizing it until it happens. It definitely will.

I passed and this was my 3rd time; the struggle was real.

For those who didn't pass, no matter how hard you tried this time, remember you CAN still improve and pass next time.

I’m feeling overly defeated. Failed July ‘17 by 59 points with barbri. Hired a tutor this time, took a different approach, still failed. Feeling like it’s impossible to pass. I was overwhelmed this past bar being consumed with the thought of this happening again, not sure how much that affected me. I am having a hard time comprehending how to approach this 3rd time. Any advice? How did you change it up each time?

[/quote]

[hope2018]

Ok thanks, I really appreciate your response. Maybe it's a glitch, maybe not, so I'll post once I get to the bottom of it. Cheers

Check your admission status. It will confirm whether you passed or not. Best of luck...

[suicide_sally]

way to gloat!!!

quote="Hammoud25"]By the Grace of God I was able to pass the exam on my first try's I used barbri study materials to pass. I have the entire 2017-2018 barbri books including the conviser mini review, the lecture handouts all filled out, simulated MBE, MBE practice book, and the rest of the books. Also, I will include critical pass cards for the MBE topics. If you are interested please let me know. I am located in Orange County area.[/quote]

[suicide_sally]

Just another mindfuck from the CA bar to drive us repeater to KILL OURSELVES!!!!!

uote="scard"]

Has anyone here been able to register for July 2018 exam as a repeater? I've been unable to do so; I get a message stating that my info doesn't match the "immediate repeater file"....

I was able to, my roomate was able to, and my brother was able to.

That’s three repeaters that we’re able to register for July... maybe you passed but for some reason it’s glitching[/quote]

[suicide_sally]

Who else thinks that the CA Bar is actually just trying to get us all to kill ourselves???? Why else would they do things like Ex. (1) send an email the day of the Feb. 2018 exam AT 6am about an issue that could prevent one from using their laptop ....or Ex. (2) send an email for the July 2017 Bar exam, mere weeks before the exam that all PC computers might crash...and so I (being an obvious idiot) charge a new MAC on my overloaded credit card only to discover DURING the exam that the spell check function doesn't work (btw, despite what those fraudsters at the CA bar say, spelling DOES matter according to what actually graders of the exam have REPORTED THEY DO for weeding out "bad tests").............and if you WRITE the exam (like I STUPIDLY did the first time) how is it even possible to compete at all with people who type given how much they expect a passing answer to contain??? This exam has BROKEN ME and now I'm so broke (literally and figuratively) that I can't even afford one of the less painful methods of suicide because those SCAMMERS at the CA bar have taken EVERYTHING!!!!!! Anyone considering law school in CA, don't be a fool like me please!!!!!

[scard]

Who else thinks that the CA Bar is actually just trying to get us all to kill ourselves???? Why else would they do things like Ex. (1) send an email the day of the Feb. 2018 exam AT 6am about an issue that could prevent one from using their laptop ....or Ex. (2) send an email for the July 2017 Bar exam, mere weeks before the exam that all PC computers might crash...and so I (being an obvious idiot) charge a new MAC on my overloaded credit card only to discover DURING the exam that the spell check function doesn't work (btw, despite what those fraudsters at the CA bar say, spelling DOES matter according to what actually graders of the exam have REPORTED THEY DO for weeding out "bad tests").............and if you WRITE the exam (like I STUPIDLY did the first time) how is it even possible to compete at all with people who type given how much they expect a passing answer to contain??? This exam has BROKEN ME and now I'm so broke (literally and figuratively) that I can't even afford one of the less painful methods of suicide because those SCAMMERS at the CA bar have taken EVERYTHING!!!!!! Anyone considering law school in CA, don't be a fool like me please!!!!!

Sally, take it from me, being a 5-time failure, that just like everything else hard in life, once it passes, it feels so minor compared to all the current challenges life will throw at you. Once we get through this, we’ll have to focus on feeding ourselves and families by finding clients and winning cases and we’ll forget all about the hell the CBX was.

For what it’s worth, out of the last 5 bars, I think 3-4 of them were “record low” with this one being the absolute lowest so I kept feeling unlucky to have to have sat for the bar with a r cord low pass rate. Luck that felt like I couldn’t shake off.

Last bar I was unlucky enough to be given a second read 65 the first read, 50 on th second read of the same essay.. how’s that for grading calibration. Luckily (or unluckily) the supervisor gave me a 65 but I still ended up failing the exam by 30 scaled points.

Just stick at it, I can’t say it gets any better, but you do become numb eventually.

[Mxmasterr]

Who else thinks that the CA Bar is actually just trying to get us all to kill ourselves???? Why else would they do things like Ex. (1) send an email the day of the Feb. 2018 exam AT 6am about an issue that could prevent one from using their laptop ....or Ex. (2) send an email for the July 2017 Bar exam, mere weeks before the exam that all PC computers might crash...and so I (being an obvious idiot) charge a new MAC on my overloaded credit card only to discover DURING the exam that the spell check function doesn't work (btw, despite what those fraudsters at the CA bar say, spelling DOES matter according to what actually graders of the exam have REPORTED THEY DO for weeding out "bad tests").............and if you WRITE the exam (like I STUPIDLY did the first time) how is it even possible to compete at all with people who type given how much they expect a passing answer to contain??? This exam has BROKEN ME and now I'm so broke (literally and figuratively) that I can't even afford one of the less painful methods of suicide because those SCAMMERS at the CA bar have taken EVERYTHING!!!!!! Anyone considering law school in CA, don't be a fool like me please!!!!!

Fuck suicide go to South East Asia Cambodia has now laws and 40 cent beer and food is less than a dollar. Buy a one way ticket

[FinallyPassedTheBar]

Who else thinks that the CA Bar is actually just trying to get us all to kill ourselves???? Why else would they do things like Ex. (1) send an email the day of the Feb. 2018 exam AT 6am about an issue that could prevent one from using their laptop ....or Ex. (2) send an email for the July 2017 Bar exam, mere weeks before the exam that all PC computers might crash...and so I (being an obvious idiot) charge a new MAC on my overloaded credit card only to discover DURING the exam that the spell check function doesn't work (btw, despite what those fraudsters at the CA bar say, spelling DOES matter according to what actually graders of the exam have REPORTED THEY DO for weeding out "bad tests").............and if you WRITE the exam (like I STUPIDLY did the first time) how is it even possible to compete at all with people who type given how much they expect a passing answer to contain??? This exam has BROKEN ME and now I'm so broke (literally and figuratively) that I can't even afford one of the less painful methods of suicide because those SCAMMERS at the CA bar have taken EVERYTHING!!!!!! Anyone considering law school in CA, don't be a fool like me please!!!!!

I understand your frustration, trust me. It took me 8 attempts over the span of 16 years to pass the CA bar exam. The CA test is unfair, there's no question about that. But please don't give up. Maybe take a year off? There's no shame in that.

[FinallyPassedTheBar]

IMHO, because of the subjective nature of essay grading, there is a "luck" component to passing the CBX. That is why I suggest that people focus about 65% of their review on the MBE. It's the only part of the test that is graded objectively. Yeah, the MBE is hard AF, but you can kill it all by yourself...as opposed to the the essays/PT where you need to convince another person (grader) you killed it.

[hope2018]

IMHO, because of the subjective nature of essay grading, there is a "luck" component to passing the CBX. That is why I suggest that people focus about 65% of their review on the MBE. It's the only part of the test that is graded objectively. Yeah, the MBE is hard AF, but you can kill it all by yourself...as opposed to the the essays/PT where you need to convince another person (grader) you killed it.

I AGREE...If it wasn't for the new format where MBE is worth 50%, I wouldn't have passed this Feb 2018. I didn't take it last July 2017.

[LawQueen777]

So I failed the July 2017 bar by 9 points. I had a high MBE score but bombed the essays. This time around, I hired a tutor that was a former bar grander, did Adaptibar like the first time, and I felt like I had to have passed this time. I didn't. I feel so depressed and worthless right now.

[FinallyPassedTheBar]

IMHO, because of the subjective nature of essay grading, there is a "luck" component to passing the CBX. That is why I suggest that people focus about 65% of their review on the MBE. It's the only part of the test that is graded objectively. Yeah, the MBE is hard AF, but you can kill it all by yourself...as opposed to the the essays/PT where you need to convince another person (grader) you killed it.

I AGREE...If it wasn't for the new format where MBE is worth 50%, I wouldn't have passed this Feb 2018. I didn't take it last July 2017.

I feel the same way, a significant reason I passed July 2017 is because the MBE was weighted 50% instead of the older 35%.

The stronger a person can score on the MBE, the less luck is needed on the essay grading. I never scored more than 60 on any of my previous essays/PT, and I highly doubt I scored higher than that for July 2017.

Look at all the stories of people getting a 50/55 essay score with one grader, and then scoring 65 with a second grader. How can one possibly study differently to compensate for this variation? 50 is a "clear fail" and 65 is a "clear pass". It just makes no sense. And since the graders do not need to explain/defend their grades, test takers are left in the dark on how to improve their essays.

[FinallyPassedTheBar]

So I failed the July 2017 bar by 9 points. I had a high MBE score but bombed the essays. This time around, I hired a tutor that was a former bar grander, did Adaptibar like the first time, and I felt like I had to have passed this time. I didn't. I feel so depressed and worthless right now.

You already received your scores in the mail? What was your MBE score if you don;t mind me asking?

[UmaThurman]

By the Grace of God I was able to pass the exam on my first try's I used barbri study materials to pass. I have the entire 2017-2018 barbri books including the conviser mini review, the lecture handouts all filled out, simulated MBE, MBE practice book, and the rest of the books. Also, I will include critical pass cards for the MBE topics. If you are interested please let me know. I am located in Orange County area.

Congratulations!!!
I'm interested in preparation materials, and I'm also in OC.

[redmessengerbag]

For those that failed, I certainly feel for you. Here are some thoughts I'd like to share:

Essays - Focus on essays first. Once you learn the rules for essay (which will be majority of rules), you can do MBE and fill the gap with more specific elements to the major rules. I feel that doing practice essays really helps you understand the law, and then gives you examples on the rules are applied, and then you can fill in the missing elements for MBE when you start doing practice. You'd actually recognize what you are missing.

IRAC - I can't emphasize enough on IRAC. When you are writing essays, are you using words like "because" and "on the other hand" these are very important. If you make a statement/claim, you better have a damn good reason to make that statement, and you better be able support it with a evidence or facts from prompt. He is guilty because... Always remember "on the other hand" in your essays to make sure you address the other side of the argument in your analysis section.

I think Analysis is certainly the most important. I don't know how most of you feel but I've always felt that analysis is the easy part once you know the rule, BUT BUT BUT, you MUST understand the rules, I mean REALLY understand them. You simply cannot memorize black letter law and then puke it back out on an essay and think you're gonna get lots of points from stating the rule.

If you don't fully understand the rule (why is the rule written this way, why are certain words used in the rule, and what is the purpose of the rule, history behind the rule, etc) you simply will not be able to apply it and do adequate analyses. I implore everyone studying essays to really understand the rules and their applications as in not just plug and chug, but understand why the rule is there (purpose, what it wants to accomplish, and the reasoning of why the rule is used to accomplish it this way, what led to this rule. If you can't explain why the rule is there, the purpose, the idea/history behind, you won't be able to do an analysis.

For example why is there an exclusionary rule? it excludes evidence obtained from illegal search (w/o warrant or any exceptions), what is the purpose? (judges wanting to prevent unconstitutional seizures and searches), what does it actually do? (excludes all evidence obtained illegally, fruits of poisonous tree doctrine). Using this as an example, if you couldn't explain the exclusionary (the purpose and idea behind), just knowing that it excludes evidence from illegal searches will not be sufficient to full analysis because you couldn't explain why something should be excluded and why a judge would exclude a piece of evidence if you can't explain the judge's mentality.

Once you truly understand the rules and the law, issue spotting will come naturally, trust me. If you don't know fully understand the laws, issue spotting will be hell for you because you don't know what's legal and illegal. Really understand the laws, and not just memorize rules, and you'll be able to effectively issue spot.

Once you truly understand the rules and law, I firmly believe that analyses will come naturally as discussed above and make that conclusion.

MBE - I am a decent test taker, I thrive on stress and pressure of an actual exam, I know many people don't. This is something you need to figure out on your own. With that said, however, I think it's extremely important to keep in mind, at any moment if you feel a bit of stress or panic during the test, skip that part and go to the next question or even in essay go on to the next paragraph and then come back later. In essays use the free writing method, you probably have a few keywords you want to include in a sentence or argument but not sure how you're writing the full sentence, write them out so you don't forget them, move onto the next section/paragraph and come back to them. Do questions that you are comfortable with to stabilize your emotions in the beginning or any moment you feel overcome by stress so that you can maintain focus on difficult sections. At one point of he MBE I just stop and start working backwards from 100 because I get tired mentally after 30 40 questions and feel that helps me refocus.

I know some of my friends get so stressed, and I think the problem is they start losing focus, and that is probably your worse enemy, stay focused, work through it.

I hope this helps someone. Start with Essays, they really help you understand how rules are applied, if you're not sure you understand the rule, read the history behind it and you'll probably pick up very quickly why the rule is there, the purpose it serves, and how courts would probably want to apply it. After that, do MBE questions and the fill gaps of laws with outlines and other study materials.

[Bla Bla Bla Blah]

Quoted bow is what I did to pass. I'll go ahead and put the steps into a one page guide for anyone who wants my materials. Also willing to discuss my approach if I can hand you my materials. Anyone who is interested in these materials let me know. Can also give the $35 Adaptibar discount to anyone who needs it too. Willing to personally hand them off to anyone in the San Diego, Riverside, or Orange County/LA area.

All the best.

Perhaps this will help, for anyone who has work, kids, other obligations and needs a quick way to study. I was given a little over 2 and 1/2 weeks to wrap up my arguments against HP and Roku for my firm and prep for this test. Realized that "I ain't got time" pretty fast. Luckily, I have a background in criminal law, and deal with Federal practice (we're talking summary judgement and dismissal issues on a regular basis in patent arguments), and so crim pro, crim law, and quite a bit of evidence and civ pro were confident areas for me (didn't even really touch my material on criminal issues).

Overall, the goal with limited time is to get straight into the meat. By seeing the rule statements so much, I recalled them really well during the bar. Let's face it, on most of these rules (contract formation) we simply need to remember how to state them. We don't need to waste a ton of time having a lecturer tell us what consideration is, or what the mailbox rule is, while we write this into a giant lecture outline (which we are then responsible for breaking down into leansheet format) because we all went to law school. It was way more helpful to see it in simple rule statement form again and again on a flashcard, read the explanation, and speed past the basic rules (focusing more on the tricky ones) while I flicked it into a box. The lectures were helpful only to fill times where I could not actively study with passive learning. I outlined essay subjects (with rule statements, and follow up review of these rule statements, and an idea of how I would analyze) on all CA subjects--and gave special attention to PR.

I honestly would have done exactly what I did with my 2 and 1/2 weeks if I had more time too. Beats wasting time sitting down through slow lectures/all the time spent reinventing the wheel and developing your own outlines with time that should be spent in active learning, MBE testing being the most important to understanding Fed rules and building confidence, in my opinion. Adaptibar almost taught me exactly how to analyze when I studied all their follow up explanations. I also had the advantageof knowing that what I was reading was, at all times, the correct statement of the law and not wasting all that time breaking down my own outlines into 3-6 page leansheet formats--who has time to waste on learning how to break material down when the focus should be on finding the quickest way to digest the rules and giving it back to examiners the way they want ot by testing yourself on them over, and over again?

Felt very good in practice since I was where I needed to be in MBE, and Adaptibar told me how I was being most effective and when. Also knew that I was spotting all the key issues in my essay outlines as my issue spotting was right along with the model answers. I also left no guess work to how I would write and organize my essays--a book on that was helpful. Felt pretty good about it all, but remember, take this with a grain of salt. I still don't know if I passed!

Edit: Forgot to mention this, and honestly I decided on this route during the exam... but tackling the PT first was immensely helpful to my approach. I didn't practice the PT's prior to the exam, but wrote it exactly as I would have in practice. Because I hit the PT first, mental fatigue and the mental stress that comes with being immediately up against the clock did not affect me. I figured that if anything affected my performance, it would be better that this occur on an essay question that was worth 1 point for every 2 points that I could gain on the PT. I probably took an extra 15 to 20 minutes on this question making sure it all looked nice, and doing a quick proof. And while I was about 10-15 minutes short on the wills essay, and faced mental fatigue/time stress on the question, it wasn't enough to affect my approach and I finished with 5 minutes left. If I lost a few points on wills because of the strategy, it definitely beat having a sloppy PT because all of the stress that kicks in when I look at my watch or when the proctor yells "5 minutes left!"

So here's what I did, from most utilized material to least.

Adaptibar ($360): Jumped right in and pushed through as many as I could per day. When you get those wrong, they tend to stick in your head and teach you nuanced issues of the law much better. Always reviewed explanations for each answer, which included full rule statements. Downloaded the app and could test everywhere. Adaptibar even told me my timing for each question, as well as the optimal time for my answers (i.e., at what time I got the most right). This helped me because I knew that if it took me anywhere longer than 1min 15sec to answer, I was probably going to trip myself up and not ger it right--so answer and move on! Obviously because I started on these questions cold, I worked my way up and was hitting 73 percent during my last week (close to 66 percent overall).

Critical pass flashcards ($150): No way in hell I would have had time to create an outline and flashcards through a full course. And I found the Kaplan books my friend sold to me, and commercial outlines were inferior to these cards. I'd grab a topic, and when I was exhausted from everything else I had done, I'd lay there flick through all the cards for the topic (usually right before I was ready to shut it down for the night), flicking them into the lid for the box. Very nice, and full, and well broken down explanations. I would make myself recite the rules outloud, until I could do it from memory, on some of the trickier rules (covenants of title, lemon test, obscenity test, Daubert, etc.). But most importantly, it was a great way to constantly cycle through the subjects.

($45 used) I bought a book, and don't recall the name of it, on how to write for the CA Bar. It had good reviews on Amazon, and gave me a good idea of how to save time in the essays by keeping titles succinct (one to two words if possible), only using bold (too many things to worry about turning on/off when you're capped, Ital, Underline, etc.), and creating a quick outline. Really helpful on the CA subjects, and discussed the most important topics to bring up in each. Incuded questions, model answers, and a breakdown of why.

MP3 Lectures (Free): My friend had MP3 lectures of all the federal subjects. Had those lectures going at all times that I couldn't actively study (in my car, while I was going to sleep, and until I woke up in the morning and got started on active review). Helpful AF!

Leansheets ($30): Not sure that these had the best statements of law, and found myself digging through the box of Kaplan books I purchased for better explanations, but reviewed these over and over again, mostly on CA subjects that were not part of critical pass, was huge in beating CA rules into my head in a way that let me recall them much easier. The book on essays for CA bar were also instructive, by breaking down the areas of CA law to general theme based outlines (which was based on what was most tested on the essays). So I had a theme based overview (helpful to writing) and a full overview because these 3 to 6 page outlines covered everything, and distinguished Fed/ABA from CA very well. It was also nice to have confidence that, even though I didn't write these, they were correct.

Kaplan books ($50): very rarely did I need these, but where a lean sheet rule was not ringing any bells, I'd refer to the outlines in these for clarifications. Again, as with lean sheets, this is pretty much limited to CA law.

[UmaThurman]

Thanks for your post! I'm very interested in your materials!

[quote="Bla Bla Bla Blah"]Quoted bow is what I did to pass. I'll go ahead and put the steps into a one page guide for anyone who wants my materials. Also willing to discuss my approach if I can hand you my materials. Anyone who is interested in these materials let me know. Can also give the $35 Adaptibar discount to anyone who needs it too. Willing to personally hand them off to anyone in the San Diego, Riverside, or Orange County/LA area.

All the best.