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rayforoc

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TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by rayforoc » Tue Dec 05, 2017 8:51 pm

Hi everyone,

I failed the CA bar for the second time. This really ruined alot for me. I am financially in great debt, had to resign, lost my relationship, and other stuff. What's worse is that the second time I used a tutor (former bar grader mentioned often on this site). The following is a breakdown of my two scores.

Feb 2017 July 2017
Essay 1 = 70 (Wills) Essay 1 = 70 (CP)
Essay 2 = 50 (Remedies/Torts) Essay 2 = 55 (PR/Evid)
Essay 3 = 60 (Evid) Essay 3 = 50 (Remedies)
Essay 4 = 60 (BA) Essay 4 = 70 (Civ Pro)
Essay 5 = 55 (PR) Essay 5 = 60 (Torts)
Essay 6 = 55 (Crim law & Pro)
PT A = 55 PT = 55
PT B = 50

MBE MBE
Civ Pro = 51.5 Civ Pro = 46.4
Con Law = 41 Con Law = 15.5
Contracts = 67.5 Contracts = 34
Crim Law = 53.9 Crim Law = 38.7
Evidence = 61.6 Evidence = 44
Property = 21 Property = 36.9
Torts = 27.7 Torts = 63.9

Raw Written = 560 Raw Written = 415
Scaled Written = 1232.75 Scaled Written = 1365.51
Scaled MBE = 1346.00 Scaled MBE = 1390

Total = 1272.38 Total = 1377.75


First time I used Barbri. Second time I used Adaptibar and tutor. Second time I did between 35-50 MBEs per day (almost 1800 questions total), and didn't follow his schedule completely but still completed most of it. Moreover, I did a few sections from S&T 6th edition.

Right now, I decided to be poor these next 2.5 months and study fulltime. This is what I have:

1. A new Barbri 2017 set because they gave me another set since I failed, but I never used it because I had my tutor's stuff I just printed out.
2. A new S&T 6th I ordered again.

I am thinking about buying critical pass cards and baressays account. I am really frustrated with adaptibar so hesitating to buy it again, but I am not sure how good Barbri's questions are. Also, without their scheduling id just be doing their questions out of my Barbri books on my own (plus won't have their outline questions since they prob won't let me across their online program again).

I almost feel like there literally is no good MBE study source and its more about choosing one or two and just being as prepared as possible because the NCBE are aware of all the prep materials people use.

I feel like memorizing entire outlines or having some check list to recall when it comes to essays (and writing them down as soon as they say "go" on essay day.

This thing has fucking ruined my life. I was in the military and that was less stressful than this. I am getting older; I have nothing, and this thing is like a dark fucking cloud over me. I hang my head low, I am so depressed its wild that I turned into this, my workouts suck, I am just so different from how I used to be. So, fuck this, I am not going to quit. I just want to pass thing bar.

Please help. Also, I am very responsive and will be both monitoring this thread and joining the Feb 2017 CA one too.

Thank you peeps.

Ray
Last edited by rayforoc on Tue Dec 05, 2017 10:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: TLS Community Analysis Needed!

Post by a male human » Tue Dec 05, 2017 9:16 pm

Hey Ray,

I feel you, man. Failing was the worst thing that happened to me (in 2013), but I found that there are worse things out there. It's a really humbling experience.

The good news here is that your scores went up! And your Civ Pro is relatively high. It's the one subject that's harder to prepare since there aren't a lot of questions out there.

Like you, I feel that the NCBE is aware of the questions out there, and design around it. Hell, they know exactly which questions they license out for use in Emanuel's S&T and AdaptiBar. It's not going to be the same experience, but at least it will have the same feel as the ones you do from S&T and AdaptiBar (compared to if you use questions written by prep courses).

That's why I feel that the quality of learning is very important, more so than sheer quantity (2000+ question overkill not mandatory). I frequently recommend that one thoroughly understand the explanation for each answer choice for each question (right or wrong) that you do. Not just review but understand such that you would be able to get 100% or close if you were to redo the set of problems sometime later. After all, knowing the law is useless unless you know how to actually apply it to a problem. You have no right to say “oh I get it now” unless you can actually apply the rule to a question correctly.

The bad news is that your scores are just sort of blah and all over the place. You're not particularly terrible at anything, but they're not good enough to pass either. No one place to pinpoint.

I believe it's a matter of time before you pass if you continue to do what you did to improve from your first attempt. Practice those essays (focus on I and R; the rest will flow if you get those right), study the sample answers (particularly how they present the issues -- BarEssays is good), and by doing so, you understand how to apply the law. The goal is to get bored of it, almost robotic, because you've been there, done that.

If you boosted the PT, that would help a lot too. I know it's not a major area of the exam anymore, but if that 55 were a 65, who knows, it could bump you from reread land to a 1440.

It doesn't have to be expensive. You could pass with under $500, no problem. Ultimately, it's the hard work and smart work that you put in to steadily improve. I bet there's a military analogy here somewhere.

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Re: TLS Community Analysis Needed!

Post by rayforoc » Tue Dec 05, 2017 9:58 pm

Thanks, A Male Human. I believe it's a matter of time as well. One thing I remember is this last time I took it I did 8 or 9 CP essays so I was familiar with that subject essay-wise. Perhaps I need to find out the predicted essays subjects for Feb and, among other studying habits, do 8-10 essays for those subjects too.

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Re: TLS Community Analysis Needed!

Post by kc128 » Wed Dec 06, 2017 12:20 am

rayforoc wrote:Thanks, A Male Human. I believe it's a matter of time as well. One thing I remember is this last time I took it I did 8 or 9 CP essays so I was familiar with that subject essay-wise. Perhaps I need to find out the predicted essays subjects for Feb and, among other studying habits, do 8-10 essays for those subjects too.
Hey Ray. Been in your position, I know it sucks. One resource I found helpful for improving my MBE score is the giant Kaplan book (blue cover). I found it on Amazon for like $250. Hope this helps, good luck!

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Re: TLS Community Analysis Needed!

Post by maxmartin » Wed Dec 06, 2017 1:11 am

rayforoc wrote:Thanks, A Male Human. I believe it's a matter of time as well. One thing I remember is this last time I took it I did 8 or 9 CP essays so I was familiar with that subject essay-wise. Perhaps I need to find out the predicted essays subjects for Feb and, among other studying habits, do 8-10 essays for those subjects too.
Yep, Kaplan BLue book definitely helped me. I used it to pass for my second CA try. I am actually selling mine on ebay and amazon. Let me know if you want the link.

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by rayforoc » Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:22 pm

Thanks for the responses maxmartin and kc128.

Is there an advantage to using questions from that book v. the Barbri stuff I have?

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by rayforoc » Wed Dec 06, 2017 5:14 pm

Can anyone help me understand something. What do my MBE scaled scores translate to? In other words, how close am I to passing the MBE portion? I am trying to find a calculator online with no luck.

These are my MBE scores scaled:

Feb 2017 = 1346

July 2017 = 1390

I checked the Kaplan book on Amazon, but seeing as how I have a brand new S&T and brand new Barbri books, maybe I should suck it up with Adapitbar and purchase it once again, as they said I can for cheap. I am frustrated with them but it could be that I was utilizing it wrong (e.g., this time write the incorrect question's BLL on paper and make sure I do 50+ per day).

Thoughts?

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by a male human » Wed Dec 06, 2017 5:20 pm

My thoughts, feel free to disregard:

- Try http://www.one-timers.com/one-timers-ba ... calculator -- may be estimations
- 1390 MBE is somewhat close to being on track to pass; in terms of raw score, try to shoot for 130-135/200
- Don't need to do 50+ a day especially if you're going to just pump through them to meet your quota
- Why buy another copy? Did you mark it up?
- I assume you'll also study the questions you got right, not just incorrect

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by rayforoc » Wed Dec 06, 2017 6:21 pm

a male human wrote:My thoughts, feel free to disregard:

- Try http://www.one-timers.com/one-timers-ba ... calculator -- may be estimations
- 1390 MBE is somewhat close to being on track to pass; in terms of raw score, try to shoot for 130-135/200
- Don't need to do 50+ a day especially if you're going to just pump through them to meet your quota
- Why buy another copy? Did you mark it up?
- I assume you'll also study the questions you got right, not just incorrect
Thanks. Yeah historically I have a tough time finishing, so I wanted to build stamina by getting through at least 50 each morning session, but get through them properly. Perhaps I should cut back to 35 some days.

I bought another copy because I ripped pages and marked answers out of the first one from the sections I did focus on, and wanted a clean book to work with.

Yes, I will do do study correct ones this time around.

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by maxmartin » Wed Dec 06, 2017 6:36 pm

rayforoc wrote:Thanks for the responses maxmartin and kc128.

Is there an advantage to using questions from that book v. the Barbri stuff I have?
From feedback on this forum, Barbri questions are unnecessarily difficult and convoluted, but some people may argue that is the best way for youis to prepare. :mrgreen:

ST used the real MBE.

I don't know where or how Kaplan got their questions. But during my three bar exams, 600 total questions, the stem of 3 or 4 questions are exactly the same as the questions in the bluebook. And the length of bluebook questions is very close to the real ones. The level of difficulty is also pretty close.

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by SouthernOutWest » Wed Dec 06, 2017 7:27 pm

This isn't another MBE resource (although I used the Strategies and Tactics 6th edt. + Adaptibar + Critical Pass and LOVED them) but just another study strategy that worked for me and may help you. I was pretty determined to cut down on the amount of guessing I did on the MBE, because I'm just not great at guessing on multiple choice questions. In order to do that, I wrote down a one sentence explanation for approximately 2,000 of the 3,000 MBE practice questions that I took over the course of my preparation. I actually typed those answers in OneNote and then forced myself to check my reasoning (correct answer or not) with the reasoning listed in the explanation. I then hand wrote any rules that I missed (regardless of whether or not I got the question correct) on a legal pad and reviewed those rules between question sets. It was tedious and a royal pain in the ass, but I know that definitely helped me get over the 1440 hump.

Additionally, for the essays, I issue spotted/ IRAC'd (in outline format) every single past California essay available on the state bar website and then checked my "answers" against the model answers. After going through the 60+ available on the state bar website, you get a pretty good grasp as to what the bar graders typically look for, and you learn how to pick up easy points. I practiced formatting PTs in the various styles as well (i.e. memo or argument or email or whatever).

Good luck!!! You've got this!!!

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by FinallyPassedTheBar » Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:26 pm

rayforoc did you review your statistic performance on Adaptibar during your MBE review? And did you keep yourself to a strict time limit when answering questions?

I felt that the Adaptibar statistics helped me narrow down particular areas of law that I was having trouble with. I also kept myself to a very strict time limit when answering questions...under 1.5 minutes per question (but I studied many answers up to an hour each). Basically, I tried to make my testing conditions much harder than the actual exam. I think that helped me pass, even though coming out of the exam, I still felt uneasy.

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by rayforoc » Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:28 pm

maxmartin wrote:
rayforoc wrote:Thanks for the responses maxmartin and kc128.

Is there an advantage to using questions from that book v. the Barbri stuff I have?
From feedback on this forum, Barbri questions are unnecessarily difficult and convoluted, but some people may argue that is the best way for youis to prepare. :mrgreen:

ST used the real MBE.

I don't know where or how Kaplan got their questions. But during my three bar exams, 600 total questions, the stem of 3 or 4 questions are exactly the same as the questions in the bluebook. And the length of bluebook questions is very close to the real ones. The level of difficulty is also pretty close.
That's what I was thinking re Barbri too, so really I debating going through their MBEs ish on my own without their calendar or online questions, or, just getting adaptibar again and using that w/ my S&Ts. Maybe grabbing critical pass cards to look over in the gym...

I am interested in Kaplan MBE stuff, but its a $$$$ thing for me. I want to narrow my MBE stuff source to two or three things, and right now I have S&Ts, and new Barbri stuff, so its either that and add adaptibar or ditch Barbri for Kaplan and not use adaptibar at all...

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by rayforoc » Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:33 pm

FinallyPassedTheBar wrote:rayforoc did you review your statistic performance on Adaptibar during your MBE review? And did you keep yourself to a strict time limit when answering questions?

I felt that the Adaptibar statistics helped me narrow down particular areas of law that I was having trouble with. I also kept myself to a very strict time limit when answering questions...under 1.5 minutes per question (but I studied many answers up to an hour each). Basically, I tried to make my testing conditions much harder than the actual exam. I think that helped me pass, even though coming out of the exam, I still felt uneasy.
Thanks, FinallyPassedTheBar. Not really, I only checked to see where my percentiles were because I wanted to stay above 70%. But never used it for anything else otherwise (ie, none of the other advantages that separates it from BarMax). Also, no I did not stay to a strict time limit either.

When you stay up to an hour, do you mean after answering it, right or wrong, you would spend time looking over BLL outlines etc? Sometimes, I would even look up the BLL after reading the question stem but before answering... probably not doing that this time around.

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by rayforoc » Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:37 pm

SouthernOutWest wrote:This isn't another MBE resource (although I used the Strategies and Tactics 6th edt. + Adaptibar + Critical Pass and LOVED them) but just another study strategy that worked for me and may help you. I was pretty determined to cut down on the amount of guessing I did on the MBE, because I'm just not great at guessing on multiple choice questions. In order to do that, I wrote down a one sentence explanation for approximately 2,000 of the 3,000 MBE practice questions that I took over the course of my preparation. I actually typed those answers in OneNote and then forced myself to check my reasoning (correct answer or not) with the reasoning listed in the explanation. I then hand wrote any rules that I missed (regardless of whether or not I got the question correct) on a legal pad and reviewed those rules between question sets. It was tedious and a royal pain in the ass, but I know that definitely helped me get over the 1440 hump.

Additionally, for the essays, I issue spotted/ IRAC'd (in outline format) every single past California essay available on the state bar website and then checked my "answers" against the model answers. After going through the 60+ available on the state bar website, you get a pretty good grasp as to what the bar graders typically look for, and you learn how to pick up easy points. I practiced formatting PTs in the various styles as well (i.e. memo or argument or email or whatever).

Good luck!!! You've got this!!!
SouthernOutWest,

This was a significant help, thank you! I am planning on separating all seven subjects into seven different pads, and writing the rule statement down on each respective pad. Then reviewing them often...

I am going to go on the NCBE website and get all the available essays and model answers and do the same thing as you.

Do you mind telling me your schedule re how you used this material? This is the combo I might end up with.

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by FinallyPassedTheBar » Wed Dec 06, 2017 11:48 pm

rayforoc wrote:
FinallyPassedTheBar wrote:rayforoc did you review your statistic performance on Adaptibar during your MBE review? And did you keep yourself to a strict time limit when answering questions?

I felt that the Adaptibar statistics helped me narrow down particular areas of law that I was having trouble with. I also kept myself to a very strict time limit when answering questions...under 1.5 minutes per question (but I studied many answers up to an hour each). Basically, I tried to make my testing conditions much harder than the actual exam. I think that helped me pass, even though coming out of the exam, I still felt uneasy.
Thanks, FinallyPassedTheBar. Not really, I only checked to see where my percentiles were because I wanted to stay above 70%. But never used it for anything else otherwise (ie, none of the other advantages that separates it from BarMax). Also, no I did not stay to a strict time limit either.

When you stay up to an hour, do you mean after answering it, right or wrong, you would spend time looking over BLL outlines etc? Sometimes, I would even look up the BLL after reading the question stem but before answering... probably not doing that this time around.
Yes, that is exactly what I did. I spent significant time studying all the answer choices/explanations even if I got the answer right, and even if I thought I knew why I got the answer right. But I did not study BLL right before answering the question. Only after. I'd say the majority of MBE questions are written specifically to trick students into choosing the wrong answer. That's why I think it is important to try and identify the trick while reading the question.

I also used Adaptibar's "past performance " feature. There's an option in it to drill down and identify your weak areas (for example, you can select "real property", then drill down to "mortgages" or "land transfers" to see your performance). I then concentrated much of my review on areas where I was hitting below 70%. That feature is sort of hidden and I think many people don't know about it.

Good luck with your review, I am happy to hear you are not giving up.

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by SouthernOutWest » Thu Dec 07, 2017 10:48 am

rayforoc wrote:
SouthernOutWest wrote:This isn't another MBE resource (although I used the Strategies and Tactics 6th edt. + Adaptibar + Critical Pass and LOVED them) but just another study strategy that worked for me and may help you. I was pretty determined to cut down on the amount of guessing I did on the MBE, because I'm just not great at guessing on multiple choice questions. In order to do that, I wrote down a one sentence explanation for approximately 2,000 of the 3,000 MBE practice questions that I took over the course of my preparation. I actually typed those answers in OneNote and then forced myself to check my reasoning (correct answer or not) with the reasoning listed in the explanation. I then hand wrote any rules that I missed (regardless of whether or not I got the question correct) on a legal pad and reviewed those rules between question sets. It was tedious and a royal pain in the ass, but I know that definitely helped me get over the 1440 hump.

Additionally, for the essays, I issue spotted/ IRAC'd (in outline format) every single past California essay available on the state bar website and then checked my "answers" against the model answers. After going through the 60+ available on the state bar website, you get a pretty good grasp as to what the bar graders typically look for, and you learn how to pick up easy points. I practiced formatting PTs in the various styles as well (i.e. memo or argument or email or whatever).

Good luck!!! You've got this!!!
SouthernOutWest,

This was a significant help, thank you! I am planning on separating all seven subjects into seven different pads, and writing the rule statement down on each respective pad. Then reviewing them often...

I am going to go on the NCBE website and get all the available essays and model answers and do the same thing as you.

Do you mind telling me your schedule re how you used this material? This is the combo I might end up with.
pm'd you :)

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by rayforoc » Sat Dec 09, 2017 6:04 am

FinallyPassedTheBar wrote:
rayforoc wrote:
FinallyPassedTheBar wrote:rayforoc did you review your statistic performance on Adaptibar during your MBE review? And did you keep yourself to a strict time limit when answering questions?

I felt that the Adaptibar statistics helped me narrow down particular areas of law that I was having trouble with. I also kept myself to a very strict time limit when answering questions...under 1.5 minutes per question (but I studied many answers up to an hour each). Basically, I tried to make my testing conditions much harder than the actual exam. I think that helped me pass, even though coming out of the exam, I still felt uneasy.
Thanks, FinallyPassedTheBar. Not really, I only checked to see where my percentiles were because I wanted to stay above 70%. But never used it for anything else otherwise (ie, none of the other advantages that separates it from BarMax). Also, no I did not stay to a strict time limit either.

When you stay up to an hour, do you mean after answering it, right or wrong, you would spend time looking over BLL outlines etc? Sometimes, I would even look up the BLL after reading the question stem but before answering... probably not doing that this time around.
Yes, that is exactly what I did. I spent significant time studying all the answer choices/explanations even if I got the answer right, and even if I thought I knew why I got the answer right. But I did not study BLL right before answering the question. Only after. I'd say the majority of MBE questions are written specifically to trick students into choosing the wrong answer. That's why I think it is important to try and identify the trick while reading the question.

I also used Adaptibar's "past performance " feature. There's an option in it to drill down and identify your weak areas (for example, you can select "real property", then drill down to "mortgages" or "land transfers" to see your performance). I then concentrated much of my review on areas where I was hitting below 70%. That feature is sort of hidden and I think many people don't know about it.

Good luck with your review, I am happy to hear you are not giving up.
Appreciate it, thank you!

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by rayforoc » Sun Dec 10, 2017 1:08 am

All,

I’m hitting it full-time tomorrow morning. Is the following enough for my MBE prep?

1. S&T = 600 questions total
2. All four MBE sets off of NCBE’s website ( still ordering ) = 400 questions total
3. Whatever new questions I can grab from my Barbri materials, seeing as I haven’t used any of that from last time = ?

Right there that’s 1000 questions plus however many I grab from my barbri stuff. I’m still open to buying adaptibar as it’s only $200 for me.

Also, any alternative sources for MBE questions you recommend? For example, instead of buying adaptibar perhaps the Kaplan book? I’m just not sure if there’s a difference between Kaplan and the Barbri that I already have...

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by a male human » Sun Dec 10, 2017 1:17 am

If you're looking for more Civ Pro questions, www.barprephero.com has a 30-question simulated exam (not real question of course). Although, going by your relatively high CP MBE, this probably isn't going to be a lifesaver or anything.

I think what you have there is good.

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by FinallyPassedTheBar » Sun Dec 10, 2017 1:58 am

I was not impressed with the NCBE's practice MBE questions sets. If I remember correctly, they do not provide reasons why the wrongs answers are wrong. They just explain why a correct answer is correct (this might have changed recently, I am not sure).

Are you reluctant to do Adaptibar twice rayforoc ? I had to do Adaptibar twice to pass the exam.

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by rayforoc » Sun Dec 10, 2017 2:31 am

a male human wrote:If you're looking for more Civ Pro questions, http://www.barprephero.com has a 30-question simulated exam (not real question of course). Although, going by your relatively high CP MBE, this probably isn't going to be a lifesaver or anything.

I think what you have there is good.
Thanks bud, and I do want to check it out anyway though!

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by rayforoc » Sun Dec 10, 2017 2:35 am

FinallyPassedTheBar wrote:I was not impressed with the NCBE's practice MBE questions sets. If I remember correctly, they do not provide reasons why the wrongs answers are wrong. They just explain why a correct answer is correct (this might have changed recently, I am not sure).

Are you reluctant to do Adaptibar twice rayforoc ? I had to do Adaptibar twice to pass the exam.
Wow, thank you for this, I’m going to check that out before I buy them because that’s about $200.

Basically, but I’m thinking it’s inevitable. There is a part of me that’s not comfortable with using anything from Barbri other than their conviser, and perhaps their PT prep book if I have one included I havent checked yet.. I’m just afraid I’m going to remember what the right answer is on adaptibar, like right away, especially with subjects like torts ( maybe that is not a bad thing ). But I do recall my con law and property being pretty low.

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by goldenflash19 » Sun Dec 10, 2017 3:00 am

Here's a strategy my friends and I used. It's a little risky, but it could be worth considering.

Consider devoting 1:50 to the PT and 50 minutes to essays 4 and 5. The PT is worth twice as much as an essay and requires no outside knowledge. In my opinion, an extra 20 minutes on the PT gives you the potential for more points than 10 minutes on two separate essays. Each fact document in the library is there for a reason, and this extra time could allow you to incorporate every fact in your answer. The essays are unpredictable, and your time could be more valuable on a PT you can control than a curveball or hyrbrid essay or on an essay topic you aren't quite as comfortable with. If you could score an 80 on the PT, that would give you 30 points to spread over 5 essays and allow you to achieve a total passing score with individual essay scores of 60, 60, 60, 55, and 55.

Prep like crazy for the PR essay. If you at can at least get a 65, then all of your surplus PT points will go to 4 essays. If you score higher than 65, that's more surplus points.

Also, look at Dr. Saccuzzo's from Bar Secrets bar predictions. A lot of people say predictions are bogus, but I spent extra time prepping the subjects he suggested for July and was really happy I did. Still study all of the subjects, obviously, but it hurts nothing to run through his predicted topics a few more times.

The MBE, PT, and PR essay are the things you have the most control over. If you focus heavy on these and prepare adequately for the rest, I think you have a good shot.

Best of luck! You've got this!

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Re: TLS Community Advice Needed!

Post by rayforoc » Sun Dec 10, 2017 7:46 pm

goldenflash19 wrote:Here's a strategy my friends and I used. It's a little risky, but it could be worth considering.

Consider devoting 1:50 to the PT and 50 minutes to essays 4 and 5. The PT is worth twice as much as an essay and requires no outside knowledge. In my opinion, an extra 20 minutes on the PT gives you the potential for more points than 10 minutes on two separate essays. Each fact document in the library is there for a reason, and this extra time could allow you to incorporate every fact in your answer. The essays are unpredictable, and your time could be more valuable on a PT you can control than a curveball or hyrbrid essay or on an essay topic you aren't quite as comfortable with. If you could score an 80 on the PT, that would give you 30 points to spread over 5 essays and allow you to achieve a total passing score with individual essay scores of 60, 60, 60, 55, and 55.

Prep like crazy for the PR essay. If you at can at least get a 65, then all of your surplus PT points will go to 4 essays. If you score higher than 65, that's more surplus points.

Also, look at Dr. Saccuzzo's from Bar Secrets bar predictions. A lot of people say predictions are bogus, but I spent extra time prepping the subjects he suggested for July and was really happy I did. Still study all of the subjects, obviously, but it hurts nothing to run through his predicted topics a few more times.

The MBE, PT, and PR essay are the things you have the most control over. If you focus heavy on these and prepare adequately for the rest, I think you have a good shot.

Best of luck! You've got this!
Thank you, goldenflash19. I will check that strategy out during prep! Also, I have checked out Dr. Saccuzzo's predictions and they were pretty spot on last time.

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!


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