2018 July California Bar Forum

[Sapatlawyer]

With regard to the Essay/PT portion of the exam, most people recommend Baressays.com. That's obviously a good resource. What about Bar Secrets as a supplemental resource on essay/PT issues? Does anyone have a positive feedback on Bar Secrets? What I understand is that for the "attorney exam" you need to have the rule elements down cold and then provide a well-organized analysis of law and fact to reach your conclusion. Easier said than done, but that's the plan in July.

[chicoalto0649]

With regard to the Essay/PT portion of the exam, most people recommend Baressays.com. That's obviously a good resource. What about Bar Secrets as a supplemental resource on essay/PT issues? Does anyone have a positive feedback on Bar Secrets? What I understand is that for the "attorney exam" you need to have the rule elements down cold and then provide a well-organized analysis of law and fact to reach your conclusion. Easier said than done, but that's the plan in July.

I’ll be honest, I greatly enjoyed watching their videos/debriefs as a form of entertainment during studying. After watching their debriefs on the released exam I realized I had a shot! I don’t think their actual courses are worth it. It’s like psychological cotton candy and I found the Dr.’s voice soothing. By the way his predictions are out!


Pay for the upgraded baressays, their templates (plus their model answers for basically every essay released in the past decade) were prob the biggest reason why I passed. It’s not just enough to have the law down, there’s a very specific way each topic should be approached and evidence essays must have a certain set up, compared with civpro, contracts, wills etc. For each tested topic try to read 5 of their model answers and you’ll 1) start to see how an essay should be structured and 2) commonly tested topics.

I also think they do a great job of teaching you how to pick up the “easy” points. See a 60-65 essay for crim pro vs a model answer.

For PTs, I’ll be honest, you’re not going to have time to do much more than 1 or 2 a week. Use the 90minute MPTs from UBE states, they’re basically identical. Study model answers but I feel like if you get enough essay prep in with the other subjects you’ll be able to effectively IRAC on game day. Note that PTs were always a struggle for me and on the last one I spent 1:45 on it because I wanted to make sure I had at least not bombed it. Massive difference between a 60 and a 65 when it comes to a P or a F.

[Sapatlawyer]

Thanks for the helpful information. I tend to agree with you that Bar Secrets seems to be "psychological cotton candy" and I question their value compared to other programs. I did catch the Dr.'s predictions for the July 2018 exam and I hope he's right - I like those subject areas.

As for Baressays, I bought the upgrade and the templates seem to be a nice bonus to the database of prior essays.

Best of luck to all as we trudge our way to July.

With regard to the Essay/PT portion of the exam, most people recommend Baressays.com. That's obviously a good resource. What about Bar Secrets as a supplemental resource on essay/PT issues? Does anyone have a positive feedback on Bar Secrets? What I understand is that for the "attorney exam" you need to have the rule elements down cold and then provide a well-organized analysis of law and fact to reach your conclusion. Easier said than done, but that's the plan in July.

I’ll be honest, I greatly enjoyed watching their videos/debriefs as a form of entertainment during studying. After watching their debriefs on the released exam I realized I had a shot! I don’t think their actual courses are worth it. It’s like psychological cotton candy and I found the Dr.’s voice soothing. By the way his predictions are out!


Pay for the upgraded baressays, their templates (plus their model answers for basically every essay released in the past decade) were prob the biggest reason why I passed. It’s not just enough to have the law down, there’s a very specific way each topic should be approached and evidence essays must have a certain set up, compared with civpro, contracts, wills etc. For each tested topic try to read 5 of their model answers and you’ll 1) start to see how an essay should be structured and 2) commonly tested topics.

I also think they do a great job of teaching you how to pick up the “easy” points. See a 60-65 essay for crim pro vs a model answer.

For PTs, I’ll be honest, you’re not going to have time to do much more than 1 or 2 a week. Use the 90minute MPTs from UBE states, they’re basically identical. Study model answers but I feel like if you get enough essay prep in with the other subjects you’ll be able to effectively IRAC on game day. Note that PTs were always a struggle for me and on the last one I spent 1:45 on it because I wanted to make sure I had at least not bombed it. Massive difference between a 60 and a 65 when it comes to a P or a F.

[JohnnieSockran]

I failed July 17 by ~130 points total (1311 I believe was my score). I did Kaplan, and also got a tutor through Kaplan to help with essays.

I passed in February 18 (no idea by how much). For that test, I used a former bar grader as my tutor for essays, and did Adaptibar for MBE. 100% of my studying was through materials provided by my tutor or Adaptibar.

I'm not saying you cannot be successful through Kaplan, BarBri, etc. I'm just providing this data point, because when I was still struggling halfway through my Kaplan course (my practice scores weren't up to par no matter how much time I put in, so failing the exam was not that shocking) I wish I had known that other/better tutoring options were out there.

The tutor I used is very expensive, he's located in the bay area, but all of the work I did with him was via Skype, so location isn't an issue. He does only take a small group of students because he gives very detailed feedback, so his "roster" usually fills up pretty quick, especially for July.

This is not a solicitation, and I don't get any referral bonus or anything. I get nothing if you use his services, I'm just providing this info because it worked for me, and hopefully someone else out there benefits. His name is Jagdish (Jay) Bijlani and his website is callawtutor.com

[carcollector]

Has anyone used the SmartBarPrep outlines? I am thinking about buying them.

[carcollector]

I failed July 17 by ~130 points total (1311 I believe was my score). I did Kaplan, and also got a tutor through Kaplan to help with essays.

I passed in February 18 (no idea by how much). For that test, I used a former bar grader as my tutor for essays, and did Adaptibar for MBE. 100% of my studying was through materials provided by my tutor or Adaptibar.

I'm not saying you cannot be successful through Kaplan, BarBri, etc. I'm just providing this data point, because when I was still struggling halfway through my Kaplan course (my practice scores weren't up to par no matter how much time I put in, so failing the exam was not that shocking) I wish I had known that other/better tutoring options were out there.

The tutor I used is very expensive, he's located in the bay area, but all of the work I did with him was via Skype, so location isn't an issue. He does only take a small group of students because he gives very detailed feedback, so his "roster" usually fills up pretty quick, especially for July.

This is not a solicitation, and I don't get any referral bonus or anything. I get nothing if you use his services, I'm just providing this info because it worked for me, and hopefully someone else out there benefits. His name is Jagdish (Jay) Bijlani and his website is callawtutor.com

What was the program like? I am curious about how you were able to memorize all of the rules. Thanks!

[JohnnieSockran]

I failed July 17 by ~130 points total (1311 I believe was my score). I did Kaplan, and also got a tutor through Kaplan to help with essays.

I passed in February 18 (no idea by how much). For that test, I used a former bar grader as my tutor for essays, and did Adaptibar for MBE. 100% of my studying was through materials provided by my tutor or Adaptibar.

I'm not saying you cannot be successful through Kaplan, BarBri, etc. I'm just providing this data point, because when I was still struggling halfway through my Kaplan course (my practice scores weren't up to par no matter how much time I put in, so failing the exam was not that shocking) I wish I had known that other/better tutoring options were out there.

The tutor I used is very expensive, he's located in the bay area, but all of the work I did with him was via Skype, so location isn't an issue. He does only take a small group of students because he gives very detailed feedback, so his "roster" usually fills up pretty quick, especially for July.

This is not a solicitation, and I don't get any referral bonus or anything. I get nothing if you use his services, I'm just providing this info because it worked for me, and hopefully someone else out there benefits. His name is Jagdish (Jay) Bijlani and his website is callawtutor.com

What was the program like? I am curious about how you were able to memorize all of the rules. Thanks!

He gave me a very detailed outline that covered all of the rules and sub-rules. I studied my outline A LOT. I did a lot of practice essays and MBE questions. He also has attack sheets for each subject that are intended to be memorized, so that you are able to issue-spot every single issue on exam day.

[freewing]

Does anyone have July 2018 CA bar essay predictions? Thanks.

[carcollector]

I failed July 17 by ~130 points total (1311 I believe was my score). I did Kaplan, and also got a tutor through Kaplan to help with essays.

I passed in February 18 (no idea by how much). For that test, I used a former bar grader as my tutor for essays, and did Adaptibar for MBE. 100% of my studying was through materials provided by my tutor or Adaptibar.

I'm not saying you cannot be successful through Kaplan, BarBri, etc. I'm just providing this data point, because when I was still struggling halfway through my Kaplan course (my practice scores weren't up to par no matter how much time I put in, so failing the exam was not that shocking) I wish I had known that other/better tutoring options were out there.

The tutor I used is very expensive, he's located in the bay area, but all of the work I did with him was via Skype, so location isn't an issue. He does only take a small group of students because he gives very detailed feedback, so his "roster" usually fills up pretty quick, especially for July.

This is not a solicitation, and I don't get any referral bonus or anything. I get nothing if you use his services, I'm just providing this info because it worked for me, and hopefully someone else out there benefits. His name is Jagdish (Jay) Bijlani and his website is callawtutor.com

What was the program like? I am curious about how you were able to memorize all of the rules. Thanks!

He gave me a very detailed outline that covered all of the rules and sub-rules. I studied my outline A LOT. I did a lot of practice essays and MBE questions. He also has attack sheets for each subject that are intended to be memorized, so that you are able to issue-spot every single issue on exam day.

If possible would you be willing to share the materials? Thanks.

[thorm87]

With regard to the Essay/PT portion of the exam, most people recommend Baressays.com. That's obviously a good resource. What about Bar Secrets as a supplemental resource on essay/PT issues? Does anyone have a positive feedback on Bar Secrets? What I understand is that for the "attorney exam" you need to have the rule elements down cold and then provide a well-organized analysis of law and fact to reach your conclusion. Easier said than done, but that's the plan in July.

I didn't use their classes, but did purchase graded essays. Very useful in the home stretch in February in terms of getting more detailed feedback. They give you an estimated score for each essay you submit. I thought I was pretty solid on most subjects, but got a few essays back that were graded as 55 (e.g. non-passing score).

FWIW, if you are a practicing attorney with limited time, I think the most useful way to study is to focus on essays because writing for the bar (e.g. issue spot, be as inclusive as possible) is so different from effective writing in practice (cut to the chase and be as concise as possible). PTs are fairly similar to writing in practice, so I don't know if it's worthwhile to spend too much time/money on that piece.

[carcollector]

Does anyone have July 2018 CA bar essay predictions? Thanks.

From Dr. Saccuzzo from Bar Secrets:

1. Community Property (maybe Property)
2. Evidence (likely CA)
3. Business Associations (maybe PR crossover)
4. PR (maybe a crossover)
5. Civil Procedure (likely CA)
Wild Card: Remedies (Contracts or Torts)

[Bar-Examinee]

Has anyone else taken the bar without using Adaptibar, taken it again after using Adaptibar, and received a much lower score on the MBEs?

I used Strategies & Tactics to prepare for July 2017. At the time, I kept thinking that the actual MBE is a paper-and-pencil test, so the best way to practice is by using paper and pencil. I copied and printed a bunch of answer sheets and used them (actually bubbled in my answers) whenever I would answer questions from the S&T book. I did not, however, get through all of the questions in the S&T book. On the actual MBE day, though, I left feeling as though I really didn't do well, which was confirmed by my score once I received it.

I enrolled in Adaptibar for February 2018 because of the amount of praise that came from Adaptibar users. Plus, unlike just going through questions as they're listed or grouped in a book, the software's adaptive technology would give me questions based on the areas where I need more improvement. I don't remember exactly how many questions I went through, but it had to have been over 1,600 of 1,700 (though many of them were repeats). I did not write down rules three times each like others did, but I did review correct and incorrect answers for all of the questions that I answered and saw my percentages on Adaptibar increase over time. During the actual MBE, I felt much more confident and was happy to have recognized several very similar questions/question-types as ones I saw on Adaptibar.

I was shocked when I saw my February score report, stared at if for a while, and just kept wondering if that was my actual MBE score. Although my "Percent Below" was higher for five of the seven subjects, it was much lower for the other two, so my scaled MBE score dropped significantly.

The five "Percent Below" increases were by +0.7, +1.6, +2.0, +16.4, and +24.9.
The two "Percent Below" decreases were by -25.8 and -41.7
My scaled MBE score dropped by 116 points.

Did anyone else have a similar experience, and, if so, what did you use/do you plan to use for MBE prep moving forward?

[JohnnieSockran]

I failed July 17 by ~130 points total (1311 I believe was my score). I did Kaplan, and also got a tutor through Kaplan to help with essays.

I passed in February 18 (no idea by how much). For that test, I used a former bar grader as my tutor for essays, and did Adaptibar for MBE. 100% of my studying was through materials provided by my tutor or Adaptibar.

I'm not saying you cannot be successful through Kaplan, BarBri, etc. I'm just providing this data point, because when I was still struggling halfway through my Kaplan course (my practice scores weren't up to par no matter how much time I put in, so failing the exam was not that shocking) I wish I had known that other/better tutoring options were out there.

The tutor I used is very expensive, he's located in the bay area, but all of the work I did with him was via Skype, so location isn't an issue. He does only take a small group of students because he gives very detailed feedback, so his "roster" usually fills up pretty quick, especially for July.

This is not a solicitation, and I don't get any referral bonus or anything. I get nothing if you use his services, I'm just providing this info because it worked for me, and hopefully someone else out there benefits. His name is Jagdish (Jay) Bijlani and his website is callawtutor.com

What was the program like? I am curious about how you were able to memorize all of the rules. Thanks!

He gave me a very detailed outline that covered all of the rules and sub-rules. I studied my outline A LOT. I did a lot of practice essays and MBE questions. He also has attack sheets for each subject that are intended to be memorized, so that you are able to issue-spot every single issue on exam day.

If possible would you be willing to share the materials? Thanks.

No, I don't think that would be fair to him, and honestly I have a lot of respect for the guy because he really did seem to care about the success of his students.

If he was some big company like Kaplan, then yeah, I'd give all of the materials away for free.

Also, I already had a little celebratory "burn all of my bar materials" party when I found out I passed, so the point is moot.

[xonimi]

Should we be outlining? I know making outlines are supposed to be helpful but I'm not sure if it's ever worked for me... maybe i'm not doing it right. Had my first Evidence lecture yesterday and made an outline using the lecture handouts and the mini conviser but I feel like I just wasted my time. I can't recall anything I typed up. It seems like I just mindlessly type out the rules. I'm not sure if I should continue doing this or if I should instead just read through the lecture handout and then go over Critical Pass flashcards after each lecture.

[chicoalto0649]

Does anyone have July 2018 CA bar essay predictions? Thanks.

From Dr. Saccuzzo from Bar Secrets:

1. Community Property (maybe Property)
2. Evidence (likely CA)
3. Business Associations (maybe PR crossover)
4. PR (maybe a crossover)
5. Civil Procedure (likely CA)
Wild Card: Remedies (Contracts or Torts)

He's literally predicting all CA topics, that's unlikely. Hammer home MBE subjects (learn evidence/civpro CA distinctions after mastering the two) as you'll be prepped for MBE + Essays,then if i had to prioritize the CA topics it would be 1a./1b Remedies/PR (you always know they're testing it and remedies because there's so many ways you could be tested on them, and they also appear on the MBE too). Then bunch Wills/Trusts/CP together because they're so related. I forgot the other CA subjects.

[chicoalto0649]

Finding it largely useless so far to tackle MBE questions that I have not covered yet. Barbri starts with Evidence tomorrow--do you guys think it is a good idea to simply wait until the subject starts to practice MBE questions on the topic?

I plan to start Evidence questions on Adaptibar tomorrow and then slowly add new topics into the mix as they get covered in the course.

Forget waiting for the Barbri program to cover a subject. That's a big waste of time. Hell, I feel the lectures are nearly a big waste of time as well. On Adaptibar, first do 50 questions on each subject...one subject every day or every two days. After you have finished 50 questions on each subject, start with your mixed questions.

You will learn a lot of relevant black letter law, just by answering/reveiwing the MBE questions.

Try to bundle subjects too, I found it easier to do patches of Torts/Crim/Evidence as there was a logical nexus between the two. Then Contracts and Property becuase the fact patters are brutal (although I'll say the most recent iteration of the exam features far shorter prompts). CivPro - LOL, just study that as a standalone. It's the easiest to improve on though. A lot of time mere knowledge of a fed rule means you get the answer right. Whatever Adaptibar offers (and now they have actual CivPro mbe questions that were just released) do it all, and then do it AGAIN. It will be much easier to spot the issue they're testing (waiver of RJMOL or PJ, etc) and then revert back to the outlines to freshen up. And then Con Law - treat as a standalone too.

[austinselliott]

I just ordered BarMax to supplement my Barbri studying since they have almost 2,000 real MBE questions, unlike Barbri. Chose it over Adaptibar since you can access the questions on Barmax for life since there is no expiration. The question set also comes with analytics (which track your progress/tells you what you need to improve on). They are currently offering a 10% discount for the set of 1,750+ questions, which makes the price $270. PM if you want the 10% off code.

[carcollector]

I just ordered BarMax to supplement my Barbri studying since they have almost 2,000 real MBE questions, unlike Barbri. Chose it over Adaptibar since you can access the questions on Barmax for life since there is no expiration. The question set also comes with analytics (which track your progress/tells you what you need to improve on). They are currently offering a 10% discount for the set of 1,750+ questions, which makes the price $270. PM if you want the 10% off code.

I took their bar course ... just so you're informed, their mobile and laptop programs have constant syncing issues. Their support and customer service is shit. And their MBE analytics is very basic compared to Adaptibar imo.

[Nightcrawler]

Has anyone else taken the bar without using Adaptibar, taken it again after using Adaptibar, and received a much lower score on the MBEs?

I used Strategies & Tactics to prepare for July 2017. At the time, I kept thinking that the actual MBE is a paper-and-pencil test, so the best way to practice is by using paper and pencil. I copied and printed a bunch of answer sheets and used them (actually bubbled in my answers) whenever I would answer questions from the S&T book. I did not, however, get through all of the questions in the S&T book. On the actual MBE day, though, I left feeling as though I really didn't do well, which was confirmed by my score once I received it.

I enrolled in Adaptibar for February 2018 because of the amount of praise that came from Adaptibar users. Plus, unlike just going through questions as they're listed or grouped in a book, the software's adaptive technology would give me questions based on the areas where I need more improvement. I don't remember exactly how many questions I went through, but it had to have been over 1,600 of 1,700 (though many of them were repeats). I did not write down rules three times each like others did, but I did review correct and incorrect answers for all of the questions that I answered and saw my percentages on Adaptibar increase over time. During the actual MBE, I felt much more confident and was happy to have recognized several very similar questions/question-types as ones I saw on Adaptibar.

I was shocked when I saw my February score report, stared at if for a while, and just kept wondering if that was my actual MBE score. Although my "Percent Below" was higher for five of the seven subjects, it was much lower for the other two, so my scaled MBE score dropped significantly.

The five "Percent Below" increases were by +0.7, +1.6, +2.0, +16.4, and +24.9.
The two "Percent Below" decreases were by -25.8 and -41.7
My scaled MBE score dropped by 116 points.

Did anyone else have a similar experience, and, if so, what did you use/do you plan to use for MBE prep moving forward?

Between my first and second attempt I purchased Adaptibar, did around 1,500 questions (overall score: 65%) and my MBE went from 1100ish (yes, I know), to a 1323. What helped the most I think was writing down the rules I didn't know and review them periodically.

However, I used Adaptibar again the time after, did almost 2,000 questions and only scored 1335. I know it was February with an infamous scale (and infamous questions) but still, I feel like I didn't improve much at all for the amount of work put into it. At least it didn't get worse though.

How much did you score? Just to understand if you may have hit a ceiling or something.

[Nightcrawler]

Does anyone have July 2018 CA bar essay predictions? Thanks.

From Dr. Saccuzzo from Bar Secrets:

1. Community Property (maybe Property)
2. Evidence (likely CA)
3. Business Associations (maybe PR crossover)
4. PR (maybe a crossover)
5. Civil Procedure (likely CA)
Wild Card: Remedies (Contracts or Torts)

He's literally predicting all CA topics, that's unlikely. Hammer home MBE subjects (learn evidence/civpro CA distinctions after mastering the two) as you'll be prepped for MBE + Essays,then if i had to prioritize the CA topics it would be 1a./1b Remedies/PR (you always know they're testing it and remedies because there's so many ways you could be tested on them, and they also appear on the MBE too). Then bunch Wills/Trusts/CP together because they're so related. I forgot the other CA subjects.

Beware of that guy, last time (Feb 2018) his predictions were:

1. Wills/Trusts (was right about wills)
2. Remedies (likely Contracts) was wrong (no remedies)
3. PR x Biz Ass (PR was right but it was only a very small question crossed over with Contracts and no biz ass)
4. Con Law (was right)
5. CA Evidence (was wrong, no evidence at all)
6. Property - was wrong (the bar says actually property but if takings x nuisance, trespass, conversion and maybe negligence is considered "property", then I don't know how I got a 70 in that essay)

So basically, predicting like 10 out of 15 subjects and getting 3 right (one of which is PR) is not exactly reliable. Looks more of a gimmick to get people buy his course (but, come on, the website's name says it all about gimmicks - there's no secret to this exam).

[echo foxtrot]

Great point on the designation here. I think what is being left out of the discussion is that two tort questions appeared in the same exam. Consider this.

1. Question 1: Misrepresentation has been historically classified as a tort for bar exam purposes. For example, see Question 2, February 2017. Also, technically speaking, misrepresentation falls under torts. Question 1 should have been designated as 'Torts.'

2. Question 3: That question was obviously overwhelming torts. I agree that it should have not been designated solely as 'Property.'

I'm not sure why this mislabeling took place.

Does anyone have July 2018 CA bar essay predictions? Thanks.

From Dr. Saccuzzo from Bar Secrets:

1. Community Property (maybe Property)
2. Evidence (likely CA)
3. Business Associations (maybe PR crossover)
4. PR (maybe a crossover)
5. Civil Procedure (likely CA)
Wild Card: Remedies (Contracts or Torts)

He's literally predicting all CA topics, that's unlikely. Hammer home MBE subjects (learn evidence/civpro CA distinctions after mastering the two) as you'll be prepped for MBE + Essays,then if i had to prioritize the CA topics it would be 1a./1b Remedies/PR (you always know they're testing it and remedies because there's so many ways you could be tested on them, and they also appear on the MBE too). Then bunch Wills/Trusts/CP together because they're so related. I forgot the other CA subjects.

Beware of that guy, last time (Feb 2018) his predictions were:

1. Wills/Trusts (was right about wills)
2. Remedies (likely Contracts) was wrong (no remedies)
3. PR x Biz Ass (PR was right but it was only a very small question crossed over with Contracts and no biz ass)
4. Con Law (was right)
5. CA Evidence (was wrong, no evidence at all)
6. Property - was wrong (the bar says actually property but if takings x nuisance, trespass, conversion and maybe negligence is considered "property", then I don't know how I got a 70 in that essay)

So basically, predicting like 10 out of 15 subjects and getting 3 right (one of which is PR) is not exactly reliable. Looks more of a gimmick to get people buy his course (but, come on, the website's name says it all about gimmicks - there's no secret to this exam).

[justanotheruser]

Should we be outlining? I know making outlines are supposed to be helpful but I'm not sure if it's ever worked for me... maybe i'm not doing it right.

I can only speak on my experience, but outlining (as opposed to doing actual problems) was counter productive. I realized that outlining was a 'safe' activity that allowed me to avoid the hard/grunt work of actual MBEs/essays (and confront the fact that I got XYZ wrong and have a ways to go).

If it's true that outlining has never been your thing, I'd recommend dropping it in favor of just doing actual practice problems/essays.

[Bar-Examinee]

Has anyone else taken the bar without using Adaptibar, taken it again after using Adaptibar, and received a much lower score on the MBEs?

I used Strategies & Tactics to prepare for July 2017. At the time, I kept thinking that the actual MBE is a paper-and-pencil test, so the best way to practice is by using paper and pencil. I copied and printed a bunch of answer sheets and used them (actually bubbled in my answers) whenever I would answer questions from the S&T book. I did not, however, get through all of the questions in the S&T book. On the actual MBE day, though, I left feeling as though I really didn't do well, which was confirmed by my score once I received it.

I enrolled in Adaptibar for February 2018 because of the amount of praise that came from Adaptibar users. Plus, unlike just going through questions as they're listed or grouped in a book, the software's adaptive technology would give me questions based on the areas where I need more improvement. I don't remember exactly how many questions I went through, but it had to have been over 1,600 of 1,700 (though many of them were repeats). I did not write down rules three times each like others did, but I did review correct and incorrect answers for all of the questions that I answered and saw my percentages on Adaptibar increase over time. During the actual MBE, I felt much more confident and was happy to have recognized several very similar questions/question-types as ones I saw on Adaptibar.

I was shocked when I saw my February score report, stared at if for a while, and just kept wondering if that was my actual MBE score. Although my "Percent Below" was higher for five of the seven subjects, it was much lower for the other two, so my scaled MBE score dropped significantly.

The five "Percent Below" increases were by +0.7, +1.6, +2.0, +16.4, and +24.9.
The two "Percent Below" decreases were by -25.8 and -41.7
My scaled MBE score dropped by 116 points.

Did anyone else have a similar experience, and, if so, what did you use/do you plan to use for MBE prep moving forward?

Between my first and second attempt I purchased Adaptibar, did around 1,500 questions (overall score: 65%) and my MBE went from 1100ish (yes, I know), to a 1323. What helped the most I think was writing down the rules I didn't know and review them periodically.

However, I used Adaptibar again the time after, did almost 2,000 questions and only scored 1335. I know it was February with an infamous scale (and infamous questions) but still, I feel like I didn't improve much at all for the amount of work put into it. At least it didn't get worse though.

How much did you score? Just to understand if you may have hit a ceiling or something.

Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately, no, I couldn't have hit a ceiling since I didn't even break the 1300 mark in July. (Yeah, dropped to the 1100s in Feb.)

[psg190]

I failed July 17 by ~130 points total (1311 I believe was my score). I did Kaplan, and also got a tutor through Kaplan to help with essays.

I passed in February 18 (no idea by how much). For that test, I used a former bar grader as my tutor for essays, and did Adaptibar for MBE. 100% of my studying was through materials provided by my tutor or Adaptibar.

I'm not saying you cannot be successful through Kaplan, BarBri, etc. I'm just providing this data point, because when I was still struggling halfway through my Kaplan course (my practice scores weren't up to par no matter how much time I put in, so failing the exam was not that shocking) I wish I had known that other/better tutoring options were out there.

The tutor I used is very expensive, he's located in the bay area, but all of the work I did with him was via Skype, so location isn't an issue. He does only take a small group of students because he gives very detailed feedback, so his "roster" usually fills up pretty quick, especially for July.

This is not a solicitation, and I don't get any referral bonus or anything. I get nothing if you use his services, I'm just providing this info because it worked for me, and hopefully someone else out there benefits. His name is Jagdish (Jay) Bijlani and his website is callawtutor.com

What was the program like? I am curious about how you were able to memorize all of the rules. Thanks!

He gave me a very detailed outline that covered all of the rules and sub-rules. I studied my outline A LOT. I did a lot of practice essays and MBE questions. He also has attack sheets for each subject that are intended to be memorized, so that you are able to issue-spot every single issue on exam day.

If possible would you be willing to share the materials? Thanks.

The materials are nothing earth shattering. Between a premium baressays.com account and Essay Exam Writing for the California Bar you'll have them all. I took his course and did not find it beneficial.

[justanotheruser]

Holy shit.

No, seriously. You can no longer sign up for the [Productive Mindset Intervention Program] that, according to the Executive Director of the State Bar of California on May 18th, had just been “recently launched” for the July 2018 exam. I found this out by calling the Los Angeles Office of Admissions and asking for information on how to enroll in the program. I was told that the deadline for enrollment was May 14th, 2018. Some might find that an odd date to choose, as it is four days before the Bar Exam results were released. Meaning that anyone who had failed the February administration and would be registering for the July exam had missed the enrollment deadline for a program designed to improve their performance in July.

I pressed him further, asking if it was a program designed only for first-time test takers or 3Ls. I was told that it was for “anyone who enrolled by May 14th.” I asked, “But, how could anyone who had taken the February exam enroll by May 14th?” The answer is, of course, that they couldn’t — but because he was unwilling to say that, the representative simply breathed in silence on the other line as the tension grew. Much angrier now, I demanded to have the names of the persons in charge of running the “Productive Mindset Intervention Program,” and for their contact information. If you’re reading this and you’re wearing a hat, I would advise holding onto it before proceeding on and reading the response I received. The words that stumbled out of the man on the other line’s mouth were “no one has been appointed for that yet.”

Source: https://medium.com/@ungiorno/go-f-ck-yo ... 1c6836a416 (well worth a read... the writer takes the state bar to task and sums up many of my own feelings)