THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION Forum

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studying4bar

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by studying4bar » Sat Jun 09, 2018 5:42 pm

frqw9201 wrote:
studying4bar wrote:
frqw9201 wrote:Send a complaint about this in the message center to both customer service and study strategies. I have send them emails but they are saying there is no problem. Maybe if they get 10 complaints they will finally realize something is wrong.
I know the regional director, I think I'm going to e-mail her and see if there is anything she can do because I feel like complaints from the message center get answers by customer service people that can only relay the messages and state that they will do so, but maybe if a regional director says something or hears about it...well, there's hope
already contacted my regional director, hasn't responded yet though seeing as its the weekend
Yeah, I might try Monday or wait for them to respond to my messages because I just sent two and explained that the handout has problems and the structure just seems off and requested access to Schotts 2016 materials because I would rather run the risk of something having changed in the past 2 years than take the exam on test day with my alleged knowledge of what I should know based on this dude.

dabigchina

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by dabigchina » Sat Jun 09, 2018 5:56 pm

Anybody taking CA and finding the CA lecturers to be piss poor? The Professional Responsibilities person is just awful. Remedies was also bad, but not this bad.

2015_Splitter

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by 2015_Splitter » Sat Jun 09, 2018 8:11 pm

studying4bar wrote:
frqw9201 wrote:
studying4bar wrote:
frqw9201 wrote:Send a complaint about this in the message center to both customer service and study strategies. I have send them emails but they are saying there is no problem. Maybe if they get 10 complaints they will finally realize something is wrong.
I know the regional director, I think I'm going to e-mail her and see if there is anything she can do because I feel like complaints from the message center get answers by customer service people that can only relay the messages and state that they will do so, but maybe if a regional director says something or hears about it...well, there's hope
already contacted my regional director, hasn't responded yet though seeing as its the weekend
Yeah, I might try Monday or wait for them to respond to my messages because I just sent two and explained that the handout has problems and the structure just seems off and requested access to Schotts 2016 materials because I would rather run the risk of something having changed in the past 2 years than take the exam on test day with my alleged knowledge of what I should know based on this dude.
The first chapter is rough. However, it gets a lot better and starts to follow along. I tried contacting Themis to see if they could give me a lecture handout that was pre-filled, but no luck. They said they didn't have a pre-filled out lecture handout. I had to go to the outline a couple of times to find the blanks. Ide-Don's MEE workshop really helps as well. Overall, the first one is terrible, but gets significantly better.

dlrkgml

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by dlrkgml » Sat Jun 09, 2018 8:50 pm

Feeling pretty demoralized :( My MBE PQ scores don't seem to be able to escape the 55% range. I listen to the lectures, do the handouts, and use critical pass flash cards - I stopped taking my time to diligently read through the long outline because my Themis advisor told me I could do without it if I focused on the other aspects of studying.

I do fine on questions that focus on the more general ideas, but I bomb the extremely nuanced questions that have answers only in the long outlines. Any suggestions?

Lawworld19

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by Lawworld19 » Sat Jun 09, 2018 8:53 pm

dlrkgml wrote:Feeling pretty demoralized :( My MBE PQ scores don't seem to be able to escape the 55% range. I listen to the lectures, do the handouts, and use critical pass flash cards - I stopped taking my time to diligently read through the long outline because my Themis advisor told me I could do without it if I focused on the other aspects of studying.

I do fine on questions that focus on the more general ideas, but I bomb the extremely nuanced questions that have answers only in the long outlines. Any suggestions?

I cannot usually get out of the 50's either....I'm scared.

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Lawworld19

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by Lawworld19 » Sat Jun 09, 2018 8:53 pm

dlrkgml wrote:Feeling pretty demoralized :( My MBE PQ scores don't seem to be able to escape the 55% range. I listen to the lectures, do the handouts, and use critical pass flash cards - I stopped taking my time to diligently read through the long outline because my Themis advisor told me I could do without it if I focused on the other aspects of studying.

I do fine on questions that focus on the more general ideas, but I bomb the extremely nuanced questions that have answers only in the long outlines. Any suggestions?

What bar exam are you taking?

dlrkgml

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by dlrkgml » Sat Jun 09, 2018 9:03 pm

Lawworld19 wrote:
dlrkgml wrote:Feeling pretty demoralized :( My MBE PQ scores don't seem to be able to escape the 55% range. I listen to the lectures, do the handouts, and use critical pass flash cards - I stopped taking my time to diligently read through the long outline because my Themis advisor told me I could do without it if I focused on the other aspects of studying.

I do fine on questions that focus on the more general ideas, but I bomb the extremely nuanced questions that have answers only in the long outlines. Any suggestions?

What bar exam are you taking?
Sorry should have mentioned - NY!
Lawworld19 wrote:
dlrkgml wrote:Feeling pretty demoralized :( My MBE PQ scores don't seem to be able to escape the 55% range. I listen to the lectures, do the handouts, and use critical pass flash cards - I stopped taking my time to diligently read through the long outline because my Themis advisor told me I could do without it if I focused on the other aspects of studying.

I do fine on questions that focus on the more general ideas, but I bomb the extremely nuanced questions that have answers only in the long outlines. Any suggestions?

I cannot usually get out of the 50's either....I'm scared.
:(

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BlueLaw11

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by BlueLaw11 » Sat Jun 09, 2018 9:07 pm

dabigchina wrote:Anybody taking CA and finding the CA lecturers to be piss poor? The Professional Responsibilities person is just awful. Remedies was also bad, but not this bad.
Agreed. Haven't gotten to Professional Responsibilities yet, but the Community Property lecturer was atrocious. I feel like we were eased in with Geiss and Kramer and it's been all downhill since

sproutz

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by sproutz » Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:06 am

dlrkgml wrote:Feeling pretty demoralized :( My MBE PQ scores don't seem to be able to escape the 55% range. I listen to the lectures, do the handouts, and use critical pass flash cards - I stopped taking my time to diligently read through the long outline because my Themis advisor told me I could do without it if I focused on the other aspects of studying.

I do fine on questions that focus on the more general ideas, but I bomb the extremely nuanced questions that have answers only in the long outlines. Any suggestions?
Obviously everyone learns differently, but what's been really working for me is writing out by hand a one sentence rule for each MBE question I miss while I am practicing. I've found that even the nit-picky small rules actually come up again and again, either as the answer to the question or with one of the incorrect answer choices.
Whenever I sit down to do a practice MBE set, I have a legal pad in front of me and either put a tick mark for the questions I get right (and quickly skim the answer explanation) or read the answer explanation thoroughly, decide where my thought process went wrong, and use the explanation to write out the rule in one sentence. Then, before I do my next set for that subject, I can quickly read over the rules that I missed last time. I've really found that once I write it out by hand, I never miss it again. (And I've been averaging like 75-80% on MBE sets by the end of each subject.)

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lawbug123

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by lawbug123 » Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:40 pm

sproutz wrote:
dlrkgml wrote:Feeling pretty demoralized :( My MBE PQ scores don't seem to be able to escape the 55% range. I listen to the lectures, do the handouts, and use critical pass flash cards - I stopped taking my time to diligently read through the long outline because my Themis advisor told me I could do without it if I focused on the other aspects of studying.

I do fine on questions that focus on the more general ideas, but I bomb the extremely nuanced questions that have answers only in the long outlines. Any suggestions?
Obviously everyone learns differently, but what's been really working for me is writing out by hand a one sentence rule for each MBE question I miss while I am practicing. I've found that even the nit-picky small rules actually come up again and again, either as the answer to the question or with one of the incorrect answer choices.
Whenever I sit down to do a practice MBE set, I have a legal pad in front of me and either put a tick mark for the questions I get right (and quickly skim the answer explanation) or read the answer explanation thoroughly, decide where my thought process went wrong, and use the explanation to write out the rule in one sentence. Then, before I do my next set for that subject, I can quickly read over the rules that I missed last time. I've really found that once I write it out by hand, I never miss it again. (And I've been averaging like 75-80% on MBE sets by the end of each subject.)
I'm going to try that. I've literally been scoring around 45% on my MBE PQ which is so strange because I've reviewed everything and done well on the assessments.

Findedeux

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by Findedeux » Sun Jun 10, 2018 8:13 pm

lawbug123 wrote:
sproutz wrote:
dlrkgml wrote:Feeling pretty demoralized :( My MBE PQ scores don't seem to be able to escape the 55% range. I listen to the lectures, do the handouts, and use critical pass flash cards - I stopped taking my time to diligently read through the long outline because my Themis advisor told me I could do without it if I focused on the other aspects of studying.

I do fine on questions that focus on the more general ideas, but I bomb the extremely nuanced questions that have answers only in the long outlines. Any suggestions?
Obviously everyone learns differently, but what's been really working for me is writing out by hand a one sentence rule for each MBE question I miss while I am practicing. I've found that even the nit-picky small rules actually come up again and again, either as the answer to the question or with one of the incorrect answer choices.
Whenever I sit down to do a practice MBE set, I have a legal pad in front of me and either put a tick mark for the questions I get right (and quickly skim the answer explanation) or read the answer explanation thoroughly, decide where my thought process went wrong, and use the explanation to write out the rule in one sentence. Then, before I do my next set for that subject, I can quickly read over the rules that I missed last time. I've really found that once I write it out by hand, I never miss it again. (And I've been averaging like 75-80% on MBE sets by the end of each subject.)
I'm going to try that. I've literally been scoring around 45% on my MBE PQ which is so strange because I've reviewed everything and done well on the assessments.

Well the assessments are so much easier compared to the real questions that there's not really a comparison.

I actually think there would be significant value in creating a middle tier set of questions that are halfway between assessments and the mbe questions.

dabigchina

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by dabigchina » Sun Jun 10, 2018 8:29 pm

Themis: You need to study professional responsibility because it's an essay topic every year in California
Also Themis: You only need to see 4 practice essays for professional responsibility. Now go ahead and do 8 contracts essays.

l18

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by l18 » Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:08 pm

So I am about 50 tasks behind from their PDF schedule (last task today is to read the remedies outline). Is it possible to catch up by the end of the month if I kill myself studying?

I know it matters what I actually learn but the last couple of weeks some things have come up and I am finally in a good position to study. I know I've messed up so far but really hoping I don't have to postpone the exam. Taking the CA bar.

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dabigchina

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by dabigchina » Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:19 pm

l18 wrote:So I am about 50 tasks behind from their PDF schedule (last task today is to read the remedies outline). Is it possible to catch up by the end of the month if I kill myself studying?

I know it matters what I actually learn but the last couple of weeks some things have come up and I am finally in a good position to study. I know I've messed up so far but really hoping I don't have to postpone the exam. Taking the CA bar.
It'll be tough, but not impossible. It looks like you're about a week behind. Just don't read the long outlines and you'll be fine.

lawbug123

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by lawbug123 » Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:26 pm

What percentage is everyone at now? I finally made it to 15%. lol

l18

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by l18 » Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:39 pm

dabigchina wrote: It'll be tough, but not impossible. It looks like you're about a week behind. Just don't read the long outlines and you'll be fine.
Thanks! Sounds like a plan, the long outlines do take a substantial amount of time to read.

I do think reading the outlines help me process the info better, but hopefully, the lectures are enough.

Just took crim pro so when it comes to that I hope I can fly through it and make up some time.
lawbug123 wrote:What percentage is everyone at now? I finally made it to 15%. lol
19% so barely beating you haha. Is your exam in late July as well? Not sure if other jurisdictions follow a different schedule.

dabigchina

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by dabigchina » Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:50 pm

34.2%. IDK how legit these percentages are tho. I've done 34 MBEs and 2 practice essays today and apparently thats only good for 0.6%. Now I have to go do 2 MPTs...

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Findedeux

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by Findedeux » Sun Jun 10, 2018 11:14 pm

I'm at about 40% but I started in March.

I spend a lot of time reviewing which doesn't affect my percentage.

abogado2018

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by abogado2018 » Mon Jun 11, 2018 1:57 am

37% here. I started a few days early in the official schedule. I'm really confused about what the "suggested pace" means and how closely we should be sticking to it. Yesterday my suggested pace was +1.4%, today it jumped up to +1.8%, and tomorrow is 1%. I don't get it.

dabigchina

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by dabigchina » Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:08 am

abogado2018 wrote:37% here. I started a few days early in the official schedule. I'm really confused about what the "suggested pace" means and how closely we should be sticking to it. Yesterday my suggested pace was +1.4%, today it jumped up to +1.8%, and tomorrow is 1%. I don't get it.
The answer is that the percentages don't have any relation to how much work you have to do. 1% can be a lot of work if yo u are writing essays all day, while than 2% can be easy if you are just watching lectures.

studying4bar

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by studying4bar » Mon Jun 11, 2018 10:13 am

2015_Splitter wrote:
studying4bar wrote:
frqw9201 wrote:
studying4bar wrote:
frqw9201 wrote:Send a complaint about this in the message center to both customer service and study strategies. I have send them emails but they are saying there is no problem. Maybe if they get 10 complaints they will finally realize something is wrong.
I know the regional director, I think I'm going to e-mail her and see if there is anything she can do because I feel like complaints from the message center get answers by customer service people that can only relay the messages and state that they will do so, but maybe if a regional director says something or hears about it...well, there's hope
already contacted my regional director, hasn't responded yet though seeing as its the weekend
Yeah, I might try Monday or wait for them to respond to my messages because I just sent two and explained that the handout has problems and the structure just seems off and requested access to Schotts 2016 materials because I would rather run the risk of something having changed in the past 2 years than take the exam on test day with my alleged knowledge of what I should know based on this dude.
The first chapter is rough. However, it gets a lot better and starts to follow along. I tried contacting Themis to see if they could give me a lecture handout that was pre-filled, but no luck. They said they didn't have a pre-filled out lecture handout. I had to go to the outline a couple of times to find the blanks. Ide-Don's MEE workshop really helps as well. Overall, the first one is terrible, but gets significantly better.
So funny you said that, I definitely think the essay lecture helps understand evidence so that is an asset, and yeah I am still waiting on 1 response but in the first, they essentially told me they would not make past videos or lecture handouts available to me. So, I went for a ride last night and my cousin lent me his handout. To be honest, they were a little bit rude in their phrasing. I told them how I knew Schott didn't organize it that way and have poor lecture handouts and that I took evidence in law school and was a rep for another company for all 3 years which I got free access to but ended up switching because it just was not the program for me when it came time to make a final decision, so I leveraged my former position with Themis and since I technically finished my law school requirements (except 1) by december because I was trying for the pro bono scholars february exam but I digress. Anyway, I told them that I knew schott was solid and that I know this other company that I represented and my law school professor all presented evidence in a certain order that they all more or less followed.

They responded with a blunt "read the outline if you find this lecturer unhelpful," and they are "aware of the general way evidence is presented for the company I supposedly was a rep for," and will note my comments but they couldn't get me access to Schott or his handout. I'm actually looking forward to touching base with the director because these companies make a pretty penny off of us and definitely should not be rude and have to be able to come up with a better solution than telling people to read the long outline. Funny thing is, my regional director WAS my former boss at the other company in my first year, left my second, and when her non-compete was up, Themis jumped at the opportunity and grabbed her. So, since I know her personally, I am pretty confident that while she may not be able to render assistance due to perhaps a stupid policy or maybe themis and the lecturer have rights to the old lecture handout, I dont know, but she will not be happy when I forward along my screenshot of my message and the response I got.

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studying4bar

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by studying4bar » Mon Jun 11, 2018 10:15 am

abogado2018 wrote:37% here. I started a few days early in the official schedule. I'm really confused about what the "suggested pace" means and how closely we should be sticking to it. Yesterday my suggested pace was +1.4%, today it jumped up to +1.8%, and tomorrow is 1%. I don't get it.
I have had these issues from time to time, and I think it depends on the assignments that we do in one day and the fact that it supposedly recalibrates at midnight. I only am hitting 30% today because I got spring/summer bronchitis which made for such a fun weekend. I guess I better pick up the pace.

studying4bar

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by studying4bar » Mon Jun 11, 2018 10:18 am

l18 wrote:So I am about 50 tasks behind from their PDF schedule (last task today is to read the remedies outline). Is it possible to catch up by the end of the month if I kill myself studying?

I know it matters what I actually learn but the last couple of weeks some things have come up and I am finally in a good position to study. I know I've messed up so far but really hoping I don't have to postpone the exam. Taking the CA bar.
I know Cali is a different ballgame in a lot of senses, but I would not grow too concerned and you needn't kill yourself over studying. I would just set a goal for yourself of a certain % per day or draw up a schedule where you add one or two additional tasks in a day. I also concur with the cutting out the long outlines statement, look over the FRO's and if there is something that doesn't make sense after your lecture then go to the big outline.

arose928

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by arose928 » Mon Jun 11, 2018 12:28 pm

If this is helpful for people, this is my strategy for dealing with the long outline --

When it says "Read Outline" as a task I basically just read the table of contents and create the structure/skeleton of my own outline. Then I watch the lectures and after each lecture I use the lecture notes to fill out my outline and I read that section of the long outline. So it's only reading a few pages of the outline at the time, and helps to fill out the details that the lecturer might have skipped. Reading the entire outline from start to finish is a useless exercise and I don't really get why they assign it that way.

lawbug123

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Re: THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION

Post by lawbug123 » Mon Jun 11, 2018 12:35 pm

Yeah, the percentage seems so arbitrary. Started studying in mid-May (though not consistently) and the exam is in July! :| But I'm taking the Illinois Bar - so its not as hard as the NY and CA bar folks.

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