THEMIS JULY 2018 - DISCUSSION Forum

[gladiator0flaw11]

Has anyone scored 2/5 on Themis graded essay and still managed to pass the bar exam? I scored 58 points scaled score on contracts on the last bar exam so this first topic I wasn't the most worried about but saw a drop to 2/5 score on the first graded essay. I don't want to sit for something I don't have a chance at passing, but also don't want to postpone what I'm trying to do now. Also working a full time doc review job during the week and getting my MBA so multitasking has been a bit difficult. fml

[BlueLaw11]

Is anyone else just getting slaughtered by the Mortgage questions in the practice MBEs?

I felt good after contracts but this is getting pretty depressing

[CBlaw]

Is anyone else just getting slaughtered by the Mortgage questions in the practice MBEs?

I felt good after contracts but this is getting pretty depressing

Seems like everyone is.

[Findedeux]

I do worse on contracts than property.

Even though I know Property is harder, I don't get the feel for contracts and end up getting easy questions wrong.

But at least contracts isn't a time-sink the way those rambling property questions are.

And I usually don't have to draw/write out much for contracts.

[thisiswater]

i'm so far behind i'm not even on real property mbe ?s yet. I'll be there by wednesday I guess.

Is anyone else using themis and adaptibar? I'm finding adaptibar questions to be much trickier that themis ones. I know they're real MBE questions so I'm worried that Themis scores aren't going to be predictive

[studying4bar]

Is anyone else just getting slaughtered by the Mortgage questions in the practice MBEs?

I felt good after contracts but this is getting pretty depressing

Seems like everyone is.

I know. I kind of want to blame kramer.

[deacon]

got %49 Civi Pro PQ3. I guess they meant to teach you the rules because none of them are in the final review outline

[Neilt001]

Has anyone scored 2/5 on Themis graded essay and still managed to pass the bar exam? I scored 58 points scaled score on contracts on the last bar exam so this first topic I wasn't the most worried about but saw a drop to 2/5 score on the first graded essay. I don't want to sit for something I don't have a chance at passing, but also don't want to postpone what I'm trying to do now. Also working a full time doc review job during the week and getting my MBA so multitasking has been a bit difficult. fml

Hey I scored 2/6 (it's out of 6 isn't it??) on most of my graded themis essays. Ended up scoring in the 89th percentile on the written portion. You should be fine. Just learn from your mistakes. It's still early days.

[Neilt001]

got %49 Civi Pro PQ3. I guess they meant to teach you the rules because none of them are in the final review outline

Yep. I found that I learned new rules every time I did an MBE PQ test. I constantly struggled to score over 65% on those things. I eventually started to write down the rule each time I learned a new one. The fact of the matter is that there's just simply too many rules and you won't have all of them in the outlines (though I think most are there), and you can't possibly memorize them all. It's just a slow process of doing lots of PQs, learning from your mistakes, and eventually getting to a place where you're scoring a passing grade. You'll never learn all the rules but you'll learn enough to pass. I ended up scoring in the 85th percentile on the MBE after struggling through the entire course.

[Neilt001]

What happens if you submit Graded Exam #1 late (like the next day?) I am running a little behind and trying to catch up and Contracts Graded Exam 1 was due for me today...will they still accept it and return it with comments or do we lose out? I can't imagine that being the case but thought I would see if anyone knew. Anyone else in the same boat being late on submitting the first graded essay?

yes, it's fine if you submit late. You wont' get feedback right away but it's not otherwise an issue.

[Neilt001]

Have any of you guys used the quiz builder yet? I'm considering using it to get more practice for property...

I used the quiz builder at the end of the course once I had finished all the assigned PQs. They're valuable so definitely do them if you have time. (Personally, I was more worried about finishing the course, so I didn't do any additional PQs until after I had done everything else.)

[Neilt001]

Is anyone else just getting slaughtered by the Mortgage questions in the practice MBEs?

I felt good after contracts but this is getting pretty depressing

Seems like everyone is.

I know. I kind of want to blame kramer.

I barely understood any mortgages questions. Even when I went into the exam I knew I would get those questions wrong, and I probably did. Sometimes you just gotta let it go and accept the fact that you just wont understand some topics. On the bright side, you won't fail the MBE as a result of mortgages, because there won't be *that* many questions on it.

[Neilt001]

Hey,

Another quick question. What have yall though about the course outlines? I feel like reading them before the lectures is taking me way too long and I'm getting much more through the lecture and lecture handouts.

I might play devil's advocate to everyone who said they do in fact read them. I didn't once read the outlines (it just looked like too much reading, and I figured I would forget it all anyway). So I just took really good notes during the lectures (see my earlier post about taking notes) and then just drilled the PQs.

It's totally a preference thing, but my main issue was that the outlines were too detailed, and my own notes taken during the lectures were much more tailored to my 'stick to basics' study approach. The last thing I wanted was an information overload, and we all know the bar exam is minimum competency as opposed to a law school exam. The outlines would have just overwhelmed me so I didn't touch em, and had a beach bonfire last week and burned em all heheh .

I do agree that reading the outlines beforehand will set you up to better understand the lectures, but I personally figured my time would be better spent elsewhere.

[studying4bar]

Hi,

I started Themis, but I am doing the Civ. Pro. now, which drives me crazy. I am an international lawyer. didn't take any bar courses other than contract and torts in my llm.

I started to feel kind of hopeless and looking for recommendations especially for civil pro and con law

Hey, before I throw in my two cents, I must ask: did you start very early or are you using flex study because our schedule does not show civ pro until June 5th for the lecture. So are you flex studying or did you get an early start or am I just slow? That said, I do not think you should freak out. We still have plenty of time. What is making you feel hopeless/particularly for those topics?

[studying4bar]

Has anyone scored 2/5 on Themis graded essay and still managed to pass the bar exam? I scored 58 points scaled score on contracts on the last bar exam so this first topic I wasn't the most worried about but saw a drop to 2/5 score on the first graded essay. I don't want to sit for something I don't have a chance at passing, but also don't want to postpone what I'm trying to do now. Also working a full time doc review job during the week and getting my MBA so multitasking has been a bit difficult. fml

I am retaking from February because I did a pro bono scholar program and failed by 19 points (damn MPT's and exemplify) but my MBE was literally the target score [trying to improve that/practice as much as I can because 1)by July I was scoring 5 or more points higher than the target score when I practiced (on the practice mbe's/mixed topic sets - I did horrible on the property questions), and my MEE essay average was a 55, but I got a 3/6 on my first graded essay in February and got a 3 on the property one as well. Long story longer, my contracts essay that I "just" got a 3 on/was our first graded assignment had me nervous but on exam day I got a 60 something on my contracts essay. It's still quite early, you have plenty of time to improve so don't stress over it. Read the comments/suggestions from your grader, maybe do some more practice essays and if you are still concerned when say graded essay 3 is due/comes out, then I would maybe call themis or contact your director and explain the situation/ask for suggestions.

[studying4bar]

Is anyone else just getting slaughtered by the Mortgage questions in the practice MBEs?

I felt good after contracts but this is getting pretty depressing

Seems like everyone is.

I know. I kind of want to blame kramer.

I barely understood any mortgages questions. Even when I went into the exam I knew I would get those questions wrong, and I probably did. Sometimes you just gotta let it go and accept the fact that you just wont understand some topics. On the bright side, you won't fail the MBE as a result of mortgages, because there won't be *that* many questions on it.

Truth. I am trying to spend a little extra time (if such a thing exists) to spend on mortgages but I am not going to let/do not think it is wise to let 1 sub-topic of 1 topic make me fall behind. In an ideal world, I'd spend as much time as needed to understand, but..Earth is not even close to an ideal world, so "BarExamLandia," is like a parallel universe of suckery and akin to the "upside-down" in Stranger Things.

[catahoula]

I guess I'm in some kind of weird minority because I actually much prefer property over contracts and have done slightly better on the property practice questions...

To all the people struggling with mortgages - I hate mortgages and the very thought of them makes me yawn, but I've gotten almost all the mortgage questions right. It's not that I really know anything about mortgages (I don't, and would probably be in trouble on an essay question). But it seems to me that the knowledge required for the MBE questions is actually very simple and shallow? I mean, most of the questions I've seen so far come down: to 1) the lender can almost always foreclose, 2) the difference between buyers taking "subject to" vs. assuming, and 3) purchase money mortgages get priority. So I wonder if some of you might be overthinking it a little! Anyway, good luck to everyone!

[deacon]

Hi,

I started Themis, but I am doing the Civ. Pro. now, which drives me crazy. I am an international lawyer. didn't take any bar courses other than contract and torts in my llm.

I started to feel kind of hopeless and looking for recommendations especially for civil pro and con law

Hey, before I throw in my two cents, I must ask: did you start very early or are you using flex study because our schedule does not show civ pro until June 5th for the lecture. So are you flex studying or did you get an early start or am I just slow? That said, I do not think you should freak out. We still have plenty of time. What is making you feel hopeless/particularly for those topics?

I started in March since I am international. This is literally for the first time for me, so it is more than a bar "review" to me. I am coming from a civil law country, so that makes it harder.

I am slow and try to make my outline. It was okay so far like my PQ scores between %60-70, but civ pro is killing me. couldn't make more than %60 after completing 5 PQs. I will spend more time on that soon.

And thank you for the support. I guess con law and civ pro make me scary because just so much to learn, and since it is common-law based areas, very different what i originally know.

[deacon]

got %49 Civi Pro PQ3. I guess they meant to teach you the rules because none of them are in the final review outline

Yep. I found that I learned new rules every time I did an MBE PQ test. I constantly struggled to score over 65% on those things. I eventually started to write down the rule each time I learned a new one. The fact of the matter is that there's just simply too many rules and you won't have all of them in the outlines (though I think most are there), and you can't possibly memorize them all. It's just a slow process of doing lots of PQs, learning from your mistakes, and eventually getting to a place where you're scoring a passing grade. You'll never learn all the rules but you'll learn enough to pass. I ended up scoring in the 85th percentile on the MBE after struggling through the entire course.

There is just no way to go through the outline completely. Your methods seems that seems a good idea. Happy to hear that it worked out for you at the end

[Neilt001]

i'm so far behind i'm not even on real property mbe ?s yet. I'll be there by wednesday I guess.

Is anyone else using themis and adaptibar? I'm finding adaptibar questions to be much trickier that themis ones. I know they're real MBE questions so I'm worried that Themis scores aren't going to be predictive

I found Themis PQs to be on par with the real bar exam, and many of the Themis questions are from the NCBE (in fact I made the mistake of paying for NCBE questions online and found that I had already done most of them in Themis). I ended up scoring much better on the bar than my themis PQ scores, so I think the themis Qs will set you up nicely. Haven't tried adaptibar so can't speak to that but it sounds like with a combination of both you'll be fine.

[Neilt001]

I guess I'm in some kind of weird minority because I actually much prefer property over contracts and have done slightly better on the property practice questions...

To all the people struggling with mortgages - I hate mortgages and the very thought of them makes me yawn, but I've gotten almost all the mortgage questions right. It's not that I really know anything about mortgages (I don't, and would probably be in trouble on an essay question). But it seems to me that the knowledge required for the MBE questions is actually very simple and shallow? I mean, most of the questions I've seen so far come down: to 1) the lender can almost always foreclose, 2) the difference between buyers taking "subject to" vs. assuming, and 3) purchase money mortgages get priority. So I wonder if some of you might be overthinking it a little! Anyway, good luck to everyone!

I think my issue with them was that they often contain convoluted scenarios that take way too much time to read/comprehend let alone to apply the law, and there's a little more to it than just those things you referred to, like lien/title theory, recording, priority, notice, foreclosure proceedings (which invariable include competing interests), equitable mortgages, redemption (not that hard usually). Ugh, I mean I guess none of those things are that hard, but I just found there was a lot going on in these questions, and I got lost.

And for Feb 2018 those bastards at the NCBE included a full page length mortgage question. It took up an entire page. I literally just chose 'C' and moved on to the next Q.

[MRSP]

i'm so far behind i'm not even on real property mbe ?s yet. I'll be there by wednesday I guess.

Is anyone else using themis and adaptibar? I'm finding adaptibar questions to be much trickier that themis ones. I know they're real MBE questions so I'm worried that Themis scores aren't going to be predictive

Same here I am still finishing up contracts...trying to get to property by tomorrow. Anyone else using memorial day to catch up?

[BasilHallward]

Catching up and plowing through the rest of Property today. It's been a marathon.

[RareExports]

The real question is whether anyone does not use Memorial Day to catch up or get ahead.

[White Dwarf]

These Family Law lectures are killing me: "Family Law is straight-forward and common sense... so I'm going to go really slowly and repeat everything twice." - Lecturer