MPRE August 2018 Forum

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tlsadmin2

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MPRE August 2018

Post by tlsadmin2 » Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:16 am

The next MPRE exam will take place on August 11th, 2018. It's time to get in any last minute studying and make sure you're ready. Here are two things that will help you be successful:

1. Find a good study schedule that works for you, and stick to it!
2. Join a study group. Use this thread to find other people taking the August MPRE. Having someone else to motivate you can make a big difference in your success.

I also would recommend considering the advice below for the MPRE:
** FOR THOSE STRUGGLING TO PASS THE MPRE**
I am here to give you hope in a time where you may feel like others are passing you by and you may never end up passing this exam that shouldn't be so daunting. This worked for me. Hopefully, it works for you too :)

As you read some of these threads and others from other forums, you will find that some people do not know how to give advice at all. I read some of these before I took the MPRE and just felt more nervous and down on myself.

There are people that will say do not worry about this test, it is just common sense. DON'T LISTEN TO THESE PEOPLE! Most of them either got lucky or are just good standardized test takers. You can have a grasp of the rules verbatim and still trip up on the test.

The key to finally passing the MPRE is finding a course that works for you. People will say just focus on the Barbri or Kaplan video outline and do a few practice questions and you will be fine. I know people who did just that and passed with flying colors on the first try. THAT IS GREAT FOR THEM AND CONGRATS. This didn't work for some of us and that is okay. I just found that the Barbri questions were nothing like the actual MPRE questions. Kaplan was a little closer but still not quite.

I found that Barbri and Kaplan were great for learning the rules but not so great when it comes to the actual exam questions. I got my hands on the Ameri Bar MPRE practice questions book (the thin blue one). Two weeks before the August 2017 exam, I refreshed my memory on the rules with the Barbri outline book and didn't bother to look at the questions at all. I just focused on the Ameri Bar questions. I was nailing these questions. I initially thought this has to be a fluke, the questions were too easy but I kept at it. I would read the explanations for the ones I got wrong (twice) and interpret why I got the ones I did correctly. The night before the test, I got super nervous. All of these thoughts were rolling around in my head. Am I really getting these questions correctly? I can't afford to take this test again. What am I doing wrong? Why are others seeming to get this with a breeze? Eventually, I got over these thoughts and googled some more practice MPRE questions. The questions that came up were the same structure as the Ameri Bar questions if not identical with a few parts added or omitted. I was nailing these too. I answered some questions for a few hours and went to bed.

The morning of the test, I answered a few more questions at home and in the parking lot of the test venue just to keep my confidence up. "Confidence is half the battle won" :) When the test started, I realized that they were the similarly structured like the Ameri Bar questions. I remembered the reasoning behind why some answer choices were correct or incorrect and moved along quite nicely. There were some questions that tripped me up but you have to remember that at least 10 of these questions are experimental, but don't attack each question with this mindset. I finished with enough time to go back over the whole test, especially the ones that tripped me up. After the test, I felt confident but still, you just never know.

I got the email that the Bar admissions accepted my score, which means I passed. I logged into my NCBE account and found that I exceeded the score for all jurisdictions. Thank God.

This is just a story to give hope to all of those struggling to pass this exam. For everyone that has passed congrats. And for those that weren't successful on this one, keep your chin up, give my method a try, and do your best next time :)
Credit goes to love23 for the above quote.

Findedeux

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Re: MPRE August 2018

Post by Findedeux » Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:05 pm

I took the MPRE a long time ago and did well but I can't remember anything about it other than that the questions were fairly annoying.

For those that have taken it recently, do you think 3 hours of studying a day for one week would be sufficient?

Thanks.

colaw12

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Re: MPRE August 2018

Post by colaw12 » Wed Jul 11, 2018 4:30 pm

I took the MPRE in November and scored a 120. I did 5 or 6 full practice MPRE's (Kaplan, Themis, Barbri and one NCBE) and followed Themis' free MPRE study plan and watched their lecture with fill-in outline in full 2-3 times. I never opened the actual model rule book. After doing a practice exam, i would type up corrections detailing why my answer was wrong, why the correct answer was right, and what rule was being tested. I studied every day 2-3 hours a day for the 2 weeks leading up to the exam and sporadically for a couple months before that. It's a lot like a preview of what bar prep for one topic will be like and you can really see huge score increases by doing full practice exams under real timed conditions. Hope this helps!

justanotheruser

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Re: MPRE August 2018

Post by justanotheruser » Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:19 pm

Grab the Barbri study book. Study for ~2 hours each day for a week. You'll pass with flying colors. Ignore the people who tell you that you just need one good night of cramming to pass. They're either exaggerating or they had to take the MPRE twice.

Nightcrawler

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Re: MPRE August 2018

Post by Nightcrawler » Thu Jul 12, 2018 11:00 am

justanotheruser wrote:Grab the Barbri study book. Study for ~2 hours each day for a week. You'll pass with flying colors. Ignore the people who tell you that you just need one good night of cramming to pass. They're either exaggerating or they had to take the MPRE twice.
This. I studied max 2-3 "light" hours a day for two weeks and I got a 100+ and felt like it was really easy. I've only used the barbri's free MPRE course and only read their outline (pretty short) and did their simulated questions. Took PR in law school a few months before. On exam day, you have 2 full minutes for each question and they look pretty simple.

I am a terrible standardized test-taker and approaching the bar exam for the 4th time because I keep failing the MBE. The MPRE is way easier than the MBE. I doubt I was lucky because I felt confident about the questions and I knew I got a lot of them right.

I feel like people who struggle with the MPRE are people so worried about the bar exam that they underestimate the MPRE and not give it the right amount of dedication. It's just one of those tests that you don't need to study that much for it, but you still have to put in some work.

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