2019 February California Bar Forum

[rcharter1978]

Lexington -- that quote thread was weird. If you don't need essay help than you're instinct is probably right. I needed writing help, and so the tutor was the right option for me (though if I hadn't passed I would have probably been cursing his name)

Not passing shakes your confidence to it's core. I think it's normal to be nervous about whether you've made the right choices. There is a temptation to use EVERYTHING or to try and throw money at the problem. I felt like it was better to use a few sources but to really use them in a meaningful way.

Keep going! You were so close! You can do it!

[lexingtonhr]

Thank you. I really appreciate the words of encouragement, because it is something that I really need to hear right now. I know these feelings will pass. I'm letting it all out as much as I can. I am motivated to do this again and figure out my weak areas. There was a girl that was top 2 of my class and she failed the first time. I found out she passed yesterday.

Anyways, I know its not an indicator of intelligence. A friend told me yesterday that he knows a successful attorney who has failed 4 times in CA but pass NV first time. It's strange, but I suppose once you get it down, you know how to beat the game. Once again, I have to dedicate 2 months of my life to this.. Putting my life on pause once again. It sucks.

It's comforting reading these comments. I wished we all could have passed, but its nice to know that my feelings are normal and I am not alone! I totally feel the way you feel! I had told myself that if I failed I was going to wait until next year, but now I feel like I should just try again and try and beat this damn test. I think I will need to get a tutor this time! I am just nervous of not knowing how to create a different study plan this time! I used Barbri the last two times, so now Im thinking thats not the way to go for me. AHHH!!! Good luck! I think we should create a thread for retakes for the July 2019 bar, so we can all support one another and try and beat this together!

[/quote]


I agree, that would be a good idea. I am thinking of getting a tutor as well, but I'm going to do more research to find the best one. I was using a private bar company with this tutor this past Feb. and it was not the best.[/quote][/quote]

I would be wary of some of the private bar tutors out there. I have had some friends spend over $5k with literally no results. What's more important is to master the essay writing formula, which is very repetitive and you begin to notice a distinct pattern. Study former bar essays and model answers posted by bar examiners to start picking up on the way they want you answer the questions.[/quote]


I know what you mean, which is why I decided against getting a private tutor. I only need MBE help. My writing score was a 1544, so I understand the formulaic approaches to essays. Just worried about the MBE portion..

[lexingtonhr]

Lexington -- that quote thread was weird. If you don't need essay help than you're instinct is probably right. I needed writing help, and so the tutor was the right option for me (though if I hadn't passed I would have probably been cursing his name)

Not passing shakes your confidence to it's core. I think it's normal to be nervous about whether you've made the right choices. There is a temptation to use EVERYTHING or to try and throw money at the problem. I felt like it was better to use a few sources but to really use them in a meaningful way.

Keep going! You were so close! You can do it!

Thank you! I appreciate the support. I purchased a bunch of MBE sources (Adaptibar, Finz). I already have S&T and critical pass flashcards, which I have been utilizing. I don't want to overwhelm myself with these resources, but I'm doing everything I can to raise this poor score. So far, every answer I have gotten wrong, I write it down and take a little longer to understand why it was wrong, what keywords I should be spotting, etc etc. I'm still keeping up with essay approaches. I'm not neglecting that because its equally as important. However, I go to bed at night and think if I'm doing enough, which keeps me up. I don't want to bomb the MBE portion again..

I appreciate the words of encouragement. I don't want to discourage myself, because that will just keep me behind. I have to keep going.

[rcharter1978]

Lexington -- that quote thread was weird. If you don't need essay help than you're instinct is probably right. I needed writing help, and so the tutor was the right option for me (though if I hadn't passed I would have probably been cursing his name)

Not passing shakes your confidence to it's core. I think it's normal to be nervous about whether you've made the right choices. There is a temptation to use EVERYTHING or to try and throw money at the problem. I felt like it was better to use a few sources but to really use them in a meaningful way.

Keep going! You were so close! You can do it!

Thank you! I appreciate the support. I purchased a bunch of MBE sources (Adaptibar, Finz). I already have S&T and critical pass flashcards, which I have been utilizing. I don't want to overwhelm myself with these resources, but I'm doing everything I can to raise this poor score. So far, every answer I have gotten wrong, I write it down and take a little longer to understand why it was wrong, what keywords I should be spotting, etc etc. I'm still keeping up with essay approaches. I'm not neglecting that because its equally as important. However, I go to bed at night and think if I'm doing enough, which keeps me up. I don't want to bomb the MBE portion again..

I appreciate the words of encouragement. I don't want to discourage myself, because that will just keep me behind. I have to keep going.

I think it's natural to wonder and have doubts until you pass. I think writing out the rule from MBE questions you get wrong is a great move. It's a nice way to get rule statements for essays and it's a great way to really connect with the information. For me, I'm forced to slow down and really read and comprehend the material when I write it. It sounds like your approach is quality not quantity and that sounds smart to me.

[a male human]

Anyone know how many MBE questions Adapti Bar has? Worth buying? I just bought the cal bar bible materials and they are tremendously helping for the essays, but looking for something to strengthen my MBE game!!

I'll address each question in turn (mostly for other users reading):

1. There are at least 1,900 past questions released by the NCBE
2. Depends on your budget. It's either AdaptiBar or Emanuel's Strategies & Tactics. Breakdown of pros and cons of AdaptiBar:

Pros – convenience and comprehensiveness

Pulls from a database of 1,500+ real questions (more than you need) plus the 200+ from the 2017 Study Aid (no longer available for separate purchase)
Adapts to your strengths and weaknesses (score weighting allows you to pinpoint your weak areas without doing so manually)
Designed to encourage you to practice and get feedback (exam mode, timer, and explanations), which is the process to improve your score as long as you learn from the process
Offers detailed explanations so you can validate your understanding or learn from your mistakes

Neutral

Video lectures don’t detract from the question-and-feedback system, which is the meat of the program; you can ignore the videos if you dislike long lectures, but they’re there if you want help understanding a particular concept or like video lectures
Better or alternative answer explanations may be available elsewhere (see S&T)

Cons – costly technology

Questions are on screen, i.e., it may be tiring to stare at the screen, and it doesn’t give you a paper-and-pencil practice environment
Pricey @ $395 w/ no refund policy that I know of (plus, some video lectures cost extra) ($30 coupon available... PM/email me)

Adapted from (see what I did there?) https://www.makethisyourlasttime.com/adaptibar-review/

Or just search "adaptibar review"; that'll be the first result anyway.

Seriously, it's a great tool, but you don't NEED AdaptiBar to pass. I only used S&T Vols. 1 and 2 on my second try and passed because I learned from the explanations that actually teach you something. You can always start with one and then tack on the other if you need more questions or better walkthroughs.

3. lol: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/s ... 5&sr=posts

[Ciedam08]

Does anyone have a performance test supplement that they highly recommend?

[pris1533]

i know i know everyone has their own advice once they pass and it is not always helpful to hear what random things another person has done, but i feel like i studied so differently the time that i passed and maybe it could help someone else never have to take this monstrous exam again!!!

But I took the exam in July 2018 and used barbri and it did not work with my learning style. I ended up not passing that exam. It works for alot of people, i am not one of those people.. i needed more hands on and visual ways to learn (lectures were waste of time as we all now know). For feb 2019 I was worried to do something different than a big name review company because i did not want to fail again and maybe i just wasn't utilizing barbri correctly.. well i listened to my gut and it paid off! For feb 2019 exam i did not use barbri at all i focused on bar essays and adaptibar 100%.

i highly recommend buying the more expensive version of bar essays (only because i dont think its that much more for it) but you get access to these outlines and model answers that list out rules/ rules statements and which rules always appear with one another. I never really outlined in law school, though everyone swore by it, it just did not work for me. Instead i did an alternative thing where i wrote out templates of rule statements/rules for each issue as i would on the exam and left [__] brackets where facts or conclusions would go. Like different options to write depending on which issues you were given. I made these for most subjects or at least the main ones i knew were likely to be tested, and the last two weeks i went through with a white board and wrote these out until i memorized not only rules/rule statements but which triggered other rules to discuss.

a hard part for me with the rules were they were just floating around and i could not pin them down when i needed to use them. doing these templates (flowcharts work too) i was able to put the rules into specific places and recall them a lot better.

also during the last two weeks i used a white board memorizing my rule templates for few hours and then would switch to outlining every single essay available on bar essays for that subject. And by outlining i mean i would read an essay and write out the rules and rule statements i saw on word doc and basically did everything i would for an essay minus the discussion of facts. I know that seems like alot but it actually does not take as long as you think. I would also try to write out a couple as full essays for practice. But i started to see patterns in essays, especially con law, i think i repeated a few versions of that by the end and felt 100% prepared for that subject (of course didn't get a con law one bc i felt prepared lol).

but anyway if you are a visual learner like me, i highly suggest making rule templates, using whiteboard to memorize, and literally outlining as many essays as you can!! i kept blanking on rules or not seeing issues in july but in feb i only felt pressed for time to get issues and rule statements out!

i have my templates saved as word documents too if anyone wants to use them but i think making your own will help with learning/memorization. i used a couple of sources to make mine (barbri outlines and bar essays templates) and wrote it in a way that i would remember.

i guess a summary to my rant is to not throw away things that worked for you your whole life as a student just because everyone else is telling you "YOU HAVE TO DO XYZ" listen to what works for you!

Glad to hear the white board method worked for you! It's what worked for me throughout law school, and even though it feels like it's a waste of time doing it this time around, I keep telling myself it will be worth it. Would you be able to send me your templates as well? Working on my own outlines but I'd like to see how you stayed organized. It would be really helpful! Thanks! my email is pris1533@hotmail.com

[rcharter1978]

Does anyone have a performance test supplement that they highly recommend?

I used the method in the red PT book by Mary Basick.

I swear by this book, and used the method in this book as well as the method suggested by my tutor for the PT.

I'm not a super confident person, but I KNOW I crushed both PTs when I look the exam.

Her book may be even more relevant now that the PT is only 90 minutes instead of three hours, and her book was written for the shorter MPT, as far as I understood.

[MDCA]

Anyone know how many MBE questions Adapti Bar has? Worth buying? I just bought the cal bar bible materials and they are tremendously helping for the essays, but looking for something to strengthen my MBE game!!

Hi, I took the attorney exam so I have MBE materials from Barbri that are brand new. I have three books with thousands of questions and explanatory answers. Let me know if you are interested.

[jski]

i know i know everyone ...........
i guess a summary to my rant is to not throw away things that worked for you your whole life as a student just because everyone else is telling you "YOU HAVE TO DO XYZ" listen to what works for you!

Thank you for the information. Would you be able to send me your template? Thank you so much. It would be a great help. surge2385@gmail.com

yes of course, i will send it over when i get home!

Can you also send me the template as well?

yes! can you message me your email?

Could I get your templates, too? clevelandg1837@gmail.com

[wildmadagascar]

i know i know everyone ...........
i guess a summary to my rant is to not throw away things that worked for you your whole life as a student just because everyone else is telling you "YOU HAVE TO DO XYZ" listen to what works for you!

Thank you for the information. Would you be able to send me your template? Thank you so much. It would be a great help. surge2385@gmail.com

yes of course, i will send it over when i get home!

Can you also send me the template as well?

yes! can you message me your email?

Could I get your templates, too? clevelandg1837@gmail.com

I'm struggling so much with the essays. Would you be willing to send me your template? Thank you so much.

sylvieannechung@gmail.com

[surge2385]

Quick question!

The defendant is charged for battery. The defendant is on the witness stand being cross-examine by the prosecutor. The Prosecutor brings up that he lied on his college application. Can that go towards impeaching the defendant’s credibility? I know that a conviction of dishonesty of 10 years or less can most likely go towards challenging his credibility but what about just a dishonest specific act.

Thank you so much!

[WhatsUP?]

Hi All! I just wanted to touch base with the forum. In May of 2019 I found out that I passed the February 2019 Bar Exam. I needed to wait a bit before I came back to the forum to share the news as it was a long road (I graduated from law school in 1999!). So, I say, "keep on keeping on and persevere." There were times when I had no business sitting for the Bar as my bandwidth was stretched to the limit between work and family (the most important thing). But, looking back, I was doing what I felt I needed to do to in order to feel as though I was moving forward. Best of luck to all of those who are repeating. Believe with all your might that you can do this because YOU CAN!

[a male human]

Hi All! I just wanted to touch base with the forum. In May of 2019 I found out that I passed the February 2019 Bar Exam. I needed to wait a bit before I came back to the forum to share the news as it was a long road (I graduated from law school in 1999!). So, I say, "keep on keeping on and persevere." There were times when I had no business sitting for the Bar as my bandwidth was stretched to the limit between work and family (the most important thing). But, looking back, I was doing what I felt I needed to do to in order to feel as though I was moving forward. Best of luck to all of those who are repeating. Believe with all your might that you can do this because YOU CAN!

Congrats! Glad you stuck with it and made it to the other end.

[WhatsUP?]

Hi All! I just wanted to touch base with the forum. In May of 2019 I found out that I passed the February 2019 Bar Exam. I needed to wait a bit before I came back to the forum to share the news as it was a long road (I graduated from law school in 1999!). So, I say, "keep on keeping on and persevere." There were times when I had no business sitting for the Bar as my bandwidth was stretched to the limit between work and family (the most important thing). But, looking back, I was doing what I felt I needed to do to in order to feel as though I was moving forward. Best of luck to all of those who are repeating. Believe with all your might that you can do this because YOU CAN!

Congrats! Glad you stuck with it and made it to the other end.

Thanks Male Human!