NY February 2019 Group Forum

[neem518]

I missed by ONE point... Is July too soon? I have a family holiday in Hawaii in June for 10 days. I used Barmax and did all their MBE (real NCBE questions). I also used Kaplan but only basically used it as supplement using their videos as back up and their essay grading (BarMax didn't do good at this). I can't use Kaplan for free since I only finished 20% of the course.

I didn't think I could get close to 265. I work full time, I traveled to Asia to attend a funeral, and I'm a single mom. Except for the travel to attend a funeral, all things are the same, I am still working full time and still a single mom.

Any pointers how to tackle the July exam? I'm impatient and not willing to wait until Feb...

MEE/MPT - 129.1
MBE - 135.5

[bendowd]

I PASSED! My second time round with a 299! (First time was 240).

Big shout out to Sean Silverman for all his guidance in working on my essay writing. I have always been a poor essay writer (which reflected in my first time bar exam results), but through working with Sean in the last few weeks before the bar, I was finally able to turn this around and have confidence in my essay writing and turn this into a strength!

[lenismom]

Long time lurker, first time posting --- I was a 2nd time taker having a score of 251 on July 2018 and got a 285 this February 2019. I work full-time (average work time 10 hours a day) and a mom to an active toddler who has discovered how to run!

My MBE is still not the strongest (got 135.5 this 2/2019 administration) but still an 11.5 jump from July 2018's MBE score of 124.0. Anyway, I did focus on my MBE the second time around (I started studying 1st week of November) and really only started studying on the MEE on the last week of December; only did 6 MPTs (focused on objective and pursuasive types https://www.jdadvising.com/mpt-tasks-mp ... nquer-one/).

I agree with the other posters on focusing on the black letter of the law -- I really hand write all of my outlines (which was a condensed version of all the video fill in the blank I did back in July 2018). No, I did not re-watched those videos. Thinking about it, it was huge time sucker back in my first go-around. Hand writing helped me in remembering the law. For the two months, I focused on a subject per week and doing a subject focused MBE questions every Friday night and reviewed the answers -- both right and wrong -- on Saturdays and added anything I missed on my outline on Sundays. Once January came by, I focused on my MEE by creating an outline specific to the usual suspects (https://www.jdadvising.com/highly-tested-mee-topics/) but I still did MBE mixed exams https://barprephero.com/ during lunch at work (15-20 at a time) and while breastfeeding my toddler/nap time on weekends (you can do it on your phone! ).

I used Themis the first time around but got really overwhelmed esp since I was working so much and my child was more "needy" at the time (teething) so I was all over the place and didn't really focus on what's really important even though I was getting by -- all bar prep courses focus on completion percentage instead of someone actually getting the law and feeling comfortable to apply it -- both to MEE and MBE. Hence, I changed that approach and even though I used Themis again (it was free to re-take overall), I only used their graded MEE, MPT, MBE, and simulated exams. I did not go through their videos.

As you can discern from my score, my MEE really improved and it was very important for me to feel great on the MEE/MPT since it's Day 1 and I would hate to feel I flunked the first day as it would drown me with anxiety on the second day (this is just my personality so I try to do as much as I could to "pass" the first day). What made a ton of difference and I got this gold advice from someone I spoke to at Marino Bar Review (I did a free consult) was all your MEE must look the same even if your law is wrong/guessing. That means the format must all be the same. I-R-A-C even if you are freaking out. It made the answers pop out and believe me -- it made a ton of difference in my graded MEE with Themis. During my first review I was getting 2/3 out of 6 and when I applied the STRICT I-R-A-C format, I was getting 5/6 even if some of my law is wrong.

I hope this helps to those who are thinking of retaking. We are rooting for you!

[JBNYC]

Passed! 305. 145.4 on MBE. I missed the July 2018 exam by 1 point (yes, devastating). Score jumped 40 points for Feb 2019 administration.

For anyone who's reading this for study tips: Please don't rely on the big box courses to feed you what you need to know. That was my pitfall the first time around.

Congrats! What an amazing jump in your score
What resources did you rely on / how your approach to preparation change the second time around?

I changed my entire approach. The first time around, I used Kaplan. I completed over 90% of the course, ticking through most assignments, watching every lecture, making sure to fill in all the blanks in the lecture notes, etc. I relied on the guidance I received from previous exam takers who said that as long as you complete these steps, you will be "fine." Nope, not fine. I was not scoring very high on the MBE practice. I knew in my gut that I wasn't holding on to the material very well, but I thought I was doing the best that I could, given that I was doing almost all of the work asked of me.

So, cut to the exam, and I miss the mark by 1 point. Some could argue that I must've been doing something right to get that close, which is probably fair. I think my decent essay scores helped. (I've always been a good writer.) But the MBE carries the day, and my score was very low. I ended up guessing on the last ~15 or so questions. You really shouldn't be in a position where you're losing that much time, but that's what happened for me.

This time around, I had to get uncomfortable. I am a rule-follower, but I realized going through the motions of the Kaplan course wasn't getting me anywhere. Luckily, I found this website: https://www.makethisyourlasttime.com/. I highly recommend starting there if you've failed the bar and are unsure of next steps. Using the resources on that site, I created my own study schedule. I relied heavily on the outlines from that site, which I highlighted, marked up and continually reviewed. I drilled the MBE using Adaptibar. (Completing the OPEs is a must.) I got a free repeat of the Kaplan course plus PMBR thrown in (the latter, I suspect, because I gave them some grief), which ended up being super useful. On a continuing basis, I assessed my performance on the subjects using the Adaptibar stats, and when I found I was lacking in particular subjects and sub-topics, I drilled those in PMBR. I took the PMBR practice exam. For the essays, I downloaded and read every sample essay response on the Kaplan site. I highlighted all of the rules that were tested. For a select few sample essays that I felt were representative of the more frequently tested topics, I returned to those periodically to test my recall. I also completed several timed MPTs (1-2 per week). Don't underestimate the MPT - it will really bite you.

Happy to discuss further if anyone wants more detail.

Thanks JTIII! I've joined Brian's MTYLT FB group too Were you able to study fulltime for the Feb exam? If not how did you spread out all your prep? Feel free to DM me if you prefer. Trying to figure out a good schedule for July. Also curious to know how PMBR compares to the OPE exams Q's / actual Feb MBE Q's. No rush though - I really hope you're out celebrating somewhere!

[JBNYC]

Long time lurker, first time posting --- I was a 2nd time taker having a score of 251 on July 2018 and got a 285 this February 2019. I work full-time (average work time 10 hours a day) and a mom to an active toddler who has discovered how to run!

My MBE is still not the strongest (got 135.5 this 2/2019 administration) but still an 11.5 jump from July 2018's MBE score of 124.0. Anyway, I did focus on my MBE the second time around (I started studying 1st week of November) and really only started studying on the MEE on the last week of December; only did 6 MPTs (focused on objective and pursuasive types https://www.jdadvising.com/mpt-tasks-mp ... nquer-one/).

I agree with the other posters on focusing on the black letter of the law -- I really hand write all of my outlines (which was a condensed version of all the video fill in the blank I did back in July 2018). No, I did not re-watched those videos. Thinking about it, it was huge time sucker back in my first go-around. Hand writing helped me in remembering the law. For the two months, I focused on a subject per week and doing a subject focused MBE questions every Friday night and reviewed the answers -- both right and wrong -- on Saturdays and added anything I missed on my outline on Sundays. Once January came by, I focused on my MEE by creating an outline specific to the usual suspects (https://www.jdadvising.com/highly-tested-mee-topics/) but I still did MBE mixed exams https://barprephero.com/ during lunch at work (15-20 at a time) and while breastfeeding my toddler/nap time on weekends (you can do it on your phone! ).

I used Themis the first time around but got really overwhelmed esp since I was working so much and my child was more "needy" at the time (teething) so I was all over the place and didn't really focus on what's really important even though I was getting by -- all bar prep courses focus on completion percentage instead of someone actually getting the law and feeling comfortable to apply it -- both to MEE and MBE. Hence, I changed that approach and even though I used Themis again (it was free to re-take overall), I only used their graded MEE, MPT, MBE, and simulated exams. I did not go through their videos.

As you can discern from my score, my MEE really improved and it was very important for me to feel great on the MEE/MPT since it's Day 1 and I would hate to feel I flunked the first day as it would drown me with anxiety on the second day (this is just my personality so I try to do as much as I could to "pass" the first day). What made a ton of difference and I got this gold advice from someone I spoke to at Marino Bar Review (I did a free consult) was all your MEE must look the same even if your law is wrong/guessing. That means the format must all be the same. I-R-A-C even if you are freaking out. It made the answers pop out and believe me -- it made a ton of difference in my graded MEE with Themis. During my first review I was getting 2/3 out of 6 and when I applied the STRICT I-R-A-C format, I was getting 5/6 even if some of my law is wrong.

I hope this helps to those who are thinking of retaking. We are rooting for you!

Congratulations lenismom!
Impressed with your time management dealing with both a toddler and fulltime work
How many practice essays / graded essays did you do the second time around?

[JBNYC]

I missed by ONE point... Is July too soon? I have a family holiday in Hawaii in June for 10 days. I used Barmax and did all their MBE (real NCBE questions). I also used Kaplan but only basically used it as supplement using their videos as back up and their essay grading (BarMax didn't do good at this). I can't use Kaplan for free since I only finished 20% of the course.

I didn't think I could get close to 265. I work full time, I traveled to Asia to attend a funeral, and I'm a single mom. Except for the travel to attend a funeral, all things are the same, I am still working full time and still a single mom.

Any pointers how to tackle the July exam? I'm impatient and not willing to wait until Feb...

MEE/MPT - 129.1
MBE - 135.5

Aw that totally sucks, I was hoping you'd passed given the email you received from the Third Dept last Friday
Best wishes for the next exam - whenever you decide to take it, I'm sure you'll nail it...

[JBNYC]

Didn't pass by 6 points BUT still a passing score in AL, MN, MO and NM. If I can't walk through the door I will climb through the window...MN here I come.

That's the spirit! Congrats

[lenismom]

I did tons -- I do not have access to the Themis anymore but I did 90% of their MEE self-graded essays and 100% of the grader-graded MEE questions so that would be about 90 essays (give or take!?) I did complete essays on at least 60% of the MEE self-graded essays and 100% of the grader-graded essays but only did outline on the remaining 30% MEE self-graded essays during the 2nd week of February. No joke, I was doing at least 2-3 essays a day.

I focused on the MBE subjects first (at least in my head I feel like i'm killing 2 birds with one stone!) with the exception of Secured Transactions (I thought it was a UBE-favorite) and really picked up on the other strictly MEE subjects on February.

Long time lurker, first time posting --- I was a 2nd time taker having a score of 251 on July 2018 and got a 285 this February 2019. I work full-time (average work time 10 hours a day) and a mom to an active toddler who has discovered how to run!

My MBE is still not the strongest (got 135.5 this 2/2019 administration) but still an 11.5 jump from July 2018's MBE score of 124.0. Anyway, I did focus on my MBE the second time around (I started studying 1st week of November) and really only started studying on the MEE on the last week of December; only did 6 MPTs (focused on objective and pursuasive types https://www.jdadvising.com/mpt-tasks-mp ... nquer-one/).

I agree with the other posters on focusing on the black letter of the law -- I really hand write all of my outlines (which was a condensed version of all the video fill in the blank I did back in July 2018). No, I did not re-watched those videos. Thinking about it, it was huge time sucker back in my first go-around. Hand writing helped me in remembering the law. For the two months, I focused on a subject per week and doing a subject focused MBE questions every Friday night and reviewed the answers -- both right and wrong -- on Saturdays and added anything I missed on my outline on Sundays. Once January came by, I focused on my MEE by creating an outline specific to the usual suspects (https://www.jdadvising.com/highly-tested-mee-topics/) but I still did MBE mixed exams https://barprephero.com/ during lunch at work (15-20 at a time) and while breastfeeding my toddler/nap time on weekends (you can do it on your phone! ).

I used Themis the first time around but got really overwhelmed esp since I was working so much and my child was more "needy" at the time (teething) so I was all over the place and didn't really focus on what's really important even though I was getting by -- all bar prep courses focus on completion percentage instead of someone actually getting the law and feeling comfortable to apply it -- both to MEE and MBE. Hence, I changed that approach and even though I used Themis again (it was free to re-take overall), I only used their graded MEE, MPT, MBE, and simulated exams. I did not go through their videos.

As you can discern from my score, my MEE really improved and it was very important for me to feel great on the MEE/MPT since it's Day 1 and I would hate to feel I flunked the first day as it would drown me with anxiety on the second day (this is just my personality so I try to do as much as I could to "pass" the first day). What made a ton of difference and I got this gold advice from someone I spoke to at Marino Bar Review (I did a free consult) was all your MEE must look the same even if your law is wrong/guessing. That means the format must all be the same. I-R-A-C even if you are freaking out. It made the answers pop out and believe me -- it made a ton of difference in my graded MEE with Themis. During my first review I was getting 2/3 out of 6 and when I applied the STRICT I-R-A-C format, I was getting 5/6 even if some of my law is wrong.

I hope this helps to those who are thinking of retaking. We are rooting for you!

Congratulations lenismom!
Impressed with your time management dealing with both a toddler and fulltime work
How many practice essays / graded essays did you do the second time around?

[pvnyc]

Failed for the fourth time... did worse than anyone...

[tier4nyhopefull]

First time taker - somehow passed with a 267 (UBE an abysmal 121) while working full time.

I came across some posts on JD advising about a score report that breaks down your scores for every MBE subject and every essay and MPT. Does anyone know how to access that? I didn’t see anything in the email I got or in my online BOLE account - I’m wondering if maybe they’ve discontinued that since the JD advising articling was posted (2018)?

Thanks!

[lenismom]

They only provide a breakdown for each MEE and MPT question and each MBE subject *IF* you failed. They only provide the total UBE and total MBE if you passed the exam.

First time taker - somehow passed with a 267 (UBE an abysmal 121) while working full time.

I came across some posts on JD advising about a score report that breaks down your scores for every MBE subject and every essay and MPT. Does anyone know how to access that? I didn’t see anything in the email I got or in my online BOLE account - I’m wondering if maybe they’ve discontinued that since the JD advising articling was posted (2018)?

Thanks!

[JBNYC]

I did tons -- I do not have access to the Themis anymore but I did 90% of their MEE self-graded essays and 100% of the grader-graded MEE questions so that would be about 90 essays (give or take!?) I did complete essays on at least 60% of the MEE self-graded essays and 100% of the grader-graded essays but only did outline on the remaining 30% MEE self-graded essays during the 2nd week of February. No joke, I was doing at least 2-3 essays a day.

I focused on the MBE subjects first (at least in my head I feel like i'm killing 2 birds with one stone!) with the exception of Secured Transactions (I thought it was a UBE-favorite) and really picked up on the other strictly MEE subjects on February.

Long time lurker, first time posting --- I was a 2nd time taker having a score of 251 on July 2018 and got a 285 this February 2019. I work full-time (average work time 10 hours a day) and a mom to an active toddler who has discovered how to run!

My MBE is still not the strongest (got 135.5 this 2/2019 administration) but still an 11.5 jump from July 2018's MBE score of 124.0. Anyway, I did focus on my MBE the second time around (I started studying 1st week of November) and really only started studying on the MEE on the last week of December; only did 6 MPTs (focused on objective and pursuasive types https://www.jdadvising.com/mpt-tasks-mp ... nquer-one/).

I agree with the other posters on focusing on the black letter of the law -- I really hand write all of my outlines (which was a condensed version of all the video fill in the blank I did back in July 2018). No, I did not re-watched those videos. Thinking about it, it was huge time sucker back in my first go-around. Hand writing helped me in remembering the law. For the two months, I focused on a subject per week and doing a subject focused MBE questions every Friday night and reviewed the answers -- both right and wrong -- on Saturdays and added anything I missed on my outline on Sundays. Once January came by, I focused on my MEE by creating an outline specific to the usual suspects (https://www.jdadvising.com/highly-tested-mee-topics/) but I still did MBE mixed exams https://barprephero.com/ during lunch at work (15-20 at a time) and while breastfeeding my toddler/nap time on weekends (you can do it on your phone! ).

I used Themis the first time around but got really overwhelmed esp since I was working so much and my child was more "needy" at the time (teething) so I was all over the place and didn't really focus on what's really important even though I was getting by -- all bar prep courses focus on completion percentage instead of someone actually getting the law and feeling comfortable to apply it -- both to MEE and MBE. Hence, I changed that approach and even though I used Themis again (it was free to re-take overall), I only used their graded MEE, MPT, MBE, and simulated exams. I did not go through their videos.

As you can discern from my score, my MEE really improved and it was very important for me to feel great on the MEE/MPT since it's Day 1 and I would hate to feel I flunked the first day as it would drown me with anxiety on the second day (this is just my personality so I try to do as much as I could to "pass" the first day). What made a ton of difference and I got this gold advice from someone I spoke to at Marino Bar Review (I did a free consult) was all your MEE must look the same even if your law is wrong/guessing. That means the format must all be the same. I-R-A-C even if you are freaking out. It made the answers pop out and believe me -- it made a ton of difference in my graded MEE with Themis. During my first review I was getting 2/3 out of 6 and when I applied the STRICT I-R-A-C format, I was getting 5/6 even if some of my law is wrong.

I hope this helps to those who are thinking of retaking. We are rooting for you!

Congratulations lenismom!
Impressed with your time management dealing with both a toddler and fulltime work
How many practice essays / graded essays did you do the second time around?

90 essays - that's insane. You must have felt like an essay writing machine by the time you sat the final exam!

[nyboundesq]

Missed it by 4 points....I’m both mad and motivated as this is the second time I’ve taken this test!!!
My MBE improved!

[lenismom]

That was my personal goal! Thankfully, it paid off. I had a 23-point jump between administrations on the written portion alone. I say it was significant... all due to the formula -- IRAC (since I know I totally effed up on the Trust MEE question and I definitely made up all the law there).

My husband did say he knew I did well on the written test because I managed to smile when he picked me up after the exam! Needless to say, I vividly remember almost at the verge of crying right after Day 1 during the July 2018 exam. I barely had the appetite to eat dinner, cried on the shower, a little more crying in bed (okay, a tad more than little) and slept off my sorrow while cradling my child.

Also, I wanted to highlight, I couldn't really afford to buy new materials/extra and I did not want to get overwhelmed again with a mountain pile of materials so I threw out a lot of the Themis provided books and *borrowed* the latest Emmanuel book (if you have a Queens library card -- you can request it via the website to be delivered to your local library) and used the outline there as my starting outline for my handwritten MBE outline. However, I did rip off the Themis MEE condense outlines and my saved fill in the blank notes from the video lecture from July. These are the only ones I used to create my outline. I knew that if I added more i'll fall back into getting anxiety/overwhelmed pile of materials and i won't be able to focus.

So yeah, as a RETAKER I just used:
- Emmanuel S&T from the Queens library (I believe they have 2-3 copies available in rotation).
- Themis condensed MEE outline crossed with https://www.jdadvising.com/highly-tested-mee-topics/
- Themis fill in the blanks notes from video lectures
- Themis MEE, MBE, MPT graded/simulated questions
- https://barprephero.com/ - practice MBE questions

I did tons -- I do not have access to the Themis anymore but I did 90% of their MEE self-graded essays and 100% of the grader-graded MEE questions so that would be about 90 essays (give or take!?) I did complete essays on at least 60% of the MEE self-graded essays and 100% of the grader-graded essays but only did outline on the remaining 30% MEE self-graded essays during the 2nd week of February. No joke, I was doing at least 2-3 essays a day.

I focused on the MBE subjects first (at least in my head I feel like i'm killing 2 birds with one stone!) with the exception of Secured Transactions (I thought it was a UBE-favorite) and really picked up on the other strictly MEE subjects on February.

Long time lurker, first time posting --- I was a 2nd time taker having a score of 251 on July 2018 and got a 285 this February 2019. I work full-time (average work time 10 hours a day) and a mom to an active toddler who has discovered how to run!

My MBE is still not the strongest (got 135.5 this 2/2019 administration) but still an 11.5 jump from July 2018's MBE score of 124.0. Anyway, I did focus on my MBE the second time around (I started studying 1st week of November) and really only started studying on the MEE on the last week of December; only did 6 MPTs (focused on objective and pursuasive types https://www.jdadvising.com/mpt-tasks-mp ... nquer-one/).

I agree with the other posters on focusing on the black letter of the law -- I really hand write all of my outlines (which was a condensed version of all the video fill in the blank I did back in July 2018). No, I did not re-watched those videos. Thinking about it, it was huge time sucker back in my first go-around. Hand writing helped me in remembering the law. For the two months, I focused on a subject per week and doing a subject focused MBE questions every Friday night and reviewed the answers -- both right and wrong -- on Saturdays and added anything I missed on my outline on Sundays. Once January came by, I focused on my MEE by creating an outline specific to the usual suspects (https://www.jdadvising.com/highly-tested-mee-topics/) but I still did MBE mixed exams https://barprephero.com/ during lunch at work (15-20 at a time) and while breastfeeding my toddler/nap time on weekends (you can do it on your phone! ).

I used Themis the first time around but got really overwhelmed esp since I was working so much and my child was more "needy" at the time (teething) so I was all over the place and didn't really focus on what's really important even though I was getting by -- all bar prep courses focus on completion percentage instead of someone actually getting the law and feeling comfortable to apply it -- both to MEE and MBE. Hence, I changed that approach and even though I used Themis again (it was free to re-take overall), I only used their graded MEE, MPT, MBE, and simulated exams. I did not go through their videos.

As you can discern from my score, my MEE really improved and it was very important for me to feel great on the MEE/MPT since it's Day 1 and I would hate to feel I flunked the first day as it would drown me with anxiety on the second day (this is just my personality so I try to do as much as I could to "pass" the first day). What made a ton of difference and I got this gold advice from someone I spoke to at Marino Bar Review (I did a free consult) was all your MEE must look the same even if your law is wrong/guessing. That means the format must all be the same. I-R-A-C even if you are freaking out. It made the answers pop out and believe me -- it made a ton of difference in my graded MEE with Themis. During my first review I was getting 2/3 out of 6 and when I applied the STRICT I-R-A-C format, I was getting 5/6 even if some of my law is wrong.

I hope this helps to those who are thinking of retaking. We are rooting for you!

Congratulations lenismom!
Impressed with your time management dealing with both a toddler and fulltime work
How many practice essays / graded essays did you do the second time around?

90 essays - that's insane. You must have felt like an essay writing machine by the time you sat the final exam!

[Smiddywesson]

So BOLE says the “last week” of April, are they counting this as the last week? Or will be released on the 29th or 30th, counting that as the last week?

So results April 30th?

They said the last week of October for the July exam and released it on the 23rd. So...no one really knows lol. The BOLE is comprised solely of sadists.

Sadists for sure, employees who proved too cruel to work for the DMV.

[Joy]

wbCongratulations to bar passers and do not give up those who failed! I wish all the best to your future endeavors to all of you.

May I please ask a few questions from both of you groups?

I'm a foreign trained attorney and did my LLM in the US. I'm planning to sit for July 2019 NY bar and I would sincerely appreciate your guidance and precious advise on my following questions:

1. Do I have time to prepare enough for July 2019 NY bar if I start from 1 May with part time job that is 2 days a week (if required, I can get leave from my job and study full time)?
2. I purchased Barmax and I have some materials from Barbri 2013. Should I get supplemental materials? If yes, should I get full set of prep courses like Barbri, Kaplan etc or maybe can I just get some part of them (I was wondering if I should purchase some used materials from you guys.... the full package is expensive). Also there is a Barbri courses for 8 weeks prep, did any of you use it? How worth is it?
3. In terms of timing strategy, how should it be like? How many hours should I dedicate in total per day? How much of them for MBE and how much of them are for MEE and MPT etc?
4. For study strategy, which subject should I focus more?
5. Any other tips or tricks?

I really want to pass it. I'm currently in NYC and would appreciate to go and see any of you to get your advise. I can come wherever you are and will not take your precious time much but only 10 mins or so.

Thank you so much all.
Joy

[lenismom]

Borrow Emmanuel's S&T book from the public library. Not sure where you are located but as I mentioned above, I Queens Public Library got a few copies on rotation.

Ihighly recommend that book and bar prep hero (free mbe practice qs).

Best of luck -- 2 months dedicated to it (even with PT) is definitely do-able -- piece of advice: do something bar-prep related everyday (even if you feel you are soooo tired) it definitely helped me!

wbCongratulations to bar passers and do not give up those who failed! I wish all the best to your future endeavors to all of you.

May I please ask a few questions from both of you groups?

I'm a foreign trained attorney and did my LLM in the US. I'm planning to sit for July 2019 NY bar and I would sincerely appreciate your guidance and precious advise on my following questions:

1. Do I have time to prepare enough for July 2019 NY bar if I start from 1 May with part time job that is 2 days a week (if required, I can get leave from my job and study full time)?
2. I purchased Barmax and I have some materials from Barbri 2013. Should I get supplemental materials? If yes, should I get full set of prep courses like Barbri, Kaplan etc or maybe can I just get some part of them (I was wondering if I should purchase some used materials from you guys.... the full package is expensive). Also there is a Barbri courses for 8 weeks prep, did any of you use it? How worth is it?
3. In terms of timing strategy, how should it be like? How many hours should I dedicate in total per day? How much of them for MBE and how much of them are for MEE and MPT etc?
4. For study strategy, which subject should I focus more?
5. Any other tips or tricks?

I really want to pass it. I'm currently in NYC and would appreciate to go and see any of you to get your advise. I can come wherever you are and will not take your precious time much but only 10 mins or so.

Thank you so much all.
Joy

[JBNYC]

Borrow Emmanuel's S&T book from the public library. Not sure where you are located but as I mentioned above, I Queens Public Library got a few copies on rotation.

Ihighly recommend that book and bar prep hero (free mbe practice qs).

Best of luck -- 2 months dedicated to it (even with PT) is definitely do-able -- piece of advice: do something bar-prep related everyday (even if you feel you are soooo tired) it definitely helped me!

wbCongratulations to bar passers and do not give up those who failed! I wish all the best to your future endeavors to all of you.

May I please ask a few questions from both of you groups?

I'm a foreign trained attorney and did my LLM in the US. I'm planning to sit for July 2019 NY bar and I would sincerely appreciate your guidance and precious advise on my following questions:

1. Do I have time to prepare enough for July 2019 NY bar if I start from 1 May with part time job that is 2 days a week (if required, I can get leave from my job and study full time)?
2. I purchased Barmax and I have some materials from Barbri 2013. Should I get supplemental materials? If yes, should I get full set of prep courses like Barbri, Kaplan etc or maybe can I just get some part of them (I was wondering if I should purchase some used materials from you guys.... the full package is expensive). Also there is a Barbri courses for 8 weeks prep, did any of you use it? How worth is it?
3. In terms of timing strategy, how should it be like? How many hours should I dedicate in total per day? How much of them for MBE and how much of them are for MEE and MPT etc?
4. For study strategy, which subject should I focus more?
5. Any other tips or tricks?

I really want to pass it. I'm currently in NYC and would appreciate to go and see any of you to get your advise. I can come wherever you are and will not take your precious time much but only 10 mins or so.

Thank you so much all.
Joy

Joy I have to agree with Lenismom - Emmanuel's S&T book really helps. A new 7th edition of the book is actually launching on 16 May if you want to check it out (https://www.wklegaledu.com/emanuel-mbe7). But in the meantime, reviewing a library copy of the 6th edition will give you a pretty good sense of what it will look like.

[0Orsi0]

y post is for those who will desperately seek hope in the dark days of bar preparations. I know that honest and encouraging posts on sites like this can keep test takers going in moments when they're ready to give up. I've been there.

Background: civil law, practiced in Europe before coming to the US.

I chose Themis and I highly recommend it, provided the below precautions are taken: Con Law, CivPro and Property requires you to know every detail of the substantive law materials (as covered in the big book). The lecture materials and re-reading the big book on those subjects will not be enough. Instead of learning that the hard way, just immediately start hand-writing your own outlines in those three subjects. By the time you notice that, you lost a lot of time, so know that in advance. Follow the prescribed schedule strictly, always check on how you are doing. I had a 10-day delay which I noticed too late, the program re-organizes the materials if you don't fulfill the daily assignments, so it can look like no biggie but it can accumulate easily. Finally: once you start doing badly on the multiple choice tests, do not revise the materials, but write down the right answers and go through those every other day-it will sink in and help more than revising everything you think you forgot. I only finished around 80% of the course and I only completed one simulated exam. My strength was the essays and the MPT, I was doing terrible on the multiple choice questions, I never, I repeat never reached a score better than 69%. I was hopelessly searching on the net whether others had this issue and still passed. Those people who were in the same situation and posted about it kept me going. I ended up the same: As a first time taker, not a native speaker, with no JD. just an LLM I passed with flying colors.

I worked out every day, I took a break around christmas and I studied 9-10 hours a day.

Trust yourselves, it can be done. Just don't give up. Keep hitting those questions, you will get it right when you're taking the exam. I hope this is helpful for future test-takers. The best of luck!

[pika-pika]

Missed it by 4 points....I’m both mad and motivated as this is the second time I’ve taken this test!!!
My MBE improved!

Missed by 3 . . . mbe - 144, writing - 119

[FutureLawyer2]

I passed with a nice score. I relied upon and strongly recommend critical pass flashcards to all bar exam takers. It helped me obtain a healthy mbe score and also was useful for the written portion.

[Advertisement and external link redacted]

[LawyerLyfe]

I passed with a 286. I did not want to invest a lot of money into studying because I'd previously taken the California bar and spent thousands. Decided to forgo that option this time. Used Studicata outlines (HIGHLY RECOMMEND) and Adaptibar. I then completed as many past MEEs and MPTs as I could find online. Spent about $500 total. Hope this helps someone!

[dasani13]

Passed with a very low MBE score. I hope this serves as encouragement to those who are not good at the MBE despite doing hundreds of Adaptibar and BARBRI questions, like I did. While studying for the retake, I focused about 70% of my time on the MEE, despite the opposite consensus on here. I did this because I knew I had severely underperformed on the essays on my first take despite failing by a relatively small margin. (In other words, this might not be a good strategy for someone who failed by a large margin.) I was also not seeing any improvement on my MBE performance, despite spending so much time/effort on it while studying for my first take and the beginning of my retake.

To improve my MEE score, I did almost every essay available from BARBRI and the official bar exam website. After answering the essay under timed conditions, I would review the model answer (BARBRI's essays book with official questions and model answers was very helpful) and, importantly, I would add whatever I missed from the model answer to my own answer. My edited answer would then look very similar to the model answer. I would immediately review my edited answer one more time, and then add it to a Word document with all the others, separated by subject. I reviewed this document whenever I got the chance. It's a meticulous process, but I found it very helpful in internalizing the law and improving my IRAC writing.

Some (probably most) people memorize the law by using the critical pass flashcards/outlines. I spent so much time doing this during my first take, but it was all wasted time. One of the most important things that I realized while studying for the retake was that I had to actually apply the law to fact patterns in order to understand and internalize the law. I'm not saying everyone should do this specifically, but if you're doing something and not seeing results, don't hesitate to switch things up and try other less popular learning methods that may work well for you.

If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to reach out.

Also, I highly recommend reaching out to Joe Seperac for a score report. He was instrumental in helping me discover my weaknesses, which allowed me to figure out the best approach in studying for the retake.

[khan123]

Hi, NY Bar 2019 Candidates:
Congratulations for passing the Bar.
Any one would like to give TIPS appreciated.
Do you have outlines? it would be nice if you can email at
guryakhan123@yahoo.com
Appreciate it thanks.

[khan123]

I PASSED! My second time round with a 299! (First time was 240).

Big shout out to Sean Silverman for all his guidance in working on my essay writing. I have always been a poor essay writer (which reflected in my first time bar exam results), but through working with Sean in the last few weeks before the bar, I was finally able to turn this around and have confidence in my essay writing and turn this into a strength!

Congratulations:)