Themis July 2019 Forum

[cavalier1138]

I really messed up on the Evidence PQs. Anyone has any advice on Evidence?

My best advice is to always figure out if the case is civil or criminal, then remember the hierarchy of rules. For example, you know that if something isn't hearsay, you can immediately eliminate all answers that call it an "exception." Similarly, if something isn't relevant, that's always going to be the best answer, because that's the first step in evaluating admissibility. From the questions I've done so far, that seems to be the main trick the questions use to mislead you into giving the second-best answer.

And the only thing I can figure out for the best evidence rule is that it's never applicable in Themis-World, which one of the answer explanations explained was due to it being super-obvious when it does apply on the MBE.

[AussieAustin]

I really messed up on the Evidence PQs. Anyone has any advice on Evidence?

I just messed up too. Only got 38% for my 4th set of PQ, progressively getting worse. I'm finding I'm often second guessing myself. I feel like there's a line between taking your time and then taking too much time and overthinking things. That's what I think I'm not getting right at the moment - because I mostly know the law since I just took evidence in the spring and did well in my final. But if anyone else has any tips, I could use them too!

[ipsares]

I hit 50% today! Taking in CA and started 2 weeks early. Wondering other peeps progress. 905 questions completed at 66% + another 321 on adaptibar at 72% - con law and crim brought me down from the 70% range on themis tho - ill get my crim up now that i got it they testing common law, but con law going to take a deep dive.

[AussieAustin]

I hit 50% today! Taking in CA and started 2 weeks early. Wondering other peeps progress. 905 questions completed at 66% + another 321 on adaptibar at 72% - con law and crim brought me down from the 70% range on themis tho - ill get my crim up now that i got it they testing common law, but con law going to take a deep dive.

Do you think adaptibar is helping you? I’m considering purchasing it since my results are quite low at this point. I just don’t want to overwhelm myself with too much extra information.

[2k16L1]

I hit 50% today! Taking in CA and started 2 weeks early. Wondering other peeps progress. 905 questions completed at 66% + another 321 on adaptibar at 72% - con law and crim brought me down from the 70% range on themis tho - ill get my crim up now that i got it they testing common law, but con law going to take a deep dive.

Nice! I'm at 46.1%. 66% average over 966 questions. Con law is killing me right now.

[Dunnkirk85]

I hit 50% today! Taking in CA and started 2 weeks early. Wondering other peeps progress. 905 questions completed at 66% + another 321 on adaptibar at 72% - con law and crim brought me down from the 70% range on themis tho - ill get my crim up now that i got it they testing common law, but con law going to take a deep dive.

At 44% but started on the suggested date. Questions wise I’m at 68% after 850ish, without real property I think I’d be north of 70. Hard to believe still haven’t cracked 50% completion with how long it feels that it’s been, and how many lectures I’ve sat through...

[ipsares]

I hit 50% today! Taking in CA and started 2 weeks early. Wondering other peeps progress. 905 questions completed at 66% + another 321 on adaptibar at 72% - con law and crim brought me down from the 70% range on themis tho - ill get my crim up now that i got it they testing common law, but con law going to take a deep dive.

Do you think adaptibar is helping you? I’m considering purchasing it since my results are quite low at this point. I just don’t want to overwhelm myself with too much extra information.

I think it is helping me and I would recommend it. I am getting exposed to more questions/practice i wouldn't have otherwise done. I think you could squeeze the same results out of the themis quiz builder but i find adaptibar super convenient. that ease of entry to just open the app and start rolling through questions within 10 seconds was worth the price to me. i am happy i picked it up. I think it's really important to know how they test the law, even more than the law itself. I can only understand that by doing questions and reading fact patterns.

i also don't think getting questions wrong is a bad thing as long as you are learning from them. this is just practice, as long as we are ready for the big game in july, those 200 questions are going to be all that matter in the end. in one sense I like to get questions wrong because then i will learn something new. that's where the money is in terms of studying and passing in the end. If i just blow through easy questions its almost a waste of time because i already knew the answer.

[ipsares]

I hit 50% today! Taking in CA and started 2 weeks early. Wondering other peeps progress. 905 questions completed at 66% + another 321 on adaptibar at 72% - con law and crim brought me down from the 70% range on themis tho - ill get my crim up now that i got it they testing common law, but con law going to take a deep dive.

At 44% but started on the suggested date. Questions wise I’m at 68% after 850ish, without real property I think I’d be north of 70. Hard to believe still haven’t cracked 50% completion with how long it feels that it’s been, and how many lectures I’ve sat through...

At 50% overall it says I have about 72% of the lectures and 82% of the outlines completed. I am happy the end of new material is near. I think I have about 2 weeks left of substantive material before its mostly review, practice essays and questions that are assigned.

[ipsares]

I hit 50% today! Taking in CA and started 2 weeks early. Wondering other peeps progress. 905 questions completed at 66% + another 321 on adaptibar at 72% - con law and crim brought me down from the 70% range on themis tho - ill get my crim up now that i got it they testing common law, but con law going to take a deep dive.

Nice! I'm at 46.1%. 66% average over 966 questions. Con law is killing me right now.

I was so looking forward to con law because i thought it was going to be super fun. I seriously like evidence 10x more.

[AussieAustin]

I hit 50% today! Taking in CA and started 2 weeks early. Wondering other peeps progress. 905 questions completed at 66% + another 321 on adaptibar at 72% - con law and crim brought me down from the 70% range on themis tho - ill get my crim up now that i got it they testing common law, but con law going to take a deep dive.

Do you think adaptibar is helping you? I’m considering purchasing it since my results are quite low at this point. I just don’t want to overwhelm myself with too much extra information.

I think it is helping me and I would recommend it. I am getting exposed to more questions/practice i wouldn't have otherwise done. I think you could squeeze the same results out of the themis quiz builder but i find adaptibar super convenient. that ease of entry to just open the app and start rolling through questions within 10 seconds was worth the price to me. i am happy i picked it up. I think it's really important to know how they test the law, even more than the law itself. I can only understand that by doing questions and reading fact patterns.

i also don't think getting questions wrong is a bad thing as long as you are learning from them. this is just practice, as long as we are ready for the big game in july, those 200 questions are going to be all that matter in the end. in one sense I like to get questions wrong because then i will learn something new. that's where the money is in terms of studying and passing in the end. If i just blow through easy questions its almost a waste of time because i already knew the answer.

Thanks for the reply. I think I might just purchase it. I did the test run on the website and it looks pretty user friendly. I like the quiz builder with Themis, but don't like that you can't break down the topics on an ipad.

That's a great way to think about getting wrong answers. I know I can get pretty bummed when I get answers wrong.

[ms57]

Does the quiz builder work for anyone on the ipad? I can get it to work just fine on my laptop, but can't get it to work on the ipad. Thanks!

[AussieAustin]

Does the quiz builder work for anyone on the ipad? I can get it to work just fine on my laptop, but can't get it to work on the ipad. Thanks!

It works if I use a web browser. Haven’t tried in the app. It just doesn’t allow me to choose a sub topic. I messaged Themis today about it and they said the app wasn’t intended to be used for the quiz builder, but they’d look into it.

[RioGrandeLaw]

Anyone notice that the MBE practice exam questions are not included in the overall statistics for MBE PQs? The primers are, but not the practice exams themselves.

Given how ridiculously hard the Practice Exam questions are, my guess is that they do this on purpose, and use the most difficult MBE questions (which you can spot because they're the ones that have the correct answer being selected by like, 5% of test takers).

[CR2019]

How much time are people dedicating to the MPT? It feels so straight forward that dedicating the full 90 mins is not as productive as spending more time on the MBE stuff.

[Dunnkirk85]

How much time are people dedicating to the MPT? It feels so straight forward that dedicating the full 90 mins is not as productive as spending more time on the MBE stuff.

I agree, I’m just trying to outline one per week. I don’t see a point in writing them out unless that was something you struggled with in LS.

[cavalier1138]

How much time are people dedicating to the MPT? It feels so straight forward that dedicating the full 90 mins is not as productive as spending more time on the MBE stuff.

I agree, I’m just trying to outline one per week. I don’t see a point in writing them out unless that was something you struggled with in LS.

I'm trying to do the full thing, especially if it's a document type I've never had to write before. Plus, I actually enjoy the MPT, so I treat it like a break from the memorization schtick.

[RioGrandeLaw]

I think it's worth doing the full MPT. The main issue is timing: there's a LOT to cover in 90 minutes and usually a lot of writing to do. I think doing the whole thing (at least on some of them) is worthwhile in that you get a feel for how long things take, and at least for me, how much thinking you have to do about the overall case.

[fan1430]

How much time are people dedicating to the MPT? It feels so straight forward that dedicating the full 90 mins is not as productive as spending more time on the MBE stuff.

I do it weekly to get good at the timing and just be comfortable writing each option that could be presented. It's 20 percent of the bar at least for the UBE jurisdictions, so would hate to miss some easy points by not finishing up with enough time. 90 mins plus 30 mins review once a week is pretty minimal time for something that's worth 20 percent of the exam. Seems like an easy spot to gain more points.

[Macjack]

How much time are people dedicating to the MPT? It feels so straight forward that dedicating the full 90 mins is not as productive as spending more time on the MBE stuff.

I do it weekly to get good at the timing and just be comfortable writing each option that could be presented. It's 20 percent of the bar at least for the UBE jurisdictions, so would hate to miss some easy points by not finishing up with enough time. 90 mins plus 30 mins review once a week is pretty minimal time for something that's worth 20 percent of the exam. Seems like an easy spot to gain more points.

Does any one have good tips for getting it out in under 90 minutes? I'm consistently struggling with actually writing it fast enough.

[barryzee]

Is it me or does Tucker frequently get things wrong with respect to the questions and answers she's discussing? It's like she's reading them for the first time or something.

[swishbish33]

Have fallen several weeks behind on Themis do to death in the family. Pretty much only done Contracts portion. Any suggestions on how to pivot to a 5 week study schedule (using Themis or other materials) that could bring me within striking range of passing? Thank you so much!

[2k16L1]

Have fallen several weeks behind on Themis do to death in the family. Pretty much only done Contracts portion. Any suggestions on how to pivot to a 5 week study schedule (using Themis or other materials) that could bring me within striking range of passing? Thank you so much!

I would find shorter 15-20 pg outlines for MBE, memorize them for a week, and start hitting mixed subject sets.

[cavalier1138]

Is it me or does Tucker frequently get things wrong with respect to the questions and answers she's discussing? It's like she's reading them for the first time or something.

I stopped watching her videos after I realized that she's not adding anything to the answer explanations they already provide.

[Jcanqueen12]

I just want to say Civ Pro sucks and these 97 pages don't make it any better. It's like reading big slabs of rules, that just seems isolated...and my poor brain trying to make sense of it. Sigh...Dear Lord, help it make sense.

[cavalier1138]

I just want to say Civ Pro sucks and these 97 pages don't make it any better. It's like reading big slabs of rules, that just seems isolated...and my poor brain trying to make sense of it. Sigh...Dear Lord, help it make sense.

If it helps (no guarantees), imagine a fake case and put it through each stage of the process. The outline is actually fairly linear; it takes you straight from pre-filing questions through post-trial procedure. So every rule could come into play to a single civil suit.