Sunday, May 13, 2007
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Bar Exam Tips #4
After finding my blog, a *wonderful* gentleman sent me a fantastic, detailed email about his experience studying for and taking the July 06 Cal. Bar. He also sent me 3 more emails with some of his notes and outlines for the Bar. Such generosity warms my heart. Here's some info he shared with me.
1. The Performance Exam is just about form and properly extracting the legal reasoning from the material provided, and applying that reasoning to the facts of the particular case. It is actually very easy, just very time consuming. They are testing whether you are used to doing this type of writing.
2. To get enough points on the essays, it is VITAL to use the facts. The essays are not tricky, the MBEs are tricky. USE ALL THE FACTS on the essays. The Bar is actually quite kind --- they put enough facts in each essay to give students a chance to demonstrate whatever they know. The Cal Bar is easier than people think; most people scare themselves I think because of the low pass rate. The essays are obviously just Rules + Legal Reasoning. Nothing more. The graders don't want to see anything else. Boring IRAC is good enough.
3. One study technique that I used was to read a BarBri essay fact pattern; try to answer it out loud; and then read the BarBri answer. Then I would try to re-state the answer out loud (or in my head) without looking at the BarBri material. I would then keep re-reading the BarBri answer, and keep trying to answer the problem (mentally or verbally) completely until I could do it cleanly. The process of stating rules and applying facts to the rules was a good exercise for me. It was also more fun that just trying to memorize rules alone without fact patterns. The BarBri materials probably cover all the rules in particular fact patterns, so if you practice their essays then you will encounter everything you need (I hope!!).
4. I remember on the Jul 06 MBEs, it felt like there was no end to the property questions, but actually some of those property questions were contracts questions !!! So, be careful about little tricks like that. Trying to figure out which rule they are testing for each question I guess is the key.
5. Time is not a factor on the Bar EXCEPT on the Performance Exam part.
1. The Performance Exam is just about form and properly extracting the legal reasoning from the material provided, and applying that reasoning to the facts of the particular case. It is actually very easy, just very time consuming. They are testing whether you are used to doing this type of writing.
2. To get enough points on the essays, it is VITAL to use the facts. The essays are not tricky, the MBEs are tricky. USE ALL THE FACTS on the essays. The Bar is actually quite kind --- they put enough facts in each essay to give students a chance to demonstrate whatever they know. The Cal Bar is easier than people think; most people scare themselves I think because of the low pass rate. The essays are obviously just Rules + Legal Reasoning. Nothing more. The graders don't want to see anything else. Boring IRAC is good enough.
3. One study technique that I used was to read a BarBri essay fact pattern; try to answer it out loud; and then read the BarBri answer. Then I would try to re-state the answer out loud (or in my head) without looking at the BarBri material. I would then keep re-reading the BarBri answer, and keep trying to answer the problem (mentally or verbally) completely until I could do it cleanly. The process of stating rules and applying facts to the rules was a good exercise for me. It was also more fun that just trying to memorize rules alone without fact patterns. The BarBri materials probably cover all the rules in particular fact patterns, so if you practice their essays then you will encounter everything you need (I hope!!).
4. I remember on the Jul 06 MBEs, it felt like there was no end to the property questions, but actually some of those property questions were contracts questions !!! So, be careful about little tricks like that. Trying to figure out which rule they are testing for each question I guess is the key.
5. Time is not a factor on the Bar EXCEPT on the Performance Exam part.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
A Tale of Two Blogs
A few people have noted that I have two blogs (both “irrationalbasis”) that seem to mirror each other. When I initially decided to do the blog thing, I started with wordpress b/c that’s the one I was most familiar with, but then decided I’d try blogspot since so many of my friends had their blogs posted there. Long story short is that I’m indecisive and liked different aspects of the websites, so I decided to keep both. Plus, it gives me something else to do besides study! On this website I *only* post PURE bar-related messages; I also post the same stuff on the wordpress site mostly b/c I know my mom likes to read them and I only want her to have to go to one place. But, wordpress is becoming my true love for blogging. I didn’t realize how much I’d like having this little outlet for thoughts or what a great community I’d find myself part of. I’ve reconnected with friends and connected with past and future Cal-Bar takers, as well as other law students.
So: If you’re ONLY interested in purely bar-related posts, stay where you are and thanks for reading!!
If you know me and love me or just want to read my sometimes irrational ramblings on other aspects of life, go here
So: If you’re ONLY interested in purely bar-related posts, stay where you are and thanks for reading!!
If you know me and love me or just want to read my sometimes irrational ramblings on other aspects of life, go here
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