Moving on from the MBE stuff

Now that my sexy man is back from his sailing trip, I’ve been able to be slightly more focused on the matters at hand, although occasionally distracted by him, but that is ok :)

These last couple of days I’ve been trying to finish up my review of the MBE subjects. What I’m finding is that I do ok on the questions and can spot the big issues fairly easily, but I have a hard time articulating the rules involved in both the MBE q’s and my practice essays. This is kind of ok on the MBE q’s because, in the end, who cares WHY you got the right answer as long as you got the right answer. However, when it comes to the essays, though, being able to articulate the rules is pretty important. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to approach preparing for the essays and how to memorize all those little details of law. I need to get my hands on some more practice essays. MicroMash gives you a book with 75 essays in it (6-7 per subject), but I have a feeling that I am going to be going through more than 75 essays between now and the end of July. I’m doing some more review of MBE stuff this weekend and then will begin reading for the state subjects and practicing essays for those starting Monday. In addition to the state subjects, I plan to do some MBE’s everyday, try to review my MBE flashcards at least a couple of days a week, and do practice essays regarding the MBE subjects.

While it was nice at N&R’s having my own quiet little place to study, my own fridge, bathroom, etc., there is part of me that is really enjoying hanging out with my sexy man in an SF home where I am currently sharing one bathroom with FIVE other people, and have to negotiate all the beer in the fridge just so I can get to my food. I love this house because it is always filled with people and there is a slight feeling of craziness to it all: In this three bedroom house (but with basement and sunroom), there’s 6 of us here right now, with a cat and a dog; the side of the house is under construction; there is only one shower; there is more beer and wine in the fridge than food (is there ANY food??); there is no dishwasher so there is always a pile of dishes on the countertop; and last night I was woken up at 2am by some of the roommates playing guitar downstairs and singing at the top of their lungs. My honey’s room is a little sanctuary, though, and at least we have access to the sunroom where I can study all day and watch the fog tumble over Twin Peaks into Cole Valley or bask in the warmth of concentrated sunshine, and not be bothered by anyone.

MicroMash Guarantee & the California Bar

I forgot to email essay #2 into the MicroMash mentor guy last night, and failure to do so results in me having forfeited any possibility of making good on the MicroMash guarantee. I’ve decided, though, that an attempt to meet the MicroMash guarantee - while an incentive - is not a realistic or SMART goal for someone taking the California Bar. There are people who have ran the numbers to figure out what sort of score you need on the MBE to have a decent chance at passing California’s bar, but the reality is that the MBE is 35% of your total Bar score. To get the MicroMash guarantee, I believe you have to send in all 6 essays by the specified dates, do ALL 3000+ of their MBE practice questions at least once, get ALL of them right at least once, and spend at least one minute on every question. I initially thought this might be a reasonable goal, but I realize now that it is dumb to dedicate so much time to the MBE when it is only 35% of my Bar score. Instead of spending additional hours going through all the questions I got wrong just for the sake of getting them RIGHT so I can meet the guarantee, I’d be much better off doing 3 or 4 practice essays in preparation for the Essay/Practice Performance portion of the Bar which is worth almost twice as much as the MBE. I will continue to do practice questions using their software, of course, and I still feel glad I didn’t take Bar/Bri or PMBR, but I don’t think I am going to strive to meet the MicroMash guarantee - well, I guess it doesn’t matter anyway because I didn’t turn my essay in on time, so I’m out already! I’m not saying that MicroMash isn’t a good program to use, it definitely has its benefits, but the time you’d put into trying to satisfy their guarantee could potentially eat up valuable time that might be better off spent doing other things. I think it’s a stronger incentive/program in those states that require a certain passing score for the MBE or those states that won’t even look at your essays unless you pass the MBE. But, for a state like CA that puts greater emphasis on the essay/performance tests, your writing and organization skills and your knowledge of the STATE subjects have to be completely solid, and I think it’s wise to spend more time working on that. So, the possibility of the MicroMash guarantee was nice while it lasted, but it looks like I have to pass the Bar this time around or fork over more money to Thompson one way or another.

Doin the Mash, the MicroMash...in my Pj's

To add to my list of things I like/dislike about MicroMash, I have mixed emotions about the hard-copy study guides they present. Well, mostly the main volume since I haven’t looked too much at their condensed outlines version yet. The main volume relating to the MBE subjects is not done like the PMBR outlines - the material is offered in paragraph form. In some ways this is very helpful. It gets me thinking about the rules in paragraph form and sort of puts everything together for you. The downside is that there are some things that I would prefer to see in a more traditional outline form, like the types of contracts that fall within the statute of frauds. Instead of just listing them out either in paragraph or bullet form, the book slightly indents each type of contract, then has sub-paragraphs under that main one, etc. So, you can’t just glance at it and see a list ready-made, you have to flip through 5 pages to get it all figured out. Maybe they address this better in the condensed info version, but I’ll have to check.

What I’m noticing about some of these MBE q’s is that you really have to try to get into the author’s brain - Did author X really think that 7yr old Boy had the requisite intent to commit assault/battery against the umpire when Boy’s dad yelled “Kill the Ump” after a bad call, and Boy swung the bat at ump? The author is sure he did, although I wondered… And sometimes the fact patterns are just so jacked up you don’t know what answer is right, and then the explanations tell you that “A was obvious” because it’s common sense that blah blah blah blah blah. I’m thinking, wait! I’m being tested on the law, not what’s ‘common sense’!!!! It just really seems like alot of the questions are subjective, which is why you can’t ever get too hung up on the facts and it becomes more a game of eliminating the wrong answers. Half the time I mentally answer the question in my head, repeating the applicable rule, and that rule is not even one of the choices given.

I’ve spent the last two days studying contracts and was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t totally bomb the MBE’s I did. 32/51 isn’t bad for someone who originally got a C in her first-year contracts class. (**My favorite quote from an interview: “So, an A in torts, huh? But not so great in contracts I see…. Well, dammit - obviously you were born to be a litigator!”)
Tonight I’ll finish reading the contracts outline and write-up a practice essay, then on to Con Law tomorrow.

I must reiterate how GLAD I am that I listened to my gut and didn’t do Bar/Bri. It’s so nice to have such flexibility in my day and to not have to get out of my PJ’s if I don’t want to. I also love that I don’t DREAD getting up to go study (at least not yet - on day 3 of my f/t studying!) All of the people I know who are taking Bar/Bri really seem to dread going to the lectures, and are fairly miserable while they’re there. I still have to read the same outlines and review the same information, but I can do it from the comfort of my home and not sit and listen to the book being read to me. I don’t think that everyone else is foolish for jumping on-board the Bar/Bri train - we all have to do what works best for us - but i’m really really really glad that, so far, this is working for me! Another benefit is that I’m not around people who are stressing out about the test or how much their MBE scores are improving, etc. Even talking to my roommate the other day made my stomach queasy as she was lamenting how she was going to have to memorize the 26 subjects PA tests on their essay portion. For a brief moment, I thought - “Wow. I’m going to have to completely avoid every single one of my law school friends because I can’t handle these conversations!!” it’s still a thought, but I hope that we’ll all be able to agree to discuss something other than our Bar studies, even if it’s only the on-going saga of Britney Spears or the latest sale at Macy’s.

First full day of studying & review of MBE Book

Yikes. I can’t belive that TODAY was only my first full day of studying. All last week, while agonizing over my situation, I tried to do a cursory review of Torts. Today, I finally finished Torts. I read the rest of the outline provided by MicroMash, did 15 MBE’s (I did 50 on Thursday!) and attempted a practice essay. My tentative plan for the next 5 subjects is to - in two days - read the outline for a subject, do 50-100 practice questions on the subject, and complete 2 practice essays for the subject. I hope to do one practice performance test a week, as well as do 10-20 MBE’s on the previously studied subject. I figure I’ll have to test this out in the next two days to see if it’s really possible to accomplish. As far as the state subjects go, I haven’t quite formulated a plan as to how to approach them. California only weighs the MBE as 35% of your score, but the MBE subjects can be tested in the essays which are worth a whopping 65%. So, I feel I need to spend a lot of time writing and prepping for the essays and performance test. I think this is different from those states who give the MBE equal or almost equal weight as the essays… But, again, I’m not quite sure how to formulate a study plan for the essays just yet. I’m going to have to figure that out in a week or two.

The MBE book I read - “Mastering the Multistate Bar Exam” by John Talamo was kind of helpful. In the book he talked alot about all the different things “your Bar Review Course would teach you.” So, if you’re not taking one, the book doesn’t offer a WHOLE lot in the way of in-depth strategies and approaches. However, I appreciated his mindset towards the Bar and his approach of studying vs. practicing the MBE questions. He said to spend a fair amount of time studying the questions - how they’re designed, what the answer choices are, the given explanations for the right/wrong answers… He recommended that you spend a decent amount of time going through the questions, not timing yourself, and not paying attention to what percentage of q’s you get right. Use these study sessions to familiarize yourself with the test, not just test whether you know the rules involved. Obviously you will be enforcing your knowledge of the law as you answer the questions and read the explanations, but also try to get to know the test and the different techniques used by the MBE authors. Only after studying this way for a while (you can judge), THEN start “practicing” the questions by doing chunks of MBE’s before checking your answers.

I thought this was a good approach on a couple of levels. Most of what I’ve heard/read about from others is that they are advised to do 50 MBE’s a day, mostly to determine what percentage of q’s they’re getting right. BUT - several people & books have pointed out that you can tend to peak on your MBE score mid-summer instead of in July when you need it most. Plus, people tend to get discouraged when they’re not getting a high enough percentage of q’s right and you create additional stress on yourself. But, if you take the study/practice approach, you won’t really start practicing the MBE’s until after a couple of weeks studying them. So, you’ll “peak” later *hopefully* and won’t get as frustrated because you know your purpose in studying the questions is to learn the test and reinforce your knowledge rather than trying to gauge whether you’re up to par for the real MBE. Since I’m not taking Bar/Bri, i have no idea whether this approach is unique or run-of-the-mill/what-they-all-recommend. MicroMash doesn’t really talk too much about how to approach the MBE other than mention the alternate ways you can use their online program.

Another thing the MBE book mentioned, which is not mind-blowing AT ALL, is that every q on the MBE is worth the same amount. So, don’t get hung up on a super long confusing question because the difficulty of the question doesn’t determine it’s weight; they’re all worth the SAME. Don’t waste time trying to figure out one q when you could use that time to answer several. Common sense, right? But, I know that i’ve got stuck on a lower-points essay before, to my detriment, just because I really really really wanted to figure it out…. This is a good thing for me to remember.

The book gives a few suggestions on how to study for the MBE (as noted above) and a few strategies about answering questions and the types of questions asked on the MBE. Overall, for me, it was helpful and a nice easy introduction into thinking about how to approach the MBE. Again, since I’m not taking Bar/Bri, I don’t have the advantage of hearing all the little tricks of the trade, so reading about some of the different techniques used by the MBE authors prepared me to think differently about the MBE and to evaluate the questions in a better way. For me, it was worth the $$, but if you’re taking Bar/Bri or any other live lecture course, you’ll probably get the same info from your instructors.

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.

Bar Advice from July 06'er (Bar Exam Tips #3)

I found this post on Biting Tongue - a barblog of a July 06 Cal. Bar taker. I think it's helpful for getting my mind back into thinking about the Bar. For convenience sake, I've posted the entire thing here.

Bar: Advice & Recap

Be Honest With Yourself

I'm fairly certain that I would have failed the test had I not been extremely honest with myself back in July. My assigned essays weren't looking very much like the BarBri sample answers. My graded essays were coming back marked FAIL. Although I didn't know much about how I was doing, the little bit of feedback I was getting said I was going to fail unless I learned to make my essays look more like what they were expecting. I have always been the one who arrives at conclusions via a different path. This is often rewarded in life. But the bar exam grader who has 2 minutes to read my essay was not going to reward my unique thought processes. If I didn't do something differently, I was fairly certain I was going to fail. Unfortunately, BarBri does not offer any strategy on how to construct an answer that looks like everyone else's. They teach the same material, then give the same model essays as feedback, and a majority of their students fall into line. If that is you, great. Keep on the path. But, that may not be you. In fact, if you have a tendency toward intellectual curiosity, you may be in serious trouble with the bar. Intellectualy curiosity can lead you to discuss side issues that may demonstrate knowledge of the law, but not the knowledge the grader is looking for. BarBri will claim that people fail because they don't use the facts. Some people may do that. But people like me, we would fail because we use the facts too much.

Seek Other Resources

One of the main reasons, if not the number one reason this test is difficult is because of the mental warfare and mystery the CA bar and BarBri create and propogate. For example, no passing scores and tests are released. It would be very helpful for second time takers to be able to compare their failing essays against passing essays. It would be extremely helpful for those studying to compare failing essays against passing essays. But, no. It's a *mystery.* So accept that aspect of the stupid exam and recognize that you are going to have to do some work in a void, which will be very frustrating. If you, like me, even begin to suspect that barbri is not giving you enough feedback in the void, then my suggestion to you is to seek out other feedback in order to feel comfortable.Similarly, if your MBE scores aren't where you'd like them to be, seek out help and feedback.

Your mileage may vary, but I highly recommend the additional resources that I used to prepare for the essay portion of the bar exam:
Bar Breaker Volume 1 and 2: The last 2 weeks before the bar exam, I read the intro to each subject and outlined or wrote sample answers to every question in this book. I entertained his approach and adopted some of his methods. I found them very helpful. I completely bailed on the last half of the BarBri assigned essays. I found that many of them were assigned in these books, so overall, I probably did the majority of the BarBri assigned essays. In particular, I found these answers so ridiculously simplistic that I couldn't believe they would be passing answers. But, the sense of relief I felt after reading each question during the bar exam and knowing that I could write an answer that looked something like the ones I'd reviewed in these books was huge. I think that if you know you can write a simple answer that covers the basic law for every possible exam topic you will have the confidence and time to fill in the random other side issues that will get you extra points.
Bar Exam Survival Kit. I think if I had to prepare for the bar exam again and I was only allowed one resource, this would be the one I would choose. The last two weeks before the bar, I read and re-read the 6-8 page summaries for each topic and made certain that nothing they mentioned was missing from my issue outline/checklists. I made certain that I could recite the rules for each major area. I memorized stupid mnemonics to ensure that I could name every major sub-area for any topic. As a final step, I condensed all of my outlines into a 5 page 2-inch by 3-inch flip book of my mnemonics. This is all I used to study while at the bar exam. Every night, I'd review the mnemonics and comfort myself with the fact that I could recite every power held by every branch. I could sing a song of every single Tort and all of their elements. I could name all the constitutional limitations on powers. When I read that the call of one of the questions was the 1st Amendment, I typed the headings from my mnemonic before I read the fact pattern: state action, and then all of the various tests. I was appalled to read the question and find that they presented the issues to be addressed in the exact order of my mnemonic, which was straight from Jeff Adachi's Bar Exam Survival Kit. That question drove home the point to me. The California Bar exam is NOT a test of legal knowledge and skill. It's a test of keeping your cool, and learning enough law plus tactics to demonstrate that you can be just like everyone else who has figured out the game.

I also did every free seminar offered by Scott Pearce. I think if I had failed the bar exam, I'd hire Scott Pearce as my tutor for the second go-round. Often, while doing his seminars this summer I toyed with the idea of having him grade one of my essays for more feedback. I learned the trick of reading the call of the question and doing the big picture outline of the answer before reading the question from him. This proved to be a life-saver in helping me avoid legal side-tracking.

Know how you are going to take the test before you take it

Towards the end (last 5 days before the bar or so), I'd do 50 PMBR questions a day and outline any essay I could get my hands on to ensure that my approaches/mnemonics were available in my head and to make sure I wasn't missing any major issues. I outlined almost all of the past exams on the California Bar Website and the majority of the BarBri essays I'd put off by doing BarBreaker. This meant I'd seen and outlined many of the past questions twice before going into the exam. Turns out, the Bar repeats many of the topics it presents, so familiarity with the outline form for past exams was extremely helpful. On several questions during the exam, I read the call, wrote the basic outline as typed headings, read the facts and filled in my sub-outline with sub-headings and rules all with a sense of deja-vu because I'd done the exact same outline, headings, and sub-headings just a few days earlier.

Don't forget to do something to stay sane

Work out. Cook/Eat. Visualize getting passing results. Visualize the act of taking the entire test. Hang out with non-law friends. Whatever it is that you need to do to get those stress hormone levels to lower. Do it regularly throughout the entire process. I found that much like visualizing a sports performance, the few minutes each week (and every morning during the last two weeks) I spent visualizing taking the test and getting passing results gave me a sense of calm during the actual test itself.

MIA - Study Plans for the Bar (Bar Exam Tips #1)

Since i’ve taken such elaborate notes on all of this week’s reading for class, i’ve allowed myself to completely zone out IN class today and instead i’ve scoured the web for bar study plans. Do you know i’ve only came across maybe THREE??? I mean, everyone talks about how important they are, yet very few have actually posted what they’ve done for a study plan. People reference Bar/Bri’s study plan, but almost all the comments are about how impossible it is to follow. I know that all the bar review groups give their registrants study plans as part of the course, but i can’t believe that people actually follow them to a T. Obviously, it’s all about finding out what works for you, but, there is SO much material to cover and it would be really helpful if people would reveal how they were able to cover all that material in the two months before the Bar. I’m already conceding to myself that i cannot possibly study more than 8 or 9 hours a day, 6 days a week, for the Bar. It’s just NOT going to happen. Therefore, I need to be incredibly efficient during those hours… and I don’t know that i am incredibly efficient at anything! However, while I was searching the internet, I did come across some useful advice:

1) Practice the Performance portion of the Bar while in school. It is something that you could easily do once a month each month of the last semester. Devote maybe 4 hours to doing a practice performance test (past CA PT Questions here), then eventually lower your time to the 3hrs allowed in the Exam. **I think this is a good idea because most say this is a fairly easy area to “master” because it’s about skill and time-management, not necessarily knowledge of the law, so if you work on it now then you don’t have to spend time on it during the summer. But, we’ll see if I actually set aside time to do it.

2) Start listening to PMBR Cd’s while still in school. YAY!! I’m doing this!! Although i’m not REALLY “studying” the MBE materials, they are refreshing my memory and making me feel a little bit more comfortable with the concepts.

3) When making your study plan, build in breaks (naps, work-outs, etc) and do it on a big poster that way you can a) cross off the stuff you’ve accomplished and give yourself a gold star; b) have a way of keeping track of your scores on MBE’s, as a way of gauging how you’re doing; and 3) have something else to burn/rip up/kick/spit on/trash/stomp-on-in-victory at the end of the summer when you’re done with the Bar.

As soon as i come up with something that might resemble a bar study plan/schedule, you can guarantee I will post it. Probably not follow it, but at least there will be evidence that i made some effort.