Brief Rant...

If there are any past Bar-takers out there reading this, can you please answer something for me?? On the MBE, do the authors, when raising the issue of what standard of review applies in a con law question, really say such things such as “P must prove the statute is irrational” ???? I mean, I thought that Rational Basis Review meant that P has to prove the statute is not rationally related to a legitimate state interest, not that the statute itself is “irrational.” I mean, I, as a law student, am smart enough to figure out that they are referring to RBR, but this is an incorrect statement of the law, and YET - supposedly, it was the right answer. Do the authors really do short-hand stuff like this?? If they do, then I am going to have to stop “overthinking” the answers, because I truly thought that, here, the authors were trying to get me confused as to what the RBR test was… But, no, apparently it wasn’t a trick. So frustrating!!!! AND, I really hate it when there appear to be two issues in the question, say interstate commerce & state police power, and the example given is of something that is traditionally reserved to the state, so - as the book says - the state’s statute should be upheld….. and the authors tell me it’s not about state rights at all and is purely an interstate commerce issue. Even though I’m getting all of these con law questions wrong, I feel it is a reflection of poorly written questions and not at all my lack of understanding/memorizing the material. ha. GRRRR!!!!

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.

Two MicroMash Negatives & a HUGE plus!!

Since I’ve been using the MicroMash books/program for a day or two now, I have come across a few things that I dislike. Overall, I find their stuff easy to use and presented in a relatively decent manner, though. I plan to write a letter to MM at the end of it all letting them know of the ways I think they can improve their product. Here are the first things on my list:

1) When you’re using the online program and the explanation box pops up, MM doesn’t always tell you where to find the corresponding explanations in the hard copy outlines. The only time you get this information is if there’s an “exam alert” button. For one of the questions, the answer depended on whether you knew the “Dillon-Legg” case - which I didn’t. The explanations stated the rule but didn’t give any indication of where you could find the case in the outlines… So, I spent 10mins flipping through the sections trying to find it. V. Inconvenient. They need to ALWAYS put the corresponding pages with the explanations, no matter how easy and lame the involved rule is.

2) MM needs to state a rule the same way, always. I did three MBE’s. The first said there were two exceptions to employer liability for ind. contractor’s torts: inherently dangerous activities and non-delegable duties/activities. Two questions later, I get another question about it. Thinking I now know the exceptions, I answer confidently and am wrong. Apparently, there were THREE exceptions to the rule, adding owner/invitee to the list… So, I check the outline and it seems that the owner/invitee exception falls under non-delegable duties and isn’t really an independent exception. BUT - the MM explanation called it a third exception. Make up your mind how many exceptions there are and state the rule the same way, always.

**** Despite those negatives, one thing I LOVE about doing the MM questions is that they’re actually FUN. The best part is there is a bit of a delay (like 2 secs) between the time you answer the question and when the answer box pops up, and I can feel myself anticipating the box - CORRECT!!! You get a little green “correct” sign and a cute green check by your answer. How rewarding is THAT?!?!!?! As miserable as all this studying is, it truly is the small things that give great satisfaction.

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.

A little Bar/Bri fun

I guess this is why so many people choose Bar/Bri :0)

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.

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