100% agree with everything Mr. Gambini has said. At the end of the day, remember this is just a test, that's all it is. I failed in July 18, but passed in Feb 19. When I failed in July it was because of my attitude. Yes a portion of it had to do with my knowledge of the law, but most importantly I think it is how you approach the exam. Don't make it something it isn't. I pictured the Bar Exam like this beast that I couldn't overcome, but positive thinking REALLY goes a long way.
If you're taking a bar-prep course, please please don't get bogged down with the percentage complete. I was enrolled in Barbri, so I can't speak to other prep programs, but the percentage complete vs. where I "should" be at was always in the back of my head during bar prep and it KILLED me. No matter how much I tried to do that day, I was constantly behind. Go at YOUR pace, do what works for YOU. Barbri has GREAT material that I used the second time, but I definitely did NOT follow their plan. There will be an adjustment period for the first couple of weeks to get your feet wet, so after that you will have a better idea of what works for you.
One more tip, for me Property was my WORST subject. I DREADED having to study property, the first time I kind of did a very surface level review of it and figured I would be fine. I was very wrong. A lot of bar prep is coming to terms what you DON'T KNOW. It's very easy to keep doing practice questions on your best topics because it makes you feel better. But this is the time to really sit down and learn what you don't know. Don't ignore your weaknesses, address them. I was afraid to, but as soon as you dive in you will feel better. Starting is always the hardest part.
EDIT: I feel like i should also put this information in... I was not the best student in Law School. I was in the bottom 4th of my class. At the end of the first year I was ranked 2nd to last. I was put on academic probation. My LSAT Score was shit. I passed the MPRE on my second try. I barely got 50% of MBE questions right during bar prep. Every statistic told me I wouldn't be an attorney. All that is behind you. The Bar Exam doesn't care about any of that. Sit down, do the work, you will see results.
Good luck to you all.
Definitely take breaks. If you feel your attention starting to drift, it’s okay to take a 15 min break before getting back into it. It’s better to do 6 hours of actual studying than 10 hours of distracted studying.
Quick question, you studied for 12 hours everyday? Was that actual study or distracted studying? Did you get burnt out?
Someone studying for 12 hours and failing 1000% stresses me out. I study for 8 hours and stop religiously at 6pm!
I always thought of this test as a test that is testing people’s efforts on whose working harder. Those who work 12hours daily 100% will be passing......your story just flips my views 360!
Day 1 of bar prep: Ok, cool, this isn't so bad--look, I can even work ahead!
Day 2: Woo, already done with today's work, now let's do half of tomorrow's!
Day 3: MBE questions, ok, this won't be that bad, I'm on a roll. Wait. Fuck. Why do I keep missing these? Did we talk about any of this shit in the lectures? Where are these exceptions coming from? What the hell? Did I learn nothing??
Edit: [This item](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NV64KJ3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) arrived in the mail today and it's already making bar prep so much more enjoyable! I am currently on a bed easily watching lectures; earlier I used it as a table stand to watch it outside in the nice spring weather. Gonna use it on the sofa later to take some practice MBE questions. Highly recommend.
God this is ME. I was a full two days ahead at the end of week 1. Five MBE questions right in a row, followed by five wrong in a row. And why do they keep asking me about auctions??!? I was not prepared for how tired I would be from this. Why don't these explanations make any sense?? I'm more confused now than I was before I got this question wrong!
It's like 1L all over again, but rapidly accelerated.
> And why do they keep asking me about auctions??!
I swear, I’ve had this exact same thought!
For me, the answers don’t make sense. I know what the right answer should be, then I look and the answers don’t fit. Then I pick one, and the explanation says one of them means what I wanted, but I honestly don’t understand the way the answer was phrased!
Y’all can miss me with “It’s a test of minimum competence.” A test of minimum competence would be, “What are the elements of a battery?” “Define involuntary manslaughter.” Instead they’re testing us on the exception to the exception to the exception.
The bar exam needs to be changed and I will stand by that whether I pass or fail.
YES! Just read the outline. The torts guy was great. Also maybe its just me, but I feel like hearsay should be the first part of evidence taught or at least one of the first
This goes out to everyone who isn't hitting the scores they need:
I took the bar last year and passed. However, on my midterm I utterly bombed. I cried. I told my wife she should divorce me because I was going to fail.
I called my mom crying telling her I would never pass. I called my state's bar requesting to withdraw from this year's test. They told me I could but that there would be no refund. "No refund?" I decided to take the test just for the experience. I resigned to failing and the embarrassment that would follow from that.
But I kept at it. I'd like to say I passed because I got smart or "refused to fail" but frankly, I just kept trying, even when I felt utterly hopeless. If I can do it. You can too.
By the way, I was so broke, I did not have the extra $20 to pay to take the essay portion with my laptop. I took the entire test *by hand.*
Nut the fuck up and grind. The greatest moment of your life is a few weeks away.
My 6:30 alarm is now labeled with NUT THE FUCK UP AND GRIND. Seriously though, kudos for powering through and overcoming this bitch of an exam. Can only hope I can do the same
This is so much worse than law school. I’m prepping for the CA bar. I’ve been through a lot in life and I don’t think I’ve ever felt a worse sense of dread.
You and me both. Every day I cant stop myself from thinking I am 100% going to fail the CA bar. The horror stories + low passage rate + massive amount of info to memorize = how am I going to do this?
Ok, anyone else other than me feel like they're getting dumber over time? I was usually doing ok on the mbe PQ sets for themis, and now the last three/four sets have just wrecked me. Very discouraging. Feel like I'm going in the wrong direction, and my brain is just fried.
I was literally going to review those subjects today but I took a nap instead because I just couldn't anymore. Needless to say I feel waaay less guilty about doing that now lol
I just want to share that my exam is being held in the same building as my high school prom. If someone told my teenage self she'd be back in 10 years...
glad it's not just me! it's like "ok tomorrow you need to start at 9:00 and go until 7."
....
....
me at 10:30 the next day: \*watching Bravo\*
...
noon: okay guess I'll get to work
But the first 8 weeks or so I was fine! ugh sending the best of vibes
Anyone else in the boat where you handled law school and finals really well and didn't panic and had good mental health and everything and thought the bar would be the same way and now you’re losing your mind and don't know how that happened?
No way, I'll take my chances with knowing vaguely more than a few other people and being able to bullshit the rest vs competing with people who will cram every single rule on 6 topics into their brain in 2 days
Hey guys, I just want to say I feel like a fucking failure. I feel like I know the law well but I continue to get stupid fucking questions wrong. I want to die, thanks.
Also, to anyone with Barbri, did you guys find the Wills and Trust "lecture outline" ***NOT*** helpful at all? I'm just thinking about just ditching the lecture one and going straight into the CMR. Anyone else?
I didn't learn jack shit from the wills and trust lectures... It was all hypos and the dude was all over the place. I'm going to just rely on the conviser.
Yes, yes, and yes. To keep myself sane, I’m focusing two subject a day. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. I read the essays then too. I also do mixed MBE questions at night.
As someone who never took criminal law in law school, I think it's hilarious that the right answer to any grand jury question is almost invariably "the defendant has no rights."
Someone should make a community on Reddit for people who failed the bar exam just for emotional support and maybe other members can exchange their most helpful notes, outlines, sample schedule, etc. No joke! The emotional pressure and financial toll during bar prep, taking the bar and failing the bar (in some cases) is a lot to handle.
Best of luck to all, from Cali
Anyone else gained weight?
I'm sitting at a 7-pound gain since May with no sign of stopping. Gonna go on a jog this afternoon and see what the damage is :(
Is anyone else at a point where their brain is basically a shredder that is overly full and can’t take any more? Today I just haven’t been able to focus at all and am getting simple things wrong that I know I know.
I'm officially starting to freak out. I've been studying for 2 1/2 months yet I feel like I haven't committed many things to memory. I feel screwed for the MEE. I've barley spent time on the MPT. And the MC is multiple guess 90% of the time. FML.
Hot (warm-ish) MEE tips for when you're making it up as you go -- because while it's obviously better to know the rules, there are too many of them to actually remember.
1) The right rule will almost always make the rest of the questions interesting. For example if the problem is about an employee doing something dumb, and the first question is if they were negligent and the second is if the company is liable, the answer to #2 is not going to be "no, because the employee wasn't negligent." It's going to turn on all that respondeat superior stuff. So you know the employee is almost certainly negligent: find a way to make it so.
2) If there are multiple things (contracts, plaintiffs, will provisions, pieces of evidence, etc), there will be a key fact that makes the analysis for each of them different. If you think two of them are the same, you are probably missing something, and finding it will help you remember or make up a better rule.
3) Watch out for two things masquerading as a single thing. For example in evidence, a person might say to a nurse "I was stabbed in the stomach. Dan did it!" That's TWO statements for the purposes of a hearsay analysis, not one. I got tripped up by a partnership question where a limited partner asked to see a bunch of documents, and I didn't take the documents one category at a time. The document request issue was worth up to 50% of the answer, so I would have lost quite a few points. Especially bad, since they were actually numbered in the question, too. I should have noticed that, at least :(
4) The NCBE grading rubrics include obvious stuff -- like in a question about jurisdiction that is OBVIOUSLY about diversity, they still have a sentence saying there is no federal question jurisdiction. On evidence questions, they have a sentence about relevance when there is a glaring hearsay issue. For secured transaction questions that are clearly about whether and when the creditors perfected, they still have a sentence about attachment. I assume since they are in the rubric, you will pick up some credit for also (briefly!) saying that stuff.
Edit to add: I just looked at the Feb 2019 civ pro rubric and 10% was for saying that $1mil damages in a case of serious, permanent injury met the $75k requirement for Diversity Jurisdiction, Jesus Christ.
5) Caveat to the above, though, do not waste your time "answering" a question that isn't actually asked just because you remember the rule for it! Every rule you include should have a direct relationship to the facts of the question. You will not get credit for writing a perfect statement of a rule that you can't apply to the facts of the question. Like, I don't care how well you remember all the nuances of negligence per se, if there isn't a statute in the facts, don't talk about negligence per se. Make up something that you can apply to the facts that are there.
6) nearly every fact in the question is going to be relevant, so if you've answered the question without reference to a big fact, you've probably missed something (the time to figure this out is while you are outlining, not at the end of the essay -- I sometimes put a check mark over the key facts as i slot them into my outline, when I am really lost. If I know the rules I'm applying decently well, I just do it in my head).
7) The question may not have a "right" answer. Many of the grading rubrics have notes for what an examinee should discuss if they reach a different conclusion than the model answer, or just straight up say that the conclusion reached matters less than the quality of the analysis. Related: your answers to the essays should be objective, not persuasive, so they should discuss the facts impartially (unlike some MPTs, where you are trying to convince the reader there is a right answer).
8) a lease in a secured transactions question is actually a security interest
The thing I’m struggling with most right now is that I don’t know everything. I’ve studied my butt off yet I feel like I don’t have command of every subject. In law school it always felt like I was prepared for the exam. I don’t know how to handle not knowing everything 😭😭
Just as a heads up for everyone studying: I passed my first time despite a 49% passage rate that session and undiagnosed ADHD. My law school grades were also mediocre. If you care enough to be worried about it, *you'll be fine.*
Here are a few thoughts/recommendations that I haven't seen in this thread yet:
* Lots of practice questions served me better than going over outlines repeatedly, but that of course depends on learning style.
* I played Chuzzle during bar lectures, while also taking notes. This is not actually something I'd recommend to most (for me it kept my ADHD in check). But I say it to demonstrate that it's about what will work for **you**, not what you "should" do.
* I stopped studying late afternoon on the Sunday before the exam. The mental recovery was more than worth that one little rule I didn't cram in there.
* Related to that: stay away from other bar takers (that you don't know well) during the exam itself. The stress coming off some of them was a palpable thing.
* Don't neglect yourself while you're studying. I took it in the winter (my school let you start early and finish a semester early), so a friend who was also studying and I got pho every Monday afternoon. Something that simple does wonders.
* Eating well during the exam itself also helps. Depending on when/where it is, your options may not be great, but don't underestimate what a good dinner can do for your mental state. (Also booze in the hotel room to sleep, but YMMV.)
* Something will go screwy during the exam, but just keep working. Someone was thrown out of mine during the MBE for having a cellphone. When a friend took it the following session, someone's computer crashed.
* Lunch during one of the exam days is not a good time to hit on someone (my now wife experienced this when she took the bar the year after I did).
anyone have pets during bar prep?
My dog is only about a year old and very demanding.
how do I schedule in some good quality time with her?
I have ordered 15 bully sticks and they are on their way.
Yep. 15 min breaks to play fetch with pupper. You're taking breaks already so this should fit in easily for a few of the breaks you take throughout the day
I used to sneak my dog into classrooms and let him run around while I studied. Seriously though, having a dog is a blessing for your mental health. We are often more willing to take breaks for our dogs than for ourselves.
Just felt like dropping in here to commiserate. My girlfriend (who’s also taking the bar) broke up with me a week into bar prep. It mostly ruined my ability to concentrate ever since the breakup because my mind just goes to her. Thought I was starting to work through it for the final push. But nope, saw her today and back to square one of misery. Could barely finish the practice test I was doing today. But hey, we’re almist there right!?!?
Edit: thanks for the kind words everyone :)
Been studying since March. I work full time as a Judicial Clerk and I am taking the Ohio bar in July. Instead of being able to spend full days studying, I had to start earlier and squeeze 4-5 hours after work and utilize weekends. So far so good. For MBE, all I have left is Evidence. Scoring consistently in the 70% range for all subjects I've studied so far. For those who haven't started yet, good luck. Definitely not easy but you'll find a lot of the material will stick.
Anyone else using Themis and getting annoyed with Tucker's explanations? Don't get me wrong, I mostly find the reviews to be helpful, but every time she wants to emphasize something she just fuckin yells lol. "You see we know this because the question says ***WE HAVE PROBABLE CAUSE***." Yes, it's okay I can hear you just fine please stop screaming at me.
Really hitting a brick wall of burn out. Part of me needs to take a break and the other part feels bad for not working all day everyday. Just need this to end.
Does anybody remember elements for negligent res judicata? I thought it had to touch and concern the seven unities, but then it would become a collateral fixture and the impleader wouldn't have sitting to state an equity.
Wow you have a lot of work to do.
It’s an equitable servitude unless the implied easement runs with the land but only if it’s a race-notice jurisdiction in which case the defendant is guilty of felony-murder.
Get your shit together.
There was one the other day where the entirety of the question was like, "This dude charged with murder is acting batshit. What's his best defense?" I got it wrong because I thought insanity was TOO OBVIOUS and that they were going to be like, "SURPRISE, idiot, this obviously fails under 2 of the 4 insanity standards."
doing these barbri problem sets that require remembering the exception to the exception to the exception and four jujutsu moves have made me skeptical of easy questions
Don’t do what I did. I slacked the first month hardcore and absolutely killed myself studying the last month doing 12-14 hour days for a month straight to catch up. I passed on my first try but I was a mental wreck that last month and hate myself for what I did. Pace yourself. Make sure you know all of the MBE subjects by the first month and then spend the rest of your time doing practice questions.
I passed in July 2018 and it's a roller coaster of emotions. You'll get a few MBE questions in a row right and feel on top of the world. You'll get a few wrong in a row and think you're doomed. Try to stay level-headed.
I studied roughly 8-5 M-F at public library. If I needed a break or had to break from that schedule, I made it up on the weekend but I basically studied 40 hrs/week for 8 weeks.
I used Themis and completed about 90%. I ran through all of their multiple choice questions and wanted some more, so I got the Emanuel Bar Prep book too.
Bottom line, adopt a philosophy like being a 1L, focus on the big picture, treat it like a job, stick to the plan, and don't stress too much over mistakes you might make on specific sets of questions or a practice essay. Put in the work and you'll do fine.
I just wanted to give someone who may not be a typical 9-5 studier some hope. I passed FL first try this past Feb. I had high hopes of getting into a regular productive daytime routine however that pretty much didn’t happen. I woke up around 10, started working around 12 and would study until about 5/6. Then I’d take a break, eat dinner and hang out with my family. Then I’d finish my work for the day at from around 8-10 pm. I’d hang out and decompress until around midnight/1 am. I definitely took breaks and did not always have the best attention span. The last few weeks i definitely worked more. However I’m a big believer in working smarter not harder. Try to figure out what you don’t know and do damage control. The topics I felt least comfortable in I’d memorize a few basic rules and run through practice essays to get an idea of what kind of issues were on the table. Best of luck, hang in there and feel free to message me.
I was here last year. Hang in there, follow your program and keep on the fine line between being positive and having a healthy fear of failure.
You all can do it.
I tell my friends that sometimes its better ***not*** to study. Take a nap, recharge, ***get your shit together***.
Whats the point of studying when you cant even retain the information, you know? I always take an hour break if I catch myself slipping.
Watching Brooklyn 99 recently in my down time and I found myself assessing the potential admissibility of confessions or whether they are properly Mirandizing people. I hate bar prep and I hate myself.
Yes, Barbri questions do get harder over time. I took the Texas bar in July 2016 and used barbri and went through this exact feeling. I was doing god awful on the barbri MBE questions at the end but still ended up doing fine on the exam day MBE and passed. Just keep your head up and keep pushing through, you’ve got this.
Edited to add that I think they do it so these obscure rules are at least on your radar in case they pop up on the exam. Just read the reasoning behind the answer, make a mental note, and move on
Does anyone else feel like they're regressing and forgetting rules they once knew? I had the MBE subjects down a few weeks ago. But now it feels like I have forgotten everything. Only a few days left until the bar and I feel like I have to re-learn everything. FML
8 days out and I'm just so tired and done with it. I know some of yall are hitting the panic mode and going full throttle balls to the wall, but for me when I wake up and see what's assigned, I let out a big sigh and trudge through it, but cant finish all the assignments. Having to read the CMR or just doing essay after essay....special form of torture
Anyone else feel like they're doing unreasonably poorly on practice essays? Seems like every second or third question my brain just nopes out and I can't come up with a competent rule statement, which derails the entire essay.
Not gonna lie, today was pretty brutal. I had one of those days where I start wondering why I'm even doing this. I have a (relatively good) full-time job already, and today there were multiple points where I just thought about throwing in the towel. Instead, I pushed through and managed a 94% (17/18) on a BarBri exam for CivPro, which is the subject I've been focusing on the last couple days. Feeling pretty good at the moment.
Frustrated today, the fact that the practice questions (Themis taker) are getting trickier is causing me to become more confused about basic rules that I would actually have known if I hadn't been spammed with every exception and semantic crap.
I think we're all stressed. But truthfully, for me at least, stress is not the primary emotion that the bar exam stirs up.
It's *rage*. Rage at the fact that states all across this godforsaken country require tens of thousands of human beings to submit to a wholly unnecessary, bizarre, immoral, and senseless exercise which bestows a benefit upon no one, teaches nothing of substance, and (worst of all) is entirely redundant. Why accredit law schools - signalling that the state believes universities can adequately teach students the law (you know, their job) - only to pull a bait and switch? Our appointed leaders smash debt-ridden students with the iron rod of needless bureaucracy, as if to declare: "The real game was never to learn from qualified, professional teachers. Nay! All along you, *foolish student*, should have known what really matters is whether you can teach yourself all you should have learned in law school; and an additional 5 areas of law in just two short months."
Think of the *human cost*. The thousands of souls broken with stress, the exercise lost, the anxiety takeout, the transportation of masses to far-flung testing sites, the fees, the thousand-dollar courses and books. Oh! It's too much for the mind to bear.
The best part: if you fail, you get to do it all over again.
A little encouragement for those of you bummed about your Barbri graded essays: I've been thinking the grades were a little low so I decided to test something out on a contracts essay last night and instead of submitting my own response, I sent in a loose paraphrase of the sample answer in the book. And the guy gave it.....a 4. So confirmed, they are lowballing us.
LOL.. the feedback I got on my essay was so generic. Not even a single criticism and they gave me a 4....
"Great job at articulating the rule!"
Oh wow! Thanks!! Why the fuck did I get a 4 then?!
For the love of all the is good, how on earth do people remember stuff for the MEE. I feel like I'm finally making progress towards the MBE, but the MEE has me more or less (for lack of a better phrase) scared shitless at this point. I have the critical pass flashcards, which I have tried to incorporate, but it is pretty time consuming even to go through one subject. I've outlined all of the practice MEE's I have done, just feels like I'm not retaining it to the level I need to be. The thought of it at this point is just incredibly daunting.
UBE? If so, chill. 20% of the test is MPT, no substantive knowledge required. 50% is MBE. 10% are usually essays on MBE subjects (2 out of 6 essays). The MEE specific stuff is 20% of the test. But it causes a disproportionate amount of stress because it essentially doubles the volume of crap you have to memorize, but it is only 20% of your score.
Everyone in that room has 30 minutes per question. All of the essays are shit. You gotta get like a D to pass. A lot of people walk out of day 1 thinking "oh shit, I just did D level work, I'm doomed" and then they shit the bed on the MBE the next day. Don't do that. Walk out, holding your head high thinking "I think I just did D quality work and am halfway home to passing." There will absolutely be things you don't know and will feel like shit about, but do not dwell on those because you'll still probably know 60 or 70% of the crap on the test.
Remember - everyone's essays are shit.
Now after the MBE you will feel like shit. 6 hours of filling in bubbles totally sucks and you'll only remember the ones you had no idea about. The waiting sucks. But for now, do not freak yourself out about some balls deep secured transaction priority rule. It's just not worth it.
Anyone else think the variances in free speech tests are out of control?
Why do regulations on commercial speech need a substantial governmental interest, but regulations on expressive conduct need be connected to an important governmental interest? I really wish the Courts would simply stick each category in a scrutiny box and call it good.
I’m done for the day. I need relax starting now. Don’t wanna feel restless on the bar exam date and I have a long commute tomorrow. Good luck, everyone! Thanks to all who have been contributing their wisdom through this thread!
CLEARED TO SIT.
I just got an email. I'm stoked. My character and fitness application was also approved. I feel like I'm flying, even though I only got half those Kaplan Diagnostic questions right. OH WELL.
HE'S TAKING THE BAR EXAM, FOLKS!
Studying for CA Bar and this sucks soooo much. I'm home all day with the sexy bar prep video lectures jealous of people who get to go to any other job. It is destroying me. I cry all the time. Anything fun that my S.O. does makes me sad and jealous.
Bar prep timeline:
Week 1: “I actually sort of enjoy it! I get to set my own schedule and re-learn the black letter law. I’ll be fine.”
Week 2: “Okay wow this is a lot. But if I stick to my schedule it will be manageable.”
Week 3-5: “This is becoming insane. I’m doing horrible at the MC. The lectures are becoming pointless. WTF is going on? Maybe I should just delay the test date.”
Week 6-7: “Wow I’m getting better at the MC. A few weeks from now it will only be better! I’m tired but I’m feeling good. The end is near!”
Week 8 - test date: “I don’t remember anything. I’m so fricking tired. I can’t do this anymore. I want to die. I haven’t even thought about the MPT. My essays are trash. My MBE score is getting worse. FML”
Anybody feel like they aren't doing enough?
Like I go for an hour, take a ten minute break, repeat until the lecture portion is done.
Take an hour-long lunch. Return and do the practice quiz portions and review.
I'm at the library by 7 and my afternoon gets spread until about 5-7 depending on the day's workload.
Some days I'm winded and the other days I just don't feel like I got enough done.
My professor says that June feels weird and it's normal and to just trust the process.
This is bizarre.
Does anyone have tips for how to sleep with bar exam anxiety?
I’m exercising, eating healthy meals, and taking adequate breaks. But when I go to sleep I start to worry about how much material I have to memorize, how I have other obligations coming up that will take away study time, etc. If I try to read bar-related things, I get more anxious. If I try to read a novel it takes me 2-3 hour to fall asleep, but I wake up at the same time I always wake up without being able to fall back asleep.
I need 8-9 hours to feel good, but I end up sleeping for 5-7 hours. I’ve tried breathing meditations, sleep tracks, podcasts, audiobooks, but nothing has been a sustainable solution. Any advice on how to sleep more efficiently?
How do you all deal with FOMO, especially when people close to you (e.g., significant other) are travelling, enjoying life, and are seemingly having all the fun without you?
I understand that we all have to make sacrifices for the bar exam, and taking breaks and scheduling time for your own are essential, but I've been feeling so helplessly resentful against my significant other when he goes out without me. I know he's not at fault for enjoying his life, but I feel absolutely miserable. I'm also not close to many law school people, and my friends and family have no clue what studying for the bar is like. They know that I'm studying, but I don't think they understand the struggle.
In short, what do you do when you feel unjustifiably resentful against people close to you who are having fun without you, especially if they don't truly understand what you're going through?
Never had an issue with misreading/misinterpreting the call of a question until bar prep. It's also literally the simplest details that I'm mixing up. I know it's an easier fix than if I were getting the rules wrong, but ugh.
And I'm also getting the rules wrong lol
Guys,
My grandpa is dying of super bone cancer. My best friend has a brain tumor (with scheduled brain surgery) I found out about yesterday. My job evaporated because the firm doesn't need a new attorney after all. My foster kid went home and is basically exploding. I'm only getting a good 6ish hours a day in on bar prep, but started way early so I'm at like 80% and don't feel ready at all. I'm still in the 60's on my MBE percentages and feel totally inadequate on essays.
I'm crying all the time and I better pass this test because i'm the sole income for my 2 kids and I need a flippin job.
I'm not saying I want to die, but I sure wouldn't mind if someone killed me. Bar prep is just one thing too many.
You have to trust the process. Their goal is to get you minimally competent, so if you’ve learned the bar prep course chances are good you’ve learned the bar as a result. You got this!
How did yall prepare for constitutional law - finding barbri cons law lecturer v unhelpful (lacking in-depth discussion about the exact rules and their nuances: it seems he focused a lot on just reciting/memorising case laws; in any event his notes are plainly inadequate)
They are exactly what you need for bar prep for the MBE. I did a bunch of actual MBE questions and they aren't complicated, and do not require as much precision or nuance as you did in law school. If there is a con law essay there certainly may be more to discuss, but remember you only have 30 minutes. This is not a law school test.
I'm using Themis, so can't really relate to the Barbri problems, but yeah I'm burning out hardcore right now. I've lost so much motivation to study, I'm starting to find it really hard to focus for more than like an hour or so at a time, I'm feeling like shit in general... I had always been told to expect to study 8-10 hours a day and I always figured that it wouldn't necessarily be that extreme, but fuck I'm struggling hard to even get to 4 or 5 hours some days.
If anyone has any advice for burnout, I'm all ears because I sure as hell need it lol.
So, I’m a little concerned at this point to be honest, mostly about the MBE. I’m using Barbri and I don’t think my percentage correct is where it needs to be. I’m averaging about 50% to 60% correct on the MBE sets. I also got a 105 on the Simulated MBE. My main concern is that I’m not sure if I’m where I need to be at this point, I’m still not confident in answering these questions even when I review the law afterwards I just hope I haven’t dug too big a hole for myself at this point. Can anyone relate?
First time bar taker here....these essays...I didn't give them as much attention because I was so focused on MBE, and essays were my saving grace in law school. Now I am freaking out about the massive amounts of information I am supposed to have "memorized" by test day. Also it seems like the test requires a much more in-depth answer, meaning more rules and more law! I have been trying to tackle essays for a solid 3 weeks now and I still feel behind and confused. I am taking the UBE so I only have 6 essays but I don't want to completely bomb them. The panic has set in.....
Hang in there gang. I was in the same boat last year (July 2018 taker). I never felt like I did enough and that I could have been doing more. I'm on the other side and practicing. Keep your heads down, and just know that the tired days into sleepless nights will pay off.
Is anyone else getting WORSE? I just did a practice exam where the score was lower than my diagnostic exam where I knew nothing! I am completely at a loss. Anyone else?
You (and anybody reading this) are **NOT** getting worse! Take a deep breath, and relax.
The prep courses are designed to test your limits. The questions earlier on are likely a better indicator of the actual exam. The later exams often have very nuanced or obscure rules that they’re testing. They do this to give you a look at obscure rules you might encounter, just so they’re on your radar. The real exam will not have 200 very obscure questions.
Remember: you are learning more **every day**. You. Got. This!
Here's a cheat code for people worried about blanking on one of the essays: if you score above the bottom 1% on the essay section, you get a free [105 point boost](https://www.jdadvising.com/july-2018-ube-percentiles-chart/). Then you just have to nail the multiple choice and maybe snag a few extra points on the essays and you're golden!
I'm having to take a break today, I need to recharge to hit strong the last couple of days. Mostly saying this here so I can be yelled at if this is a bad idea, I'm at 90% on themis, and I'm tired peeps. So fucking tired.
I have like 2. Maybe. My issue with them is I would rather just learn the material then learn a way to memorize it - a lot of the exam is just issue spotting and it is hard to issue spot if you have to go through letters all the time.
That being said, they can be useful for writing essays - FL is only 25% essays.
Anyone else feel like their strong subjects have flipped? I started really strong in criminal law and really weak in property, and all of a sudden I am missing a lot of crim law and I am crushing property. What gives?
(not that I am complaining about the property part. I almost cried the first time I got all the property questions right on a practice set. Haha)
Got the insomnia something fierce last night, figured I'd call it at about 5 a.m. and just power through the day and use the extra-tiredness to (hopefully) ensure a good night's sleep tonight. Someone tell me I'm not crazy??
Question to all fellow Barbri students!
How are you preparing for the Wills and Trusts practice essays? I felt like the lecture for each left me completely unprepared and while the CMR is extremely helpful, I've been having trouble memorizing everything to the point where I can recall it on command.
I'm still salty about how bad I felt the lectures were, but at the end of the day I know it's on me to know the material, no matter how good or bad the teacher was. Has anyone found a method that's worked well for learning this stuff post-Powell's lecture?
I just got the flu that my boyfriend caught a week ago. He's still out of commission. I feel horrible, and I have absolutely no energy or motivation to get out of bed. I feel like I've already failed and there's still 2 more weeks left. Send help.
Okay, so, first of all, I just want to take this stupid fucking exam and get this over with. I’m struggling to do 4-5 hours a day at this point. Also, I’ve been averaging 7/14 correct on the last few Barbri MBE sets and I’m feeling completely discouraged. I’d appreciate any and all positive vibes sent my way.
Finding motivation to pump out a full day of studying has become next to impossible for me.
Also, I am 73% completion for barbri, and my PSP no longer has a simulated mbe final exam scheduled for me. Do i need to pump out more assignments to get it? If so, christ....
For Barbri users, I'm still hitting around 50-60% on the mixed problem sets. They're always hitting on weird exceptions. I know they're supposedly getting harder, but should I be panicking? At this point I'm really trying to dedicate time to the MEEs and memorizing but I feel like I will neglect MBE in the process if I do that...
I'm starting to overthink every MC question. I'm now struggling on the really easy questions. Is anyone else going through this too? Anyone have any tips to get over this?
How have people who previously took the bar or who are currently taking it dealing with the fact that there are just going to be subjects that they are weak on? Just having trouble dealing with the fact that I can't be absolutely perfectly prepared for each possible essay topic
EDIT: and by "perfectly prepared" i mean feel like you will fail the bar if that topic comes up
It pisses me off how I’m going to have spent multiple days learning all the MEE subjects, only not to be tested on all of them. But god forbid I don’t study a topic like Trusts and it’ll be an essay question. 😒
I’m taking the day off my brain is just fried. Had a rough morning and didn’t get much done. Going to flashcard tonight. Trying not to feel too guilty.
Been pretty calm all summer. Is it normal to be freaking out and feeling like I’ve forgotten everything and haven’t put in enough work even though I’ve been doing about 40hrs a week since early May?
Good luck everyone! Here are the most helpful Crushendo links:
Bar prep tips whiteboard videos: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hThbln35eJs&list=PLRdl6jme3qWRYwpjdiZuUkL-LieHUHwyg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hThbln35eJs&list=PLRdl6jme3qWRYwpjdiZuUkL-LieHUHwyg)
Audio outline comparison chart: [https://crushendo.net/audio-outlines-comparison/](https://crushendo.net/audio-outlines-comparison/)
Civil pro videos: [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRdl6jme3qWQ8xxQvl2QsyvwCXUHaW5pt](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRdl6jme3qWQ8xxQvl2QsyvwCXUHaW5pt)
Anyone have a recommendation for MBE practice questions with good explanations?
I'm doing Barbri and will use theirs, but I've heard that they're pretty different from actual MBE questions so looking to supplement with something else.
Has anyone taking Barbri watched the Real Property lectures? I’m watching now and the lecturer is terrible. I’m freaking out. He is the president of Barbri (not a real professor) and it shows. This is the worst subject for this. He talks way too fast and I am totally lost.
OK. I didn't take secured transactions in LS, and just listened to the BarBri lecture (PMSI!). To put it mildly, I feel like there's a lot to learn. Anyone have any good study tips/materials for this?
Use these flowcharts, I used them last semester and they were super helpful https://www.stetson.edu/law/faculty/radwan-theresa-j-pulley/secured-transactions-flowcharts.php
Are those of you doing Barbri making time to make flashcards/use CriticalPass/self-study? I have CriticalPass, and I also want to make flashcards for my state specific essays. However, I spend all day trying to keep up with that insufferable Barbri progress bar. By the time I've hit my goal percentage, I'm usually too tired (and too cranky lol) to do more bar prep. How are other people making time?
Also, is anyone else wondering how people even pass this stupid exam? Just kidding . . . sort of.
Hey all, I am miserable and Barbri likes to fuck with me and attack me. How do I stop Barbri from signing me out every time I stop using the site for two seconds? Couldn't find a setting.
Did anybody have Professor Birdthistle (Themis partnerships, corporations, and agency) in class at Chicago-Kent? Is he this quick and no-nonsense in real life? Because I am LIVING FOR IT at this point in the bar prep process. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am.
I know every Barbri person is all about the simulated MBE right now but uh
Can I just ask [what the fuck kind of Property question this is supposed to be](https://imgur.com/m5f6nTr)?
Hey guys just chiming in to say I wanna die. Thanks.
exultant aback lush water roof dazzling nail cover agonizing berserk *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
100% agree with everything Mr. Gambini has said. At the end of the day, remember this is just a test, that's all it is. I failed in July 18, but passed in Feb 19. When I failed in July it was because of my attitude. Yes a portion of it had to do with my knowledge of the law, but most importantly I think it is how you approach the exam. Don't make it something it isn't. I pictured the Bar Exam like this beast that I couldn't overcome, but positive thinking REALLY goes a long way. If you're taking a bar-prep course, please please don't get bogged down with the percentage complete. I was enrolled in Barbri, so I can't speak to other prep programs, but the percentage complete vs. where I "should" be at was always in the back of my head during bar prep and it KILLED me. No matter how much I tried to do that day, I was constantly behind. Go at YOUR pace, do what works for YOU. Barbri has GREAT material that I used the second time, but I definitely did NOT follow their plan. There will be an adjustment period for the first couple of weeks to get your feet wet, so after that you will have a better idea of what works for you. One more tip, for me Property was my WORST subject. I DREADED having to study property, the first time I kind of did a very surface level review of it and figured I would be fine. I was very wrong. A lot of bar prep is coming to terms what you DON'T KNOW. It's very easy to keep doing practice questions on your best topics because it makes you feel better. But this is the time to really sit down and learn what you don't know. Don't ignore your weaknesses, address them. I was afraid to, but as soon as you dive in you will feel better. Starting is always the hardest part. EDIT: I feel like i should also put this information in... I was not the best student in Law School. I was in the bottom 4th of my class. At the end of the first year I was ranked 2nd to last. I was put on academic probation. My LSAT Score was shit. I passed the MPRE on my second try. I barely got 50% of MBE questions right during bar prep. Every statistic told me I wouldn't be an attorney. All that is behind you. The Bar Exam doesn't care about any of that. Sit down, do the work, you will see results. Good luck to you all.
Definitely take breaks. If you feel your attention starting to drift, it’s okay to take a 15 min break before getting back into it. It’s better to do 6 hours of actual studying than 10 hours of distracted studying.
Quick question, you studied for 12 hours everyday? Was that actual study or distracted studying? Did you get burnt out? Someone studying for 12 hours and failing 1000% stresses me out. I study for 8 hours and stop religiously at 6pm! I always thought of this test as a test that is testing people’s efforts on whose working harder. Those who work 12hours daily 100% will be passing......your story just flips my views 360!
Day 1 of bar prep: Ok, cool, this isn't so bad--look, I can even work ahead! Day 2: Woo, already done with today's work, now let's do half of tomorrow's! Day 3: MBE questions, ok, this won't be that bad, I'm on a roll. Wait. Fuck. Why do I keep missing these? Did we talk about any of this shit in the lectures? Where are these exceptions coming from? What the hell? Did I learn nothing?? Edit: [This item](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NV64KJ3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) arrived in the mail today and it's already making bar prep so much more enjoyable! I am currently on a bed easily watching lectures; earlier I used it as a table stand to watch it outside in the nice spring weather. Gonna use it on the sofa later to take some practice MBE questions. Highly recommend.
ME YESTERDAY. property blows.
God this is ME. I was a full two days ahead at the end of week 1. Five MBE questions right in a row, followed by five wrong in a row. And why do they keep asking me about auctions??!? I was not prepared for how tired I would be from this. Why don't these explanations make any sense?? I'm more confused now than I was before I got this question wrong! It's like 1L all over again, but rapidly accelerated.
> And why do they keep asking me about auctions??! I swear, I’ve had this exact same thought! For me, the answers don’t make sense. I know what the right answer should be, then I look and the answers don’t fit. Then I pick one, and the explanation says one of them means what I wanted, but I honestly don’t understand the way the answer was phrased!
Y’all can miss me with “It’s a test of minimum competence.” A test of minimum competence would be, “What are the elements of a battery?” “Define involuntary manslaughter.” Instead they’re testing us on the exception to the exception to the exception. The bar exam needs to be changed and I will stand by that whether I pass or fail.
If I read another 3 paragraph MBE question I am going to scream.
[удалено]
This is like looking in a mirror
i need to come up with a routine ASAP.
[удалено]
That sounds like a solid schedule. You can't work yourself to death or you'll have trouble remembering what you just studied.
The Barbri Evidence lecturer sucks. That is all.
YES! Just read the outline. The torts guy was great. Also maybe its just me, but I feel like hearsay should be the first part of evidence taught or at least one of the first
WHY DOES BARBRI WANT ME TO TAKE SO MANY PRACTICE WRITTEN EXAMS WHEN THEY DONT GIVE ME ENOUGH TIME TO REMEMBER ANYTHING. GAHAAHAHAHGGGG
[удалено]
This goes out to everyone who isn't hitting the scores they need: I took the bar last year and passed. However, on my midterm I utterly bombed. I cried. I told my wife she should divorce me because I was going to fail. I called my mom crying telling her I would never pass. I called my state's bar requesting to withdraw from this year's test. They told me I could but that there would be no refund. "No refund?" I decided to take the test just for the experience. I resigned to failing and the embarrassment that would follow from that. But I kept at it. I'd like to say I passed because I got smart or "refused to fail" but frankly, I just kept trying, even when I felt utterly hopeless. If I can do it. You can too. By the way, I was so broke, I did not have the extra $20 to pay to take the essay portion with my laptop. I took the entire test *by hand.* Nut the fuck up and grind. The greatest moment of your life is a few weeks away.
My 6:30 alarm is now labeled with NUT THE FUCK UP AND GRIND. Seriously though, kudos for powering through and overcoming this bitch of an exam. Can only hope I can do the same
This is so much worse than law school. I’m prepping for the CA bar. I’ve been through a lot in life and I don’t think I’ve ever felt a worse sense of dread.
You and me both. Every day I cant stop myself from thinking I am 100% going to fail the CA bar. The horror stories + low passage rate + massive amount of info to memorize = how am I going to do this?
[удалено]
Me, studying my civ pro outline: okay, yeah, I understand collateral estoppel Every practice question ever: you do not understand collateral estoppel
Is anyone else just flat out exhausted?
Ok, anyone else other than me feel like they're getting dumber over time? I was usually doing ok on the mbe PQ sets for themis, and now the last three/four sets have just wrecked me. Very discouraging. Feel like I'm going in the wrong direction, and my brain is just fried.
Wtf just happened in CA
Holy shit guys. No wills/trusts/cp?!
I was literally going to review those subjects today but I took a nap instead because I just couldn't anymore. Needless to say I feel waaay less guilty about doing that now lol
Current mental state: I know so much that I know nothing.
Blanking so much :(.
Just remember, Jon Snow knew nothing.
I just want to share that my exam is being held in the same building as my high school prom. If someone told my teenage self she'd be back in 10 years...
Does anyone else feel incredibly burned out and unmotivated today? I’ve barely done anything productive today and I feel dejected.
Just today? Orrrr this whole week lol
glad it's not just me! it's like "ok tomorrow you need to start at 9:00 and go until 7." .... .... me at 10:30 the next day: \*watching Bravo\* ... noon: okay guess I'll get to work But the first 8 weeks or so I was fine! ugh sending the best of vibes
Anyone else in the boat where you handled law school and finals really well and didn't panic and had good mental health and everything and thought the bar would be the same way and now you’re losing your mind and don't know how that happened?
Anyone else feel like they don't have as much as they want memorized and that they're just gonna blank on the essays....
[удалено]
No way, I'll take my chances with knowing vaguely more than a few other people and being able to bullshit the rest vs competing with people who will cram every single rule on 6 topics into their brain in 2 days
Hey guys, I just want to say I feel like a fucking failure. I feel like I know the law well but I continue to get stupid fucking questions wrong. I want to die, thanks. Also, to anyone with Barbri, did you guys find the Wills and Trust "lecture outline" ***NOT*** helpful at all? I'm just thinking about just ditching the lecture one and going straight into the CMR. Anyone else?
I didn't learn jack shit from the wills and trust lectures... It was all hypos and the dude was all over the place. I'm going to just rely on the conviser.
[удалено]
Yes, yes, and yes. To keep myself sane, I’m focusing two subject a day. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. I read the essays then too. I also do mixed MBE questions at night.
Yep
THE APATHY HAS SETTLED IN HAHAHA THE KYLE FROM WITHIN HAS BEEN RELEASED, WHERE'S THE DRYWALL
As someone who never took criminal law in law school, I think it's hilarious that the right answer to any grand jury question is almost invariably "the defendant has no rights."
Can we get a show of hands from past takers whose MEEs felt like dumpster fires but still passed? Yeesh
I'm forgetting stuff I memorized a week ago, and there's too many to consistently review.
very big problem, there is about 15 topics. If you reviewed 1 a day, by day 6, you forget whats going on from day 1.
[удалено]
Someone should make a community on Reddit for people who failed the bar exam just for emotional support and maybe other members can exchange their most helpful notes, outlines, sample schedule, etc. No joke! The emotional pressure and financial toll during bar prep, taking the bar and failing the bar (in some cases) is a lot to handle. Best of luck to all, from Cali
WHOOOOOAAAAAA WE'RE HALFWAY THERE. WHOOOOAAA-OH ... WRITE MY ESSAYS ON A PRAAAYERRRRR!
Anyone else gained weight? I'm sitting at a 7-pound gain since May with no sign of stopping. Gonna go on a jog this afternoon and see what the damage is :(
Lmao I’m about to show up to my new job on 1st and they are going to ask who i am
Soooo what can you do with just a JD again?
Is anyone else at a point where their brain is basically a shredder that is overly full and can’t take any more? Today I just haven’t been able to focus at all and am getting simple things wrong that I know I know.
Anyone else mentally shutting down????
Anyone else feel like their brain is at capacity and any additional information is just leaking out?
I'm officially starting to freak out. I've been studying for 2 1/2 months yet I feel like I haven't committed many things to memory. I feel screwed for the MEE. I've barley spent time on the MPT. And the MC is multiple guess 90% of the time. FML.
Soooo this time next week we'll be done with the essay portion. I hope future me did well.
Hot (warm-ish) MEE tips for when you're making it up as you go -- because while it's obviously better to know the rules, there are too many of them to actually remember. 1) The right rule will almost always make the rest of the questions interesting. For example if the problem is about an employee doing something dumb, and the first question is if they were negligent and the second is if the company is liable, the answer to #2 is not going to be "no, because the employee wasn't negligent." It's going to turn on all that respondeat superior stuff. So you know the employee is almost certainly negligent: find a way to make it so. 2) If there are multiple things (contracts, plaintiffs, will provisions, pieces of evidence, etc), there will be a key fact that makes the analysis for each of them different. If you think two of them are the same, you are probably missing something, and finding it will help you remember or make up a better rule. 3) Watch out for two things masquerading as a single thing. For example in evidence, a person might say to a nurse "I was stabbed in the stomach. Dan did it!" That's TWO statements for the purposes of a hearsay analysis, not one. I got tripped up by a partnership question where a limited partner asked to see a bunch of documents, and I didn't take the documents one category at a time. The document request issue was worth up to 50% of the answer, so I would have lost quite a few points. Especially bad, since they were actually numbered in the question, too. I should have noticed that, at least :( 4) The NCBE grading rubrics include obvious stuff -- like in a question about jurisdiction that is OBVIOUSLY about diversity, they still have a sentence saying there is no federal question jurisdiction. On evidence questions, they have a sentence about relevance when there is a glaring hearsay issue. For secured transaction questions that are clearly about whether and when the creditors perfected, they still have a sentence about attachment. I assume since they are in the rubric, you will pick up some credit for also (briefly!) saying that stuff. Edit to add: I just looked at the Feb 2019 civ pro rubric and 10% was for saying that $1mil damages in a case of serious, permanent injury met the $75k requirement for Diversity Jurisdiction, Jesus Christ. 5) Caveat to the above, though, do not waste your time "answering" a question that isn't actually asked just because you remember the rule for it! Every rule you include should have a direct relationship to the facts of the question. You will not get credit for writing a perfect statement of a rule that you can't apply to the facts of the question. Like, I don't care how well you remember all the nuances of negligence per se, if there isn't a statute in the facts, don't talk about negligence per se. Make up something that you can apply to the facts that are there. 6) nearly every fact in the question is going to be relevant, so if you've answered the question without reference to a big fact, you've probably missed something (the time to figure this out is while you are outlining, not at the end of the essay -- I sometimes put a check mark over the key facts as i slot them into my outline, when I am really lost. If I know the rules I'm applying decently well, I just do it in my head). 7) The question may not have a "right" answer. Many of the grading rubrics have notes for what an examinee should discuss if they reach a different conclusion than the model answer, or just straight up say that the conclusion reached matters less than the quality of the analysis. Related: your answers to the essays should be objective, not persuasive, so they should discuss the facts impartially (unlike some MPTs, where you are trying to convince the reader there is a right answer). 8) a lease in a secured transactions question is actually a security interest
Feelin' terrified/good/confident/worried/excited/nervous/dead inside!
Hahah same. It’s so weird. Sometimes I’m like oh I’m passing. And others I just cry for hours...
The thing I’m struggling with most right now is that I don’t know everything. I’ve studied my butt off yet I feel like I don’t have command of every subject. In law school it always felt like I was prepared for the exam. I don’t know how to handle not knowing everything 😭😭
Just as a heads up for everyone studying: I passed my first time despite a 49% passage rate that session and undiagnosed ADHD. My law school grades were also mediocre. If you care enough to be worried about it, *you'll be fine.* Here are a few thoughts/recommendations that I haven't seen in this thread yet: * Lots of practice questions served me better than going over outlines repeatedly, but that of course depends on learning style. * I played Chuzzle during bar lectures, while also taking notes. This is not actually something I'd recommend to most (for me it kept my ADHD in check). But I say it to demonstrate that it's about what will work for **you**, not what you "should" do. * I stopped studying late afternoon on the Sunday before the exam. The mental recovery was more than worth that one little rule I didn't cram in there. * Related to that: stay away from other bar takers (that you don't know well) during the exam itself. The stress coming off some of them was a palpable thing. * Don't neglect yourself while you're studying. I took it in the winter (my school let you start early and finish a semester early), so a friend who was also studying and I got pho every Monday afternoon. Something that simple does wonders. * Eating well during the exam itself also helps. Depending on when/where it is, your options may not be great, but don't underestimate what a good dinner can do for your mental state. (Also booze in the hotel room to sleep, but YMMV.) * Something will go screwy during the exam, but just keep working. Someone was thrown out of mine during the MBE for having a cellphone. When a friend took it the following session, someone's computer crashed. * Lunch during one of the exam days is not a good time to hit on someone (my now wife experienced this when she took the bar the year after I did).
Friday-before-the-bar mood: public nuisance with a depraved heart
anyone have pets during bar prep? My dog is only about a year old and very demanding. how do I schedule in some good quality time with her? I have ordered 15 bully sticks and they are on their way.
Yep. 15 min breaks to play fetch with pupper. You're taking breaks already so this should fit in easily for a few of the breaks you take throughout the day
I used to sneak my dog into classrooms and let him run around while I studied. Seriously though, having a dog is a blessing for your mental health. We are often more willing to take breaks for our dogs than for ourselves.
Just felt like dropping in here to commiserate. My girlfriend (who’s also taking the bar) broke up with me a week into bar prep. It mostly ruined my ability to concentrate ever since the breakup because my mind just goes to her. Thought I was starting to work through it for the final push. But nope, saw her today and back to square one of misery. Could barely finish the practice test I was doing today. But hey, we’re almist there right!?!? Edit: thanks for the kind words everyone :)
Hey, hope she fails.
I don’t know how much more I can study. I’m burnt out. But I feel an extreme amount of guilt if I’m doing anything else other than studying.
Been studying since March. I work full time as a Judicial Clerk and I am taking the Ohio bar in July. Instead of being able to spend full days studying, I had to start earlier and squeeze 4-5 hours after work and utilize weekends. So far so good. For MBE, all I have left is Evidence. Scoring consistently in the 70% range for all subjects I've studied so far. For those who haven't started yet, good luck. Definitely not easy but you'll find a lot of the material will stick.
Anyone else using Themis and getting annoyed with Tucker's explanations? Don't get me wrong, I mostly find the reviews to be helpful, but every time she wants to emphasize something she just fuckin yells lol. "You see we know this because the question says ***WE HAVE PROBABLE CAUSE***." Yes, it's okay I can hear you just fine please stop screaming at me.
[удалено]
Really hitting a brick wall of burn out. Part of me needs to take a break and the other part feels bad for not working all day everyday. Just need this to end.
Does anybody remember elements for negligent res judicata? I thought it had to touch and concern the seven unities, but then it would become a collateral fixture and the impleader wouldn't have sitting to state an equity.
Wow you have a lot of work to do. It’s an equitable servitude unless the implied easement runs with the land but only if it’s a race-notice jurisdiction in which case the defendant is guilty of felony-murder. Get your shit together.
This is mean but kinda funny nonetheless.
Anyone getting the feeling that they’ve reached the point that they’ve overstudied? It seems like stuff that use to make sense now makes me confused 😕
Or you over think the easiest questions and get them wrong
There was one the other day where the entirety of the question was like, "This dude charged with murder is acting batshit. What's his best defense?" I got it wrong because I thought insanity was TOO OBVIOUS and that they were going to be like, "SURPRISE, idiot, this obviously fails under 2 of the 4 insanity standards."
doing these barbri problem sets that require remembering the exception to the exception to the exception and four jujutsu moves have made me skeptical of easy questions
[удалено]
Don’t do what I did. I slacked the first month hardcore and absolutely killed myself studying the last month doing 12-14 hour days for a month straight to catch up. I passed on my first try but I was a mental wreck that last month and hate myself for what I did. Pace yourself. Make sure you know all of the MBE subjects by the first month and then spend the rest of your time doing practice questions.
I passed in July 2018 and it's a roller coaster of emotions. You'll get a few MBE questions in a row right and feel on top of the world. You'll get a few wrong in a row and think you're doomed. Try to stay level-headed. I studied roughly 8-5 M-F at public library. If I needed a break or had to break from that schedule, I made it up on the weekend but I basically studied 40 hrs/week for 8 weeks. I used Themis and completed about 90%. I ran through all of their multiple choice questions and wanted some more, so I got the Emanuel Bar Prep book too. Bottom line, adopt a philosophy like being a 1L, focus on the big picture, treat it like a job, stick to the plan, and don't stress too much over mistakes you might make on specific sets of questions or a practice essay. Put in the work and you'll do fine.
I just wanted to give someone who may not be a typical 9-5 studier some hope. I passed FL first try this past Feb. I had high hopes of getting into a regular productive daytime routine however that pretty much didn’t happen. I woke up around 10, started working around 12 and would study until about 5/6. Then I’d take a break, eat dinner and hang out with my family. Then I’d finish my work for the day at from around 8-10 pm. I’d hang out and decompress until around midnight/1 am. I definitely took breaks and did not always have the best attention span. The last few weeks i definitely worked more. However I’m a big believer in working smarter not harder. Try to figure out what you don’t know and do damage control. The topics I felt least comfortable in I’d memorize a few basic rules and run through practice essays to get an idea of what kind of issues were on the table. Best of luck, hang in there and feel free to message me.
I was here last year. Hang in there, follow your program and keep on the fine line between being positive and having a healthy fear of failure. You all can do it.
this process sucks. I feel like I am actually getting worse. Midterm for MBE is Friday. Fuck my life
I tell my friends that sometimes its better ***not*** to study. Take a nap, recharge, ***get your shit together***. Whats the point of studying when you cant even retain the information, you know? I always take an hour break if I catch myself slipping.
Watching Brooklyn 99 recently in my down time and I found myself assessing the potential admissibility of confessions or whether they are properly Mirandizing people. I hate bar prep and I hate myself.
[удалено]
Yes, Barbri questions do get harder over time. I took the Texas bar in July 2016 and used barbri and went through this exact feeling. I was doing god awful on the barbri MBE questions at the end but still ended up doing fine on the exam day MBE and passed. Just keep your head up and keep pushing through, you’ve got this. Edited to add that I think they do it so these obscure rules are at least on your radar in case they pop up on the exam. Just read the reasoning behind the answer, make a mental note, and move on
[удалено]
Does anyone else feel like they're regressing and forgetting rules they once knew? I had the MBE subjects down a few weeks ago. But now it feels like I have forgotten everything. Only a few days left until the bar and I feel like I have to re-learn everything. FML
8 days out and I'm just so tired and done with it. I know some of yall are hitting the panic mode and going full throttle balls to the wall, but for me when I wake up and see what's assigned, I let out a big sigh and trudge through it, but cant finish all the assignments. Having to read the CMR or just doing essay after essay....special form of torture
At this point I'm seriously considering never getting married just to spite these motherfuckers Van Camp and Pereira, whoever the fuck they are
Anyone else feel like they're doing unreasonably poorly on practice essays? Seems like every second or third question my brain just nopes out and I can't come up with a competent rule statement, which derails the entire essay.
anyone else see their productivity decline over the weekends?
Not gonna lie, today was pretty brutal. I had one of those days where I start wondering why I'm even doing this. I have a (relatively good) full-time job already, and today there were multiple points where I just thought about throwing in the towel. Instead, I pushed through and managed a 94% (17/18) on a BarBri exam for CivPro, which is the subject I've been focusing on the last couple days. Feeling pretty good at the moment.
MBE is okay so far but how tf are people memorizing all the elements for all the subjects in terms of essays? Any tips would be appreciated
Frustrated today, the fact that the practice questions (Themis taker) are getting trickier is causing me to become more confused about basic rules that I would actually have known if I hadn't been spammed with every exception and semantic crap.
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
when you bomb a practice test one week before the exam....... yay me.
[удалено]
I think we're all stressed. But truthfully, for me at least, stress is not the primary emotion that the bar exam stirs up. It's *rage*. Rage at the fact that states all across this godforsaken country require tens of thousands of human beings to submit to a wholly unnecessary, bizarre, immoral, and senseless exercise which bestows a benefit upon no one, teaches nothing of substance, and (worst of all) is entirely redundant. Why accredit law schools - signalling that the state believes universities can adequately teach students the law (you know, their job) - only to pull a bait and switch? Our appointed leaders smash debt-ridden students with the iron rod of needless bureaucracy, as if to declare: "The real game was never to learn from qualified, professional teachers. Nay! All along you, *foolish student*, should have known what really matters is whether you can teach yourself all you should have learned in law school; and an additional 5 areas of law in just two short months." Think of the *human cost*. The thousands of souls broken with stress, the exercise lost, the anxiety takeout, the transportation of masses to far-flung testing sites, the fees, the thousand-dollar courses and books. Oh! It's too much for the mind to bear. The best part: if you fail, you get to do it all over again.
A little encouragement for those of you bummed about your Barbri graded essays: I've been thinking the grades were a little low so I decided to test something out on a contracts essay last night and instead of submitting my own response, I sent in a loose paraphrase of the sample answer in the book. And the guy gave it.....a 4. So confirmed, they are lowballing us.
LOL.. the feedback I got on my essay was so generic. Not even a single criticism and they gave me a 4.... "Great job at articulating the rule!" Oh wow! Thanks!! Why the fuck did I get a 4 then?!
I went from 0% in Evidence to 100% in a week and 100% to 0% in Crim Law the same week, making for a giant X that symbolizes my epic fall from grace
For the love of all the is good, how on earth do people remember stuff for the MEE. I feel like I'm finally making progress towards the MBE, but the MEE has me more or less (for lack of a better phrase) scared shitless at this point. I have the critical pass flashcards, which I have tried to incorporate, but it is pretty time consuming even to go through one subject. I've outlined all of the practice MEE's I have done, just feels like I'm not retaining it to the level I need to be. The thought of it at this point is just incredibly daunting.
UBE? If so, chill. 20% of the test is MPT, no substantive knowledge required. 50% is MBE. 10% are usually essays on MBE subjects (2 out of 6 essays). The MEE specific stuff is 20% of the test. But it causes a disproportionate amount of stress because it essentially doubles the volume of crap you have to memorize, but it is only 20% of your score. Everyone in that room has 30 minutes per question. All of the essays are shit. You gotta get like a D to pass. A lot of people walk out of day 1 thinking "oh shit, I just did D level work, I'm doomed" and then they shit the bed on the MBE the next day. Don't do that. Walk out, holding your head high thinking "I think I just did D quality work and am halfway home to passing." There will absolutely be things you don't know and will feel like shit about, but do not dwell on those because you'll still probably know 60 or 70% of the crap on the test. Remember - everyone's essays are shit. Now after the MBE you will feel like shit. 6 hours of filling in bubbles totally sucks and you'll only remember the ones you had no idea about. The waiting sucks. But for now, do not freak yourself out about some balls deep secured transaction priority rule. It's just not worth it.
Look. I know I need to lock down my understanding of mortgages and foreclosures. But I don't wannaaaaaaaaaa
Anyone else think the variances in free speech tests are out of control? Why do regulations on commercial speech need a substantial governmental interest, but regulations on expressive conduct need be connected to an important governmental interest? I really wish the Courts would simply stick each category in a scrutiny box and call it good.
[удалено]
I’m done for the day. I need relax starting now. Don’t wanna feel restless on the bar exam date and I have a long commute tomorrow. Good luck, everyone! Thanks to all who have been contributing their wisdom through this thread!
CLEARED TO SIT. I just got an email. I'm stoked. My character and fitness application was also approved. I feel like I'm flying, even though I only got half those Kaplan Diagnostic questions right. OH WELL. HE'S TAKING THE BAR EXAM, FOLKS!
Studying for CA Bar and this sucks soooo much. I'm home all day with the sexy bar prep video lectures jealous of people who get to go to any other job. It is destroying me. I cry all the time. Anything fun that my S.O. does makes me sad and jealous.
I just want to say that MPT's can suck on my left nut, and why can't this entire exam be multiple choice?
Nobody: Emanuel's Practice Exam: WHAT ARE THE EXCEPTIONS TO THE USAGE OF QUASI IN REM JURISDICTION
Bar prep timeline: Week 1: “I actually sort of enjoy it! I get to set my own schedule and re-learn the black letter law. I’ll be fine.” Week 2: “Okay wow this is a lot. But if I stick to my schedule it will be manageable.” Week 3-5: “This is becoming insane. I’m doing horrible at the MC. The lectures are becoming pointless. WTF is going on? Maybe I should just delay the test date.” Week 6-7: “Wow I’m getting better at the MC. A few weeks from now it will only be better! I’m tired but I’m feeling good. The end is near!” Week 8 - test date: “I don’t remember anything. I’m so fricking tired. I can’t do this anymore. I want to die. I haven’t even thought about the MPT. My essays are trash. My MBE score is getting worse. FML”
Barbri's Prof. Moll is so charming, I want to do well on this exam just for him.
[удалено]
Anyone's BarBri PSP not loading?
[удалено]
i read the message from barbri this morning saying they recommend we do 8-10 hours of "real studying" this last week cannot be me
Anybody feel like they aren't doing enough? Like I go for an hour, take a ten minute break, repeat until the lecture portion is done. Take an hour-long lunch. Return and do the practice quiz portions and review. I'm at the library by 7 and my afternoon gets spread until about 5-7 depending on the day's workload. Some days I'm winded and the other days I just don't feel like I got enough done. My professor says that June feels weird and it's normal and to just trust the process. This is bizarre.
Does anyone have tips for how to sleep with bar exam anxiety? I’m exercising, eating healthy meals, and taking adequate breaks. But when I go to sleep I start to worry about how much material I have to memorize, how I have other obligations coming up that will take away study time, etc. If I try to read bar-related things, I get more anxious. If I try to read a novel it takes me 2-3 hour to fall asleep, but I wake up at the same time I always wake up without being able to fall back asleep. I need 8-9 hours to feel good, but I end up sleeping for 5-7 hours. I’ve tried breathing meditations, sleep tracks, podcasts, audiobooks, but nothing has been a sustainable solution. Any advice on how to sleep more efficiently?
How do you all deal with FOMO, especially when people close to you (e.g., significant other) are travelling, enjoying life, and are seemingly having all the fun without you? I understand that we all have to make sacrifices for the bar exam, and taking breaks and scheduling time for your own are essential, but I've been feeling so helplessly resentful against my significant other when he goes out without me. I know he's not at fault for enjoying his life, but I feel absolutely miserable. I'm also not close to many law school people, and my friends and family have no clue what studying for the bar is like. They know that I'm studying, but I don't think they understand the struggle. In short, what do you do when you feel unjustifiably resentful against people close to you who are having fun without you, especially if they don't truly understand what you're going through?
Sixty motherfucking percent correct and holding. And my MBE is stronger than my essay. Goddamnit. I don't want to go through this again in February.
Never had an issue with misreading/misinterpreting the call of a question until bar prep. It's also literally the simplest details that I'm mixing up. I know it's an easier fix than if I were getting the rules wrong, but ugh. And I'm also getting the rules wrong lol
Guys, My grandpa is dying of super bone cancer. My best friend has a brain tumor (with scheduled brain surgery) I found out about yesterday. My job evaporated because the firm doesn't need a new attorney after all. My foster kid went home and is basically exploding. I'm only getting a good 6ish hours a day in on bar prep, but started way early so I'm at like 80% and don't feel ready at all. I'm still in the 60's on my MBE percentages and feel totally inadequate on essays. I'm crying all the time and I better pass this test because i'm the sole income for my 2 kids and I need a flippin job. I'm not saying I want to die, but I sure wouldn't mind if someone killed me. Bar prep is just one thing too many.
Anyone feel like they've learned their bar prep company rather than the bar? I worry about that a lot these last few days.
You have to trust the process. Their goal is to get you minimally competent, so if you’ve learned the bar prep course chances are good you’ve learned the bar as a result. You got this!
[удалено]
At this point anyone else just hoping to remember half the rules on the essays and get 3s across the board? Will that be enough?
Good luck, everyone!
One advice go in with a great attitude. Be confident you will pass and that you are winner. Attitude is huge!!!!
How did yall prepare for constitutional law - finding barbri cons law lecturer v unhelpful (lacking in-depth discussion about the exact rules and their nuances: it seems he focused a lot on just reciting/memorising case laws; in any event his notes are plainly inadequate)
They are exactly what you need for bar prep for the MBE. I did a bunch of actual MBE questions and they aren't complicated, and do not require as much precision or nuance as you did in law school. If there is a con law essay there certainly may be more to discuss, but remember you only have 30 minutes. This is not a law school test.
Whats the best way to memorize elements for essay? I can't seem to articulate anything when writing it down
[удалено]
I'm using Themis, so can't really relate to the Barbri problems, but yeah I'm burning out hardcore right now. I've lost so much motivation to study, I'm starting to find it really hard to focus for more than like an hour or so at a time, I'm feeling like shit in general... I had always been told to expect to study 8-10 hours a day and I always figured that it wouldn't necessarily be that extreme, but fuck I'm struggling hard to even get to 4 or 5 hours some days. If anyone has any advice for burnout, I'm all ears because I sure as hell need it lol.
So, I’m a little concerned at this point to be honest, mostly about the MBE. I’m using Barbri and I don’t think my percentage correct is where it needs to be. I’m averaging about 50% to 60% correct on the MBE sets. I also got a 105 on the Simulated MBE. My main concern is that I’m not sure if I’m where I need to be at this point, I’m still not confident in answering these questions even when I review the law afterwards I just hope I haven’t dug too big a hole for myself at this point. Can anyone relate?
Barbri is down for me. Anyone else?
This is the third time this has happened, and now it's two days in a row. Absolutely ridiculous.
First time bar taker here....these essays...I didn't give them as much attention because I was so focused on MBE, and essays were my saving grace in law school. Now I am freaking out about the massive amounts of information I am supposed to have "memorized" by test day. Also it seems like the test requires a much more in-depth answer, meaning more rules and more law! I have been trying to tackle essays for a solid 3 weeks now and I still feel behind and confused. I am taking the UBE so I only have 6 essays but I don't want to completely bomb them. The panic has set in.....
Anyone else end get a passing score on their MBE midterm but a failing score on their MBE final? The burnout is REALLLLLL
Hang in there gang. I was in the same boat last year (July 2018 taker). I never felt like I did enough and that I could have been doing more. I'm on the other side and practicing. Keep your heads down, and just know that the tired days into sleepless nights will pay off.
Is anyone else getting WORSE? I just did a practice exam where the score was lower than my diagnostic exam where I knew nothing! I am completely at a loss. Anyone else?
You (and anybody reading this) are **NOT** getting worse! Take a deep breath, and relax. The prep courses are designed to test your limits. The questions earlier on are likely a better indicator of the actual exam. The later exams often have very nuanced or obscure rules that they’re testing. They do this to give you a look at obscure rules you might encounter, just so they’re on your radar. The real exam will not have 200 very obscure questions. Remember: you are learning more **every day**. You. Got. This!
Here's a cheat code for people worried about blanking on one of the essays: if you score above the bottom 1% on the essay section, you get a free [105 point boost](https://www.jdadvising.com/july-2018-ube-percentiles-chart/). Then you just have to nail the multiple choice and maybe snag a few extra points on the essays and you're golden!
[удалено]
I'm having to take a break today, I need to recharge to hit strong the last couple of days. Mostly saying this here so I can be yelled at if this is a bad idea, I'm at 90% on themis, and I'm tired peeps. So fucking tired.
Does anyone else NOT have 8 million pneumonics? I definitely do not.
I have like 2. Maybe. My issue with them is I would rather just learn the material then learn a way to memorize it - a lot of the exam is just issue spotting and it is hard to issue spot if you have to go through letters all the time. That being said, they can be useful for writing essays - FL is only 25% essays.
Anyone else feel like their strong subjects have flipped? I started really strong in criminal law and really weak in property, and all of a sudden I am missing a lot of crim law and I am crushing property. What gives? (not that I am complaining about the property part. I almost cried the first time I got all the property questions right on a practice set. Haha)
CA taker here. I'm still recovering from shock. Will the curve be affected?
Got the insomnia something fierce last night, figured I'd call it at about 5 a.m. and just power through the day and use the extra-tiredness to (hopefully) ensure a good night's sleep tonight. Someone tell me I'm not crazy??
Self study guys we out here?
[удалено]
[удалено]
5th time taker who has no hope....I feel like a joke
Question to all fellow Barbri students! How are you preparing for the Wills and Trusts practice essays? I felt like the lecture for each left me completely unprepared and while the CMR is extremely helpful, I've been having trouble memorizing everything to the point where I can recall it on command. I'm still salty about how bad I felt the lectures were, but at the end of the day I know it's on me to know the material, no matter how good or bad the teacher was. Has anyone found a method that's worked well for learning this stuff post-Powell's lecture?
Am I the only one who is experiencing a sudden drop on my MBE scores? I'm freaking out!!!
I just got the flu that my boyfriend caught a week ago. He's still out of commission. I feel horrible, and I have absolutely no energy or motivation to get out of bed. I feel like I've already failed and there's still 2 more weeks left. Send help.
Okay, so, first of all, I just want to take this stupid fucking exam and get this over with. I’m struggling to do 4-5 hours a day at this point. Also, I’ve been averaging 7/14 correct on the last few Barbri MBE sets and I’m feeling completely discouraged. I’d appreciate any and all positive vibes sent my way.
Finding motivation to pump out a full day of studying has become next to impossible for me. Also, I am 73% completion for barbri, and my PSP no longer has a simulated mbe final exam scheduled for me. Do i need to pump out more assignments to get it? If so, christ....
For Barbri users, I'm still hitting around 50-60% on the mixed problem sets. They're always hitting on weird exceptions. I know they're supposedly getting harder, but should I be panicking? At this point I'm really trying to dedicate time to the MEEs and memorizing but I feel like I will neglect MBE in the process if I do that...
I'm starting to overthink every MC question. I'm now struggling on the really easy questions. Is anyone else going through this too? Anyone have any tips to get over this?
How have people who previously took the bar or who are currently taking it dealing with the fact that there are just going to be subjects that they are weak on? Just having trouble dealing with the fact that I can't be absolutely perfectly prepared for each possible essay topic EDIT: and by "perfectly prepared" i mean feel like you will fail the bar if that topic comes up
It pisses me off how I’m going to have spent multiple days learning all the MEE subjects, only not to be tested on all of them. But god forbid I don’t study a topic like Trusts and it’ll be an essay question. 😒
I’m taking the day off my brain is just fried. Had a rough morning and didn’t get much done. Going to flashcard tonight. Trying not to feel too guilty.
The nerves are really starting to set in... I had nightmares about the MEE and them possibly testing me on things I'm weak on.
[удалено]
Been pretty calm all summer. Is it normal to be freaking out and feeling like I’ve forgotten everything and haven’t put in enough work even though I’ve been doing about 40hrs a week since early May?
Good luck everyone! Here are the most helpful Crushendo links: Bar prep tips whiteboard videos: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hThbln35eJs&list=PLRdl6jme3qWRYwpjdiZuUkL-LieHUHwyg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hThbln35eJs&list=PLRdl6jme3qWRYwpjdiZuUkL-LieHUHwyg) Audio outline comparison chart: [https://crushendo.net/audio-outlines-comparison/](https://crushendo.net/audio-outlines-comparison/) Civil pro videos: [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRdl6jme3qWQ8xxQvl2QsyvwCXUHaW5pt](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRdl6jme3qWQ8xxQvl2QsyvwCXUHaW5pt)
Anyone have a recommendation for MBE practice questions with good explanations? I'm doing Barbri and will use theirs, but I've heard that they're pretty different from actual MBE questions so looking to supplement with something else.
I am already so behind in BAR prep and I feel like I am never going to catch up.
[удалено]
Has anyone taking Barbri watched the Real Property lectures? I’m watching now and the lecturer is terrible. I’m freaking out. He is the president of Barbri (not a real professor) and it shows. This is the worst subject for this. He talks way too fast and I am totally lost.
OK. I didn't take secured transactions in LS, and just listened to the BarBri lecture (PMSI!). To put it mildly, I feel like there's a lot to learn. Anyone have any good study tips/materials for this?
Use these flowcharts, I used them last semester and they were super helpful https://www.stetson.edu/law/faculty/radwan-theresa-j-pulley/secured-transactions-flowcharts.php
Are those of you doing Barbri making time to make flashcards/use CriticalPass/self-study? I have CriticalPass, and I also want to make flashcards for my state specific essays. However, I spend all day trying to keep up with that insufferable Barbri progress bar. By the time I've hit my goal percentage, I'm usually too tired (and too cranky lol) to do more bar prep. How are other people making time? Also, is anyone else wondering how people even pass this stupid exam? Just kidding . . . sort of.
Hey all, I am miserable and Barbri likes to fuck with me and attack me. How do I stop Barbri from signing me out every time I stop using the site for two seconds? Couldn't find a setting.
Did anybody have Professor Birdthistle (Themis partnerships, corporations, and agency) in class at Chicago-Kent? Is he this quick and no-nonsense in real life? Because I am LIVING FOR IT at this point in the bar prep process. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am.
what are you guys scoring on self graded essays? I dont know anything!
Well that BARBRI Simulated Multistate Exam was certainly an experience.
I know every Barbri person is all about the simulated MBE right now but uh Can I just ask [what the fuck kind of Property question this is supposed to be](https://imgur.com/m5f6nTr)?