steva

johndiu

the most comprehensive story I have read online is from irrational basis. Here's its first paragraph:

A blow-by-blow recount of the February California bar exam experience: First, let me say that it has been fantastic to have absolutely nothing to do for last the two days. I slept, caught up on world events, napped, surfed the net, read the newspaper, watched a beach sunset, and then slept some more. Last night, I went to Border's and picked up a copy of Chris Matthews's book Hardball. For those of you who are political junkies like me and always wondered what the heck the big deal is about the House and Senate cloakrooms, I can tell you that Matthews's book is a fascinating insider's look at the "greasy political underbelly" of D.C. Buy it.

thickor

bar exam is doable

I am a medical school drop out. I was able to pass the United States Medical Licensing exam (USMLE) step one with one take. I switched to law, I thought it would be easy. I was so wrong. I was admitted to an ABA approved school in California, but was academically dismissed after the first year. I transferred to an unaccredited law school, but I had to switch to a correspondence school because I had to earn a living and support my family. I thought I was going to break Max Filler's record of 48 attempts, but I fell short by 40. Yes, it took me 8X before I passed the bar. I took BarBri for my first attempt, and just did self review for the rest. I used all the books available (Saccuzzo, Adachi,
etc...)

I moral of the story is that: The Bar is doable, just believe that you can do it! Never mind the friends and relatives who keeps on asking if you passed or not. You are doing this for yourself and nobody else.

Follow the directions on the exam and do the best you can.

Source:md2dj

danillo

A nice message found on Irrational Basis' blog

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. (This makes me feel a little better after my TM Exam debaucle!)

danillo

From Aaron:

practice exams really helped

My law school did something very wise for first year students. We were give practice midterms in the core classes that did not count toward our grades. I took them, thought I did great, but got back nearly failing grades. My mistake was that I was dismissing the counter arguments in my mind without putting them on the paper. But fixing the problem was as simple as deciding not to do that. I didn't need to take any writing courses, I simply said to myself, "write down every counter-argument and use every fact." Flipping that mental switch in my mind was enough to put me on a full scholarship. In my humble opinion, issue-spotting is the key, and the law is secondary. You've probably all heard the stories of bar graders being spotted grading exams in restaurants and at basketball games. They are looking for underlined issues, and those come from wringing every ounce of controversy from the facts.

Fact pattern: A man walking past a strip club at night notices that a window is partially open. He can't see inside due to the shades, but he wants to see if he can see the dancers. He reaches through the security bars, pushes the window open, lifts up the shade and discovers it is an office. He sees a bag of cocaine sitting on a desk, which he takes.

Half the people will simply discuss this as a theft. Is reaching into an open window entering the structure? Was the entry forcible if all he did was open a window? Did he have criminal intent? Sure, he formed the criminal intent when he saw the cocaine, but he was already in the structure. But what about his intent to trespass? Is that sufficient to form criminal intent or must it be criminal intent to steal? And why did the Bar make the stolen item cocaine? What issues could that raise? Does the fact that a stolen item is something that cannot be legally possessed change anything?

In grading your answer, the grader will start with a base of around 40 (depending on how many issues there are) and give weighted points based on the importance of the issue. You'll get five points for discussing this as a possible burglary, three points for discussing the intent issue, two points for forcible entry, etc.

Fifty percent of first-time takers pass the bar, and trust me, the failing answers are really bad or cursory. Remember, "minimum competency" is all that is required. Just make the decision right now, like I did my first year of law school, that you will not leave any fact untouched nor any issue undiscussed. That alone will elevate you into the top 50%. Paralegals generally have a high pass rate, so spot those issues and I'm sure this will be your year.

By the way, I used only Barpassers to prepare. I liked the chart approach, but I think all the prep courses are comparable. My paralegal is using AdaptiBar for the MBE and has seen real improvement in her scores.

sak

First off, I just want to congratulate all of you because if you are about to study for the bar, that means that you completed law school successfully, and that in and of itself is a great accomplishment.

I did pass the NY and LA bar on my first attempt. I can tell you that it takes a lot of determination to do it. You have to seclude yourself and become a hermit so to speak. You have to focus 110% on the bar. I know that a few weeks into the studying process, the stamina starts to wear off, but tell yourself: "do I really want to go through this again?" I don't think so. Hopefully that frame of mind will give you the emotional energy that you need to go through this process.

Alright, so in terms of how to approach the exam, I took BarBri and I found it to be very good. They mostly focus on substantive law, though. They help you write decent essay questions and stuff, but they don't really focus on the MBE. I found it confusing since everybody knows that the MBE part either makes you or breaks you. It is the spinal cord of the overall exam, and as such it deserves a lot of time and devotion.

Two weeks into bar reive, I bought the Pmbr red book off the internet. I confess that I didn't touch it much at the beginning, but as the days went by and as I realized that I was sucking at MBE, I started focusing on the Pmbr book. I started off doing 30 questions per night, then 40, then 50. Doing 50 questions in a row really helps you in building up your stamina and staying focus. After doing the questions, I would read each answer. This repetitive process undoubdly helped me learn the substantive law too. So, doing the Pmbr is twofold: 1) it helps you improve on your multiple choice techniques, and 2) because you are constantly reading answers that are based on substantive law, you end up learning the substantive law as well, without even trying to memorize!!

Additionally, I turned in every single essay they assigned us. Even though I didnt know the substantive law, just sitting down and focusing on the questions and kind of writing out an outline helped me understand the dynamics of the bar exam.

Finally, I prayed a LOT!! Up to this day, I give all the glory to God, because the NY Bar Exam (or any bar exam for that matter) is not a piece of cake. So, keep up the faith. Believe in God, but also believe in yourself. Know that for the next 2-3 months, life is going to be intense, but its better to have 2-3 intense month than having 4-6 intense months because you failed the first time. The bar exam is, of course, a cognitive exam, but it is also an attitude exam. It challenges you emotionally, physically and spiritually, but it is up to you to allow it to overwhelm you. You finished law school, so you obviously have what it takes to tackle the bar exam and pass it. Dont let the bar make you its *****, made the bar exam your bith.

Hope it helped. And if you need someone to vent out, write me. Wishing you much success...

cglaw

I passed MA. I believe the bar exam is a mental test of faith and confidence more than it is a test of your ability to be an attorney. Well, it is a test of your ability to be an attorney, just not in an academic sense. Law school tested your academic ability to be an attorney, and the bar exam tests your ability to do non-academic lawyerly things like "think on your toes," "think under stressful situations" and "have complete confidence in your ability to be successful, even without knowing what comes ahead"

I believe those that pass on the first or second try learn this skill. Those that pass on the first try are able to do this on the first try, and those that pass on the second try learn this after failing the first time. I say this because if you look at any statistics for bar passage for any state, what you find is that the more someone takes the bar, the less likely they are to pass (statistically). This makes no sense, b/c once you've seen the bar and actually taken it, you totally know what to expect. However, as someone fails the bar over and over, what dwindles is their confidence, not their academic ability. And without confidence, passing the bar is very unlikely in my opinion! And I will always believe that if you were intelligent enough to complete law school, you are more than intelligent enough to pass the bar! I believe that God did not allow me to get through law school successfully not to become an attorney. I am planning on taking NY either in February or July, but probably February, so I will have to take my own advice:)

cabartutor

I graduated from a 4th Tier ABA school in MA in May of 2006. I took the MA July 06 bar and passed. For that i took BarBri and Pmbr. I then moved to California, and studied on my own, with the materials I had accumulated plus BarBreakers books(a used set i bought) and sat for the CA Feb. 07 bar in Ontario. I passed (and was so happy to be done with bar exams!!). I am now a tutor with lawtutors and I work in the area of entertainment law while i try to figure out what I want to do for the long term.

My soundbites as to the bar are this:
1. it is not about spending 8 hours a day in the library-- quality not quantity.
2. it is NOT an intelligence test
3. be committed, but also allow for days off, exercise, friends, and some semblance of a life.
4. research where you will sit for the bar-- my CA experience was in Ontario and there was a train going by often and a bird tweeting and flying around the conference room all day. not cool. yes, i still passed, but i had a tension migrane the day after so bad i thought i would die.
5. comfort matters--- yes, sweats, a pillow, snacks, a quiet and comfortable hotel... it matters. esp. when you take the 3 day CA exam. and no, CA is NOT harder than MA. It is longer and requires more endurance, that is all. I think people are too scared of the CA bar, you can do it. seriously. not. that. bad.
6. be honest with yourself-- did you really put in the effort, focus, and time?
7. don't overload on materials-- you do NOT need 50 outlines, millions of flashcards, zillions of MBE's, and 7 different review lectures and essay workshops. keep it simple and manageable.
8. breathe.

__________________
CABarTutor
~recent grad ('06), admittee MA/CA, and Tutor in the Los Angeles area.