Washington DC & VA Virginia Bar Exam - Self Study & Tutoring

6 weeks until the Feb 2012 bar exam

2012-01-17T21:23:00.001-05:00

With just about 6 weeks left until the February 2012 bar exam, I wanted to share some advice and thoughts for all the bar exam takers out there.

First of all, if you have been putting off studying until now, stop putting it off. The bar exam is not something many people can cram for. It requires many weeks of studying to retain the large amount of material that will be tested. If you have started studying, but have been letting other things (work, personal life, travel, etc.) prevent you from studying as much as you had planned, this is the time to really prioritize your study time and create a plan and stick to it.

Speaking of a plan, everyone should have a plan for the bar exam. You need to focus on your weak areas, prioritize those areas along with heavily tested subject areas. Few people have the time or stamina to spend months and months studying every day to learn every subject equally, so we must make trade offs. Those of us who work full time have one of the biggest challenges as juggling a full time job and studying for the bar don't mix too well. So, come up with a plan of how many hours a day you can realistically study and stick to it. No excuses. If you are serious about passing the bar exam, then excuses should not be part of your universe.

For DC bar exam takers, I can tell you to not underestimate the MBE or MPT. The MBE is a very difficult exam for most people. It's 200 questions in 6 hours (1.8 minutes per question) that test fine line knowledge of 6 major subjects. The MPT is a closed universe of law but it requires practice and sharp legal research and writing skills. It's a speed reading and speed writing exercise. And, since you cannot use a laptop, you are either handwriting or using a typewriter. Either one is probably not something many of us are used to doing so keep that in mind.

For VA bar exam takers, realize that Virginia is, in my opinion, the hardest bar exam in the country. They test a huge number of subjects (almost 30) and the essays are very well written and the graders are usually looking for a clear and concise answer (i.e. - B.S. on the VA bar exam won't get you far). So, be sure you know the format of the VA bar exam well so you are not surprised on test day. They recently switched and instead of testing 20 multiple choice and short answer questions, they now are testing 10 multiple choice and short answer questions.

Also, for VA takers, be sure and read the laptop or handwritten instruction letter carefully. The bar examiners have a strict dress code (yes, you must wear a suit and tie) and what you bring into the exam room is strictly controlled.

Tutoring roster is full for Feb 2012

2011-12-06T10:16:00.001-05:00

I have finalized my roster for tutoring for the Feb 2012 bar exam and am no longer accepting students until the July 2012 exam. If you have extraordinary circumstances, and are taking the Virginia bar, feel free to send me an email, but I am not likely to take anyone else for the upcoming bar exam.

On a different note, I believe November 2011 MPRE scores should be out this week. Good luck to everyone who took it. The MPRE can definitely be a thorn in the side as it's not as "easy" as many make it out to be.

Tutoring for the Feb 2012 bar exam

2011-11-18T08:25:00.001-05:00

I can see it was a rough July for many of you. Never before have I received so many requests for tutoring so far before the next bar exam. I respond to all emails I receive, but remember that I only take on a small number of students for each exam as my methodology and tutoring style are highly personalized and I do not feel it is possible to tutor a large number of students effectively using my methods.

I am in the process of finalizing my roster for the Feb 2012 bar exam. Anyone who is interested in tutoring should email me sooner rather than later. And don't forget the deadlines for application/re-application are fast approaching.

MPRE strategy and tips

2011-10-31T09:35:00.002-04:00

With the MPRE coming up this Saturday, no doubt many of you will be studying this week. Many of you will probably start to study this Thursday/Friday as the MPRE has a reputation as being one of those exams that you can study for in 1 day and pass. While it's true that some people are able to study in just one evening and pass, this is not true for a large number of folks. In fact, there are many people who pass the bar but struggle with the MPRE. The mean score on the MPRE is usually somewhere in the high 90s, around 96-97. The "passing" score is different for every state, but the highest required score in most states is an 85. Looking at the distribution, that leaves roughly 1/3 of test takers failing the exam, so we've got a pass rate of about 70%, definitely lower than many bar exams. So why is this? It's not because Professional Responsibility is a more difficult subject than any of the MBE subjects. I feel it is because many take the MPRE for granted.Here's the strategy if you need to pass: Treat the MPRE like you would a single subject on the MBE. So, if you made flash cards for evidence, make them for the MPRE. If you did 200 practice questions for torts, do the same for the MPRE. If you made an outline for real property, do the same for the MPRE. This should only take you 1-2 weeks time since we are only talking about a single subject here. And no doubt, PR is less voluminous than the MBE subjects. Yes, on the MBE you only have approx 33 questions per subject and the MPRE is 60 questions, but still, it's just one subject, with a dash of judicial code thrown in for good measure. So, if you "need" to pass, I recommend you follow the above advice and not skimp on your studying. If you only "want" to pass, or really don't care, then rolling the dice and taking your chances is probably a fine approach. Good luck this Saturday.

July 2011 DC Bar Exam results are out: 46% overall pass rate

2011-10-28T08:01:00.001-04:00

The results for the July 2011 DC Bar Exam have been posted here:

http://www.dcbar.org/for_lawyers/membership/current_members/examResults.cfm

The results are a low 46% pass rate with a good number (64%) of first time takers passing. Congratulations to everyone who passed! For those of you who did not pass, don't despair. Go over your scores, think about how you did in relation to your studying and practice and then reassess in the coming weeks. And be sure to register for the Feb 2012 bar exam before the deadline, don't be discouraged.My next post will be on MPRE strategy for the upcoming administration of the MPRE exam, stay tuned.

Additionally, you can get the results in PDF format here:

http://www.dcappeals.gov/dccourts/docs/SuccessfulList.pdf

Virginia Bar Exam July 2011 Results are posted - 76.40% Pass Rate

2011-10-16T14:43:00.000-04:00

Good showing this summer to all Virginia test takers. The overall pass rate was 76.40% with a great showing by the first time takers at 81.01%. Extra kudos go out to George Mason, University of Virginia, and Washington & Lee first time takers for their schools having a pass rate over 90% and representing Virginia law schools.To those who passed, you are licensed effective October 14, 2011. Don't forget there are TWO pass lists, the first is everyone who passed and are licensed. The second are those who passed but still have pending issues so those on the second list are NOT licensed.Finally, make sure you attend the swearing in ceremony on Halloween. Congratulations to those who passed! For those of you who did not, don't despair. Re-think your approach and sign up for the February 2012 exam. The deadline for signing up is December 15, 2011.Link to the complete list of names on both pass lists:http://www.vbbe.state.va.us/bar/barresultsprint.html

Virginia results this week, DC results soon

2011-10-12T09:29:00.002-04:00

Virginia results should be out Thursday afternoon or sometime Friday at the latest. No big surprises expected but the long wait from this summer is finally drawing to an end. Good luck to everyone as the results are posted. When they are posted I'll do a breakdown and analysis of how the numbers came out. And of course, the same for the DC scores when they are out in the next few days/weeks.

Analysis of Barbri's Virginia bar exam materials for self-study

2011-09-08T09:00:00.001-04:00

Those of you that have taken Barbri or are taking it know that when you receive your materials (usually in 2 or even 3 shipments), you get about 40-50 pounds of books. This is quite absurd and one of the reasons I developed my own methodology for studying for the bar exam. Nevertheless, I thought I'd go through and briefly discuss all the individual books you get with the Barbri Virginia package, especially for those of you who will be buying these materials used from a previous test taker as many times some materials are missing. This will hopefully assist in your hunt for used study materials.

Multistate (MBE):

First a quick word on the multistate stuff Barbri gives you. I'll be honest, I think barbri's MBE prep is one of the worst out there. Basically, anything else is better (kaplan/pmbr, etc.). They give you a bunch of books, I wouldn't use any of them.

Virginia:

Now to the good stuff, the Virginia specific materials.

1. The large Virginia outline book - Basically worthless for bar exam purposes. If you are interested in learning detail that you won't need to know to pass the Virginia bar exam, then by all means read this book. Otherwise, put it aside.

2. Virginia Conviser outline - This is a decent outline, but the good stuff in here is in the back of the book, the Virginia Distinctions. I talk about that a little further down.

3. Virginia Essays book - This is great stuff. Many of these essays are actual essays from past bar exams with decent answers and some commentary on the questions and how the law has changed since they were written. Definitely my favorite book barbri makes for the Virginia bar exam. And, the short answer questions in the back are good as well. I'll talk more about those below as well.

4. Virginia Lecture Handouts - These are pretty good, as they are condensed outlines that are more on-point that the conviser. Some are better than others (civ pro is excellent) but overall I like them. NOTE: If you are buying the materials used, these must be filled in already because they are keyed to the lectures, which you cannot get unless you buy the class from barbri directly. Repeat: The lectures are not available used, so these lecture notes must be filled in when you buy them.

5. Supplemental Virginia Handouts - Barbri is famous for lots of supplemental handouts, completely worthless.

6. Virginia Essay Advantage Documents Including practice essays and answers - Again, there are more materials and extras barbri is famous for that you can get, many at an extra cost and are called "Advantage". Completely worthless.

7. Virginia Supreme Court Rulings and Statutory Updates - Barbri has handed out last minute updates, most of which are completely useless as well. The Virginia Board of Bar Examiners does not typically test on brand new rulings, they wait at least a few years, and even then, they don't like to do it too quickly. So, I'd say these are completely worthless as well.

8. Virginia Short Answer Questions (located in the essay book) - Good stuff. I like these (they give you 300 of them) because they give you a decent idea of what the short answer questions are like, and a decent chunk of these questions (maybe 1/2 to 2/3) are information that you should know anyway because the essays could test the same material.

9. Virginia Distinctions (located in the conviser) - Excellent stuff. Virginia likes to test on Virginia distinctions. It's not too much information, maybe 20 pages or so in the conviser, but you should know it all and this is a well formatted and concise way to get that info.

There you go. Everything you need to know about what's useful and more importantly, what's not when getting second-hand Virginia barbri materials.

July 2011 Virginia Bar Exam results to be posted October 14, 2011

2011-08-08T15:20:00.000-04:00

The VBBE has posted that the results should be posted online October 14, 2011, just over 2 months from now. In the past, the exam results are usually posted the afternoon before or on the exact day they say.

Bar exam for July 2011 is done - DC & VA thoughts

2011-07-29T15:50:00.000-04:00

A quick look at the DC and Virginia bar exams from this week shows that nothing out of the ordinary was tested. Both exams were fair.

MBE - An average MBE, not easy, not impossible. A few civ pro type questions were thrown in, which is not too unusual.

DC Essays - Subjects were pretty much what you would expect: Crim, Con law and property, plus civ pro, family law and commercial paper.

DC MPTs - Both memos, one objective and one persuasive. Classic.

VA Essays - No surprises here, straightforward and fair exam.

Now the waiting begins. Try to enjoy the rest of the summer during this 2+ month wait for the results.

Couple tips for Virginia July 2011 bar exam takers

2011-07-22T15:35:00.000-04:00

Last weekend before the bar exam here folks. Many people think that if you are not ready at this point, you are doomed. That's not exactly true. Yes, it's true that if you have not done anything at all until this point you are probably in bad shape, but what is not true is that you should take it easy this weekend. In fact, quite the opposite. This is the time to really cram/reinforce everything you have studied thus far.

When it comes to the essays, I recommend spending some more time on VA and federal procedure, especially the VA specific vocab. Same goes with Equity and Local Government. Know the Virginia terms. Take the time this weekend to write at least few practice essays to test your comfort level with the Virginia vocabulary. The bar examiners in Virginia are fair people but they expect a well written essay that ANSWERS THE QUESTION(s) ASKED. Don't go off on tangents or try and BS them as it will not work.

Have a good and productive weekend.

Less than 2 weeks until the July 2011 bar exam - Some tips

2011-07-13T07:15:00.002-04:00

This is the critical time for studying. If you are concerned about the studying (or lack thereof) you have done so far, put that behind you. Now is not the time to debate in your mind if you spilled any milk and whether or not you should cry about it. Double down and focus on your goal: Passing the bar exam in 2 weeks time.

A few tips for the MBE takers out there: Go back and review the FRE. Re-read the rules and then do a handful of evidence questions. You'll be surprised to see how much "easier they seem". For contracts, review the UCC2 distinctions. For criminal law, go over the common crimes and know the elements cold. For crim pro, know the search warrant exceptions. For con law, know the difference between due process and equal protection; and also make sure you know the fundamental rights. For torts, know the elements of the major torts and make sure you are clear on negligence. Finally, for property, don't get too hung up on future interests (RAP, etc.) but instead focus on things like landlord/tenant law, mortgages, etc.

Essay takers, I urge you to do past essay questions. In my opinion, there is no better method of studying for the essays than doing actual essay questions.

2 weeks is a long time and more than enough time to really hammer home the core areas of the law that you must know in order to pass the bar exam. Good luck!

1st Weekend in June - Time to start studying & a VA essay primer

2011-06-03T19:23:00.000-04:00

For those of you who have not started studying yet, this weekend is the time to do so. We're at less than 2 months till the July 2011 bar exam, so this is the time to start.

For all of you taking the Virginia bar exam, I have some tips to share for the essays and short answer section, which is 60% of your overall score. First, the basics. You have approximately 36 minutes per essays, and 36 minutes for 20 short answer questions. Of course, you overall time is 3 hours and you can divide it up however you want, but it breaks out to 36 minutes per question approx. In the morning section you have 5 essay questions, and in the afternoon section you have 4 essay questions and 20 short answers. For the afternoon section I recommend doing the short answers first (they usually take much less than 36 minutes) and then finish off the last 4 essay questions of the day.

Take a look at the past essay questions and model answers (available from GMU and W&M) for years past and look for frequency of subjects tested. (NOTE: The barbri frequency chart is flawed and many of the years/subjects are incorrect, so I recommend looking at the questions yourself and not blindly relying on inaccurate materials.) The VA bar examiners have openly stated that they like testing subjects that a new attorney is likely to encounter. Read into this! This means things like VA procedure, criminal law, domestic relations, property, etc. Practice writing essay answers. This is very important to get comfortable with the VA specific essay material and the vocabulary that is unique to Virginia. If you write enough Virginia essays you will sound like a Virginia lawyer in your answers on the bar exam, and that's exactly what the graders are looking for. And, if you are going to practice in Virginia, that's what you want do to when you are actually in practice because judges expect it as well in the Commonwealth.

Good luck and stay focused. Try and study a little bit every day to keep your mind focused on the bar exam subjects.

For those of you interested in tutoring, my roster is full for DC, so I am not accepting any more students. But, I am keeping 1-2 spots open for Virginia if the right candidate(s) comes along as my Virginia program has been highly successful so far and I really enjoy tutoring for the VA exam.

DC Bar Exam February 2011 Results

2011-05-07T15:23:00.000-04:00

A bit late, but I wanted to post a link and quick analysis of the Feb 2011 DC Bar Exam results. First and foremost, congratulations to everyone who passed, especially to those whom I know personally! Great job. Now, on with the results:

http://www.dcbar.org/for_lawyers/membership/current_members/examResults.cfm

100 people passed this time around, which is a 71% pass rate among first–time takers, which is quite good, and a less impressive overall pass rate of 48%, but still better than what we have seen in the past. This exam appears to have been graded more uniformly that the last time around, which is good to see.

Here is another link directly to the PDF of the results:

http://www.dcappeals.gov/dccourts/docs/SuccessfulList_2011-02.pdf

For those of you who did not pass, again, I encourage you to re-evaluate the approach you took and try something new. If you are interested in tutoring, read my past posts on how to select a tutor. My roster for this summer is almost full so anyone interested in tutoring either for DC or VA should reach out sooner rather than later as I only tutor a few students each exam period.

Virginia February 2011 results posted, still waiting for DC

2011-04-22T16:36:00.000-04:00

Virginia posted their pass list this week:

http://www.vbbe.state.va.us/bar/barresults.html

Overall pass rate was 60.71% with first-time takers doing a little better at 68.57%. Congratulations to everyone who passed, especially to everyone I know personally! It was a fair but tough exam and the 60% pass rate shows that. For those of you who did not pass, check out the William and Mary website and go over the model answers. Also, look at your breakdown of scores that the VBBE will send you and see if the MBE or essays were your weak point. Study differently for the July 2011 bar exam and don't lose hope.

As for DC, let's hope the results are posted next week.

Tutoring for the July 2011 bar exam

2011-04-17T10:47:00.000-04:00

As bar results for the February 2011 DC and VA exams roll in, this is the time when I begin to receive multiple requests for tutoring assistance. Most of my students are repeat takers for the simple reason that nearly everyone who takes the bar exam for the first time starts with a commercial prep program such as barbri. When that fails, they seek out alternatives such as individual tutoring. More than half of the people that come to me looking for assistance have taken the bar 3 or more times and have tried at least 2 different commercial bar prep programs. What I find is that all the commercial bar prep programs have more or less the same approach and use an unmanageable amount of study materials. This is where tutoring comes in because with the 1:1 attention, you have someone that can guide you through your studies week by week and steer you in the right direction instead of simply following a 2-month syllabus/study schedule blindly, regardless of where your individual strengths and weaknesses lie.

With that being said, for those of you who are considering tutoring, here are a few tips when seeking out a prospective tutor:
1) Be prepared to discuss your bar exam history. So, have your past scores (broken out by MBE & essay scores) ready and gather up a list of your previous study materials/methods.
2) Know what your availability will be like between now and the bar exam. I can't tell you how many people contact me looking for tutoring and when I ask them how many hours a week they can set aside for study for the bar exam they can't give me a clear answer. It is important to decide how committed you are to passing the bar exam. Whether you have kids, a full or part time job, or other responsibilities in your life, you need to lay everything out and decide how many hours/week you are able to dedicate to preparing for the exam.
3) Know your budget. Most bar exam tutors are expensive, more so than barbri, so know your budget beforehand and do not be lured into a "package deal" where you need to pay a huge sum or sign a contract locking you into a fixed sum of money.
4) Ask questions about what the tutor will charge for. Many tutors will charge you for each contact with them, similar to how an attorney bills their clients. For example, if you have a question, and email/call up your tutor, you will get a bill for 10 or 15 minutes of time. I do not think this is a good formula for success as a student must feel comfortable to reach out to his/her tutor without worrying about cost.

OK, to everyone who took the exam in February as results roll out this week I wish you the best of luck. For those of you who pass, congrats! For those of you who will get bad news, don't be discouraged. Re-evaluate how you did things in February and learn/adapt for your next attempt. I have seen many people who failed 3, 4 or 5 times and never changed their strategy. Then, they take a new approach and pass with plenty of room to spare.

Suggested prep for July 2011 Bar Exams (MBE Focus)

2011-03-24T10:46:00.000-04:00

For those of you wanting to get a head start on the prep for the summer bar exam, I'd recommend picking up some used PMBR materials. First, get the PMBR 6-subject MBE Audio Lectures. These come on either a single DVD with MP3s, or as a 32-CD set. Then get the PMBR Red book to do some practice questions. You can find these used on ebay or cragslist or wherever for pretty cheap. I'd recommend listening to the entire audio lectures once or twice and then tackle maybe 50 questions per subject in the red book. This should be a good start before you start barbri or whatever other program you will be doing. Most programs today do not emphasize the MBE enough and it really deserves more attention and a unique study approach. Most people that fail the bar exam do so because of low MBE scores. You can write a fluffy essay and still pass the bar exam but you can't BS you way past the MBE. So if you want to get an early start, focus on the MBE.

Bar exams are done - VA/DC results

2011-02-24T12:28:00.000-05:00

With the VA and DC bar exams behind us, let's look at the subjects that were tested. Most of the predictions were accurate this time around, with the usual few surprises.

Feb 2011 DC Bar Exam:

MEE's:
Evidence (witness credibility impeachment, hearsay, lay witness)
Contracts (formation/damages)
Family Law(settlement agreement, spousal support, adoption)
Wills (validity, beneficiary conflicts, abatement)
Corporations (creation, liability)
Fed Civ Pro (service of process, cross claims, supplemental jurisdiction)

MPT's:
1) Objective Memorandum
2) Objective Memorandum (short) and persuasive closing argument

Nice to see the return of dual memos, but the difficulty level was high again. And this marks the 2nd time that only 2 MBE subjects were tested instead of the usual 3. Nothing shocking, but interesting to note.

Feb 2011 Virginia Bar Exam:

Lots of Civ pro as always, and the Domestic Relations, partnership and wills essays we were expecting. More than a full real property essay as predicted as well, but, no UCC 3 (comm paper) question? Wow. That's 2 in a row.

Real Property/Wills
Partnership
Domestic Relations
VA civ pro
Va civ pro & local government law
Real Property/Tax/Creditors' Rights
Fed civ pro
Criminal procedure
Wills

Good luck to everyone who took the exam!

1 day until the Feb 2011 bar exam

2011-02-21T10:47:00.000-05:00

I thought I might post my predictions for the DC and VA bar exams today. With a little less than 24 hours until the exam, now is the time to cram and do a last minute pass through your flash cards/outlines/spreadsheets/whatever you use to study. As always, all information posted here is use at your own risk. Here we go:

DC Predictions:
criminal
property
evidence
corporations
family law
wills/trusts
secured transactions

VA Predictions:
VA Civ Pro
Fed Civ Pro
Equity
Domestic Relations
Commercial Paper
Professional Responsibility
Wills/Trusts
Real Property
Agency/Partnership
Sales

So, the predictions this time around are not that shocking as certain subjects have been glaringly omitted from the last 1-2 exams, so it's more likely than not they will be tested this time around. You notice I don't have crim listed for VA, that doesn't mean they won't test it again (Alford plea for a third time anyone?) but it does mean that I think the other MBE subjects I listed are more likely.

Good luck to everyone. You studied hard and are ready for the exam. The next 2 days are your days to own.

A few thoughts on the DC and VA bar exams

2011-01-16T09:42:00.001-05:00

As we enter the "T-minus 5-weeks till the bar exam" zone I wanted to share a few thoughts regarding both the DC and Virginia bar exams. Now is definitely the time to start focusing on your studies if you have not already. No doubt with the holidays and other personal and work commitments, you may not have studied as much as you had anticipated up to this point. Well, now is the time to turn over a new leaf and get a solid plan in place where you dedicate X hours/day or Y hours/week to studying for the bar exam. For most of us, the bar exam is something that requires many weeks of study in order to pass, not just 1-2 weeks of cramming right before the exam.

For the DC bar exam, you do not want to underestimate the MPT. It is a challenging part of the exam and requires excellent time management and organizational skills. Practice makes perfect so start practicing your MPTs now instead of putting them off till the last minute. The MPT is 25% of the total weight on the DC bar exam, and if you are an essay only taker, it's 50% of the exam. Either way, it's a significant piece of the pie.

For the VA bar exam, remember that the MBE deserves specialized attention and simply knowing the law is not going to help you unless you are naturally gifted at standardized test taking. Practice questions are key but they only help insomuch as you review your answers carefully and understand why you are getting questions wrong OR correct. The trickiest MBE questions are fine line law distinctions that are tested repeatedly on MBE after MBE and it has been this way for decades. Learn those fine line distinctions and learn to spot the fact patterns that test them. That is how you will improve your MBE score, which is 40% of the total weight on the VA bar exam.

Less than 3 months until the Feb 2011 Bar Exam

2010-12-02T12:56:00.000-05:00

December is upon us, which means there are less than 3 months until the February 2011 bar exam. Many folks don't begin studying until January when Barbri and other programs officially start, but I think this is a mistake. Now is a great time to start studying, even if just for 30-60 minutes a day. Get those legal juices flowing and get in the daily bar exam study routine. If you have a weak subject, start with that subject, you'll be happy when February rolls around that you got a dozen or so extra hours of studying done in December!

As for Tutoring - I still have a few open slots for tutoring remaining but will be finalizing my roster within the next week or two. So, if you are interested in tutoring for the upcoming Feb 2011 bar exam, send me an email soon.

So, start studying now before the holidays are upon us a get a head start on the game. I'll begin to post regularly next month with strategies and tactics for the bar exam. Good luck!

DC Bar July 2010 Exam Results Posted

2010-10-21T07:17:00.000-04:00

DC Bar Exam from July 2010 results have been posted and the results are very low. Overall pass rate is 41% with first time takers at 60%. Only 97 people passed this summer, which is a record low as far as I remember for a summer exam. Very tough.

http://www.dcbar.org/for_lawyers/membership/current_members/examResults.cfm

Virginia July 2010 Bar Exam Results Posted

2010-10-20T11:39:00.003-04:00

The VBBE has just posted the results for the July 2010 bar exam. Overall passing percentage was 75.2% with 79.8% of first-time takers passing. Congratulations to everyone who passed! For those of you who did not pass, do not despair, you will pass in February. Never give up! Full results at the link below:

http://www.vbbe.state.va.us/bar/barresults.html

NOTE: The website link on the VBBE homepage for the Swearing-in ceremony is broken, here is the correct url:

http://www.vbbe.state.va.us/pdf/VABar102010Ceremony.pdf

Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) coming in Feb 2011

2010-08-10T18:47:00.000-04:00

For the first time, we will be seeing states officially using the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) this spring. Missouri and North Dakota are the first two states to sign on and will be administering the UBE in February 2011.

According to the NCBE: "The UBE includes three test instruments already available and in use: the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), six Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) questions, and two Multistate Performance Test (MPT) tasks. The UBE is administered over two days, with the MBE given on the last Wednesday of February and July and the MEE/MPT scheduled on the Tuesday prior to that."

It is estimated that the UBE will cost $96 in 2011 as that is the cost of the 3 individual components of the UBE and the NCBE has stated that they do not have any plans to charge more for the UBE.

USA Today reported a while back that Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Washington, D.C are considering moving to the UBE as well.

Virginia summer 2010 results to be posted Oct 20, 2010

2010-08-06T10:05:00.001-04:00

The Virginia Board of Bar Examiners has informed us that the results of the July 2010 bar exam will be posted on October 20, 2010.

DC & Virginia July 2010 Bar Exam is over

2010-07-30T17:33:00.004-04:00

It's over. Both exams looked tough this time around. We had DC (via the NCBE) throw a crazy crossover question on the essay portion and Virginia go absolutely nuts and test nearly every subject possible on the essays (17 subjects tested on essays). Additionally, the MBE was not an "easier" MBE as the past 2 July ones have been.

Starting with DC, predictions were fairly accurate but we had a first ever contracts/comm paper crossover question along with the unpredicted family law and civ pro. Quite surprised to see they skipped criminal this time around, making only two MBE subject questions. Hopefully this is not a new trend as criminal law is a cornerstone for any newly licensed attorney to be familiar with.

As for Virginia, they went nuts on the essay subjects testing as follows:
1) Wills/VA Civ Pro
2) Va Civ Pro/Fed Civ Pro/Conflicts
3) Sales
4) Personal Property/VA Civ Pro
5) Crim Law/Crim Pro
6) Corporations/Partnership/Tax (Yes, Tax!)
7) Secured Transactions
8) Local Govt Law/Equity
9) Suretyship/Creditors' Rights/Agency

Those Virginia questions were definitely challenging as they hit the obscure subjects that are not normally tested. I mean, Sec Trans + Surety + Cred Rights + Tax on one exam? They were looking to punish the test takers this Summer, that's for sure.

Anyway, good luck to everyone and I sincerely hope you all pass. The waiting is the hardest part. (Yes, Tom Petty knows what he's talking about) How about some predictions on when the results will be released? I say 2nd week in October for Virginia and last week in October for the DC Bar Exam.

I'll be back when the February 2011 preparations begin...

Good luck this week on the Bar Exam - DC Summer 2010 essay predictions

2010-07-24T17:52:00.003-04:00

Good luck to everyone taking the bar exam this week, just a few more days to study, make it count.

As for the DC essays, here are my rough predictions:
Contracts
Criminal
Constitutional
Corporations
Trusts
Commercial Paper or Agency/Partnership

As always, there is no guarantee on these predictions. The bar examiners can ask about any of the subjects they choose, and they always like to throw a curve ball on each exam. Good luck!

10 days until the July Summer 2010 Bar Exam

2010-07-16T08:47:00.004-04:00

With 10 days until the Summer 2010 Bar Exam, I just wanted to wish everyone good luck in the home stretch. Now is the time to focus your efforts and cram as much as you can. I'll post my predictions for the DC Bar Exam next week to help you fine tune your last weekend of studying for the essays.

For those of you taking the Virginia Bar Exam, I'll post my predictions for that exam next week as well.

DC Bar Exam late filing deadline is tomorrow

2010-05-17T13:20:00.001-04:00

Just a friendly reminder that the late filing deadline for the July 2010 DC Bar Exam is no later than 4PM in Room 123 at the Committee on Admissions tomorrow, May 18th.

DC Feb 2010 Bar Exam Results

2010-05-03T12:55:00.002-04:00

A low pass rate showing a difficult exam are the results being posted today for the Feb 2010 Bar Exam:

http://www.dcappeals.gov/dccourts/appeals/coa/exam_results.jsp

We see a 41% overall pass rate, with 61% of first-time takers passing. Less than 100 people passed total. Congratulations to everyone who passed! For those of you who did not, don't despair, you can focus on your weaknesses and pass in July 2010.

Virginia Feb 2010 Results out - 57.2% Overall pass rate

2010-04-26T14:03:00.003-04:00

Results from the Virginia February 2010 bar exam have been posted as of last Thursday evening. The pass rate was 57.2% overall, and 66.7% for first-time takers. Seems like both the MBE and essays were above average difficulty. But that is apparent when only just over half the people taking it passed. Not a very high pass rate, but it was a challenging exam. For those of you who passed, congratulations! For those of you who did not, don't lose focus. Register for July 2010 and focus on your weak subjects and frequently tested subjects and you will pass.

For those of you still waiting for DC bar results, I feel your pain. Hopefully something will be posted soon.

Feb 2010 Bar Exam is over

2010-02-24T21:39:00.000-05:00

The February 2010 Bar Exam is officially over. Congratulations to everyone who took it. Now the wait begins for the results. The MBE was an average difficulty MBE, I'd say a 6/10 relative to past MBEs. As usual, one section was harder than the other (in my case, morning was more difficult). Well, time to get back to the real world for a little bit until July 2010 preparations start!

Day 1 of the Feb 2010 Bar Exam is Over

2010-02-23T17:31:00.002-05:00

Day 1 is over and the MPT/MEE are finished. Hopefully everyone did well. The MPT's were a change from the NCBE's usual memo/memo lineup, but following the same methodologies, the execution was the same.

Thankfully my MEE predictions for this bar were on-point, save for missing contracts and trusts questions. What gives? Glad fed civ pro was bumped up into the running as well.

Anyway, for those of you heading into the MBE, it's almost over. For those of you who were essay-only, congratulations on finishing!

Feb 2010 Bar Exam is upon us

2010-02-22T19:54:00.002-05:00

Well, it's the night before the bar exam. I would like to wish everyone good luck on the bar exam tomorrow. Keep your finger's cross for your favorite (i.e. - least-hated) essay subjects to appear on the MEE.

Good luck!

Book Review - 2010 Edition of Strategies and Tactics for the MBE

2010-02-11T20:37:00.003-05:00

With just over 1 week until the February 2010 bar exam, I felt it was a good time to do a book review of one of the best and well-known study guides out there:

Strategies and Tactics for the MBE

Most bar examinees know the 2006 edition with its olive color, but finally a new edition is out, the 2010 edition, and the book is now in two volumes.

Volume 1 is the same format as the old one: 6 chapters (1 for each MBE subject) with practice questions, and a 200-question practice MBE exam in the back.

Volume 2 is approx 300 additional MBE questions.

I was excited to receive the new edition as I believe that the old (2006) edition is still the BEST study guide for the multistate bar exam. However, upon receiving the new edition, I realized that it was very similar to the old 2006 edition. In fact, it was so similar that I felt compelled to get my 2006 copy and compare. Here is what I discovered:

1) The outlines in each chapter (probably the single best part of the book) are IDENTICAL in the 2006 and 2010 editions.

2) The practice questions and answers in each chapter are NEARLY identical in the 2006 and 2010 editions. The only changes were to the style of writing in the new edition so they are more similarly worded to the way the MBE is written now. It's a subtle difference but they are the same questions.

3) The 200-question practice exam in the back of the book are mostly new questions, however, nearly all of these new questions are straight from the NCBE's online practice MBE - Called the MBE-OPE 2. The NCBE charges $26 for this test.

As for the 2nd volume, the 300 additional questions, I did not get this book so I cannot comment on it but I suspect it contains some questions from the 2006 edition practice exam that are no longer in the 2010 edition as well as other NCBE released questions.

So, to summarize, the only new area is the practice exam at the back of the book, but you can get the same thing online for $26 per 100-question test (2 available) online at ncbex.org. My recommendation is if you don't already have the book, by all means get the new edition. But, if you already have the book, there is not much point to buying the new edition unless you want a printed version of the NCBE's online questions.

1+ Month until the February 2010 bar exam

2010-01-21T08:14:00.003-05:00

We're just before the 1 month till the exam mark. I hope everyone has started studying at this point. If not, don't despair, 1 month is still enough time, it has been done before, but kick it into high gear now, no more excuses. Focus on the MBE, it is the most difficult by far, as the scantron machine has no mercy, unlike the essay graders who MAY give you extra points here and there depending on your answers. And besides the MBE subjects carry over to the essays so in effect you're studying 2 test areas, not just one.

For those of you taking the Virginia Bar Exam this February, feel free to drop me a line. I am preparing a Virginia pilot program for July and want to share my ideas with upcoming test takers. Anyone taking barbri/micromash/whatever for the VA bar should definitely drop me a line as I have already come up with some improvements to those programs.

Good luck and study efficiently!

Registration for the bar & tutoring

2009-12-23T14:46:00.003-05:00

Friendly reminder than there is only 1 week left for the late registration period for the D.C. February 2010 bar exam! December 30, 2009 is the late fee filing deadline so if you have not registered yet, do so by that date.

Also, my tutoring classes are now officially 100% closed and fully booked for the February 2010 bar exam. If you are in dire straits and have extraordinary circumstances, go ahead and email me and maybe we can figure some sort of "mini-program" for you, but my roster is full as I like to keep my schedule light and only do personalized 1-on-1's with each of my students.

July 2009 Bar Exam Results Posted, and more...

2009-10-28T15:57:00.002-04:00

The results for the July 2009 DC Bar Exam have been posted:

http://www.dcbar.org/for_lawyers/membership/current_members/examResults.cfm

The results are as follows:

A 72% pass rate for first time takers
A 53% overall pass rate for all takers (155 successful applicants out of a total 293 applicants)

No big surprises on the exam itself or the results... If you passed, congratulations!! If not, don't fret, register for the Feb 2009 bar exam and study some more and you'll be sure to pass...

Another reminder that December 15, 2009 is the deadline for registering for the February 2009 DC Bar Exam, with December 30, 2009 being the late filing deadline.

Finally, the MPRE is coming up next Saturday. Good luck to all those sitting for it. If you can, put in a full week of study and ace it... Otherwise, I recommend 3 full days minimum study... Good luck!

1/2 way done with July 2009 Bar...

2009-07-28T20:34:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow is the MBE... I recommend a solid evening of studying flash cards or doing random MBE questions... Many people don't want to study the day before the MBE, but I highly recommend it and it is part of my methodology... Get a normal night of sleep, and rest assured you will do well tomorrow!

1 week till the July 2009 Bar Exam

2009-07-21T10:28:00.003-04:00

With 1 week to go, I hope everyone is in the home stretch... My students are ready to go, and this week we are doubling our study times with a majority of our focus going to MBE subject flash cards and timing on the MBE and MPT. The past two MBE exams have been quite fair and indicative of the new style the NCBE is using. The exam next week should prove to be no different.

I wish everyone the best of luck, and remember that no matter how hard it seems during the exam, you are well prepared and have the ability to pass!

Bar Exam Tutoring

2009-05-28T23:21:00.002-04:00

I have received numerous emails regarding my tutoring services... Primarily, I have had inquiries from repeat takers and takers who have been out of law school for a few years... I am open to tutoring anyone, as long as the fit is good... I am only tutoring students local to the Washington D.C. area, with a few rare exceptions... My methodology I have created is based on individual test takers skills and weaknesses, and is geared for in-person tutoring... Withstanding a few rare exceptions, this is the way it is, so if you are not in the DC area, feel free to contact me, but please do not be upset if I cannot take you on as a student... My purpose in tutoring is to get people to pass, and I will only accept a small number of students per bar exam and each must be a good fit or else I will not accept... I hope this clears things up and best of luck to everyone on the upcoming July 2009 exam...

D.C. Bar Exam Results Posted

2009-05-05T20:32:00.005-04:00

I received my letter in the mail today and I passed the February 2009 D.C. Bar Exam. As of right now, the Feb 2009 results are not online, but they will be posted this week at the following url:

http://www.dcbar.org/for_lawyers/membership/current_members/examResults.cfm

UPDATE: The list has been posted with the following message:

"Notice is hereby given that the list published herewith contains the names of 116 successful applicants of the District of Columbia Bar Examination administered on February 24 and 25, to 262 applicants. This represents a 57% pass rate among first-time takers or an overall pass rate of 44%."

I passed with a high MBE score, way above the national mean (135.67) and the minimum passing score (133)... Makes me wonder how I did on my essays and MPTs... Honestly, with my MBE score I could have failed nearly every essay and done well on the MPTs and passed... I am realizing that my strategy of focusing on the MBE definitely worked... Just wish I could get a hold of my essays to see how I did, lol...

Congratulations to all who passed! This exam was particularly brutal, with only a 57% pass rate for D.C.

For everyone who did not pass, don't be discouraged. You will pass in July. Just redouble your efforts, focus on your weak areas (evidence, property, whatever) and know that you are going into the exam with experience from having taken it in February which will help you. Study hard and study smart!

Finally, as a result of having not cracked open a law book for a decade, then self studying and passing with a high score, I am planning on offering bar exam tutoring services... I plan to focus on working with people, who like me, have been out of law school for quite some time and can't take 2 months off work to study... In fact, I didn't take a single day off work to study, only 2 days off to take the actual exam, and passed on my first attempt, my first ever bar exam...

Final thoughts on self-study materials for the DC Bar and MBE/MEE/MPT

2009-03-03T20:51:00.007-05:00

Now that the Feb 2009 bar is behind us, I wanted to discuss the materials I used... I must be honest, 90-95% of my study was on the MBE. I put in less than 1 week of study on the MEE subjects (much less than 40 hours), and about 20 hours of study for the MPT. So the other 300-400 hours I spent studying were MBE focused... I did this because the MBE is 50% of the exam, and the MBE subjects are usually 2-3 of the 6 essay questions on the MEE. The MPT does not require more than 20-40 hours of study, so I decided to roll the dice and focus heavily on the MBE subjects and MBE test-taking strategies and tactics. I feel that the gamble paid off well, as I was quite comfortable with the MBE material, MBE essay topics on the MEE, and the 3 MEE questions that I did have that were non-MBE subjects, I felt that I did about the same as everyone else I talked to after the exam... So I don't think I would have gained much by having spent more time studying on the MEE subjects, but I definitely think I would have done worse on the MBE had I studied less for it...

Anyway, on to my ratings of the materials:

Here is my analysis of all the materials on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest)

PMBR Questions - Excellent. (8/10) These questions, while old, are a great way to prepare for the MBE and are indicative of the fine-line style of questioning the examiners use... I highly recommend doing at least 1000 PMBR questions and reading the answers to those questions. Take your time, and LEARN from them, don't just do the questions and not learn anything...

PMBR Outlines - Excellent. (8/10) Great outlines that came in the PMBR red book. Different but equally good to the Barbri Conviser outlines.

PMBR Audio Lectures - The best! (9/10) LOVED these lectures. I listened to them all the time and this is what made the difference for me. The lectures are a bit old, but 95% of what's on them still applies. The only lecture I didn't like was Contracts, but the others were great. (And Bob Feinburg is a hilarious guy to listen to, I would love to attend one of his lectures in person one day)

Barbri Conviser Outline - Excellent. (8/10) Well, this is the standard review book, no review is complete without it. Honestly, I didn't use it that much, but it was a nice reference from time to time... I could have done without it though (see my list below of "necessary" books)

Barbri MEE book - Good, but you can get most of it free elsewhere. (7/10) A great way to go over released MEE questions with actual essay answers instead of simply the point sheets.

Rigos/Emanuel MEE Book - Excellent. (9/10) - The best MEE subject outlines I found, very concise with excellent mnemonics and tips. Highly recommended.

Rigos/Emanuel MPT Book - Very good. (8/10) - Great MPT strategy book with good practice MPTs. Highly recommended.

Released MPT questions 2007/2008 from NCBE - Excellent! (10/10) I felt VERY prepared for the 2 MPT's during the bar exam as I did four actual MPT's the week before the bar.

Released MBE questions - OPE-1 and OPE-2 - Very good. (8/10) These questions are the most like the actual bar exam questions.

Released MEE questions - 2007/2008 - Excellent! At least 75% of my study was simply reading the essay questions and answers.

Emanuel Strategies and Tactics Book 2006 - Excellent! (9/10) My main study guide... I read this thing about 10 times, cover to cover, and did all the practice questions and sample exam. So 550+ released MBE questions and great outlines and strategies and tactics.

Barbri MBE questions - Good (7/10) - I didn't like these as much because they have 3 different levels of questions. The easy are too easy, the difficult are too long (not even too hard), and that just leaves the intermediate, which are decent. I like the PMBR approach of simply having 1 class of question that is similar in difficulty to the actual MBE.

Barbri long multistate outline - Good (8/10) - Good if you have mastered everything else there is to know, and you are ready to really hone in on the fine-line distinctions. I did this for mortgages, some Evidence stuff, and a bit of crim law... But really, if you know the material that well, and want to score those extra points to get a score to brag about, you're better off reading hornbooks...

Micromash - Well, I didn't really use the micromash stuff all that much... Honestly, I didn't like their MEE or MPT materials, but I did spend a few hours reading the long multistate outlines in mortgages and evidence... I didn't like their summary MBE outline, I think the barbri conviser is better... Too many typos and stuff in the Micromash materials, it's a bit distracting... Also, I must note, I did NOT have the practice MBE questions for micromash, just the printed materials...

So, if I had to pick just the bare materials to study for the DC bar and pass, I'd say to get the following:

MBE Materials:
Strategies and Tactics by Emmanuel ($60 new) (This contains ~550 practice questions + outlines)
PMBR Red Book ($50-100 used) (This contains ~1000 practice questions + outlines)

MPT Materials:
Rigos/Emmanuel MPT Book ($50 new)
NCBE 2 most recent exams MPTs ($40 downloaded from ncbex.org)
NCBE all released MPTs (free from ncbex.org) (NOTE: Although I'd download them, I'd just skim them, I would not attempt to do them all)

MEE Materials:
NCBE 2 most recent exams MEEs ($25-30 downloaded from ncbex.org)
NCBE all released MEEs (free from ncbex.org) (NOTE: This is basically all the Yellow Barbri MEE book is, except the barbri book has actual essay answers instead of point sheets)

That's it! That would be my minimum study materials, and that's a ton if you actually do them all... Total cost: About $250.

February 2009 Bar Exam is Finished

2009-02-25T23:18:00.004-05:00

Well, it's over... The MBE was harder than expected... Morning section was particularly brutal, I saw a lot of dejected faces at the end of the morning session... There were some VERY tricky questions, one of them was such a fine line that I found myself asking myself "What point does such a fine line question serve other than a ritual-style hazing of bar examinees?"

I must say, the questions on the actual MBE were not very similar to any practice questions, not even the released ones... Maybe a small minority were similar, say, 15-20%, but the rest were pretty different, many topics that I had never seen and many others where the question required a deeper mastery of the material than I had...

Anyway, I hope everyone did well, I will do a post in a few days discussing all the various materials I used and how useful I found them for the actual exam, as well as which study strategies worked best for me...

Unpredictable MEE in DC

2009-02-24T17:29:00.005-05:00

Wow, DC totally screwed people over today by giving MEE topics that are non consistent with what they have given in the past, and leaving out topics that have been consistently testing for years... I guess they want to make their ultra-low pass rate even lower... My heart goes out to all the poor folks I saw today retaking the exam... Seriously, it was a sad sight, people looked so dejected and defeated both before and especially after the exam, I felt bad for them... Lots of older folks too :(

MPTs were as expected though, so hopefully that helped everyone out! Good luck on the MBE tomorrow, knock it out...

Last weekend before the bar, MPT/MEE push...

2009-02-20T20:42:00.003-05:00

Well, the time has come... Just a few days till the DC Bar Exam and I am definitely underprepared for the MEE section... I feel good about the MPTs though, having done 3 previous MPTs this week, I will do 1 more tomorrow but I've been doing very well on them so far... My hand gets tired after all the writing, and I wish there was more than 1.5 hours per question, but c'est la vie...

I've been reading plenty of previous MEE questions from about 2003/2004 to the present... I am woefully unprepared for the MEE-only subjects, but strong (as should be expected) on the MBE subjects... I plan to focus heavily on Trusts, Wills, Family Law, and Corporations this weekend by reading the BAR/BRI Conviser outlines for those 4 subjects, as well as the outlines in the Rigos/Emanuel MEE book... I plan to finish my day on Sunday doing all 9 actual MEE questions from February 2008...

Oh, and I will be reading Strategies and Tactics and doing a handful of PMBR MBE questions each night from now until the bar... I have not yet decided how I will be spending my Monday/Monday night, but I think I'll be doing about a 50/50 split on MBE/MEE stuff... Tuesday night will obviously be 100% MBE study...

Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to the bar exam, as I am curious what the current, actual MBE questions look like... The MEE/MPT I don't really care about, but the MBE fascinates me and I can't wait to see what fine-line questions they have prepared...

BTW, I took the newly posted MBE-OPE-1/2 exams from the NCBE and the questions are reflective of the NEW style of MBE questions, so I would highly recommend to anyone to pay the $52 and buy both exams and do the questions to familiarize yourself with the new style... I love the new simplifed style of questions, they are much easier to read, more straightforward, and really hone in on knowledge of the law, instead of multiple-choice "tricks"...

Just over 1 week till the bar...

2009-02-13T18:32:00.004-05:00

Well, with just over 1 week till the bar, I thought I'd post a few updates:

1) I received my admission ticket to the exam on Wednesday. It was mailed out Tuesday and arrived the next day via first class mail. Very straightforward, MPT/MEE the first day, MBE the 2nd day, no surprises...

2) I took about 2 weeks off studying as I had tons of work/travel to do, so I haven't done much in the way of MEE/MPT studying... I read the barbri conviser outlines for the MEE subjects, and skimmed the Rigos/Emanuel MPT book, but that's about it... I went back and did the 200 question PMBR practice test and did very well on it, with a passing raw score, which was my goal... So I'm feeling pretty good about the MBE, but I really want to score as many points there as possible to make up for bad MEE performance, so I'm going to continue to focus my efforts all the way through the exam on the MBE...

3) So, the plan is to do the feb and july 2008 MPTs and MEEs, and that's about it for those 2 exams... I am hoping the trends for the usual subjects and rotations of subjects continues on the MEEs, but either way, with the addition of the MBE subjects on the MEE, I feel much more comfortable focusing on the MBE... As Feinberg says, "If after 4 years of undergrad, and 3 years of law school, you still haven't figured out how to bullshit your way through a bluebook during an essay exam, then you don't deserve to be a lawyer!" :-)

One 200-Q practice exam each weekend from now till the bar exam

2009-01-28T22:56:00.005-05:00

Finished up the 200 question practice MBE in the Strategies and Tactics book this weekend, then went over all the answers. I thought it was very helpful... So much so in fact, that I've decided to do a 200Q practice exam every weekend from now till the bar (That's 4 more practice exams)... I may not be able to get one in next weekend due to work travel, but that shouldn't be a problem since I only have two more practice exams that I am aware of. (The barbri simulated MBE and the PMBR one)... So maybe I'll end up spending those other 2 weekends doing MPT's and MEE's...

I've decided to focus more on the MPT than the MEE, simply because the MEE will most likely be 2-3 MBE subjects, so that leaves roughly 12%-16% of the entire bar exam on the MEE subjects, so the MPT being 25% should warrant roughly twice the study time... I am not going to give it twice the study time, but I will probably give it 50% more study time than the MEE subjects... And of course, I am going to focus my MEE subject study on the more probable topics to be tested...

1 month till the bar...

2009-01-24T08:27:00.006-05:00

Exactly 1 calendar month until the bar exam... I am going to begin MEE/MPT studying Monday... Up to this point, I've been 100% focused on MBE subjects... I have finished all the practice questions in Strategies and Tactics... That's 354 questions, which I completed in an average time of 1.5 minutes per question (fastest questions were Torts and Evidence which I finished in about 1.2 and 1.3 minutes per question, respectively... Slowest was Con Law, which I finished in 1.8 minutes per question) so time doesn't appear to be too big of an issue at this point...

This weekend, I am doing the 200-question practice MBE in Strategies and Tactics, as I plan to do a 3 hour timed session this morning of the AM portion of the exam (100 questions) and then go over the answers this afternoon, then do the same tomorrow with the PM portion... I hope to score, at a bare minimum, a 130 raw, with my target being a 150 raw score... This will be the first time I have done mixed-subject MBE questions...

Received confirmation from DC Bar Committee on Admissions

2009-01-12T16:34:00.002-05:00

I received a letter in the mail this weekend from the DC Court of Appeals Committee on Admissions. Basically, it was confirmation that my application was accepted for processing and they expect to mail my admission ticket and further details on Tuesday February 10, 2009. It also gave the testing location and time of the bar exam.

I'm glad I got something in the mail... It was nice to get a confirmation and details on when the admission ticket would be sent... Although they like to cut it close by sending out the ticket 2 weeks before the bar exam...

Just under 7 weeks till the bar

2009-01-07T16:12:00.003-05:00

I believe this is when most of the bar review courses start, with 7 weeks till the bar... I have done approx 300 PMBR Red Book questions across the 6 MBE subjects, as well as reviewed flash cards and Strategies and Tactics when I can... I've also been continuing to listen to the PMBR CDs when I am in my car... I must admit, I slowed down over the holidays, and after the new year, but I am ready to kick things off for the "final" 7 weeks till the bar... Unfortunately, my full-time job is becoming more demanding as time goes on and February will be a very busy month (go figure)...

Anyway, my immediate goal is to complete all of the practice questions in the Strategies and Tactics book. There are 354 questions total across all 6 MBE subjects, and all are released NCBE questions from previous bar exams... To date, I've only done PMBR sample questions so I'm curious to see the difference in the style/difficulty of the questions... Once I'm done, I plan to do the NCBE Annotated Preview 2006... My goal is to finish all 354 questions by next Friday, Jan 16th. I think that is possible, even though I am traveling on business 2 days next week...

I've been continuing to make notecards, but I don't have the time to review them as much as I'd like to... Con Law and Contracts are killing me... By FAR my worst two subjects... Property and Evidence are my best so far... I know this is somewhat backwards, so I'm hoping that Con Law "comes to me" at some point before the bar, because right now it's brutal...

Exactly 2 months till the bar & Interesting Comment

2008-12-24T09:46:00.005-05:00

I don't have too much to write about, other than I am doing 25-30 practice questions every day, reviewing my Strategies and Tactics book daily, as well as making and reviewing notecards daily too... My main focus is on property and evidence, big time... I feel pretty good, so not much too report... If I can keep up 25-30 questions per day, I will have done about 2000 practice questions come bar exam time... For each question, regardless if I got it right or wrong, I review the full answer to the question and make a note card if I don't fully understand the answer...

Anyway, I received an interesting comment today (It's a comment on the first post of this blog from an anonymous poster) which is published and I already responded to it but I wanted to make it a post as well, since most people probably don't subscribe to the comments...

Here's the comment from the anonymous poster:

"Hi Folks- I too did not pass my first round of the bar. I missed the passing Virginia score by a mere THREE points. As you can imagine, it was heartwrenching. The good news though is that I got a high enough score to not have to take the MBE again for DC. Im debating at this point whether or not to take the VA bar since I will most likely not need that state's particular license. Ahhh...decisions decisions. However, at this point I think I'll be taking DC.

So I read above that the MPT section is known as the "gimme." Thats wonderful news. Where did you guys here that? Is there any way to prepare for that? Also, do you all know where we can get the barbri essay books for dc? I dont think barbri sells them individually do they?

Good luck my friends...i feel your pain!"

And here's my response:

To Anonymous:

1a) Sorry to hear you did not pass on your first attempt. As for taking the DC bar instead of VA, it's up to you... If the MBE is your strong section, I'd recommend taking the ENTIRE DC bar, not just the essays, since DC averages the score of the MBE and Essays (each is weighted 50%)... So, if you do good on the MBE, you can do poorly on the essays and still pass (even just doing better on the MBE by 1 point above average can make the difference betweeen passing and failing the whole thing)... Virginia is the same way, except they weigh the essays more heavily, and they don't have an MPT (60% essay / 40% MBE). Remember, the essays on the DC bar are only 25% of your total score, as the MPT is the other 25%. So if you can do great on the MBE and MPT, then 75% of your score is good to go!

1b) Also, I thought you had to PASS another state's bar exam to use your MBE score on the DC bar exam? (i.e. - I didn't think you could NOT pass the VA bar, but still use your MBE score in DC)

1c) Have you not registered yet for the DC bar? The late deadline is Dec 31, so you better hurry! :-)

2) As far as the MPT goes, I wouldn't say it's a "gimmie", but it's probably the "easiest" since you don't need to memorize any law for it... Barbri has an MPT book, and there are a few other books out there on studying for it. Look at my list of materials I am using, I have the Rigos and micromash books for the MPT, as well as the newly released 2008 MPT questions.

3) There are no "DC Essay books" per se, since DC uses the MEE. All you need is any MEE book, such as barbri or Rigos. I'd also get the 2007 and 2008 actual MEE's from the NCBE.

4) Barbri DOES sell the books individually. Just call their office and they will give you the prices. However, I recommend ebay or craigslist to get the books used unless you have the extra cash to buy them brand new from barbri, but you'll save hundreds of dollars getting them used, and most of the time the used books are in like-new condition. All of the used books I bought had, literally, zero markings in them. They were for all effective purposes, brand new. And I saved thousands of dollars (but I bought tons of materials)...

Just over 2 months till the bar...

2008-12-17T00:09:00.006-05:00

When you exclude holidays, there's probably only about 60 days of studying left... If I get in 5 hours a day, that's 300 hours.... It's gonna be a photo finish :-)

I finished all 300 earlybird PMBR questions from all 6 MBE subjects, as well as read the strategies and tactics for all 6 subjects plus listened to all 32 PMBR MBE CDs I also made about 150 flash cards for questions I got wrong (yes, I averaged about 50% correct on the PMBR questions). So anyway, I feel like I'm ready to really start studying now... The plan is to do PMBR red book questions every day, along with flashcard review and make more flashcards for wrong answers. I also plan to continue to listen to the PMBR CDs whenever I have free time or am in my car, and also to continue to review the strategies and tactics book as much as possible.

Finally, I have set a date of mid-January to begin studying the MEE subjects... I wish I had audio lectures for those subjects: Trusts and Estates , Business Associations, Federal Civ Pro, Uniform Commercial Code, Family Law, and Conflict of Laws. But I'll just stick with the written materials I have for them... Since they are essay only, and won't be tested on the MBE, I am hoping I won't need to have such an in-depth knowledge of those subjects. (i.e. - No need for fine-line distinctions on the MEE)

I still don't feel anywhere close to ready for the exam, but hopefully when the time comes, I'll be 300 hours further in my studies... Next milestone is to take a 100-question practice MBE in between Christmas and New Year's and do well on it...

DC Bar Exam Application Instructions and Requirements

2008-12-12T11:46:00.005-05:00

After getting some emails and in-person questions about the DC bar exam, I figured I'd post my experiences with the application process and requirements to help others out. I hand-delivered my application to the Bar Examiner's office at the Courthouse in DC so I can confirm that my application was done correctly.

First and foremost, the application and the character and fitness are one in the same. It's the NCBE online application that's available at ncbex.org. You fill this out online, finalize the application, and print it out. (NOTE: The instructions say that it must be "typewritten", but simply printing out the completed online form is what they are looking for)

The DC Specific Forms (Filename: ExamInstructionsAndForms.pdf) are also required. Unless you have special testing requirements, you will only need 2 pages from these forms: 1) The BAR EXAMINATION TESTING REGISTRATION QUESTIONNAIRE, and 2) CERTIFICATE "A". Certificate "A" must be completed by your law school. Both of these DC Specific Forms may be handwritten. So, basically, there is no need for a typewriter for any of the DC Bar Exam Application.

Take your completed application (which will have 3 release forms and 1 attestation form) to a notary and get all 4 of those pages notorized. Then, make a photocopy of the entire thing. This is what is required when you submit your application. (NOTE: If you want any sort of "proof" or "receipt" of submission, then make ANOTHER photocopy of the entire application. They will stamp this copy "RECEIVED" and give it back to you as your proof of submission.)

Finally, for payment, you will need FOUR separate money orders. (NOTE: Be careful with certified checks, no form of payment that has an expiration date less than 1 year will be accepted by the DC Bar Examiners. My bank's certified/bank checks had a 90-day expiration so I had to get money orders instead.) So, I would recommend going to the post office and getting Money Orders from them. And remember, even though 3 of the checks are made payable to the same payee, the National Conference of Bar Examiners, they must all be separate. Do NOT combine them into one large money order.

The deadline without a late fee for the application is Monday Dec 15, 2008.

That's about it. Any questions, feel free to send me an email or leave a comment here on the blog.

I passed the November 2008 MPRE

2008-12-08T18:34:00.004-05:00

NCBE released the scores from the November 2008 MPRE today and I passed with a solid margin, scoring well into triple digits... I believe the free PMBR/Kaplan lecture + the multiple practice exams from the various sources was the key... Also, knowing and mentally preparing for the fact that the format of the current MPRE is simplified from the existing Barbri/PMBR/Micromash/Whatever practice questions out there now is probably the best advice I can give to anyone taking the exam... (As stated in my previous post http://dcbarexam.blogspot.com/2008/11/thoughts-on-november-2008-mpre-and.html)

To those of you that did not pass, or are taking it for the first time in March 2009, I recommend 1 week of study, comprising 8 hours of review of the outlines (1-2 days) and 4 practice exams of 50-60 questions each reviewing all answer explanations thoroughly (4-5 days). It may seem excessive, but the test is not as "easy" as everyone says unless you put in that effort, or have recently taken PR in law school...

79 days till the bar - 4 of 6 subjects preliminarily done

2008-12-07T10:03:00.004-05:00

Finished Real Property/Future Interests yesterday and started Evidence... I spent a long time on Property, as there is a lot there... I spent a good amount of time in the long outline books as well reading about mortgages and Future Interests, and the RAP. So, I probably spent more time than I needed to, but I feel like I have a good grasp of Property now, so I think it was time well spent. Moving onto evidence, I will probably spend a decent amount of time on this subject as well because it's so rule-based and I think if one can just brute force memorize as much of the FRE as possible, success on the MBE should follow... My goal is still to finish this initial effort of all 6 subjects by this Friday... I'm traveling on business 3 days this week, but I'll be studying on the plane, etc...

I've been making about 50 flashcards per subject so far... A good start... Once I finish this preliminary effort I think I'll do the PMBR red book questions, setting a minimum of 50 per day, max of 100 per day. Probably do that for a few weeks, then in early January take a simulated MBE (probably the barbri one), and go back to PMBR red book questions for another few weeks, and repeat...

I really wish there was a source of sample questions out there that was newer and more reflective of the new styl e of MBE questions... The PMBR and BarBri questions do not appear to have been changed AT ALL in the past 5 years :-\

85 days till the bar - 50% done with preliminary studying

2008-11-30T18:07:00.003-05:00

OK, so I did not hit my goal of finishing the 300 PMBR earlybird questions in all 6 MBE subjects and all 32 PMBR CDs of the 6 MBE subjects. I've done Con Law, Crim Law/Crim Pro, and Torts. So, 1/2 the lectures and 1/2 the questions. The reason it has taken me a bit longer, is I've been making notecards for almost every PMBR earlybird question. Also, I am reading the Strategies and Tactics book section every day for the subject I am working on that day. My new goal is to have the next 3 subjects done by December 15th. Full-time work and travel also interferes with my study time, as do holidays such as Thanksgiving :)

100 days till the bar

2008-11-17T14:24:00.004-05:00

So with 100 days until the bar exam I think this is a good time to kick into effect my study plan... I am going to start with a sit down and outline of all 32 PMBR audio lecture CDs. These CDs cover all 6 MBE subjects. I am going to do them in alphabetical order, so:

Constitutional Law
Contracts
Criminal Law/Pro
Evidence
Property
Torts

After this, I'm going to hammer through all of the PMBR Earlybird questions (~50 questions per subject, so ~300 questions total). I think this should be sufficient to get my legal juices flowing, so to speak... I also plan to listen to the PMBR lectures randomly in my car anytime I am in my car (8-10 hours a week), and also anytime I am at the gym (4-5 hours a week)...

I'll report back when I've finished listening to all the CDs and gotten all the earlybird questions done and reviewed... I hope to have this done by the end of the month, so that will be about 3 months until the bar exam, which is when I hope to have my study schedule 100% finalized.

Thoughts on the November 2008 MPRE and recent changes

2008-11-11T15:03:00.003-05:00

I realized there were some distinct changes to the MPRE from all of the sample tests I did... I did some digging around and found this document on the NCBE website:

http://www.ncbex.org/uploads/user_docrepos/770308_donahue.pdf

Apparently, the test writers over at the NCBE are trying to make multple choices more straightforward and have eliminated "none of the above" or "all of the above" choices! Further, they have elimilated the “K-type” format (using Roman numerals in complex options—e.g., I is true, but II and III are not true). NONE of these are on the MPRE anymore...

For more details, read the article in the URL I posted above and keep that in mind when doing practice questions as you no longer need to learn strategies for K-type questions and so forth...

Personally, I liked the new format and thought it was very straightforward, this might explain why I finished it faster than any of the practice exams.

Finally, keep in mind these changes appear to apply to the MBE, so the Feb 2009 MBE should be along the same lines...

Took the MPRE today

2008-11-08T16:39:00.003-05:00

Think I did pretty well... The test started at 9:50AM... I got there at 8:50AM... It was supposed to start at 9AM. Waited about 15 minutes in line to get my seat assignment.

Test was straightforward, many of the questions were very similar to the practice exams I did... I like PMBR/Kaplan the best, then Bar/Bri, followed by NCBE's free sample questions, then Baroutlines last... Baroutlines was decent, but the sample tests in Baroutlines were terrible and many questions copied directly from the sample questions on the NCBE website, plus there were a bunch of typos, and some questions/answers were incomprehensible with terrible typos.

Anyway, I did about 5 practice exams total, only 1 did I time in a simulated 125 minute fashion and do straight through... The rest I did in blocks of 30 questions at a time... I tended to take about 70 seconds per question, so the exams took me about 1 hour 15 minutes to about 1.5 hours total... The actual MPRE today only took me about an hour (I really cruised through it) but I slowed down a bit at the end, and reviewed 4 questions I couldn't decide on during the exam. In total I spent 1 hour 20 minutes, including the questions about the testing center facilities.

There were about 10 questions on the exam that were VERY tricky, I am not confident in those answers, and I am really hoping they were the 10 experimental questions! :-)

MPRE or bust

2008-11-05T13:31:00.003-05:00

This Saturday at 9AM is the MPRE. I know people say it's a joke, but I am taking it seriously... I finished up the Kaplan/PMBR MPRE self-study materials, and also the baroutlines.com materials. I am going to take the sample tests today for both of those, then finish off with the Bar/Bri course book Thursday and Friday in final preparation. On the 25 question quizzes that PMBR has, I have been scoring a little above 70% consistently, which is what they say you should aim for, but I'd like to get in the 80-90% range to really feel comfortable... I will probably also review the MRPC and CJC one more time, especially the 2007 changes to the CJC...

Started studying for the 08-NOV-2008 MPRE today

2008-10-19T13:38:00.004-04:00

OK, so it's a bit early, but I never took Professional Responsibility (PR), and I have a busy week the week before and week of the November MPRE, so I figured I'd start perusing the MPRE materials now and officially begin my studying for the MPRE. It's just under 3 weeks till the test...

Here are the materials I plan to use studying for the 8-NOV-2008 MPRE:
1) Kaplan/PMBR MPRE (2008) (Free with online code available to almost anyone, $199 otherwise)
2) BarBri MPRE Green Book (2008) (Free if you sign up for BarBri Bar Review, I got mine used for a few dollars)
3) Baroutlines.com MPRE ($25)
4) NCBEX Sample MPRE Questions (Free to everyone)
5) Ameribar MPRE (Free to everyone)

I spent 4 hours today listening to the Kaplan/PMBR MPRE Online Lecture given by Steven Bracci and at the same time reading the printed Kaplan/PMBR MPRE Outline I received in the mail from Kaplan/PMBR. I also had a copy of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (MRPC) and the Model Code of Judicial Conduct (CJC) open in my web browser to refer to. The MRPC are available online at: http://www.abanet.org/cpr/mrpc/mrpc_toc.html and the CJC is available online at: http://www.abanet.org/judicialethics/ABA_MCJC_approved.pdf

The lecture is good, and a great way to get familiar with the Model Rules. Steven Bracci is a good lecturer in that he does not put you to sleep. I think it was a good first step in studying for the MPRE...

Washington DC February 2009 Bar Exam - 100% Self Study - Welcome Post

2008-10-01T01:49:00.003-04:00

Welcome... The purpose of this blog is to share tips, strategies, tactics, and information about the upcoming Washington D.C. February 2009 bar exam. Anyone who has taken, or is planning to take the DC bar exam will hopefully find contribute in the comments and find value in this blog.

Quick background on myself, I graduated law school about 8 years ago, and am taking the bar exam simply to be bar certified. I embarked on a different career during my last year of law school and have not looked back, so I am not planning to switch careers now (I currently work in negotiations, not in a legal capacity) but want to take the DC Bar exam now while my workload is not too heavy. I work full-time and will not be taking any time off to study. Only 2-days to actually take the exam.

Now, on to the materials I will be using. Most of these I purchased used locally... I am going to use only self-study means, so no in-class lectures. I have purchased the following materials:

PMBR - Earlybird
PMBR - Red Book
PMBR - Blue Book
PMBR - 32-CD Audio Lectures
BarBri - MEE Review Book
BarBri - Simulated MBE Book
BarBri - Conviser mini-review Book
MicroMash - MBE Books (Condensed Outline, Reference Vol I & II)
MicroMash - MEE Books (Reference Vol I & II)
MicroMash - MPT Book
Rigos Bar Review Series (Emanuel) - MEE Book
Rigos Bar Review Series (Emanuel) - MPT Book
Waton (Emanuel) - Strategies and Tactics for the MBE (2006)
Baroutlines.com - MPRE + Audio Lectures
Baroutlines.com - MBE + Audio Lectures
NCBE - All Released MPTs
NBCE - All Released MEEs
NBCE - Annotated Preview 2006
NBCE - All free outlines/subject matter outlines/practice questions

I am going on vacation tomorrow for the next 10 days, but when I get back I am starting my official study schedule as I am very rusty on all the subjects that will be tested on the bar. Honestly, rusty is putting it too lightly as I have not done anything law related in almost a decade... I will post my plan for studying for the bar exam when I am back from vacation.

Also, I am registered to take the MPRE this November. So, if anyone is taking the MPRE and wants to chat about that, I'm game. For the MPRE I have the following:

Barbri - MPRE book
baroutlines.com - MPRE
NBCE - Outlines/practice questions

Everyone tells me how easy the MPRE is but still, I cannot help but be apprehensive... I plan to spend 1 week studying for the MPRE, hopefully that's not overstudying...