I received a letter from the D.C. Court of Appeals confirming that they have my application, which is a good thing.
It was very annoying that they didn't issue a receipt. What court takes money from you and doesn't give you a receipt? In my home state, when I applied last March the bar examiner office gave a receipt acknowledging that they got my application (I hand delivered there like I did here) and that they got my money.
Here in D.C., I got nothing but a bunch of crap answers. I asked "So what happens if someone loses my application between now (early December) and when admission tickets are sent out?" All I got was a shrug. Nice system. How about you give the person at the desk a receipt pad and a pen and have them write up something. After all, it isn't like D.C. gets thousands of applicants taking the exam (it is usually around 300!).
BarBri is nearly here. It will be good to get it going, but at the same time, that makes it seem more "real"- the bar exam is imminent.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Interesting comparison
I was digging through some of my bar prep stuff from this past summer and came across my PMBR 6-day scoring sheets:
May 2007
Torts 20/50
Con Law 22/50
Crim Law 16/50
Evidence 15/50
Contracts 20/50
Property 18/50
Interesting to see how much lower I scored then compared to now (except for those damn Torts questions...nearly the same!). Good to know that I am thinking like an MBE taker more (I know I sure wasn't last May).
Seems my cold has hung on a bit more than I thought it would...need to rest up and get rid of it as studying begins in earnest later this week.
May 2007
Torts 20/50
Con Law 22/50
Crim Law 16/50
Evidence 15/50
Contracts 20/50
Property 18/50
Interesting to see how much lower I scored then compared to now (except for those damn Torts questions...nearly the same!). Good to know that I am thinking like an MBE taker more (I know I sure wasn't last May).
Seems my cold has hung on a bit more than I thought it would...need to rest up and get rid of it as studying begins in earnest later this week.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Holidays
Seems like my cold is on the way out, which is good. Christmas weekend was fun. Well, except for the fact that I had PMBR on both Saturday and Sunday during the day. After that- good times with family and friends.
I came through PMBR with better information compared to May 2007 when I took it. I guess it is just like a class- different lecturers make a difference. I fared pretty well in rest of my questions:
Crim Law/Pro: 25/50
Evidence: 24/50
Contracts: 24/50
Property: 27/50
although a few of the topics definitely felt more difficult and reminded me that I have some refreshing to do (Contracts, Property and Evidence). I handwrote my notes, to get working on the training for writing my DC exam in February. This is going to stink...my writing is not good and it is hard to write quickly (as when you are freaking out and trying to write a like like on a bar exam) but still write legibly. I'll have to make it a point to remind myself to take it a bit slower to focus on readability.
I feel like I was able to recall many of the nuances and tricks that some of the questions are trying to exploit. Hopefully this will give me a better base this time around.
BarBri starts on January 3rd- which is coming up fast. Wow.
I came through PMBR with better information compared to May 2007 when I took it. I guess it is just like a class- different lecturers make a difference. I fared pretty well in rest of my questions:
Crim Law/Pro: 25/50
Evidence: 24/50
Contracts: 24/50
Property: 27/50
although a few of the topics definitely felt more difficult and reminded me that I have some refreshing to do (Contracts, Property and Evidence). I handwrote my notes, to get working on the training for writing my DC exam in February. This is going to stink...my writing is not good and it is hard to write quickly (as when you are freaking out and trying to write a like like on a bar exam) but still write legibly. I'll have to make it a point to remind myself to take it a bit slower to focus on readability.
I feel like I was able to recall many of the nuances and tricks that some of the questions are trying to exploit. Hopefully this will give me a better base this time around.
BarBri starts on January 3rd- which is coming up fast. Wow.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Fighting a cold
I feel a cold coming on. I guess it is better to get one and get it out of the system now instead of later.
PMBR is wearing me down this week. Working all day and then heading to class for 3+ hours is tiring. I wish I had a helicopter so I could be flown home instead of waiting for the metro...it takes a while for me to make it home which makes for a long day. Even though I was exhausted yesterday, I managed to get my best score so far on the PMBR questions...31/50. Definitely a good start on Con Law.
I met someone at PMBR last night that is going to be taking the D.C. in February as well...good to know at least one person! It is definitely a different feeling not really knowing anyone out here. I was never a huge study group person in law school, but come crunch time, I did review some things with a close friend or two. This held true for the July 2007 bar as well. I studied with one person, but it was more like helping each other polish up different topics. It would be nice to know a few people taking D.C. as well since the essay topics (MEE) are different from my July exam.
As I mentioned in my last post, my percentage correct on the Studysmart software is looking good so far (73% correct). Last summer, I think I only had around 56% correct or something close to that and I finished within a few points of that on the July MBE, which wasn't as high as I need. I think something in the low 60s to low 70s will mean I'm in a better position for the February MBE.
PMBR is wearing me down this week. Working all day and then heading to class for 3+ hours is tiring. I wish I had a helicopter so I could be flown home instead of waiting for the metro...it takes a while for me to make it home which makes for a long day. Even though I was exhausted yesterday, I managed to get my best score so far on the PMBR questions...31/50. Definitely a good start on Con Law.
I met someone at PMBR last night that is going to be taking the D.C. in February as well...good to know at least one person! It is definitely a different feeling not really knowing anyone out here. I was never a huge study group person in law school, but come crunch time, I did review some things with a close friend or two. This held true for the July 2007 bar as well. I studied with one person, but it was more like helping each other polish up different topics. It would be nice to know a few people taking D.C. as well since the essay topics (MEE) are different from my July exam.
As I mentioned in my last post, my percentage correct on the Studysmart software is looking good so far (73% correct). Last summer, I think I only had around 56% correct or something close to that and I finished within a few points of that on the July MBE, which wasn't as high as I need. I think something in the low 60s to low 70s will mean I'm in a better position for the February MBE.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Shaking the dust off
So far I feel like I am trying to shake a medium layer of dust off of my MBE thinking.
In PMBR last night, the Torts questions weren't super great (I got 21/50) which is supposed to be in the average range. There were quite a few (at least 10-12) where I had it down to two answers and just picked the wrong one. PMBR really throws tricks in these questions so at least I am on track.
In the BarBri Studysmart software, I've done 40 questions (mostly intro level) and have 26 (65%) correct so far, which is good as that was one of my weaker subjects last summer.
As a primer for Crim Law at PMBR tonight, I did 30 Crim Law/Pro questions today and have 25/30, which is still solid (that was my best subject in practice last summer). My Crim Law/Pro profs in law school were awesome and it has helped that I had Crim Pro in my last semester in the spring of 07.
We'll see when Contracts and Property questions start to materialize...parts of those topics were definitely tough for me.
In PMBR last night, the Torts questions weren't super great (I got 21/50) which is supposed to be in the average range. There were quite a few (at least 10-12) where I had it down to two answers and just picked the wrong one. PMBR really throws tricks in these questions so at least I am on track.
In the BarBri Studysmart software, I've done 40 questions (mostly intro level) and have 26 (65%) correct so far, which is good as that was one of my weaker subjects last summer.
As a primer for Crim Law at PMBR tonight, I did 30 Crim Law/Pro questions today and have 25/30, which is still solid (that was my best subject in practice last summer). My Crim Law/Pro profs in law school were awesome and it has helped that I had Crim Pro in my last semester in the spring of 07.
We'll see when Contracts and Property questions start to materialize...parts of those topics were definitely tough for me.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
And so it begins
So I feel like things are really going to start in earnest this week. I'm attending the PMBR lectures again and the first one is tonight. I do recall them being a bit boring, but I thought it was helpful so it can't hurt to do it again.
I've been listening to the PMBR cd's as I ride the metro to/from work and do recall a fair amount of the information I've been hearing. It will be interesting to see how I score on the PMBR questions each day for the next six days. Yesterday I took the diagnostic quiz in the Jeff Adachi book "MBE Survival Kit" and got 8/14. I also did 10 torts questions (easy level) on the BarBri StudySmart software (since torts is the first PMBR topic during the 6-day) and got 7/10. That was a good start.
I've been listening to the PMBR cd's as I ride the metro to/from work and do recall a fair amount of the information I've been hearing. It will be interesting to see how I score on the PMBR questions each day for the next six days. Yesterday I took the diagnostic quiz in the Jeff Adachi book "MBE Survival Kit" and got 8/14. I also did 10 torts questions (easy level) on the BarBri StudySmart software (since torts is the first PMBR topic during the 6-day) and got 7/10. That was a good start.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Key information
I just learned something about the DC bar exam that is useful...
For some reason, I thought one needed to get a minimum of 133 on each half of the exam (MBE and essays) to make the required 266 passing score. Instead, when you take the entire exam at the same time (both the MBE and essays) you can get the 266 by any combination (e.g., a 130 on the MBE and a 136 on the essays). This is good news, considering that my July 07 MBE scaled score was only a 126. Considering that DC uses two MPTs, I feel good about this as they total 25% of the overall score (the other 6 essays are only 25%) because I think the MPT is quite manageable. No doubt the MBE will again pose a stiff challenge for me.
As part of my new plan for the upcoming second (and final!) attempt at the MBE in February, I've purchased a couple of books on MBE strategy after reading about them in some other blogs and various online sources:
-Mastering the Multistate Bar Exam, by John Talamo
-MBE Survival Kit, by Jeff Adachi
and an overall guide
-Bar Exam Survival Kit, by Jeff Adachi
I think I've determined that, while I feel I did an adequate number of MBE questions (~1500) I didn't spend enough time learning the law behind the correct and incorrect answers. I'm going to focus on distinguishing (as Talamo outlines) learning with MBE questions and practicing with MBE questions. I'll learn correct/incorrect law by going over MBE questions slower with the answer/explanation. I'll practice some sets of questions in timed lots.
I didn't have a problem with finishing MBE questions in a timely manner- my average time on the BarBri Studysmart software was right around one minute per question and I was able to complete each half of the July 07 MBE with about 10 minutes to spare. I do think that I wasn't getting enough of the questions correct. From Studysmart, my overall percentage correct was around 57%, which I know I need to improve this time around- more law for me to raise my MBE score.
For some reason, I thought one needed to get a minimum of 133 on each half of the exam (MBE and essays) to make the required 266 passing score. Instead, when you take the entire exam at the same time (both the MBE and essays) you can get the 266 by any combination (e.g., a 130 on the MBE and a 136 on the essays). This is good news, considering that my July 07 MBE scaled score was only a 126. Considering that DC uses two MPTs, I feel good about this as they total 25% of the overall score (the other 6 essays are only 25%) because I think the MPT is quite manageable. No doubt the MBE will again pose a stiff challenge for me.
As part of my new plan for the upcoming second (and final!) attempt at the MBE in February, I've purchased a couple of books on MBE strategy after reading about them in some other blogs and various online sources:
-Mastering the Multistate Bar Exam, by John Talamo
-MBE Survival Kit, by Jeff Adachi
and an overall guide
-Bar Exam Survival Kit, by Jeff Adachi
I think I've determined that, while I feel I did an adequate number of MBE questions (~1500) I didn't spend enough time learning the law behind the correct and incorrect answers. I'm going to focus on distinguishing (as Talamo outlines) learning with MBE questions and practicing with MBE questions. I'll learn correct/incorrect law by going over MBE questions slower with the answer/explanation. I'll practice some sets of questions in timed lots.
I didn't have a problem with finishing MBE questions in a timely manner- my average time on the BarBri Studysmart software was right around one minute per question and I was able to complete each half of the July 07 MBE with about 10 minutes to spare. I do think that I wasn't getting enough of the questions correct. From Studysmart, my overall percentage correct was around 57%, which I know I need to improve this time around- more law for me to raise my MBE score.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
I've found much solace in blog posts from other people that have failed the bar exam. I figured it would be interesting to create my own for the second go at things.
I failed the bar exam of a midwestern state narrowly (by one MBE question or one higher point on an essay) which was very frustrating. I've since relocated to D.C. and I'm taking the bar exam here in February 2008.
It is hard to believe that this whole bar study mode is about to start again. It was a very long process during the summer of 2007. I took BarBri (went to all the classes), and both the 6 and 3-day PMBR classes.
Not seeing my number posted with the other successful examinees this past fall was very difficult. I drank heavily that day. I've since put that behind me and look to this February where I know things will be different.
So the story begins...
I failed the bar exam of a midwestern state narrowly (by one MBE question or one higher point on an essay) which was very frustrating. I've since relocated to D.C. and I'm taking the bar exam here in February 2008.
It is hard to believe that this whole bar study mode is about to start again. It was a very long process during the summer of 2007. I took BarBri (went to all the classes), and both the 6 and 3-day PMBR classes.
Not seeing my number posted with the other successful examinees this past fall was very difficult. I drank heavily that day. I've since put that behind me and look to this February where I know things will be different.
So the story begins...
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