MBE Preview Day 4

I'm blogging late about yesterday's experience.  Yesterday was the 100 question practice test.  I did not go take it at the BarBri site, but I did take it under test conditions.  I got up and started at 8am and set the timer on my phone to go off at 11.  I had to go somewhere yesterday afternoon so staying in Dallas until 12 was not an option.

I finished the test with about 40 minutes left.  I started going through my answers and did really good of the first 50 questions.  The next 25 questions were not so hot, and then I rallied at the end for the best 25 questions of the exam.  I ended the 100 question practice with a 73 which is much better than I got the first time I took BarBri.

I feel like BarBri AMP really did help because some of the questions I got right were because I remembered the point of law from BarBri.

Monday should be interesting.  I might do some of it tomorrow after all the New Years celebrating is done.

Good luck studying everyone!

MBE Preview Day 3

Today class went alright.  Class started out annoying because a girl came to class sick.  She said she has been sick since Thanksgiving.  I wanted to ask why the hell she came to class sick.  I don't have time to get sick and her being there is spreading her sicky germs to everyone else.  Now I know how important bar prep is, but everything is available online and on the Iphone/Ipod Touch.  

I got sick twice during my first round of BarBri, and I respected my fellow students and didn't show up to class.  If you get sick during bar prep do everything a favor and do class online instead of making everyone sick.

Today we covered Evidence and Constitutional.  The DVD was jumpy again.  I found that BarBri AMP (for all my complaining) actually helped.  I hadn't finished Evidence when I took the 25 question evidence set and it seemed apparent that I didn't know as much evidence as I knew from the previous topics.  

I finished BarBri AMP for Evidence today.  The Evidence section had some issues with formatting and one section gave all of the questions at once.  If you are following the paced program you will notice that until you finish all the BarBri AMP stuff (and check it off) you will be significantly behind in your bar prep.  

I know most of the bar students are highly caffeinated and I have a tip for getting some free coffee/tea.  If you have a Starbuck's gift card you should register it.  Once you have used it five times you will get free same visit refills on your coffee or tea.  With how long you are potentially going to spend in Starbuck's this might save a nice chunk of change. 

Good luck studying everyone!

MBE Preview Day 2

I didn't blog yesterday because I got a really bad migraine after class, so I am going to blog about yesterday's class before class today.

Yesterday in the MBE preview we covered Property and Contracts.  I did pretty well in both these subjects.  Chuck, the lecturer was a pretty good lecturer for the most part.  However, he gave a wrong answer during Property.  Question 25 for property we was talking about lateral and subjacent support from your neighbors.  The question regarded a structure collapsing and damaging chattel.  Artificial structures require negligence to recover and then if the land is in a natural state you can recover under strict liability.  It seemed pretty clear from his explanation that the correct answer was D which covered both the negligence and strict liability answers.  B and C each had just one part of it, but he said C was the right answer.  There were many confused looks around the class.  I  looked in the back of the book and the book says that the answer is D.

One girl in the class said for as much as she was paying for these videos she was not too terribly impressed.  DVDs that skip and now a lecturer getting a question incorrect.

After Property was Contracts and many in the class left.  I will admit that I did not miss many in Contracts and it was like going to the dentist for a root canal staying.  I am glad I did because the lecturer did give some good advice on Contracts.

When I got home I worked on finishing the BarBri AMP evidence and then got my migraine so what I did for myself last night was take it easy.

It is time for me to head to class today.  Good luck studying everyone!    

BarBri MBE Preview Day 1

So class started today.  I got there at 8:30 for registration and saw lots of people from summer bar prep.  We also waited around for anything to start until 10am.  Why did I get there so early?  It was pretty pointless to just sit around and wait.

So we watched Mike Sims give his pep talk for an hour today.  It seemed like it was supposed to be geared towards the winter bar takers, but our outline book is this yellowish color not black.  Also, BarBri has cut 6 hours of bar prep out.  No longer are their class lectures on Tax and Bankruptcy.  This made me a little sad as I love tax and bankruptcy (I know I know most attorneys and law students hate those topics).

After Mike Sims we took a 25 question Torts practice and then watched the lecture on it.  I did pretty well on the practice which made me feel like I'm actually remembering things.  The lecture was a bit jumpy because their were problems with the DVD.

I met a St. Mary's law student for lunch across the street from the hotel where bar prep is going on and ended up being about 5 minutes late to the second part of the day.  It was okay though because I was able to finish my 25 question Criminal Law set.  The lecture on this one was so bad that I asked the proctor if there was another DVD.  His response was that there were no guarantees that the other DVD would be better than the one that was already playing.  It was so bad that people started to leave.  I felt like I should stay so I wouldn't already be behind in the Paced Program.  He finally switched DVDs when the lecture just stopped.  The alternate DVD was still skipping but much better than the pervious one.

So today I took a little bit of time for myself and went to the gym.  I would like to encourage all the bar takers to remember to take care of yourself and do something for yourself each day during bar prep so you don't go completely crazy.

Good luck studying everyone!

BarBri Starts today

Well, it has definatly been awhile since I have blogged.  Barbri starts today, and I must say I don't want to go bed seem so much more comfortable.  But alas I am awake and just about ready.  An update on BarBri AMP, I did finish most of it.  I still have a section of Evidence, but since Evidence is near the end of this week I should be fine.

Good luck everyone starting today!

BarBri AMP Criminal Procedure

The Search and Seizure section of Criminal Procedure is not following the pattern of all the other BarBri AMP things I have done.  The rest have given 8 questions at a time.  This one gave all 34 questions at once.  I prefer the 8 questions at a time because it broke the material up and gave me time to take breaks on my self paced study.

So problems with BarBri AMP so far:

1.  Things are misspelled
2.  Getting 34 questions at once instead of 8 at a time
3.  More to come??

BarBri AMP Crim Law

I didn't post yesterday even though I did some more of BarBri AMP.  I finished the Criminal Law and still have the Criminal procedure set to do before I can say I am done with Criminal law.

I think it is interesting that I am getting billing statements from BarBri.  I don't owe anything because if you fail the bar you get the course for free if you are trying in the same state again.  I did have to pay a refundable book deposit.  I do wonder if you got a new outline book if you didn't pay the deposit.  If anyone did not opt for new books and knows the answer to this please let me know.

I haven't studied today because I have been running around trying to get everything done before the holidays.  I also had to get to the vet for my dog because she needed her vaccines.  I should probably hop to it and get my studying done.  I feel like there is a bunch left to do before the class starts.

Barbri AMP property

Today I did the property portion of Barbri AMP.  It took forever!  I have found that when working on the BarBri AMP stuff near the end I am just looking for the correct answer.  I think it would actually show if I learned something if the answers were different or they had different questions.  Just changing the order of the answers doesn't really make me learn anything.

I am hoping to finish the 3 hours of lectures I have left today and tomorrow.  I think I will do one of the 3 hour sets of BarBri AMP tomorrow as well.  I am just not ready to tackle Evidence.  It was my best subject on both the Multi State section and the essays.  I am just not in the mood for trying to recall all of the rules.  It doesn't help that the lectures I have left are 1 hour of Constitutional Law and 2 hours of Evidence.

I have asked one of my friends to co-blog (is that a word?) with me.  I think it would be nice to get someone else's thoughts about retaking the bar exam.  After all part of the purpose of this blog was to show that people do retake the bar and start a discussion about it.  Not sure if people are discussing retaking the bar, but writing after I have spent time studying has been pretty therapeutic for me.

Good luck studying today!

BarBri Books

Just a quick update.  No I did not listen to my last 3 hours of lectures in the car yesterday, but my big box of books came.  This box feels heavier than the other one even though I know it weighs the same.  I'll post more later today (hopefully).

Barbri AMP Property

Two blogs in one day for me...I must be on a roll, or just posted yesterday's blog this morning.  I finished BarBri AMP for property.  I must say there was quite a bit that I didn't understand what was being asked. I was right with my assumption that it would take me over the 4 estimated hours to do Property.  I do however feel like I am in a better place for Property to start out with.  I will probably review my big outline before I go to the Step 2 class though.  

I remembered that in the Torts AMP questions there was a mistake in the spelling of an answer.  They spelled "does" as "eoes".  That confused me, and PS it is the correct answer for that question.

Well, I am pretty brain dead right now, so I am signing off.  Hope everyone had a productive day!

Crim Law and Torts

Well, I have been traveling so it has been much harder to study and update.  I did find the Step 1 lectures are the same as the ones I was listening to earlier which did give me a little relief.  In the car, I regaled my road trip buddy with two hours of crim law lectures.  My friend said that it sounds like criminal law is just a bunch of semantics on the multi-state.  That made me laugh.

My flash cards from Kaplan got some use too.  Although the flash cards can't be mixed up they are good for reviewing if you are in the car (and don't get car sick reading).  I am feeling much better about Torts now than when I started the AMP program.  I need to pick what section to do next.  I am thinking it is time for property.  I have a feeling property is going to take longer than Barbri's estimated 4 hours for me.  I still have 3 more hours of lectures to listen to and lucky enough for me I have a 4 hour car trip tomorrow.

I hope everyone is studying well!!

BarBri AMP...lets AMP it up with bar prep

So I guess bar prep is now going in full force.  Yesterday I received an email about the new step 1 from BarBri.  It is called Barbri AMP.  AMP stands for accelerated memory performance.  I am kinda liking it because you answer a bunch of questions on various topics until you get them right.  It seems daunting that the estimated time from Barbri is 30 hours.  I am a bit disappointed that AMP is not available on the app.  The lectures I was listening to are available again, but I do not know if they are the same ones I was working with earlier or if I need to listen to them over again.  I will probably listen to them over again (as it seems some things are still not sticking).

I started BarBri AMP last night by working on Torts.  Torts is supposed to take approximately 5 hours, and I think that will be close to the time that it will take.  I have completed 4 of the 6 Torts sections, and plan to finish the last 2 Torts sections when I am done blogging.  I probably should have listened to the 2 hour lecture before working on the AMP part, but whatever.  I'll listen to it (if it's not the one I've already listened to) after I finish the 2 sections.  I think for the rest I'll start by listening to the lecture.

I do not understand why the Barbri app has lectures available but the Barbri website does not have lectures.  My 35 pound box of books also shipped today.  Good luck to everyone who is studying.  Remember to stay on top of it!  Time for me to finish torts.

Barprep (or lack thereof)

Well it has been a few days since I last posted.  Bar review has kinda stood still for the last couple of days.  It also doesn't help that I can't access step 1 lectures from BarBri any more.  The course schedule has been posted though.  I like how this one is organized better than the one for the summer.  

So what have I been doing for the last couple of days?  I went on a family vacation to Vegas.  I'm 25 and had never gambled before.  I won $80 on a penny slot machine.  I am glad that class doesn't start until after Christmas but a little nervous that the bar exam is in 3 months and 3 days.  Starting tomorrow I pick back up on reviewing before bar prep starts.

Hope all my readers had a good holiday and if you aren't in the US (I'm looking at all the Russian readers) I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

Landlord tenant law you are so boring

Today's lovely topic was landlord tenant law.  It went pretty well and I'm pretty sure my problem issue in property is (drum roll please) future interests (is that really any surprise).  Since property is pretty boring, and I am pretty tired I won't bore anyone (including myself) with the details of today's study session except to say that listening to the BarBri lecture was torture.  I'm super excited about reviewing my property outlines for tomorrow.

I did have lunch with one of my friends who passed the bar today.  I am happy to say I have reached the point where I can feel happy for my friends who did pass.  I was told that I have a better outlook than many people in my situation.

Which brings me to the topic of why blog about retaking the bar exam.  To be frank, not many people seem to discuss retaking the bar.  It was almost a taboo topic at my law school.  I know that my graduating class had almost 20 people fail the bar, so I know I am not alone.  I was surprised to find that the topic wasn't discussed much.  Bar prep in general is discussed quite a bit, and I remember several lectures from the deans of my law school talking about how important passing the first time is, but what about those who don't pass the first time.

I did law school out of state, and I know that the people who failed the bar in the state I went to law school in received emails from the school about how to pass on the next try.  I have yet to receive any thing like that from my school (even though we had at least 4 fail the Texas bar exam).  In short if you are reading this and are retaking, you are not alone.

Torts, Property, Con Law

So, I got bad about updating this, but never fear, I have been studying.  With Torts I finished negligence.  Gotta love working with duty, breach, causation, harm (damages) again.  The second half of the Barbri lecture finished out breach an covered causation and harm.  It has been since I was last in Barbri that I focused on proximate cause.  I'm a little relieved that I still remember the causation rules.  The lecture also covered everyone's favorite rule in torts the eggshell skull plaintiff.  I was surprised at how many cases were referred to in the torts lecture.  I found that I didn't remember the cases by the names, but when the facts of each case were told, I was drawn back to those horrible memories of first year and being on call.  I think I'm set to start BarBri in torts, but I will keep reviewing my Kaplan flashcards and my outlines.

This week is a Property and Constitutional Law week.  I remember last time in bar prep after the practice MBE during the question by question lecture being told that I knew too much about obscene speech by the video.  It is funny what parts of Constitutional Law stuck with me through law school.  I have quite a bit of work to do with Property.  I didn't really do well in Property during law school and it was consistently a weak subject for me during last bar review.  It isn't surprising that I didn't do well with it during the bar exam.  It was also my weakest essay subject.

Well, it is bed time.  Hopefully I will be better about updating this week than I was last week.

Torts, Torts, Tarts, Torts

Yesterday's post didn't actually post.  I tried making a post on my Iphone and it had an error.  So today there will be more than one post.

Yesterday I worked on reviewing the intentional torts.  I am surprised at how much I remember from the last go around since I did so poorly on torts.  This makes me think that my problem was with negligence.  As I was reviewing the Barbri outline I saw that there are a ton of questions on negligence.  Today is a negligence review day for me, so hopefully it won't be too scary.  I was wondering yesterday if the reason I had so much trouble with torts on the bar was that my school only required Torts 1 which covered just intentional torts.  We didn't even cover all of the intentional torts in the class.  Oh well, torts are just elements.  I look forward to today with the reasonably prudent person in same or similar circumstances.

Day 2

I decided to start studying today.  Studying for the bar this time seems a little less daunting for several reasons.  I've already taken the exam and I know what part I did poorly on and even more specifically I know what parts of law I need to work on the most (can you say MBE Torts and Property).  I downloaded the free KaplanPMBR flashcard app for my phone.  I was shocked that a bar prep company was giving away something so useful for free.  So today is full of reviewing Torts.  I think my issue with Torts was that I didn't know the elements of each tort well enough.  With property, well, my property teacher wasn't that good and I knew I was struggling in property going into the first exam.

Day 1

Bar results came out for Texas on Thursday (a day early according to all the stuff that was sent). My name did not appear on the pass list, so after some crying I had to figure out what was next. I was given some good advice about my situation. It is not the end of the world. I spent the weekend a bit mopey, but my best friend (who failed in a different state) came down and we drank. I also decided to attempt blogging about restudying and retaking the bar exam to try and help me stay sane. So now Monday after I found out I failed the bar exam I have re-enrolled in BarBri, and and finishing up my reapplication for the bar exam. It is a much shorter application this time. On Friday I did get a letter from the state bar that told me how I did, and come to find out I royally messed up the MBE section. So today's to do list: 1) Go find a notary and get my reapplication out in the mail; 2) Send the letter into BarBri so I get my retake class for free.