I Remember The Bar Exam

  • Law

The bar exam is less than two weeks away. This year it will be held July 29-31 at UNLV. We know most of those taking the exam are hard at work studying, but we also know they can’t resist the urge to go to Google and type in “Nevada bar exam tips” to see what kind of gems of wisdom and experience the web has to offer about their upcoming nightmare. Of course, when they do, this post will come up near the top of the results. Shall we not share our collective wisdom?

For those of you who overcame the PTSD and/or just forgot, the bar exam consists of 8 essay questions, 200 multiple choice questions, and a performance test–spread over the course of 2 and half days. You can view prior years’ essay question and model answers here.

What tips do you have for this year’s examinees? What horror story do you long to pass on to the next generation of unemployed lawyers? Anyone longing for the days before the current format when you had a limited number of times you could even attempt it? Is it better to hand write than type?

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Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 2:57 pm

I must like to be tortured. I read some of the model questions and answers from the February exam. [After all these years] can't the bar come up with some more creative questions? Same old same old. I will need an anti-depressant just to recover from looking at the exam.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 3:37 pm

Learn the multistate subjects stone cold. Take PMBR; it's very good. Do 200 practice multistate questions every day and use a clock to time yourself – it's not the questions that kill you, it's the clock. If you are proficient enough at the multistate subjects to consistently answer 165 out of 200 questions correctly, you won't fail the bar exam. There will be enough multistate stuff in the essays that your essays will be fine. Review a few model answers for the professional responsibility essay. Give the state-specific stuff a once over, but don't stress about it.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 10:27 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I never used PMBR, but I did use Adaptibar for multistate prep – totally online and self-adjusting so you can keep improving on your weak areas. Excellent program.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 3:50 pm

I echo 8:37's comment. Take PMBR questions, 100-200 per day. You are doing double duty as the majority of the essays cover MBE topics anyway. BARBRI's multiple choice questions didn't sufficiently prepare me, IMHO. PMBR questions were much harder and in turn made the bar questions seem easier.

As for the non-MBE subjects that pop up on essays, just have a basic half page to one page outline for the main issues, don't worry about the minutiae just the main issues.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 4:00 pm

I strongly disagree with 8:37. Doing well on the MBE is important. You can't bomb it. But in most states, where the essays are worth more points than the MBE, you can't rely on a high MBE to get you through, especially in a state like Nevada where you have a minimum score system for the essays. You have to do well enough on the essays, which means you have to budget your time, outline, and at least mention every reasonably important issue you can think of for every subpart of every question. First, budget 45 minutes per essay and stick to it strictly. When you're at 45 minutes, you're done. Move on. Within each essay, use 10-15 minutes to outline your answer to every subpart of the question (which includes identifying issues). Then write the rule and apply it for each issue. Don't worry about identifying the statute, case, or procedural rule. Just state the rule, and don't ramble too much. Say something intelligent about each issue on both sides. Add issues into the outline if you identify them later, but be reasonable. Don't waste time to talk about obscure issues, no matter how interesting to you at the moment. If you ramble, you lose time for other issues they expect you to write about. If you fail to answer a subpart of an essay, thinking you're going to "make up for it" on another subpart of that essay or on another essay altogether, you're f'n done, son. The Nevada bar exam uses a grading system that is very unforgiving of this style of test-taking. You have to get a minimum average score on the essays, and you have to get a slightly higher minimum score on at least a few of the essays. In other words, the mathematical system used in Nevada means you have to do well consistently on the essays. You can't expect to overcome a couple low scores with a couple really high scores. Also, the model answers are garbage as far as correctness is concerned. They contain a lot of incorrect statements of law in them. The only thing they are good for as models is that they are usually well outlined and they identify a lot of issues. And that's the point. Use them as models for how to structure your answers and identify issues, not for substance.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 4:35 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

This was obviously written by an overachiever who doesn't get the point of the bar exam. You're not trying to get an A on the bar, you're trying to pass. 8:37 and 8:50 have it right. On an exam where you only have to be better than 1/3 of the people in the room, take the sure thing.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 5:14 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

It's a sure thing to focus on the MBE portion and not study or plan how to take the essays – a sure way to fail. Honestly, I think some of the posters here are hoping for a lot of failures due to the glutted legal market. Either that or they are PMBR trolls.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 7:26 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I agree that PMBR is great for the MBE, but you also need practice outlining answers to essays. Having taken and passed three bar exams (not ideal, don't even get me started) I think you should do 100-200 MBE questions and then write an extended outline for 5-7 essay questions, writing out one or two fully, every day. As you get closer to the test (three weeks or so) start timing yourself. It is the clock that kills you, IMHO.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 8:29 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

9:00 AM reminds me of a guy who was prepping for the bar same time I was. Said he had tried numerous times before and failed. We were running some test questions and I noticed a trend in his answers. They all looked like a law review article. Asked a few more questions and voila, turns out he was the editor of his bar review (not Boyd before the guessing begins) and graduated at the top of his class from a well respected institution. I took him down to the Bar building (prior questions and model answers were not on line back then) and showed him the top answer for a prior year crim essay. He pointed out, correctly, that the answer conflated the civil action elements with the criminal action elements and did not really explain the crime (I think it was an assault that led to a battery that led to a shooting). I pointed out the answer, in bold and underlined, in the first sentence, identified the crime, set out the elements (even if incorrectly), analyzed the crime and made a conclusion. Maybe 45 words if that. He thought about that and then said he thought it needed about 3 paragraphs to fully evaluate the one little issue in a relatively complex fact pattern of crimes. He failed the year I took the test, his 4th or 5th try. Don't know if he ever passed here or anywhere else. Bar examiners read LOTS of essay answers. Identify the issue, hit the elements, explain the facts, reach a conclusion and move on. Make it easy for them to say you saw the issue and addressed it and you will pass. Remind them why the law review kids were mocked on a regular basis and you will likely fail simply because they don't have the time or energy to read a novel to see if you really got it.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 18, 2014 6:41 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Dang, 1:29 p.m. nailed it. I remember a bar examiner at an all hands, multi-party deposition blowing through piles of essays at the rate of one blue book per minute or so (I am sure she didn't bill her client for her deposition time….). Made me regret my 9:00 a.m.-esque approach when I took the bar. Seriously, this gal was passing/failing kids at the rate of 60 seconds each.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 4:25 pm

You guys have too much time on your hands. Get back to billing

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 5:21 pm

I did about 100 MBE questions a day. Every time I missed one, I wrote a single sentence rule of law on a piece of paper, then reviewed those rules.

At the end of they day there are only so many MBE questions, and if you do enough of them you are going to see the same ones on the bar exam.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 22, 2014 3:00 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

This. 100 MBE questions every day is probably excessive, but you should complete at least 1,000, and more like 1,500 questions to be prepared. The key is to review the answers to questions you missed, and to not stop doing MBE questions until they start to repeat themselves. Also, record your scores for each subject so you can track your progress and see where you need improvement.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 5:46 pm

You guys should teach a class.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 5:49 pm

For the essays, I simply read all of the model answers in the book that was provided by Barbi. I noticed that each of the model answers would essentially say the same thing about the same point of law. For instance, when an issue of negligence arose, each of the answers would have a single sentence saying negligence involves duty/breach/causation/harm followed by a second sentence applying those elements to the facts. The sentences concerning the legal elements would be almost verbatim for the different model answers. I then just memorized the model answers and regurgitated those sentences when responding to the real essay questions on the same topic. This system worked well enough to where I completely failed to answer one of the essay questions at the end and still passed.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 6:03 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

That works fine until you hit the unholy trifecta of a secured transactions / contracts / commercial paper essay.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 7:35 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Circa 2005?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 8:11 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

and 2006

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 18, 2014 6:44 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Mmmmm, secured transactions / contracts / commercial paper … my kind of three-way. Mmmmm.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 18, 2014 3:41 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

You cannot skip an entire essay and pass.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 17, 2014 9:12 pm

Pro-tip: Anti-diarrheal pills.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 18, 2014 6:51 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Pro-tip: Smoke. The Bar Exam is a great excuse to start puffing cigarettes

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 18, 2014 11:38 am
Reply to  Anonymous

I forgot how much I hate all of you.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 19, 2014 3:17 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Both URLs don't work – try this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSav51fVlKU

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 18, 2014 1:03 am

I think that the kids these days are too coddled. Oh no, failed a bar. You can just take it again in 6 months. Back in the day, I had to walk three miles, uphill, in 6 feet of snow, just to take a bar exam that was only given once a year. Fail – well, I hope you enjoy bagging groceries for another year. Those were the good old days.

Now, get off my lawn.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 18, 2014 3:12 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Like

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 18, 2014 4:18 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

funny stuff

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 18, 2014 1:47 am

I brought Nyquil with me to help me sleep at night (you think back to every question/essay from that day), just make sure you set an alarm.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 18, 2014 2:21 am

Once you start the exam, stop studying. Use your breaks as a chance to have a break. Your brain needs it. If you don't know it by the morning of Day 1, you aren't going to learn it enough to use it during your lunch break or cramming until 2 am before Days 2 and 3.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 18, 2014 3:13 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I generally agree. When I took the NY bar I stopped studying noon the day before. Nevada was a little different. Because I knew what subjects were likely to show up on the essays for Day 3, I spent a couple hours the night of Day 2 to review a couple of my weak spots on the subjects that were "due" to come up the following day.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 18, 2014 8:44 pm

Breaking news from the RJ: Shut down the Internet, people, because the original Rickroll is gone http://reviewjr.nl/WnyAqM

law.dawg
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law.dawg
July 18, 2014 8:54 pm

It's sad, but true.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 22, 2014 10:51 pm

I have been a tutor for many years for repeaters. The Nevada Bar is not the problem it used to be. I suspect that they have dumbed it down. Sorry folks, but this is what I have seen. Practice taking tests and not memorizing stuff and reading outlines. If you give a structured essay answer you will pass or get a score close enough. The MBE remains a wild card for many. PMBR was basically put out of business and is no better than any other MBE prep class. Most folks don't have the trouble that used to be common. A high MBE score certainly helps but there is no guarantee of a high MBE score. Furthermore, I have know folks with high MBE–146 or greater who have failed. The essays and performance are critical. You can't pass with a low MBE nor can you pass with low essays and performance.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 23, 2014 12:13 pm

You can't pass the Nevada Bar if you already passed the Nevada Bar you jackasses

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 29, 2014 5:18 am

I got 123 scaled on multistate portion and averaged 85 on my essays to pass in first try. Anything is possible. The bar said that was the lowest passing multistate score they had heard of.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 29, 2014 4:42 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

So, basically, you don't know the law, but you're good at organizing bullshit responses?

Welcome to the bar. You'll fit right in.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 29, 2014 6:07 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

LOL

Anonymous
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Anonymous
July 30, 2014 1:47 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I think I am good at looking at a fact pattern and drafting a near perfect responsive essay. In my opinion the essays are a truer test of application of legal knowledge then figuring out wick of multiple answers is least wrong. I don't try to trick myself in the essays. 2002 passer. Pass rate was 46% and it was only given once a year.

Adolfneedham
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Adolfneedham
January 25, 2017 12:40 pm

I passed because I prayed and studied hard. When you take the bar exam, you have to find a way not to be too concerned about what others think. Anyone who has taken the bar realizes how great an accomplishment it is just to sit through it.

Ontario Bar Exam Tutoring

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 25, 2017 6:40 pm
Reply to  Adolfneedham

LOL at this post…. probably didn't pass…..