June 29, 2009
you are doing well
Congratulations. You are surviving this long, hot summer.
You completed the MBE extra course and are over half way through the regular course.
YOu have written practice essays and had them critiqued. If you have not yet done so, start this week and use the MBE topics for your essays. (That will help you review for the MBE exam next week.)
And you have done M-C questions. If you have not yet done so, start this week with 34 each night to get ready for the MBE next week.
And you have written at least one MPT. Try to do 4 more by the time of the exam.
If you are concerned about what to do when the course ends, see the Paced program for tips for the past two weeks and check back here for tips from Schmitz.
Hang in there.
Posted by Suzanne at 11:21 AM
you are doing well
Congratulations. You are surviving this long, hot summer.
You completed the MBE extra course and are over half way through the regular course.
YOu have written practice essays and had them critiqued. If you have not yet done so, start this week and use the MBE topics for your essays. (That will help you review for the MBE exam next week.)
And you have done M-C questions. If you have not yet done so, start this week with 34 each night to get ready for the MBE next week.
And you have written at least one MPT. Try to do 4 more by the time of the exam.
If you are concerned about what to do when the course ends, see the Paced program for tips for the past two weeks and check back here for tips from Schmitz.
Hang in there.
Posted by Suzanne at 11:21 AM
June 08, 2009
A panel of recent grads to discuss how they used the BarBri materials
http://media.law.siu.edu/success/workshop1pm03jun09.wmv
Posted by tfurby at 04:40 PM
May 06, 2009
Essay and M-C topics
what will be on the exam? The content of each subject area (torts, corporations, etc.) is listed in the outline prepared by the NCBE. Go to ncbex.org and click on MBE or MEE; then look for the Information Guide which you can access online at no cost. Study the booklet. There will be an outline for each topic.
BarBri gives you a sense of the content but there is nothing like checking out the original source.
Posted by Suzanne at 03:44 PM
multiple choice tips
If multiple choice is not your strong point or, even it is, you want to use every help available, check out the 200 old M-C questions available on-line through the National Conference of Bar Examiners.
If you are not taking the PMBR course nor the BarBri 5-day workshop, you really want to check this out.
NCBE has released two sets of 100 each, actually used questions - MBE Online Practice Exam 1 and 2. Each costs $26 for one year subscription.
You take the exam online. You can ask for only evidence or crim, etc. You can mix them up. You get computer feedback re your progress, along with annotations as to the correct answers and why-written by the same drafters who wrote the question. You can ask for only those questions you have missed in the past.
Both BarBri and PMBR either buy their questions from NCBE or make them up. Both make up the explanations. When using the NCBE Online exam, you are using the original source along with annotations from the actual drafters.
Prof. Schmitz says this is the best investment of $26 or 52 that there is in relation to the bar prep.
go to ncbex.org and look for MBE OnLine Practice exam.
Posted by Suzanne at 03:37 PM
April 20, 2009
welcome
Welcome to bar preparation for the summer of 2009. Review the interviews and tips posted here for tips on how to prepare. Professor Schmitz will be here most of June and July.
If you are studying away, consult the blog regularly for tips.
If you would like a bar buddy, a recent grad who survived the exam process, with whom you can ask questions and share concerns, see Prof. Schmitz
Posted by sschmitz at 11:50 PM
December 26, 2008
changes in the bar exam
You may watch the video of the workshop on the changes; the prior entry has the link to the video. I am listing the major changes here, along with a few comments while you are practicing.
1. Multiple choice- no longer will there be one fact pattern for more than one questions. No longer will there be "none of the above" as one of the choices. No longer will "If" or other similar terms be used to add facts in the four choices. In other words, most of the time the choice will be "yes, because ..." or "no, because ..." or "Plaintiff prevails, because...." or "defendant prevails because...." or something simular. Finally, no longer will there be the roman numeral choices, as in a. I and II but not III.
The goal is to make the questions clearer and less confusing.
As you can see, both BarBri and PMBR have in their practice material questions that look like those no longer being used. Do them anyway. They are good for practice. While the actual questions may be clearer, they will be hard and you need all the practice you can get. The simulated exam (whether BarBri or PMBR) may use some of the old style questions as well. Again, I think that is not a big deal. If anything the real questions will be clearer. You need to do the simulated exam in order to get used to the timing, endurance, and stress. DO NOT SKIP THE SIMULATED EXAM BECAUSE THE QUESTIONS WILL SOMETIMES FOLLOW THE OLD STYLE. You do not want to have only one try at the exam be the real one!
2. To see more of the new style, spend $26 and go to ncbex.org and register for the MBE annotated preview.
3. Re the MEE (in IL the afternoon) essays, remember that the six M-C topics (con law, torts, property, etc.) may also be tested by essay. This is a recent change and there are no released questions available yet. Therefore, BarBri made up some questions for practice. This is a good thing. What you should know is that some of the BarBri essay questions on the MBE topics are longer than a 30 minute question. When you read some of them, I do not want you frightened by the length of the practice essay. Do the practice essays anyway - good test of your knowledge. But on the exam, expect the new essays to be a lot like the MEE essays in your BarBri book.
4. Re the IL essays. It used to be that IL asked two IL civ pro and one IL equity. That changed in 2007. You will probably get one IL civ pro but expect anything in the rules to be asked. The rule is on the ibaby.org website.
Suzanne Schmitz
Posted by Suzanne at 03:32 PM
exam tips in PMBR book
tips for the exam --
If you took PMBR, there are caveats at the back of the blue book that offer helpful tips for the multiple choice exam. They are very useful and are found in the very back of the book.
Posted by sschmitz at 11:32 AM
Video for June 9, 2008 - changes in the bar exam
Video recoring for June 9th 2008
Posted by tfurby at 10:55 AM
April 14, 2008
John Rekowski on the bar exam
Listen to Mr. John Rekowski, one of the Illinois bar examiners, speak to 3Ls on 2/15/2006 about the bar exam. Duration of audio: ~ 50 minutes.
Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar.
Posted by dmurley at 09:20 AM
April 12, 2008
Interview with Howard Oestry, class of 2006
Watch an interview with Howard Oestry, 06 grad, re studying for the bar exam. If you have a high-speed connection, you can click on the link and view it directly. Or you can right click on the link and select "Save target as" or "Save link as" from the menu that pops up to download it to your computer.
Posted by dmurley at 09:58 AM
Interview with Wylie Blair, class of 2005
Watch interview with Wylie Blair, 05 grad, re studying for the bar exam. If you have a high-speed connection, you can click on the link and view it directly. Or you can right click on the link and select "Save target as" or "Save link as" from the menu that pops up to download it to your computer.
Posted by dmurley at 06:01 AM