The February 2016 Bar Exam: Strategies for the Answer Choices for the MBE

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Here are some strategies for the answer choices for the MBE:

1. Look for the more precise answer: That is a better choice – one that incorporates more facts and more of the law relevant to your fact pattern.

2. Be careful of those absolutes. If you see words like must, always, never, etc., be careful, because we know that the law almost never deals in absolutes. They are few absolutes in the law.

3. Look for conjunctions. Be careful when you see words like because, if, only if, unless, etc. Those conjunctions are designed to try to trick the reader, especially the careless reader. For example, you’ll see a question that says, if the jury believes the defendant, it is because…. This example wants you to focus on the defendant’s defense, not whether the defendant is guilty.

4. Be careful of distractors. Common distractors for evidence are the best evidence rule and prejudicial v. probative. Make sure you know when you can use these two as the right answer or else they may be distractors.

5. Be careful of sympathy or dislike. The MBE likes to pull at your heart strings a bit too. Sometimes they have a really reprehensible defendant who has a legitimate “procedural” issue that makes him not guilty, i.e. an improper search and seizure. You want to find him guilty, but the police make an error and the evidence is suppressed. Similarly, you’ll see a sympathetic person who commits a cause of action or a crime and must be either liable or guilty. Don’t let emotion rule the day.

Remember, that common mistakes in choosing the answer come from not knowing the law, not reading the fact pattern carefully, or not reading the call of the question.

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The February 2016 Bar Exam: The MBE Progression

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To recap what we have talked about concerning the MBE, here is the list of progressions you must follow.

1. Read the call of the question first.
2. Read the fact pattern carefully and critically
3. Try to decide the issue after you read the fact pattern and before you look at the answers.
4. Once you have figured out the issue, think of the black letter law and the distinctions.
5. Read the answer choices.
6. Try to eliminate the answer choices, one by one, looking for errors in law or in fact or both.
7. Remember that in order for the answer choice to be correct, it must be correct in all of its answer.
8. After you are done with the question, let it go and go to the next answer.

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The February 2016 Bar Exam: The Answer Choices on the MBE

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As we know, after the fact pattern and the call of the question, there are 4 multiple answer choices. One of those multiple choice answers is the correct one, while distractors form the other 3 choices. How do we know which choice is the correct answer?

The good thing about the MBE is that the right answer is staring at you. Your just have to find the right answer out of 4. That’s a 25% chance you’ll pick the right answer. The wrong answer choices usually come in various categories: the law is incorrect, the facts are incorrect, there is a mixture of wrong facts and wrong law, or the law is correct but doesn’t apply to your facts.

Yes, the MBE uses every trick in the book, but you can find the right answer by eliminating the wrong answers first. Being able to eliminate the wrong answers is critical to your success in finding the right answer. Because even if you don’t know the right answer, you may be able to successfully eliminate the other 3 answers and get to the right answer, even without knowing what the right answer is.

Eliminating the obvious wrong answers will substantially increase your chances of getting the right answer. If you successfully eliminate two, you chances become 50% of getting the right answer.

Remember that the correct answer must state the correct law, must state the correct facts, have a sound application of law to facts and finally needs to address and resolve the central issue in the fact pattern.

Remember, you get no points for choosing the wrong answer, so you must get the right answer for your MBE questions at a rate of at least 65% in order to pass the MBE.

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Bar Professors provide private bar exam tutors for repeat takers who have difficulty with the MBE, MEE, UBE, Florida, California, and New York bar exams. You can find us at http://barprofessors.com, like us on facebook at BarProfessors, follow us on twitter @BarProfessors or email us at pass@barprofessors.com.

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The February 2016 Bar Exam: The Fact Pattern on the MBE

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After you have read the call of the question, you now must read the fact pattern.

Do not read the fact pattern like you were reading a novel. You must read the fact pattern critically. Absorb every word, figure out the parties and the cause of actions, making notes, if you have to, on the side of the examination page. If you see dates and numbers, make sure you highlight them or write them down. An abundance of dates probably means something important, especially with contracts and formation. Sometimes property questions are so convoluted, making a tiny map of who own what can help you understand the fact pattern.

The point I am making is that you must read carefully and deliberately.

After you read the fact pattern, re-read the call of the question to make sure that you understand what the call of the question is asking you now that you’ve read the fact pattern. If you need to, you may want to again look at the fact pattern to make sure you understand what is being asked before you examine the multiple choice answers.

Remember, you have 1.8 minutes for each question. You must read quickly and carefully.

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The February 2016 Bar Exam: Examining the Facts on the MBE

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Don’t ever assume facts when you read the fact pattern on the MBE question. There are no omitted facts in the MBE. Do not read into the question any facts that are not there or to assume any facts that are not there. Also, always assume that the facts are important. There are no red herrings on bar exams. Don’t feel any sympathy or hatred for anyone in the fact pattern. They are sometimes designed to elicit emotion from you in order to steer you to the wrong answer. For example, a serial murder will have a procedural defect he can rely on, so he will be found not guilty. You don’t want him to be found not guilty, so you look for the guilty answer choices and you end up picking the wrong answer.

As you read through the fact pattern, ask yourself why these facts are important. Since you have read the call of the question, you will have a better context of why the facts are there and why they are important. Make sure you pay attention to dates, ages, dollar amounts and parties. They will be important.

Also, look at the parties and how they are acting. For example, look for words like intentionally, knowingly, mistakenly, reasonably, etc. These words will be important when you look through the MBE answer choices.

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Bar Professors provide private bar exam tutors for repeat takers who have difficulty with the MBE, MEE, UBE, Florida, California, and New York bar exams. You can find us at http://barprofessors.com, like us on facebook at BarProfessors, follow us on twitter @BarProfessors or email us at pass@barprofessors.com.

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The February 2016 Bar Exam: 3 Weeks to the Bar Exam

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Three weeks to the bar exam is a good time to evaluate how you are doing. You have enough time to now pinpoint your weak areas and enough time to change your schedule if you feel you’re spinning your wheels. Consider this day your line in the sand.

By now you should have done several hundred multistate questions, at least 15 state essays and at least 4 performance tests.
If you haven’t done it, get busy. Change your schedule if you need to, work on your weak areas and keep testing.

If you have, you are ready for the bar exam. You just need to keep working, stay cool and continue to test yourself.

Make sure you are peaking on exam day. If you are like some of my students who study all night, stop it today. Get up at 6 am or 7 am and start studying at 9 am until 12 pm, with no breaks, then study from 1 pm to 4 pm, with no breaks, You want to mimic the bar exam hours so you are at your peak at 9 am every day.

Don’t pretend you’re not nervous. Accept that it’s okay to be nervous. Channel that nervous energy properly by attacking your study schedule and transform your nerves into confidence. But, remember, you do not want to be overly tired for the bar exam. Try to sleep through the night or, at least, take some cat naps during the day to catch up on missed sleep.

One of the most important things to do during this 3 week period is not to doubt your abilities. You can pass this bar and you know it. You just need to be in the top 2/3rds of your state. Don’t stress too much about what you don’t know – you are not expected to get a 100% on this test – it’s more like 60%. The examiners expect that you will have weak areas. Go into the bar exam with the knowledge you will pass the bar exam.

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Bar Professors provide private bar exam tutors for repeat takers who have difficulty with the MBE, MEE, UBE, Florida, California, and New York bar exams. You can find us at http://barprofessors.com, like us on facebook at BarProfessors, follow us on twitter @BarProfessors or email us at pass@barprofessors.com.

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The February 2016 Bar Exam: Practice MBE Timing

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Looking at the timing of the MBE, you must answer 100 questions in 3 hours, both in the morning and the afternoon. Breaking it down further, you must answer each question in 1.8 minutes, or 17 questions in a half hour and 34 questions in an hour. You must be able to sustain that fast pace.

As you practice, keep that pace in mind. It is imperative that you finish all 200 questions. You do not want to leave any questions unanswered or unread and lose valuable points. As you know, even 1 point or 2 points can mean the difference between passing and failing.

Not only do you need to answer the questions, you need to answer them correctly.

How do you build up your time and accuracy? In the beginning of this process, start with 17 questions first – note your time and your accuracy. As you get better at your accuracy, your time will also get better. Once you feel that you are comfortable with the 17 questions, then, proceed to doing 34 questions in one sitting. Again, notice how long it took you and your accuracy. Then move up doing 68 questions in 2 hours, until finally you are working at 3 hour stretches.

You must get comfortable and condition yourself to sitting for 3 hours, working on MBE questions, without losing your focus or concentration. In the last couple of weeks, prior to the bar exam, you should be working on 3 hour blocks for the MBE.

Once you get to the bar exam, write down the time for 34 questions, 68 questions or break it down in half hours, i.e. 17, 34, 51 etc, so you can glance at your sheet and know that you are on schedule to answer all 100 questions.

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Bar Professors provide private bar exam tutors for repeat takers who have difficulty with the MBE, MEE, UBE, Florida, California, and New York bar exams. You can find us at http://barprofessors.com, like us on facebook at BarProfessors, follow us on twitter @BarProfessors or email us at pass@barprofessors.com.

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