Welcome to my last post before July 29. Only 11 days before the Bar Exam starts! I'm at the point now where I just want to get it over with and never have to study again. But Ill will push through, and keep studying as best I can. I've been getting a lot of questions about how the bar exam actually works, so I thought I would outline what the test entails.
The test is broken up into two days, each with two 3-hour sessions, the morning session and the afternoon session.
Day 1: Morning Session: The exam starts at 9:00 am, and at this time we will be taking something called the MPT. The MPT is a 90 minute closed universe essay. In this part of the exam, we are given all the law and all the facts we need for the problem in a big case file. Then we are usually asked to write some lawyerly document such as a letter to a client, an opinion by a judge, or part of a contract. This part of the exam tests our ability to think on our feet, time management, and our ability to pull applicable law and facts from a big file to accomplish an objective. After the MPT we are given two 45 minute essays which will each be on one of 13 different subjects. Problem is we have no idea which subjects they are going to test, or what part of that subject they will test.
Then it will be lunch - for one hour.
Day 1: Afternoon Session: The exam will begin at about 1:00 pm. At the beginning of this time we will be given 4 essays, each for 45 minutes. However, we are given all the essays and all the time to allocate ourselves, so you have to make sure you complete each essay. These essays will be four different topics from the 13 options that were available in the morning. The topic choices are Constitutional Law, Contracts/Sales, Civil Procedure, Corporations, Criminal Law (and Criminal Procedure), Evidence, Income Tax, Property, Family Law, Torts, Professional Responsibility, Partnerships, Trusts, and Wills. Again, we have no idea which topic will be chosen, or which part of each subject will be chosen.
Finally after 6 hours of essay taking we will be done for the day. But unfortunately not done with the test.
Day 2: Morning Session: The exam will again begin at 9:00 am. However, today is very different from the first day. This morning we will be given 3 hours to complete 100 multiple choice questions. The questions are on one of six topics. They are mixed format so each question is different from the next. So we not only have to answer the question, but we have to figure out which topic it is too. The topic choices are Constitutional Law, Contracts/Sales, Criminal Law (and Criminal Procedure), Evidence, Property, and Torts.
Then we will get another one hour long lunch break.
Day 2: Afternoon Session: Again we will begin at about 1:00 pm. We will be given another 3 hours to complete another 100 multiple choice questions. Keep in mind that these are not like normal multiple choice questions on particular law, these are LONG fact pattern that ask us to remember the law, apply it, and come to a conclusion on the particular problem. These questions will be from the same six topics from the morning, and still in mixed format.
FINALLY, after 6 hours of multiple choice, and 12 hours of total testing, we will be DONE!! I'm looking forward to 4:00 on July 28, where I plan to go home and promptly fall asleep.
I'll be back on July 29/30 depending on how I feel after the exam. Hope everyone else enjoys the next 12 days, cause I certainly wont.
The test is broken up into two days, each with two 3-hour sessions, the morning session and the afternoon session.
Day 1: Morning Session: The exam starts at 9:00 am, and at this time we will be taking something called the MPT. The MPT is a 90 minute closed universe essay. In this part of the exam, we are given all the law and all the facts we need for the problem in a big case file. Then we are usually asked to write some lawyerly document such as a letter to a client, an opinion by a judge, or part of a contract. This part of the exam tests our ability to think on our feet, time management, and our ability to pull applicable law and facts from a big file to accomplish an objective. After the MPT we are given two 45 minute essays which will each be on one of 13 different subjects. Problem is we have no idea which subjects they are going to test, or what part of that subject they will test.
Then it will be lunch - for one hour.
Day 1: Afternoon Session: The exam will begin at about 1:00 pm. At the beginning of this time we will be given 4 essays, each for 45 minutes. However, we are given all the essays and all the time to allocate ourselves, so you have to make sure you complete each essay. These essays will be four different topics from the 13 options that were available in the morning. The topic choices are Constitutional Law, Contracts/Sales, Civil Procedure, Corporations, Criminal Law (and Criminal Procedure), Evidence, Income Tax, Property, Family Law, Torts, Professional Responsibility, Partnerships, Trusts, and Wills. Again, we have no idea which topic will be chosen, or which part of each subject will be chosen.
Finally after 6 hours of essay taking we will be done for the day. But unfortunately not done with the test.
Day 2: Morning Session: The exam will again begin at 9:00 am. However, today is very different from the first day. This morning we will be given 3 hours to complete 100 multiple choice questions. The questions are on one of six topics. They are mixed format so each question is different from the next. So we not only have to answer the question, but we have to figure out which topic it is too. The topic choices are Constitutional Law, Contracts/Sales, Criminal Law (and Criminal Procedure), Evidence, Property, and Torts.
Then we will get another one hour long lunch break.
Day 2: Afternoon Session: Again we will begin at about 1:00 pm. We will be given another 3 hours to complete another 100 multiple choice questions. Keep in mind that these are not like normal multiple choice questions on particular law, these are LONG fact pattern that ask us to remember the law, apply it, and come to a conclusion on the particular problem. These questions will be from the same six topics from the morning, and still in mixed format.
FINALLY, after 6 hours of multiple choice, and 12 hours of total testing, we will be DONE!! I'm looking forward to 4:00 on July 28, where I plan to go home and promptly fall asleep.
I'll be back on July 29/30 depending on how I feel after the exam. Hope everyone else enjoys the next 12 days, cause I certainly wont.
