Introduction
After taking the NY Bar Exam in July 2005, I put together this website. When I studied for July 2005, there really weren't any sites out there with good advice about the NY Bar Exam. My purpose in making this site is to share what I studied and how I studied for the NY Bar Exam.
If you are studying for the New York (NY) Bar Exam, this site contains a good bit of information, insights and resources along with documents to download, ranging from the NY essays with Sample Answers for the last 26 bar administrations from July 1995 to July February 2008 (mp3 versions being added), a "Frequency Analysis" of each and every issue and rule addressed in every model answer provided for the exams from July 1995 to February 2005 , Rules outlines on Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) and New York Multiple Choice (NYMC) questions, old Multistate Performance Tests (MPTs), and complete outlines from Barbri and PMBR lectures. The MASTER outline and the insights/analysis truly helped me on the actual NY Bar Exam. Hopefully by seeing what I did in detail, you can use it to gauge the effectiveness of your studying, and use my material to supplement your studying and make adjustments.
There were 10,907 persons sitting for the July 2007 NY Bar Exam and this site received over 5,500 unique visitors between May-July 2007. The site received over 12,000 unique visitors for the July 2008 exam. This site now ranks at the top of Google and Yahoo for advice on the New York Bar Exam and it appears as a Bar Examination Preparation Resource on Hofstra Law School's website and Villanova Law School's website. All this exposure means that the effectiveness of the material on this site will be diluted if you rely solely on this material. Read more
Therefore, use the existing material on this site as a supplement rather than your main source of studying. In addition, as the material on this site is from 2005, you must update it. Good luck to all those studying for the July 2008 NY bar exam. The upcoming New York State Bar Examination is on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 and Wednesday, July 30, 2008.
MASTER 2008 Frequency Analysis Update
The MASTER 2008 update has been released. A substantial portion of MASTER 2005 has been re-written and all 299 topics have been updated.
Good luck on the July 2008 New York State Bar Examination.
The New York (NY) Bar Exam
My first piece of advice: Read everything on this site. Everything is relevant and important. Anything posted was posted because I think it will help you pass the NY BAR. So read everything - every word on this page and every document that is hyperlinked. Also, before you start downloading the individual files and documents, there is an everything.zip file which contains everything from this site so you can download everything at once.
The file is 8MB in size. After you download it, just unzip it into a directory.
As I started studying for the NY Bar in May 2005, I started to notice there was some logic to the exam. Here is an index of my main observations:
1. At least 70% of the issues on the ny bar exam essays are repeats from other NY bar exam essays from July 1995 to Feb 2005. Read more
2. Not many issues from the immediately preceding bar exam show up on the next NY bar exam. Read more
3. There are identifiable hot and cold topics on the New York bar exam essays. Read more
4. The New York essays generally appear in alphabetical order on the New York bar exam. Read more
5. Generally, one or two crimes/defenses will show up per exam. There have been 22 NY crimes tested based on NY bar exam essays from July 1995 to Feb 2005 - only one exam, July 2004, was purely criminal procedure. Read more
6. All three of the released MBEs (Feb 1991, July 1991 and July 1998) each have evenly distributed answers (50 As, 50 Bs, 50 Cs and 50 Ds). Read more
The New York (NY) Bar Exam Essays (40%)
Here is a summary of my main insights/observations for the NY Bar Exam Essays:
At Least 70% Of The Issues On The NY Bar Exam Essays Are "Repeats" From Other NY Bar Exam Essays From July 1995 To Feb 2005.
The NYBOLE recycles the same issues on the NY essays. How did I find this out? I went on the internet and found the NY essays with Sample Answers for the last 20 bar administrations (from July 1995 to Feb 2005). I found these released exams on www.nylawyer.com. Each question from these New York Bar Exams has two sample answers written by actual test-takers. The answers were selected by the Board of Law Examiners as representative of better than average submissions. All these exams are attached here in WORD format in a zip file:
NYBarExams.zip (contains the NY Bar Exam Essays from July 1995 to present)
Individual Past NY Exam Essay Questions with Sample Candidate Answers
| Administration | WORD format | PDF format | Administration | WORD format | PDF format |
February 2008 |
July 2008
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February 2007 |
WORD | July 2007
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WORD | ||
February 2006 |
WORD | July 2006 |
WORD | ||
February 2005 |
WORD | July 2005 |
WORD | ||
February 2004 |
WORD | July 2004 |
WORD | ||
February 2003 |
WORD | July 2003 |
WORD | ||
February 2002 |
WORD | July 2002 |
WORD | ||
February 2001 |
WORD | July 2001 |
WORD | ||
February 2000 |
WORD | July 2000 |
WORD | ||
February 1999 |
WORD | July 1999 |
WORD | ||
February 1998 |
WORD | July 1998 |
WORD | ||
February 1997 |
WORD | July 1997 |
WORD | ||
February 1996 |
WORD | July 1996 |
WORD | ||
February 1995 |
July 1995 |
WORD |
I read all the NY essays with Sample Answers from July 1995 to Feb 2005 and noticed that some answers were repeated in similar ways in the New York Bar Exams over the years. I decided to break it all down to find out how much was repeated and how much wasn't. I created a "Frequency Analysis" of each and every issue and rule addressed in every model answer provided for those exams. I also noticed that the sample answers all had fairly good "intros" for each answer. The intro is essentially a few sentences or a small paragraph of the applicable black letter law. Each essay has about 4-5 topics/issues. We went through each essay of each exam from July 1995 to Feb 2005 and broke it up into topics/issues (i.e. Summary Judgment). We then took both model answers from each issue, stripped out the black-letter law that each person wrote on that issue (discarding the analysis, conclusion, etc) and then combined the black-letter law of both model answers (or to coin the terminology of the NY Board of Law Examiners - better than average submissions) to create "set pieces" or "good intros" to questions on that particular topic. Sometimes I supplemented a "master" answer with black-letter law or essay answers from BARBRI or my outlines. I then created a Table of Contents of all the issues along with their frequency. The Table of Contents are hyperlinks that you can click on to jump to the appropriate topic (you have to hold down Ctrl key and click on an item for the hyperlink to work). This is a complete outline of all the issues and rules tested on the NY Essays from 1995 to 2005. Memorize this MASTER outline. BARBRI is useful, but they give you too much information to study. I wanted to focus my studying on the more frequently tested areas. When I studied for the NY Bar exam last July, this "MASTER" Essay document was the most useful resource I had. There is a slight chance that the NYBOLE will throw in an issue not found on MASTER, but don't worry since this issue will most likely be a common law subject that you will cover in your MBE preparation or it is some ancillary topic in MASTER.
BEFORE YOU DOWNLOAD THIS MASTER DOCUMENT: (1) You must keep in mind that the answers in MASTER are based primarily on the stripped NY Essay model answers so they are not perfect answers. While the answers were obviously good enough to be considered model answers by the NYBOLE, keep in mind that some parts of an answer may be wrong law; (2) in doing MASTER 2008, I found mistakes and misclassifications in MASTER 2005, so keep in mind not all topics are accurate; and (3) the analysis discussed here and in MASTER is based on past exams. The analysis is deemed accurate and reliable, but no warranties are being made. In addition, keep in mind that past performance is not indicative of future results. While it can be assumed that future NY Bar exams will be similar to past NY Bar Exams, do not neglect the possibility that it could change (Just look at the July 2005 MBE that was significantly different from all prior MBEs). Update: This has changed somewhat in recent exams. Read more
Keeping all the above in mind, here is MASTER:
MASTER 2005 FREQUENCY ANALYSIS
After MASTER was compiled, I compared/cataloged/counted each topic of each essay of each exam from July 1995 to Feb 2005. Here is the summary for the NY Bar exams from Feb 1995 to Feb 2005: 145 unrepeated topics and 110 repeated topics out of a total of 510 topics (an average of about 25 topics per exam since the older exams (pre-July 2001) had 6 essays each). Keep in mind that this summary is not perfect and that some unrepeated issues could be partially answered by other "repeated" issues, but I separated them to reflect the actual issue. Also, unrepeated can consist of an area of law based on individual issues. For example, 20 or so unrepeated issues are based on crimes (i.e. Arson, Robbery, etc). Therefore, 28% of the issues on the bar exams from Feb 1995 to Feb 2005 were unrepeated "one-time" issues while 72% of the issues were "repeats"
Here is a breakdown/analysis of recent NY BAR exams:
Feb 2005: 3 unrepeated issues out of 21 issues total = 14% unrepeated
July 2004: 2 unrepeated issues out of 23 issues total = 9% unrepeated
Feb 2004: 4 unrepeated issues out of 21 issues total = 19% unrepeated
July 2003: 5 issues unrepeated out of 22 issues total = 23% unrepeated
Feb 2003: 9 unrepeated issues out of 23 issues total = 39% unrepeated
July 2002: 11 issues unrepeated out of 23 issues total = 48% unrepeated
Statistically, at least 70% of an upcoming NY Bar Essay Exam should be repeated issues, plus a good portion of the 145 unrepeated should appear in the other 30% of statistical unrepeaters. Some unrepeated issues could be partially answered by other "repeated" issues. Here is a list of recent unrepeated issues to illustrate this point:
Feb 2005: 3 unrepeated issues out of 21 issues total - EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF HOME, IN-COURT IDENTIFICATION, ACCOUNTING
July 2004: 2 unrepeated issues out of 23 issues total - DEFECTIVE WARRANT, PRIOR REPRESENTATION
Feb 2004: 4 unrepeated issues out of 21 issues total - BOARD AUTHORIZATION, INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE, ENTRAPMENT, DISTRIBUTION OF RESIDUARY ESTATE
July 2003: 5 issues unrepeated out of 22 issues total - SHIPMENT CONTRACTS, PEREMPTORY CHALLENGES, INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL, WRONGFUL DEATH, PAROL EVIDENCE
If the above pattern holds, nearly all of the upcoming NY Essay topics/issues should come from the MASTER document already compiled. And this makes sense. The NYBOLE isn't going to radically alter any NY Bar Essay Exam. They are going to use time-tested questions and then throw in some ancillary topics. This doesn't mean that you can just regurgitate the answer from MASTER. You will still have to spot the issues and analyze properly. What MASTER gives you is a good intro for the issue once you spot it. MASTER also shows you the probability of an issue appearing on an exam. For example, a topic like Summary Judgment appears on many NY Bar Exams. With MASTER, you have a very good model answer for a topic that appears frequently. For example, since it is almost guaranteed that there will be a contracts question, have the Contract Creation intro memorized and start your essay with it: (i.e. A contract is a legally enforceable agreement, etc" Remember, the answers are not perfect, but they are good "intros" for each answer. These "intros" will let you start your answer with a good introductory sentence and the relevant black letter law. The answers also save you the trouble of having to compose a well-structured intro. I highly recommend that you read MASTER over and over in an attempt to memorize it.
After a month of memorizing MASTER, start learning how to apply the law by doing 2 full released essays per day (i.e. Essays 1 and 2 from the July 2004 exam or whatever). You should only be outlining your essay answers under actual timed conditions, and then read the model answers for that particular question presented. That means that you should read and outline each question in under 15 minutes. The purpose of reading the answers is to learn how the issues/rules you've memorized apply to the fact pattern, which are slightly modified on the real exam. And if you miss an issue or rule, you will know that is your weak point and you need to study that issue more.
NY Essay MP3s
In the process of updating the MASTER 2008 Frequency Analysis outline, I am converting the NY Essays to mp3 files to listen to and analyze them. I will post the mp3s below if anyone wants to download them and play them in their ipods, etc. This gives you the opportunity to do some extra studying while commuting to school or work. The set of 5 essays (with two answers per essay) plays for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Each individual question with the two answers is about 15-20 minutes long. You should download the individual questions if you want each question as a separate "track." If you plan to listen to the entire exam continuously, download the "All Questions" mp3. If you have Firefox, you can install an add-on called DownloadThemAll and then configure it to download all the mp3s at once. You should read or listen to the exams for at least the last five years to see how the fact patterns are presented and what constitutes a good answer in the eyes of the NY bar examiners.
6-22-08: MP3s are available for download.
| Exam | All Questions | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q5 |
| Feb 2008 | Q1-5 (49MB) | Q1 (11MB) | Q2 (8MB) | Q3 (12MB) | Q4 (9MB) | Q5 (9MB) |
| July 2007 | Q1-5 (49MB) | Q1 (8MB) | Q2 (11MB) | Q3 (9MB) | Q4 (11MB) | Q5 (9MB) |
| Feb 2007 | Q1-5 (43MB) | Q1 (10MB) | Q2 (7MB) | Q3 (8MB) | Q4 (9MB) | Q5 (8MB) |
| July 2006 | Q1-5 (53MB) | Q1 (9MB) | Q2 (12MB) | Q3 (10MB) | Q4 (11MB) | Q5 (9MB) |
| Feb 2006 | Q1-5 (43MB) | Q1 (8MB) | Q2 (7MB) | Q3 (10MB) | Q4 (10MB) | Q5 (9MB) |
| Jul 2005 | Q1-5 (39MB) | Q1 (8MB) | Q2 (7MB) | Q3 (7MB) | Q4 (9MB) | Q5 (7MB) |
| Feb 2005 | Q1-5 (35MB) | Q1 (9MB) | Q2 (8MB) | Q3 (5MB) | Q4 (7MB) | Q5 (6MB) |
| Jul 2004 | Q1-5 (43MB) | Q1 (9MB) | Q2 (9MB) | Q3 (10MB) | Q4 (8MB) | Q5 (7MB) |
| Feb 2004 | Q1-5 (39MB) | Q1 (7MB) | Q2 (7MB) | Q3 (7MB) | Q4 (9MB) | Q5 (8MB) |
| Jul 2003 | Q1-5 (33MB) | Q1 (6MB) | Q2 (8MB) | Q3 (6MB) | Q4 (6MB) | Q5 (6MB) |
Not Many Issues From The Immediately Preceding Bar Exam Show Up On The Next Exam.
Feb 2005: 3 repeated issues from immediately preceding July 2004 exam (which contained 23 total issues)
July 2004: 2 repeated issues from immediately preceding Feb 2004 exam (which contained 21 total issues)
Feb 2004: 1 repeated issue from immediately preceding July 2003 exam (which contained 22 total issues)
July 2003: 1 repeated issue from immediately preceding Feb 2003 exam (which contained 23 total issues)
Feb 2003: 0 repeated issues from immediately preceding July 2002 exam (which contained 23 total issues)
July 2002: 1 repeated issue from immediately preceding Feb 2002 exam
Feb 2002: 5 repeated issues from immediately preceding July 2001 exam
This means that you can make studying/memorizing of the issues from the immediately preceding NY BAR EXAM a much lower priority since very few will likely appear in the next exam. I highlighted the headings for these topics a lighter color in the MASTER document to identify these topics of lower importance. I suggest you take the MASTER document and mark every topic heading from the immediately preceding BAR Exam as orange. This will tell you that the topic is lower priority since only a few of these will show up on the very next bar exam. Next, mark orange any other topics you consider low priority. Some items are already marked orange such as Arbitration which is not a high priority topic and not likely to appear on your exam. Mark in Blue any topic that appears often but has not appeared recently (i.e. Director Duty of Loyalty). There is a very good chance of seeing these.
There Are Identifiable Hot And Cold Topics On The NY Essays
Looking at the Table of Contents for the 95-05 NY Essay Exams in MASTER, you can see patterns based on the popularity of certain topics. For example, Arbitration was hot in the 90's but hasn't been tested since July 1999. On the other hand, NY Professional Responsibility has been tested on nearly every exam since it was introduced around 2000. Use these patterns to prioritize your studying (i.e. statistically, you should have Professional Responsibility memorized cold while having just a working knowledge of arbitration). Update: This has changed somewhat in recent exams. Read more
The NY Essays Generally Appear In Alphabetical Order On The Exam.
Looking at recent NY Essay Exams (July 05, Feb 05, July 04, Feb 04, July 03, Feb 03, ...), I also found that the Essays generally appear in alphabetical order. The first Essay is usually Contracts/Corporations. The second Essay is usually Criminal Law/Criminal Procedure. The third Essay is usually Domestic Relations/Evidence/Real Property/Professional Responsibility. The fourth Essay is usually Torts and the fifth Essay is usually Wills. This means that you should bring the MASTER document with you on Day 1 of the NY Bar Exam and leave it in your car (as I did). In the morning, we had a Contracts, Crim Law and Divorce Questions. I was pretty confident that the afternoon session would consist of Torts and Wills. It did. I spent my lunch hour eating lunch and reading the Torts and Wills sections of MASTER. The one hour of studying helped me write better answers for the afternoon session. Update: This order has changed in recent exams. Read more
| Exam | Q # | Main Question | Sub Question |
| Feb-05 | 1 | Corporations | Contracts |
| Feb-05 | 2 | Criminal Procedure | Criminal Law |
| Feb-05 | 3 | Domestic Relations | Real Estate |
| Feb-05 | 4 | Torts | |
| Feb-05 | 5 | Wills | NY Practice |
| Jul-04 | 1 | Corporations | Contracts |
| Jul-04 | 2 | Criminal Procedure | |
| Jul-04 | 3 | Real Estate | Professional Responsibility |
| Jul-04 | 4 | Torts | Conflicts of Law |
| Jul-04 | 5 | Wills | Professional Responsibility |
| Feb-04 | 1 | Corporations | Contracts |
| Feb-04 | 2 | Criminal Procedure | Criminal Law |
| Feb-04 | 3 | Domestic Relations | Real Estate |
| Feb-04 | 4 | Torts | NY Practice |
| Feb-04 | 5 | Wills | Trusts |
| Jul-03 | 1 | Contracts | Real Estate |
| Jul-03 | 2 | Criminal Procedure | Professional Responsibility |
| Jul-03 | 3 | Domestic Relations | |
| Jul-03 | 4 | Torts | |
| Jul-03 | 5 | Wills, Estates, Trusts | |
| Feb-03 | 1 | Contracts | Corps and Partnerships |
| Feb-03 | 2 | Criminal Law | Comm Law: Payments |
| Feb-03 | 3 | Wills | |
| Feb-03 | 4 | Torts | |
| Feb-03 | 5 | Real Estate | Domestic Relations |
| Jul-02 | 1 | Contracts | Corps and Partnerships |
| Jul-02 | 2 | Criminal Law | Evidence |
| Jul-02 | 3 | Domestic Relations | Real Estate |
| Jul-02 | 4 | Torts | NY Practice |
| Jul-02 | 5 | Wills | Corps and Partnerships |
| Feb-02 | 1 | Contracts | Torts |
| Feb-02 | 2 | Crim Pro:Investigation | |
| Feb-02 | 3 | Domestic Relations | Real Estate |
| Feb-02 | 4 | Torts/NY Practice | Professional Responsibility |
| Feb-02 | 5 | Wills | Professional Responsibility |
Generally, One Or Two Crimes/Defenses Will Show Up Per Exam. There Have Been 22 NY Crimes Tested Based On NY Bar Exam Essays From July 1995 To Feb 2005 - Only One Exam, July 2004, Was Purely Criminal Procedure.
Examining the NY Bar Exam essays from July 1995 to Feb 2005, 16 out of these 20 exams had a crime. For the other 4 exams, 3 out of the 4 had a Criminal Law defense question such as self-defense (Feb 2002, July 2003, and Feb 2005). Only one exam, July 2004, was purely Criminal Procedure. NY Criminal Law can trip you up because it is very difficult to understand all the crimes under NY Criminal Law along with their distinctions, degrees and defenses. There is a significant amount of information to learn, and yet this will only comprise roughly 50% of one essay question, equaling 4% of your total grade. I spent a good deal of time writing model answers for most of these crimes which explain their nuances and make them understandable. Therefore, I would recommend studying the crimes in the MASTER document and knowing them very well. Some answers in MASTER need work, like solicitation. See MASTER UPDATE for more info.
New York Multiple Choice (10%)
While no one really talks about the NY Multiple Choice, I think this is a rather important area. The average passing NY MCQ score is 27-30. I have heard of people who did good on the MBE and Essays, but tanked the NYMC with maybe 18-20 correct. As a result, they failed. To see how important NYMC scores are, plug in values into the NY Bar Score Calculator to figure out passing scores. Here is what I suggest you should do for the NYMC:
1) Have a good NY Practice outline and study it often. If you have time, take NY Practice in law school.
NY Practice shows up in the NY essays very often, and it shows up in a good portion of the NYMC.
2) Do all the NY Questions in the BARBRI book. Do about 25 in 1/2 an hour each day (you only get an hour to do 50 question on the real thing). I did this about 2 weeks before the actual exam. Read the answers, create a rule outline, and read this outline daily before doing more NYMC questions. This "flashcard" document should contain a 1-sentence rule of law for all the questions that you answered wrong and for any questions that you got right but guessed on. These are your weaknesses on the NYMC. Here is my NYMC "flashcard" rule outline document:
NY Mult Choice Tips.doc
3) Read Article 1 of the NYS Constitution. Read it once or twice just to be familiar with it. This might help you with one or two questions that everyone else will get wrong. Here it is:
NYS Constitution Article 01.doc
Since out-of-staters will probably not do great on the NYMC, this is where you can pick up points.
MPT (10%)
Not much to prepare for here. I did not do any practice MPTs. I spent a cumulative total of about 6 hours preparing for the MPT by doing the following:
1) I went through the BARBRI MPT book and looked at the sample answers to see the different types of formats for answers (i.e what do they want for an interrogatory).
2) I looked at one answer (a memorandum) and worked in reverse to see where the answer portions came from (i.e. Were statutes primarily cited; were they cited first and then case law; what parts of the cases did the exam taker incorporate into his answer; how much case analysis did the exam taker incorporate into his answer; how much relevance did the exam taker assign to the other information in the library). This was the most useful thing I did. This will give you a good idea of what parts of the cases and statutes you should strip out and put into your answer when you do the MPT yourself. Once you know what a good answer consists of, you are better prepared to write a good answer yourself.
3) If you are not a fast thinker/writer, you should do a practice MPT to see if you have time problems.
Recent MPT Themes Tested on the New York Bar Exam
Exam |
Theme |
| July 2007 | Draft the argument section of a brief in support of a motion |
| Feb 2007 | Draft a follow-up letter persuasively setting forth the basis for claims under a Federal Law |
| July 2006 | Draft an objective memorandum discussing disclosure requirements and analyze compliance. |
| Feb 2006 | Write a persuasive brief in opposition to the Motion to Quash |
| July 2005 | Letter brief to the ZBA in support of petition for a use variance |
| Feb 2005 | Draft a memorandum for the supervising partner analyzing Rules of Professional Conduct |
| July 2004 | Draft a case planning memo that identifies and evaluates claims and defenses in an eviction action. |
| Feb 2004 | Evidentiary Brief for the State of New York |
| July 2003 | Memo About an Employer's Liability for Allegedly Tortious Acts by Its Employee |
| Feb 2003 | Letter to Opposing Counsel About Enforcing a Lease |
| July 2002 | Memo From an Assistant District Attorney |
| Feb 2002 | Opinion Letter for Joint Venture |
| July 2001 | Brief Supporting a Motion to Quash a Subpoena |
| Feb 2001 | No MPT - NY had six essay questions instead. |
If you don't have a BARBRI MPT book, here are some older MPT exams and their corresponding Point Sheets. You can download MPT Pointsheets from 1997-2004 back on NCBE's website
MPT Point Sheet 1
MPT Point Sheet 2
MBE (40%)
For the MBE, the average passing raw score in NY is 125-130. The average scaled MBE score is 141. They say at PMBR that you want to be at 60% correct by the end of June, and at 65%-70% correct by game day. My advice for the MBE is:
1) Do 30-50 MCQ questions every day. I personally preferred the PMBR questions although you can do either PMBR or BARBRI. For PMBR, you should do the entire the RED book and then the entire BLUE book. The RED Book is 1235 questions (Torts 200 Contracts 200; Property 200; Criminal Law 175; Crim Procedure 60;Evidence 200; Con Law 200). The BLUE Book is 600 questions and then an exam. If you do BARBRI, I would recommend the BARBRI Release Q's and BARBRI Practice Q's Advanced. Don't do BARBRI Drills Q's - they are very hard and not reflective of the MBE.
2) Read every answer to each question whether you get the question right or wrong AND TAKE NOTES OF ANYTHING YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. I basically created a separate MBE outline of MBE rules and organized this by topic (i.e. Con Law, Contracts, etc.). This "flashcard" document should contain a 1-sentence rule of law for all the multiple choice questions that you answered wrong and for any MCQ's that you got right but guessed on. These are your weaknesses on the MBE. Read this outline everyday before you do your MBE questions. My Flashcard document ended up containing over 800 "1-sentence" rules of law. Here is my flashcard document called MBE Tips:
MBE Tips.doc
The flashcard document that YOU create is more important to you than mine since my weaknesses may not be your weaknesses. However, my flashcard document is worth reading once or twice (especially the Con Law and Crim Law sections). There are a few redundant rules of law in this MBE flashcard document because I never bothered to consolidate any redundant rules. Also, for any rule of law that came from an MBE question, I put the MBE exam date in parenthesis after the rule (i.e. July 1991). I did this because I regard the MBE rules as the most important of all the rules to know. You also should pay extra attention to YOUR outlining of the rules of the MBE questions that you get wrong since this is the real thing (see MBE tests below).
I did about 50 questions a day during the week and 70-100 per day on Saturday and Sunday. I always timed myself (I used a Timer program I found on the Internet). I would set the Timer for an 18 minute countdown and then do 10 MBE questions in a particular category (i.e Torts). After I did 10 questions, I checked the answers, kept track of how many I missed and updated my rule outline with any rules from questions I got wrong (or in a few cases, got right for the wrong reason). I kept track of this and how much time I had left after each series of 10 questions in an Excel Spreadsheet. In the spreadsheet, I calculated the amount of time I used per question. If you develop an average time, you can multiply this by 33 to figure out how long this will take you to do a category. For me, Property questions took the longest (avg 1.4 minutes per Q), then Contracts, then Torts, Crim Law, Con Law, and Evidence. Here is the spreadsheet I created and used:
Bar Study Sheet.xls (A PDF of my study sheet is here)
All my scores and times are in the spreadsheet. Here are my dates/times/scores for the PMBR BLUE and RED Books (RED Evidence and Crim Law are missing because I initially didn't keep track), MBE, BARBRI and PMBR tests and finally, my July 2005 MBE results:
| Date | Book | Topic | # of Qs | # Wrong | % Right | MBE Raw | Min Per Question |
| 5-Jun | PMBR Blue Book | Criminal Law | 100 | 28 | 72% | 144 | 1.12 |
| 2-Jun | PMBR Blue Book | Property | 100 | 31 | 69% | 138 | 1.40 |
| 17-Jun | PMBR Blue Book | Con Law | 100 | 17 | 83% | 166 | 0.89 |
| 23-Jun | PMBR Blue Book | Contracts | 100 | 38 | 62% | 124 | 1.14 |
| 25-Jun | PMBR Blue Book | Evidence | 100 | 23 | 77% | 154 | 0.88 |
| 30-Jun | PMBR Blue Book | Torts | 100 | 31 | 69% | 138 | 1.14 |
| 07-Jul | PMBR Blue Book Sim Exam | 200 | 68 | 66% | 132 | 1.20 | |
| 11-Jun | PMBR Red Book | Property | 200 | 83 | 59% | 117 | 1.28 |
| 16-Jun | PMBR Red Book | Con Law | 200 | 68 | 66% | 132 | 1.05 |
| 22-Jun | PMBR Red Book | Contracts | 200 | 90 | 55% | 110 | 1.23 |
| 29-Jun | PMBR Red Book | Torts | 200 | 64 | 68% | 136 | 1.03 |
| 01-Jul | BARBRI Simulated MBE | 200 | 70 | 65% | 130 | 1.46 | |
| 05-Jul | MBE July 1998 | 200 | 47 | 77% | 153 | 1.15 | |
| 09-Jul | MBE July 1991 | 200 | 51 | 75% | 149 | 1.1 | |
| 11-Jul | MBE Feb 1991 | 200 | 47 | 77% | 153 | 1.14 | |
| 27-Jul | July 2005 NY BAR EXAM MBE | 200 | 43 | 79% | 157 | 1.125 |
As you do MBE questions, remember to keep track of your percentages and to skim your MBE outlines. The Bar Study Spreadsheet contains worksheet pages ("50 50", "200", or "100 100") that you can print out as answer sheets for the PMBR/MBE questions and exams that you do. Here are PDF versions of the blank answer sheets along with a PDF of my marked up scoresheet for the July 1998 MBE to illustrate how I marked it up:
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| July 1998 Scoresheet |
On the scoresheet, I also made a note of how many questions I got wrong because I misread the question (I put an MR next to the right answer). This was simply a way for me to see if I was reading the questions too fast. Occasionally, I also incorporated a tip from BARBRI where you put a plus sign next to any answer that you are sure is correct. That way if you later find you are wrong on that answer, you need to really study that area to figure out why you were wrong.
Although some people say you should do questions from each subject at least once a week (i.e. Con Law questions on Monday, Crim Law questions on Tuesday, Contracts on Wednesday, etc.), I did my MBE Q's in blocks until about 1 month before the exam. For example, after Con Law finished in BARBRI, I did Con Law multiple choice questions from Barbri and PMBR Red and Blue. Then I did the same with the next topic. Once all six topics were finished in Barbri, I then started doing exams to test on all the subjects. You can look at the Bar Study Sheet to see exactly what I did each day. In my opinion, doing the topics in blocks gives you a more realistic estimate of how you are doing on that topic. In the first month of studying, if you are doing 10 questions from each topic a day, how do you really know if you are doing well in a specific topic? You can also gauge your progress by comparing your scores to mine at the same juncture. For example, I recommend you purchase the 1998 July MBE at the NCBE Online Store and take it 22 days before the exam like I did. Then compare your score and time to mine to roughly approximate how you may do on the MBE portion of the bar exam.
For the July 2005 MBE, I finished the AM session 45 minutes early and the PM session 35 minutes early. If you do a lot of MBE questions, they start to look familiar after a while. Don't use this as a gauge - you will probably finish just in time.
Once you have done the six main topics in BARBRI, and have done a good deal of PMBR and BARBRI multiple choice questions, you should take an actual MBE exam. The current exams available are July 1998, All of 1992 (581 questions), July 1991 and Feb 1991.
I felt the July 2005 MBE exam was "different" from these older MBE exams - the questions seemed re-written (as opposed to recycled) and more verbose. However, the older MBEs are still the closest thing to the real exam since they are former MBE exams. You should do these, under timed conditions, probably around mid July. These actual MBEs will give you the best idea of how you will do on the MBE itself.
Using the MBE questions, I took some of the questions, grouped them by category, and then created an audio cd of the questions with answers to listen to in the car on the way to and from BARBRI. You can create your own cds by either using a program like Dragon to read the text aloud and then use this program, mp3mymp3 to record the audio in mp3 format. You can also just read an outline into your microphone and use mp3mymp3 to record your own voice. You then burn that mp3 onto your ipod or onto a cd to make an audio cd using a program like Nero. My MP3s were mostly old MBEs - the question was read, the a,b,c,d answer options were read, and then the answer was read. I usually had about 30 questions on each CD that I played in my car. I found that listening to these audio cds in your car to and from BARBRI was helpful because (a) you are a captive audience and (b) you can study a little less at home because you are studying while commuting.
I signed up for the PMBR 3-Day Session. For both days, I left after the AM session. While going over the answers was somewhat useful, I felt I would be more productive at home doing multiple choice questions. You should sign up for PMBR to get the books (or buy them on ebay) and then attend the sessions to see if you get anything out of it. If not, just go home and study on your own. Here is a PMBR review from someone who attended the July 2005 PMBR review:
PMBR review.doc
From the beginning, my goal was to ace the MBE and hope I did well on everything else. As opposed to the essays, the MBE is readily quantifiable. If you do not do well on the MBE, you had better have written spectacular essays, and with the time constraints, that is probably not too likely. As I said earlier, for the MBE, I finished the AM session 45 minutes early and the PM session 35 minutes early. This probably is a result of doing over 4000 multiple choice questions. For the essays, I finished with less than a minute to spare in the AM and PM. And contrary to what BARBRI tells you, I read the question and then started writing my answer immediately (instead of outlining), and I still barely finished on time (and I am a fast test-taker). I never made a list of issues or underlined key phrases (although I never did that in law school either). My inability to organize the essays was apparent in some of my answers. For the torts question, halfway through the question, I realized I completely missed an issue. I had to write a few paragraphs on it on the next page and then drew an arrow illustrating where it should be inserted in my previously written answer. Needless to say, my answers were occasionally disjointed. I would say 80% of my essay answers came from MASTER and 20% from outlines. I remembered a good bit from MASTER, although it was never word for word. If I got 4 sentences out of a 7 sentence MASTER paragraph, I was happy. I would say I used MASTER phrases for virtually every issue of every essay (sans one or two topics like trusts where I just had no clue and nothing to BS from MASTER). The outlines did help for the MBE. In the final two weeks, the outlines and MASTER were the only things I really read. In my opinion, knowing the rules is more useful for the essays then the MBE, but that is where MASTER can help (although it is a gambit nonetheless). In my opinion, the multiple choice questions are the best way to prepare for the MBE.
To do good on the MBE, you need to know the nuances of the law. That is why you have to do a lot of multiple choice questions and understand the right answers. In doing 4,000 multiple choice questions, I came up with over 800 rules to answers I did not know at all, and I could have come up with more. So basically you should do as many multiple choice questions as possible and understand the right answers. On the July 2005 MBE, I scored a 157 raw score which translates to a 162.1 scaled score. This raw score was better than any test score I had while I did practice exams.
NOTE ON REMAINDERS: There might be one or two questions on remainders. There is no point in going crazy trying to study them. I tried numerous times to figure them out but ended up getting them wrong anyway. I would suggest just analyzing the remainder questions and answers from the multiple choice questions. According to BARBRI, the average Property MBE score is 18 of 33 = 55%
All Three Of The Released MBEs (Feb 1991, July 1991 And July 1998) Each Have Evenly Distributed Answers (50 As, 50 Bs, 50 Cs And 50 Ds).
Out of curiousity, I checked the answer keys of each released MBE and tallied the correct answers for each exam. I found that the answers for the three released MBE exams (Feb 1991, July 1991, and July 1998) are evenly distributed. Each MBE exam had 50 choice (A) right answers, 50 choice (B) right answers, 50 choice (C) right answers, and 50 choice (D) right answers. This is more of an interesting observation rather than a tip or advice. Assuming that the MBE still continues this pattern, you may be able to increase your odds by doing the following (called the "The Underdog Strategy"):
a. Answer all the questions in the subtest you can.
b. Count the frequency of each position among your (hopefully correct) answers.
c. Select the position with the lowest frequency (the "underdog" position). If two or more positions are tied for underdogs, select any one of them.
d. Give the underdog position(s) as the answer to all as yet unanswered questions
This Underdog Theory comes from a paper on key-balanced tests entitled "Seek Whence: Answer Sequences and Their Consequences in Key-Balanced Multiple-Choice Tests" by Maya Bar-Hillel. You can download the paper here:
Key-Balanced Multiple-Choice Tests.doc
This paper is merely for your information. DO NOT bother reading it unless you intend to employ the Underdog Strategy. In the paper, they examined SAT test-takers of differing levels of knowledge ranging from 10% knowledgeable to 90% knowledgeable. These test-takers employed the Underdog method on a key balanced SAT test. All of these test-takers scored higher than a control group that did not employ the Underdog theory. Keep in mind that the increase in scoring was slight. Also keep in mind that the less knowledgeable you are, the lower the increased score. I would not recommend employing the Underdog strategy because there is no way of knowing if the MBE is still key-balanced since there has not been a released MBE since 1998. However, if you want to take a chance and are a fast-enough MBE test-taker that you have the time to do this, you may want to consider employing this strategy.
MBE Annotated Preview 2006
NCBE is offering a 100-question, annotated online practice exam using questions drawn from recent MBEs. Here is an excerpt from the November 2007 issue of The Bar Examiner. The Bar Examiner is published four times per year by the National Conference of Bar Examiners:
In December 2006, we offered a new product that we believe is very useful to those who are preparing to take the MBE. The MBE-AP (“Annotated Preview”) provides 100 MBE questions along with annotations regarding why the correct answer is correct and why each distractor is incorrect.
Examinees may purchase subscriptions for $26 each. Subscriptions offer unlimited electronic access to the MBE-AP from the date of subscription to the date of the next MBE administration. Examinees can take the 100-item MBE online and receive feedback on correct and incorrect answers. Examinees also receive estimates of their actual MBE performance based on their MBE-AP performance. The questions that appear on the MBE-AP provide the most accurate
representation of a half-length MBE, in terms of both content and format, available today from any source. In addition, the annotations were all written by members of the MBE drafting committees, thus providing an accurate representation of the drafting “thought process.” (Emphasis added)
For those who are planning to retake the examination, recommend that they purchase the MBE-AP and take it repeatedly up until the exam date to obtain the rationales for why the options they select are either correct or incorrect.
According to the description you can take the exam in either timed or untimed sittings, and you will receive feedback on your answers, including annotations and a customized score report. You can also purchase old MBE tests from the NCBEX Online Store. I strongly urge everyone to take the NCBE MBE Annotated Preview 2006 exam. If I were taking the bar exam again, I would purchase this "MBE Annotated Preview 2006" ($26), the July 1998 MBE ($15), the July 1991 MBE ($15) and the February 1991 MBE ($15). For what you pay for a bar review course such as BARBRI, you should spend the extra $70 to look at actual MBE exams.
I took the MBE Annotated Preview 2006 Exam in April 2008. I then examined the score pattern - this exam of 100 questions IS NOT key-balanced (33 As, 23 Bs, 21 Cs and 23 Ds). However, this may be because the MBE Annotated Preview 2006 Exam is one-half of a 200 question exam. In this exam, there were 17 Constitutional Law questions, 18 Contracts questions, 16 Criminal Law and Procedure questions, 16 Evidence questions, 16 Real Property questions, and 17 Torts questions. According to NCBE, the MBE consists of 33 questions each in Contracts and Torts and 31 questions each in Constitutional Law, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, and Real Property. The MBE exam also contains 10 pretest questions which are indistinguishable from the live test items, but are not used for scoring purposes.
I did find that some questions in this MBE Annotated Preview 2006 Exam were re-worded questions from prior exams (i.e. MBE Annotated Preview 2006 Exam Question 45 is a re-worded version of MBE July 1998 Question 33 and MBE 2006 Question 57 is a re-worded version of MBE July 1998 Question 144). I plan to look at the MBE Annotated Preview 2006 Exam more closely if I have the time.
MBE 2008 Information Booklet
The MBE 2008 Information Booklet is here. This booklet contains useful information such as MBE Subject Matter Outlines and some sample questions. If you are doing an MBE rules outline, you should categorize the rules based on the topics in the MBE outlines in order to prioritize the rules. For example, according to the MBE Subject Matter Outlines for Constitutional Law, approximately half of the Constitutional Law questions for each MBE will be based on category IV (Individual rights), and approximately half will be based on the remaining categories, I, II, and III (the nature of judicial review;
separation of powers; and the relations of nation and states in a federal system). Here is a word version of the MBE Subject Matter Outlines that you can incorporate into your rules outlines. If you categorize your rules outline for each MBE topic, you can focus on higher priority rules (i.e Con Law Category IV) when you are studying or if you are running short on time. I am doing my own examination of the MBE questions, and plan to make categorized rules outlines from each MBE released exam ordered based on testing frequency. The NCBE released MBE resources are as follows:
Grading
Grading of the NY Bar Exam:
The New York essays, the New York multiple-choice, the performance test, and the MBE are each graded separately. The raw score for each of the four parts is then scaled, by converting each raw score to a 0-1,000 grid (thus equating the scoring of each part). But each part has a different weight. So the scaled score for each part is weighted, by multiplying it by its percentage weighing factor.
Five Essay Questions -- 40%
NY Multiple-Choice (NYMC) -- 10%
Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) -- 40%
Multistate Performance Test (MPT) -- 10%
The weighted scaled scores are then added up to equal 100%. If your total score is 665 or higher, you have passed the New York Bar Exam.
The exam is cumulative. To pass every portion, you need approximately:
MBE: 132 scaled (approx 116-118 raw)
Essays/MPT: 50-52 written average
NY Mult Choice: 27-28 out of 50
I've read where people passed with under 132 scaled. Someone also recently told me they failed with a 144 scaled. However, the higher your MBE score, the more "wiggle room" you have on the essays. There is a 90% chance that you passed NY with a 142 scaled. A 142 scaled means you scored 710 out of 1,000 points on the NY scale. This means the MBE comes out to 284 points out of the needed 665. This means you need 386 points overall on the Essays/MPT and NY Mult choice - so assuming you scored at least 25 out of 50 on the NYMC resulting in 66 points, leaving you with 310 points- which is a lot of breathing room on the essays. Getting a 320 total on the NY essays is probably a written average of 44 to 46 (low to mid 4's).
Even though the essays are worth 50% of the grade, there is room for much subjectivity in the process. You likely have a better chance of passing the NY bar exam with a high MBE score and average essays than a bad MBE score but great essays.
According to Marino, in order to pass the NY Bar, you need an MBE raw of 122, an Essay and MPT average of 5.2, and a NYS MCQ of 30/50. Barbri claims that someone passed with an MBE raw of 90 and that a MBE raw of 140 is an almost guaranteed pass on the NY Bar Exam.
Grading Sheets
If you don't pass the NY Bar Exam, you receive a grading sheet with your scores. Here are some sample NY Bar Exam grading sheets:
Grading Sheet from July 2004 exam
Grading Sheet from July 2002 exam
NCBE has historically provided MBE total raw scores and raw scores for each separate subject (Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts). Up until 2007, the NY bar exam grading sheet contained the raw subscores for each subject. The raw subscores do not appear on the July 2007 score sheet. In the November 2007 issue of The Bar Examiner, NCBE strongly recommended providing to examinees only the MBE total scaled score, which is not affected by the difficulty of the questions on the particular exam. It appears that NY BOLE has taken NCBE's advice about not releasing the raw subscores since it may provide misleading information to retakers. According to NBCE, "[b]ecause these raw scores are simple counts of the questions answered correctly, they are not scaled to take into account the difficulty of the questions on the particular form of the exam that was taken. A low raw score in a subject might in fact be the result of adequate or even good performance if the questions in that subject were more difficult than those in other subjects. A second reason for not providing raw subscores is that because there are relatively few questions in each subject area, raw scores in individual subjects are not very reliable. If examinees were to take a second test with similar questions, the examinee scores would likely fluctuate by five or so points (out of 31 or 33 points) just because of a different selection of questions. Finally, even if an examinee did in fact perform better in one area than another, that examinee might be better advised to devote additional study to the MBE content area of his or her intended practice, since improvement in any area will increase the total score on the next examination." NBCE goes on to say that "[w]hile a total scaled score does not provide a breakdown of scores by topic, it does provide a good indication of how much the examinee needs to study in order to pass the next time."
The November 2007 issue of The Bar Examiner offered the following advice to examinees who failed the bar exam:
1. Have bar examiners provide them with their MBE total scaled scores.
2. Do not have bar examiners provide raw scores.
3. Tell those who plan to retake the examination that repeaters, on average, gain about 8 points on the subsequent attempt, but some gain more points and some actually score lower than before.
4. For those who are planning to retake the examination, recommend that they purchase the MBE-AP and take it repeatedly up until the exam date to obtain the rationales for why the options they select are either correct or incorrect.
NY Bar Exam Score Calculator
IN PROGRESS: The NY Bar Score Calculator is an Excel spreadsheet where you can calculate a NY Bar Exam score by plugging in estimated scores for each section. This spreadsheet calculates your NY Bar exam score based on the common scale of various bar exams. Each administration's common scale varies because it is based on the level of difficulty of the test. You can enter raw scores in the white cells to calculate your potential score. The MBE score you enter should be scaled.
NOTE TO RETAKERS: In 2007, New York changed the reporting of information on the grading sheets so that the subscores are not reported for any of the multiple choice (NYMC and MBE). I am in the process of improving the NY Bar score calculator and would like to be able to calculate the NYMC common scale score which I can interpolate if I have sufficient data (e.g. grading sheets). If you would like to help, please email me a copy of your grading sheet to joe@seperac.com. You can also fill out the grading sheet online submission form. You will of course have complete anonymity - I only intend to disclose the data itself. Once I have enough data, I will release the new score calculator.
NY Bar Exam Pass Rates
Here are the pass rates for the New York Bar Exam:
Overall New York Bar Exam Pass Rates
| Bar Exam | Bar Candidates | Number Passing | Number Failing | Overall Pass Rate | First-Timer Pass Rate |
| July 2007 | 10,907 | 7,701 | 3,206 | 70.6 | 79.1 |
| July 2006 | 10,448 | 7,258 | 3,190 | 69.5 | 79.4 |
| July 2005 | 10,175 | 6,809 | 3,366 | 66.9 | 76.0 |
| July 2004 | 9,555 | 6,448 | 3,107 | 67.5 | 76.6 |
| July 2003 | 9,407 | 6,532 | 2,875 | 69.4 | 77.6 |
| July 2002 | 9,693 | 6,546 | 3,147 | 67.5 | 76.5 |
| July 2001 | 9,194 | 6,664 | 2,530 | 72.5 | 79.6 |
| July 2000 | 8,896 | 6,006 | 2,890 | 67.5 | 75.0 |
| July 1999 | 8,541 | 5,846 | 2,695 | 68.4 | 75.3 |
| July 1998 | 8,788 | 6,160 | 2,628 | 70.1 | 77.9 |
| July 1997 | 8,520 | 6,029 | 2,491 | 70.8 | 78.1 |
| July 1996 | 8,070 | 5,743 | 2,327 | 71.2 | 78.0 |
| July 1995 | 8,064 | 5,776 | 2,288 | 71.6 | 78.5 |
| July 1994 | 7,737 | 6,091 | 1,646 | 78.7 | 85.6 |
| July 1993 | 7,375 | 5,506 | 1,869 | 74.7 | 82.0 |
| July 1992 | 7,436 | 5,493 | 1,943 | 73.9 | 82.0 |
| Bar Exam | Bar Candidates | Number Passing | Number Failing | Overall Pass Rate | First-Timer Pass Rate |
| Feb 2008 | 3,589 | 1,777 | 1,812 | 49.5 | 64.0 |
| Feb 2007 | 3,538 | 1,566 | 1,972 | 44.3 | 61.1 |
| Feb 2006 | 3,565 | 1,635 | 1,930 | 45.9 | 61.0 |
| Feb 2005 | 3,215 | 1,528 | 1,687 | 47.5 | 63.0 |
| Feb 2004 | 3,251 | 1,479 | 1,772 | 45.5 | 58.1 |
| Feb 2003 | 3,293 | 1,531 | 1,762 | 46.5 | 61.9 |
| Feb 2002 | 3,167 | 1,338 | 1,829 | 42.2 | 57.6 |
| Feb 2001 | 3,515 | 1,548 | 1,967 | 44.0 | 58.2 |
| Feb 2000 | 3,025 | 1,359 | 1,666 | 44.9 | 60.1 |
| Feb 1999 | 3,073 | 1,556 | 1,517 | 50.6 | 64.4 |
| Feb 1998 | 2,979 | 1,427 | 1,552 | 47.9 | 64.5 |
| Feb 1997 | 2,685 | 1,380 | 1,305 | 51.4 | 66.7 |
| Feb 1996 | 2,569 | 1,433 | 1,136 | 55.8 | 69.4 |
| Feb 1995 | 2,148 | 1,109 | 1,039 | 51.6 | 70.8 |
| Feb 1994 | 2,249 | 1,187 | 1,062 | 52.8 | 70.0 |
| Feb 1993 | 2,200 | 1,105 | 1,095 | 50.2 | 67.0 |
| Feb 1992 | 2,232 | 1,152 | 1,080 | 51.6 | 68.0 |
NY BOLE CONTENT OUTLINE
In August 2008, the NY BOLE released a Content Outline For The New York State Bar Examination. Click here to download the outline from the NY BOLE website. I am thinking of keying the next version of MASTER to this outline with responses for each issue along with the statistics. I liked seeing the specific crimes in the outline - it lets you focus your studying on just the listed crimes. It appears this list is closely keyed to MASTER 2008 - every MASTER crime in on the NY BOLE outline. The only crimes in the NY BOLE outline missing from MASTER are Rape, Offenses against children and Vehicular offenses (crimes that were never tested on any NY bar exam since July 1995). I plan to look at this outline very closely to see how it correlates with MASTER 2008. It's interesting that this outline was released in August 2008 - I wonder if that means the Feb 2009 exam will be significantly different from July 2008.
OUTLINES
Following are BAR Review course outlines from 2005. The Joe Outlines are mine. They are built on very good outlines from someone else who graduated in 2004. The outlines should help you as they are dead-on with the BARBRI lectures and the NY Distinctions are incorporated into them. Robs Outlines and Vidlers Outlines are outline sets that I received from other people. I really didn't use them because I had my own outlines, but they are here if you want them. However, keep in mind that taking notes yourself is a useful exercise because you learn the material as you take the notes. If I find the time, I may convert the outlines to mp3 audio files.
Joe Outlines.zip (WORD documents)
Joe Outlines in PDF format
Individual Joe Outlines
| Joe Outlines | WORD format | PDF format | MP3 format |
Agency & Partnership |
WORD | ||
Conflict of Laws |
WORD | ||
Constitutional Law |
WORD | ||
Contracts & Sales |
WORD | ||
Corporations |
WORD | ||
Criminal Law & Procedure |
WORD | ||
Domestic Relations |
WORD | ||
Essay Writing |
WORD | ||
Evidence |
WORD | ||
Federal Jurisdiction |
WORD | ||
MPT |
WORD | ||
NY Practice |
WORD | ||
Professional Responsibility |
WORD | ||
Real Property |
WORD | ||
Sec. Transactions & Comm. Paper |
WORD | ||
Torts |
WORD | ||
Trusts |
WORD | ||
Wills & Estate Taxation |
WORD |
Rob Outlines.zip (WORD documents)
Vidler Outlines.zip (WORD documents)
BAR EXAM RETAKERS
Whenever a retaker asks me for specific advice, I try to give it. However, depending on how busy I am, I may not respond for a few weeks. If you would like my advice (which I am happy to give), please fill out the Retaker Bar Exam Advice Form. The form is an efficient way for me to determine as much of your situation as possible to formulate an appropriate response. The form contains a set of questions that I generally ask people who email me for advice. As with anything, the more data I have, the more effective my analysis. Once I review your information, I will give you my honest opinion about what I think you should do for your next attempt. While the grading sheets are fairly self explanatory, I will also give you my analysis of your scores. Since New York changed the reporting of information on the grading sheets so that the subscores are not reported for any of the multiple choice (NYMC and MBE), your score submission will enable me to calculate the NYMC common scale score for the administration. Read more. You will of course have complete anonymity - I only intend to disclose the data itself. Once I have enough data, I will release a new NY Bar exam score calculator. I also plan to complile the statistics to see if there are any recognizable patterns based on the retaker responses.
EXAM OVERVIEW
This site details how I passed the New York State bar exam in order to help you pass the NY bar exam. How much time you should devote to studying depends on how well you are doing in your studying. For each day you study, I would spend 60% of the time studying for the MBE (focus on PMBR); 38% for the NY Essays and 2% for the NY Multiple choice. Compare your PMBR/Barbri/MBE scores to mine in my Bar Study Spreadsheet. I studied for roughly 60 days full-time. Figure out when you started studying and correlate your study time period to mine. For example, at 55% into my studying, which was day 33 for me, I did all 200 questions for PMBR Red Book Torts and got 68% right. Take the PMBR Red Book Torts at your 55% mark and compare your score to mine. This will give you a good idea of how you should do on the actual exam. If you find you are not testing as good, if you are close, don't worry. If you are far off, spend more time studying MBEs. For studying, this is what I think you should do (keep in mind this is just my opinion and you should do what works best for you):
1. Update the MASTER document with the new July and February essay answers, including the headings and tables. If a model answer seems very good, you may want to add a few lines from that model answer into the MASTER answer. It will probably be a good exercise for you as you will see how many issues REALLY do get repeated. For example, my MASTER doc goes up to Feb 2005. I took a look at the first essay question from July 2005. Here are the issues:
Issue 1 - CORPORATIONS - PIERCING THE CORPORATE VEIL - July 1999, July 1997, July 1995
Issue 2 - CONTRACTS - PAROL EVIDENCE - Feb 2003
Issue 3 - CONTRACTS - QUASI-CONTRACT - July 1997
Issue 4 - PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY - FEES - July 2003, Feb 2002, July 2000
All 4 issues on Essay #1 are in MASTER (the only one that is not dead-on target is the quantum meruit issue (#3), but it could be answered based on the CONTRACTS - QUASI-CONTRACT - July 1997 section of MASTER. That is the beauty of MASTER - it will cover almost everything, and even if there is an ancillary issue, you should be able to make a great answer from another related MASTER topic.
2. Prioritize MASTER. As I explained on the website, change the color of every immediately preceding exam topic to orange indicating it is a low priority. Then mark other items that have not appeared often as low prio. For example, there was only 1 negotiable instrument Q in 22 administrations. Don't waste any time on this, mark it orange. I would read these low priority topics a few times but would not take the effort of memorizing them. I would memorize high probability topics (mark them blue). Pro Res, Contracts, Corps, and Wills are big. Know them well. Study smarter, not harder. For example, there will undoubtedly be a Contracts question. Therefore, you will undoubtedly have to talk about whether it is a contract and whether there was a breach. This is where MASTER makes your life easier. You can start your essay answer immediately. For example:
CONTRACT CREATION - July 2004, July 2003, July 2001, Feb 2000
A contract is a legally enforceable agreement. A valid contract is formed where there is an offer, namely a manifestation to enter into a valid contract by one party, and an acceptance of that offer by the other party, which indicates a commitment to be bound (a "meeting of the minds"). In addition to a valid offer and acceptance, there must be adequate consideration or a bargained-for legal detriment or, as in New York, a bargained-for legal benefit. Finally, there must be no defenses to formation that would invalidate an otherwise valid contract entered into by the parties, such as the Statute of Frauds under the NYGOL. If the transaction involves the sale of goods, Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, as adopted by New York, is controlling. Goods are tangible, movable personal property. If both parties are merchants, then special rules may apply. A merchant is one who deals in goods of the kind at issue or who holds himself as having special knowledge about the goods. Where the contract is for the sale of goods, UCC Article II applies and states that where both parties are merchants, the only term essential in the contract is that of quantity (i.e. the merchants can agree to later agree on price). Should they not come to an agreement later on, the court will supply a reasonable price. It should be noted that where parties agree to supply a missing term at common law, the contract is unenforceable because the parties are deemed to be still in negotiations.
Now you start your analysis.
The great thing with MASTER is that you have the "set pieces" for virtually every issue. As soon as you recognize the issue, you just lay out the "set piece" and make that your first paragraph. Then you do your analysis by applying the facts and make your conclusion. In my opinion, a bar grader will make an immediate assessment of the quality of an essay based on the first paragraph - how good is your first sentence?; how well is the paragraph structured?; how well and orderly is it put together?; how on point is it?; does it contain all the elements; how well is it written? MASTER gives you a great "intro" which should make a good impression on the bar grader, even if the rest of the essay is poor.
3. Read MASTER every day based on the advice in #2. Even by doing this, I never had MASTER memorized. However, you will be surprised to see how much you remember from MASTER once you are in the exam. If you have a "brain dump" which I myself had a few times during the exam, you just move on to the next question immediately. The worst thing you can do is "spin your tires" on one question. And if you do move on, and it was a multiple choice question - make absolutely sure you do not mistakenly miss that question on the answer sheet so all your answers are off by one. Keep in mind that you will not know things - you skip these items and answer the things you know and then later come back to the things you don't know to write some type of an answer.
4. Read all my outlines (NY Practice in particular) to help with both MBE and NY Essays. For NY Essays, after you have updated MASTER and prioritized the topics, you will see that certain topics are rarely tested so you should just peruse those topics in the outline. Study the high probability items that appear over and over. You should know the 6 main topics and NY Practice very well. The other topics (for example, trusts), I would read the outline once and then just study the MASTER topics on it somewhat. There is no sense in going crazy trying to study ancillary topics such as trusts when there is a low probability that they will appear, and you may still be able to piece together an answer from what you memorize from MASTER.
In regards to the NY Distinctions, I would study only the distinctions in the Joe Outlines - those are the major ones. The distinctions are confusing and I know I screwed them up somewhat on the exam. Remember, NY distinctions will only apply on NY essays and NY mult choice. The MBE is common law - no NY distinctions. As I've said on the site, I think the MBE is key - get a great score on the MBE and its hard not to pass. I took NY and NJ concurrently and thought I did horrible on 2nd half NJ essays but believe that my MBE score carried me. Therefore:
5. Do/Study a lot of MBE questions (mainly PMBR). I believe that the MBE is the key to the NY Bar exam and that MASTER and the outlines will give you answers to the NY Essays that are passing. Do well on the MBE and you will pass. I created MASTER with two other guys last July - both did worse than me on the MBE and both also passed. I did 4000+ MBE questions. At the bar exam, while most people barely finished, I finished well over 30+ minutes early for each session and got a 157 raw. I believe this is a direct result of the # of MBEs that I did in preparation. Knowing the law is different than answering an MBE Q. Some are worded certain ways and only by doing a lot of them will you realize the nuances. I did MBEs for a few hours a day. As I did MBE questions, I read each question only once and then answered it fairly quickly. I spent more time figuring out why I got a question wrong. I did ten MBE questions at a time. I timed myself for each set of ten so I could calculate my average time per question. After I did 10, I graded myself and updated my MBE TIPS document. To be honest, I only started reading my MBE TIPS document about two weeks before the bar exam (at the point I was done taking MBE questions). I would do PMBE over Barbri -- PMBR are much more like the bar. You can compare your progress with mine by looking at my study sheet:
Bar Study Spreadsheet
You should track your progress against my progress on the bar study spreadsheet and compare. It is probably a good indicator of how you can expect to ultimately do. If you can post similar scores and times to mine, you will be able to go into the MBE knowing that you will have ample time (the actual MBE questions are a little shorter). I'm sure this method of studying for the MBE was more prone to error due to an occasional misread question, however, to me it was a worthwhile trade-off, as I felt I benefited to a greater extent from the exposure to 4000+ questions. However, to each his own - you need to study the way you are comfortable with - the same methods that got you to this point. A lot also depends on your law school GPA - If you were a 3.0-4.0 student, you probably have good study habits. If you are below 3.0, you really should devote A LOT of time to studying.
6. For NY Multiple choice and MPT, just refer to my advice on the website.
7. Finally, as you study for the exam, freaking out is to be expected. Don't panic. Keep a routine, study every day, follow the other advice on the website, and you should pass. If you are spinning your tires while studying, take a break and come back when you feel ready. When I got tired of studying (which was often), I did a set of 10 MBE questions. If you saw how I studied, you would be shocked. I would read an outline for 10-15 minutes, surf the internet or do something for 5 or 10 minutes, do some MBE questions, work on my master outline, screw around some more, and then repeat. Also, I have 3 girls (ages 6, 3 , and 2) who would interrupt me fairly often.
Practice is extremely important, and probably more important than studying the outlines. But if you give yourself enough time, maybe about 2 months is ideal, you'll have time to learn the law (by reading the outlines for both the MBE and the state law topics, and then practice with as many questions as you can get your hands on. Don't forget to study MASTER often - these are the released questions that were actual questions from past exams. You can't beat that when preparing.
Everyone says that you learn the most in the final two weeks. I'm not sure if that was the case with me. I felt I learned about the same as every other week leading up to the final two weeks, so don't expect anything magical to happen in the final two weeks. The bottom line is to devote the time to studying and to analyze your mistakes and correct as many as you can in time for the bar. And you need to look at the bar objectively. I did all 3 released MBE exams. I saw that maybe 1 or 2 questions on each exam were on remainders. As I was having difficulty figuring them out, I just gave up on them and moved on to studying something else. The worst thing you can do is spin your tires. I didn't see remainders on the NY essays, and it could only be one or two questions on the MBE, so why bother. It wasn't worth spending a few hours studying them - my time was better spent doing 50 multiple choice questions in those 2 hrs. Likewise, I knew nothing about Trusts (i think I even missed the BARBRI session on Trusts). I decided not to study them, taking a calculated risk that there was a low likelihood they would appear on the exam (based on Master). Even if Trusts did appear, I planned to just regurgitate the Trust section in Master, even if it didn't apply (in hopes that it would at least sound good). Quite frankly, you are better off knowing NY Practice cold (it will help you in both the NY essays and the NY multiple choice) rather than an ancillary topic like Trusts.
As you get closer to the test day, relax. And make sure to relax the night before. YOU SHOULD NOT STUDY MONDAY AFTERNOON. RELAX and HAVE A GOOD TIME. You will realize the importance of this on
Tuesday when you go in well rested and ready to go.
The above sums up my opinion of the strategy you should employ, but here it is in a nutshell:
1) Update and memorize MASTER and use it to make predictions about the upcoming exam. I myself have not looked at MASTER since July 2005, so I really don't know what patterns have held and what patterns have changed. From what I've heard, NY made some changes that to me seem a significant departure from past behavior, indicating that they may be aware that people are trying to "beat" the system. However, an update of MASTER should tell you that. As you can probably tell from my website, I am a very analytical person. My undergrad major was finance and I am a big fan of probabilities and statistics. I strongly believe that the best way to prepare for an upcoming exam is to break-down previous exams and analyze them. This analysis was invaluable to me for the July 2005 exam -- just look at the insights I put on this web-site. However, without an updated MASTER, you can't properly analyze the exam.
2) Look at my Bar Study Spreadsheet and compare your testing to mine (you need MBE and PMBR books for this). Compare your scores to mine at the same point in time. Make sure to keep a "Rules" outline for MBE questions.
3) If you did not go to a NY law school and did not take NY Practice, your New York multiple choice score will probably suffer. Follow my advice from the website on this.
4) Determine your weak points and focus on them. Also recognize that you can't study everything and you should make rational decisions to "abandon" certain topics that consume your time (remainders for me) to study topics that have a high probability of appearing (i.e. NY Practice).
February Exam versus the July Exam
I really don't know if there are more nuances in February versus July, but you really shouldn't be concerned either way. You shouldn't spend valuable time studying remote areas of law unless you have the main areas of law down cold. Study the highest probability topics and work on your MBE score. I have only had one person tell me they had a good MBE score yet failed the bar. On the contrary, people tell me they had decent scores on essays and MPT but so-so or poor MBE. This person with the good MBE score got a 144 on the MBE but failed because he did poorly on two essays.
In my opinion, regardless of whether it is February exam or the July exam, the NYBOLE has a predetermined percentage of passers (ergo the scale to arrive at the required percentage). It will fluctuate a percent or two from year to year, but will always hold close. Think what could happen if they didn't do this - you could have a glut of new attorneys one year/a huge deficit the next year. And what is the most quantifiable way of assessing test-takers? The MBE. As pointless as it is to study common law, the MBE is the only true and realistic measurable gauge of your overall knowledge of the law. The essays, unless you are very good or very bad, everyone else will get average grades on the essays.
BARBRI Course
For BARBRI, I really only listened to the lectures. I did the first hand-in essay and scored a 3. On the second one, I scored a 4. I think it was at that point that I decided to create MASTER. I realized that BARBRI essays asked you about a lot of useless information and creating MASTER confirmed it. Don't get me wrong - BARBRI over-prepares you with this information. My guess is that BARBRI doesn't want people coming back saying "Hey, you forgot to talk about this and it was on the exam so I want a refund", but I wanted to focus on the most likely essay topics - ergo MASTER. I did the Simulated Exam at home and never bothered going to Javits. I left BARBRI on the days they had the simulated essay exams to go study at home. However, this is me. I felt my time was better spent at home doing MBE questions. If you find the BARBRI stuff useful, by all means do it. Obviously, many people pass the exam following the BARBRI model alone.
My typical BARBRI weekday while bar studying:
Woke up at 7:30.
Drove to BARBRI (30 minutes away).
Listened to CD I made of MBE questions while driving to BARBRI.
Sat through BARBRI with an attention span between 80-90%.
Drove home and listened to MBE CD on the way home.
Ate lunch
After lunch, I started with PMBR questions. I would do a set of ten MBE Q, surf the internet for five minutes or so, then go over the answers, and then do something else for a few minutes and then read an outline, etc.
After each BARBRI class, I probably spent 7-8 quality hours a day studying. You should spend as much time as have available, so long as you're not feeling burned out. Remember, you don't want to have to do this again. When I got tired of studying, I did multiple choice questions, so you can tell I was tired of studying quite often. For each day I studied, I spent about 60% of the time studying for the MBE (PMBR and old MBE exams) by doing multiple choice questions, analyzing the questions and reading outlines; 38% on the NY Essays by reading/updating MASTER and reading the BARBRI essays and answers (no, I didn't even try to do them - I just went straight to the answer) and 2% on the NY Multiple choice.
To figure out how long it took me to answer 10 MBE questions, you can just interpolate it from my average times in the spreadsheet (multiply the average time x 10). It usually took me just a few minutes to review each set of 10 questions. If I got a Q right, and knew how I got it right, I moved to the next Q. If I got it wrong, I read the explanation, and if it made sense, I made a rule for it and put it in my MBE rules outline. Occasionally, if an answer really threw me (maybe 7 out of 100), I would research it. I researched by doing the following: I kept a LAW folder on my computer. In the LAW folder I had a subdirectory called BAR where I stored all my bar outlines, bar and mbe docs, old NY exams, etc in one folder. I also had a subdirectory under LAW that contained all my law school notes, etc. I used a freeware program called Agent Ransack to search the LAW directory and subdirectories for a certain keyword. Agent Ransack would search all the docs for that keyword and show any files containing the keyword and also showed the text in a preview window for context (no need to open the file). This was a very fast way for me to research a topic and understand it without having to open a book. Two or three times I felt so burnt out I just quit studying for the night. The bottom line is to put the time in - If you take a few hours off one night, spend more time the next night.
BARBRI Simulated MBE Versus The Actual MBE
If you are wondering how BarBri's simulated MBE compares to the actual test, take a look at my MBE chart on the site. I took the BARBRI Simulated MBE on 01-Jul (24