Author: nlr22

Introduction to (bar exam) Multistate Performance Test

Friday 3/8 in L-280, from 3:00 – 6:00 PM, there will be an Introduction to the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) workshop.

UBE jurisdictions, Ohio, and most other states include the Multistate Performance Test on the bar exam. (At least two more states, Pennsylvania and California, include a performance test they write themselves).

The concept of the MPT is simple: you are given a task that a first year associate would be assigned, and all the facts and law you need to complete it. The challenge is that you only have 90 minutes to write it, you can’t tear the packet apart, you can’t highlight it, and it is a race against time to finish it – especially if you don’t develop a good system to work your way through it.

The workshop is a make-up class for Advanced Legal Applications (final semester bar skills course). That said – you are invited even if you’re not in ALA – or are in the online version of the extended bar prep class. This is a good opportunity to start developing an MPT strategy so you can earn most of the points that are allocated to the MPT on the bar exam (13.33% in Ohio and 20% on the UBE).

Questions? Nancy Reeves, Assistant Dean for Academic Success – nlr22@uakron.edu

Bar Prep – Essay Structure Workshop today

Wednesday, January 16:  6:30 PM – Essay Structure Workshop – L-325:

Bar Exam Graders spend an average of 2-3 minutes reading each of your essays.  Those 2-3 minutes will determine whether you will earn a license to practice law.   Learn to make your essay grader-friendly so that those minutes count!   Added focus this year on self-grading.  (Enhanced ALA workshop)

  • Food & informal Q&A starts at 6; the workshop starts at 6:30 PM and will last no more than an hour and a half.
  • Please bring your computer (if you expect to take the exam using a computer), any essay you have written, OR 2 paper copies of your essay and multiple highlighters of different colors)
  • Sign up here so I make sure to bring enough food!

Future workshops

  • Saturday afternoon January 19  – MBE Systematic Problem Solving – L-325:  Learn BARBRI’s Systematic Problem Solving Method (New:  taught by Director Armstrong – similar to ALA and MBE, a bit more detai than the introductory session for the asynchronous course)
  • Wednesday evening, January 23 –   MPT Organizing Strategies:  This is the longest workshop – it will last approximately 2 hours.  [Similar to any ALA class]
  • Wednesday evening January 30 –   Making up the Rules: How to prepare for, and survive, your mind blanking out at the most inopportune time.
  • Wednesday evening February 13  – MBE Strategies and Tactics:  [Similar to the ALA course – with a different set of questions]
  • Wednesday evening February 5 – 7, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Full Exam Simulation – to coincide with the scheduled Themis exam sim – BYO materials (BARBRI doesn’t schedule a 3-day stretch for a full exam sim – check with me if you want to try to join this one, or adjust your BARBRI schedule)
  • Saturday, February 16, 12:30 – 5:00 PM:  Half-day Hangout:  Homemade food, last minute Q&A, and maybe a half-day of issue spotting.

All are  welcome to the workships; a similar set will be offered in advance of the July bar exam.

 

ASP Resources

We’re delighted that ASP library resources are so well used!

But it’s time for a few reminders so that everyone has a fair chance to use the resources:

  • When you take a book/flash cards/CD out of the ASP Resource Library, please sign the sign-out sheet on the table.
  • If you’re just using the books around the building, remember to bring them back the same day (and reshelve it).  During reading week, please bring them back as soon as you’re no longer using them – the recommended time during reading week is 4 hours.  Please don’t be piggy and take more than you/your study group can actively use at one time.
  • If you’re taking resources home, please formally check them out through the library or with Dean Reeves.  If neither are available, use your cell phone to take a photo of the Akron Law bar code and email it from your zips address to illll.uakron.edu.  During reading week, the check-out period is 1 day.

There are some things that seem to have been missing from the shelves longer than they should be That means they aren’t available for you to use – and we may not be able to replace them.  If materials are in your possession that shouldn’t be – please return them!

Extended Bar Prep – Commercial Paper this week

Extended Bar prep this week – L-325:

  • Wednesday 2-4 (Ohio Bar Exam July 2008 Q 8 – Indorser/guarator liability)
  • Wednesday 6:30 – 8:30 (same as the afternoon session)
  • Saturday 10:30 – 12:30 (Ohio Bar Exam February 2015 Q 8 – warranties & defenses)

This week’s topic is Commercial Paper (Payment Systems).  If you’re taking the Ohio Bar exam before July 2020 and didn’t get a chance to take Payment Systems – or it just didn’t gel – drop by this week and join us!

nlr22@uakron.edu

 

Extended Bar Prep – Property & Payment Systems this week

Two sessions of bar prep workshops this week:

Wednesday 2:00 PM – Payment Systems

Wednesday 6:30 – Property (mortgages or LL-Tenant)

(I have a prior commitment on Saturday, all day, but if there is enough interest I we could do a Sunday morning, or Sunday afternoon session instead)

If you haven’t taken payment systems – Wednesday afternoon is a good chance to dip your toes in the water.

The bar exam often emphasizes different things than law school does.  Mortgages and Landlord Tenant issues are frequently tested on the Ohio bar exam (and on the MBE).  We’ll cover one or the other – or both – this week on Wednesday evening/Saturday morning.

Questions?  nlr22@uakron.edu