Category: Bar Examination Information

Get a sneak preview via the Commercial Paper (Payment Systems) question from the July 2003 bar exam!

The (Early Start) bar study group will be writing that essay from 1:00 – 3:00 in L-325 today (Thursday).

If you have your Barbri/Kaplan/Themis outlines – bring the Ohio/State  one.  Don’t worry if you don’t – I’ll bring a few from the ASP Resources collection.

Barbri, at least, likes to save Payment Systems for the very end of bar prep – when your brain is already full.  If you haven’t graduated yet, it’s early in the semester.  You should have some empty space to tuck a new concept or two in – much more easily than a month out from the bar exam after you’ve already crammed in 13 subjects.

(We’ll start with a quick high-level overview of concepts, before diving into writing. )

The third in the series of five Akron Law Bar Prep Workshops:

Tuesday, January 23  –  MBE Strategies

MBE Strategies and Tactics:  How to approach an MBE question, and a compilation of strategies from multiple sources to help you avoid NCBE sneaky tricks, eliminate wrong answers, and choose between the last two once you’ve eliminated the others.  [Similar to the ALA course – with a different set of questions]

L-325:  6:00 PM light food & conversation; 6:30 – 8:30 Workshop

Sign up here so I make sure to bring enough food!

Attend by WebEx:  https://uakron.webex.com/join/nlr22

Remainder of the workshops:

• Tuesday January 30 – 6:30 – 8:00 PM – Making Stuff Up (essay rules)
• Tuesday February 6 – 6:30 – 8:30 PM – MPT Exam Simulation
• Saturday February 17 – Noon – 5 PM – Half-day Hangout (homemade food, questions, informal repeat of prior workshops)

The workshops will start with food (6:00 – 6:30).  Workshops will be available remotely (except for the food).  All are helpful for all states (with the exception of the MPT workshops in states that do not use a performance test)

2L and students graduating this spring or next fall should feel free to attend.  Examinees who perform best on MPTs start practicing early. Early practice can be informal (as part of working in a legal setting) – or – formal (as part of workshops, coursework, etc.)

Greetings!  Two (Early Start) Bar Prep sessions this week:

Thursday 1:00 – 3:00 (L-325) and Saturday 10:30 – 12:30 (L-325).

This week’s essay will be a Civil Procedure essay.

Next week:  Likely a defamation essay.

If you’re in Thursday’s ALA class, this session will give you a little idea about what is expected as part of your pretest!

Questions:  nlr22@uakron.edu

Akron Law Bar Exam Skills Workshops

Essay Structure Workshop

Thursday, January 11:  6:30 PM – L 325

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 state essays grader-friendly so that those minutes show off your fantastic legal knowledge!   [Similar to ALA session on essay structure.]

• Food & informal Q&A starts at 6:00, 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), an electronic copy of 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!

Feel free to attend one, or all, of the workshops.  Questions?  nlr22@uakron.edu

The rest of the Workshop Series

• Tuesday, January 16 –   MPT Organizing Strategies:  The concept of an MPT is easy – you don’t need to know anything other than how to write like a lawyer.  The execution – not so easy.  The organizing technique taught in this workshop allows you to organize and write your essay in the 90 minute time frame.  This is the longest workshop – it will last approximately 2 hours.  [Similar to the ALA class]
• Thursday, January 23  – MBE Strategies and Tactics:  How to approach an MBE question, and a compilation of strategies from  multiple sources for avoiding NCBE sneaky tricks, eliminating wrong answers, and choosing between the last two once you’ve eliminated the others.  [Similar to the ALA course – with a different set of questions]
• Tuesday, January 30  –   Making up the Rules: How to prepare for, and survive, your mind blanking out at the most inopportune time.  The rule-making techniques will help you survive the ultimate failure, as well as improving your rule stack for the majority of the time when you remember the rules.  [Similar to the ALA – with different essay snippets for rule generation]
• Tuesday, February 6 –  MPT Exam Simulation:  Every year, a few foolhardy souls never get around to writing any MPT essays until the morning of the first day of the bar exam.  That doesn’t usually end well.  Take advantage of the opportunity to write an MPT essay under exam conditions.  (I will select an essay that is not used by any vendor this year, and was not used in ALA in 2016-17.)

• Saturday, February 17, 12:00 – 5:00 PM:  Half-day Hangout:  Homemade food (sloppy joes or a winter soup, multiple varieties of hummus, veggies), an informal repeat of any workshops you missed, a chance to ask whatever you haven’t gotten around to asking, I’ll time essays, MPTs, or MBE sets.  Whatever (within reason) will help you make it through this final stretch.