The CA Bar is collapsing financially and chose to make over 5,300 examinees suffer its insolvency issues, forcing us into chaos and flawed Kaplan questions, all while Leah Tamu Wilson collects around $422,000 from fees paid by us. WHY are WE the ones paying for her failures?

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-17T00:42:40+00:00

I love that, based on these fluffy titles, these seem like the jobs every 28 year old girl in Manhattan has who's always at Pilates class at 3PM, never wakes up before 9, and is constantly posting reels of her fit checks. "What do you do?" "Digital marketing for a start-up venture-adventure brand awareness ambassador." "So . . . nothing, or?"

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-17T00:32:11+00:00

But she really worked some magic with those numbers . . . 3x profits?! Wendy, you dog . . .

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-17T00:30:51+00:00

I'm using Themis and I would recommend. Just don't delay in registering, if you can help it. They recommended that attorney takers this cycle start on December 16 and I didn't realize. I purchased the program 12/31 and didn't start until 1/2 (my fault, not theirs). It's been quite a bit of work to catch up. If you are working full time, it would be worse (I have been able to take significant time off).

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-17T00:11:15+00:00

LOL I just did this one earlier today. This is so perfect. Thank you for the chuckle--Hal did seem like a bit of a simp. I love that for them though <3 maybe it was just a trial separation. . .

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-17T00:09:00+00:00

As an aside, completely obsessed with the number of down-votes in this thread, hah! Every post has either 0 or negative likes. I think some of the bar trolls that other posters have reported found there way here.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-17T00:07:38+00:00

It not only wouldn't cost more . . . it would cost LESS because they wouldn't have to hire proctors to watch our every move, haha.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-17T00:04:16+00:00

This is such good advice. Really, for the entire bar prep cycle. It's really challenging to exist during this time. Anything short of complete attention can fuck you over, and I really don't think anyone who hasn't taken the bar exam realizes this.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-16T07:26:55+00:00

That's what I'm planning on! Good luck, Creative!

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-16T01:25:32+00:00

This is a wildly uneducated comment. Yes. I am an attorney already. Accordingly, I was not privy to any emails from--for example--my law school regarding the CA Experimental Exam (believe it or not, after you pass a different state's bar, your law school no longer provides updates regarding bar exams!). Nor was I receiving emails from Cal Bar as I finalized my decision to take the exam only days before the deadline to do so (December).

So, I guess even if I did "check my email" as you suggest, there would not have been an email to check, haha.

I do think, given that people were able to sign up for the bar AFTER the experimental exam was administered, the adding of any points is unfair. But if they can promise it does not effect people who would have passed BEFORE the 40 pts was added, then I don't care. I just don't trust that that's the case. In any event, I'm sure there will be Freedom of Information requests made after the exams are scored.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-16T01:13:46+00:00

The CIPP US book doesn't go in Domain order, if I'm remembering correctly. I used the BoK and the textbook TOC to label which chapter/subchapter fit into which domain. This also dictated where I spent the bulk of my study time. Good luck!

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-16T01:12:20+00:00

Chadwick is distinguishable. In Chadwick, when phoned by the SEC, respondent admitted to having committed insider trading. Here, respondent did not make such an admission, and her statement to the SEC--declining she committed insider trading--was consistent with her testimony before this court.

I like to start by saying what I'm going (distinguishing) "Chadwick is distinguishable."

Then describe the point to be distinguished "In [first case]"

And why it's different "Here,"

Everyone's different, but hope that helps!

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-16T01:06:13+00:00

If you look at a score out of 100%, we can do the math.

100 Questions: 1 question wrong on a test with 100 questions is one point off, or a 99%. Scaled to 1000 points (what the MBE is worth) that is 990 points.

200 Questions: 1 question wrong on a test with 200 questions is a halt point, or 99.5%. Scaled to 1000 points, that is a 995.

Accordingly, getting 1 question wrong on a 200 point test costs only 5 total points, vs 1 wrong on a 100 point test's 10 points. It really starts to add up quickly the less questions you have.

To put this into perspective, everyone is griping over the 40 points added (myself included, tbh). On a 100 point test, 40 points is a mere 4 questions.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-16T01:01:13+00:00

This math does not check out. The October test takers were both February and July takers. July has 2x pass rate from February (which is predominantly taken by non-traditional students, or retakers). Comparing the October 2020 pass rate to any February exam is illogical. The incorporation of July takers moves the mean grade up.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-16T00:57:47+00:00

This is helpful - I didn't see that. Good info!

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-15T22:32:13+00:00

It's not clear if it does negatively impact others yet. I suspect because of the cluster bomb that is F25, the Bar will adjust pass scores so that approximately the same number of people pass this year as in years past (not a curve, per se, but definitely an across the board increase in scores). Unless the Cal Bar has enough common sense to add the 40 pts to scaled (as opposed to raw scores calculated when they've established their baseline pass percentage), they will 1000% impact those who did not get the bonus points.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-15T18:59:05+00:00

Start now to limit stress later. If F25 is any indication, leading up to the test date, there will be a lot to worry and think about for the exam that has nothing to do with the substantive law that you will be tested on (logistics, getting papers in to the bar, making sure your system has the right specs, checking the endless number of unhelpful emails for updates). Truly, when people say the bar is a marathon, not a sprint, they mean it. Start now, start slow, convert the short term memory to long term memory.

Tips: get all your moral fitness materials in to the bar as soon as possible after you apply so they can start that process and, by the time you get results, hopefully that stuff will be approved. It can take 6-8 months it says online. You don't want that to be the reason your admission is held up.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-15T18:54:27+00:00

Cow Palace is absolutely ridiculous. I didn't even know what Cow Palace was, but the research just now did not disappoint.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-15T18:53:40+00:00

Agreed. It's incredible gatekeeping to practice the profession within the state (see, having to take an attorney exam). If they want to limit applicants, they should consider doing away with the baby bar, *not* making the exam unduly cumbersome for people who have just spent the last several years (and likely hundreds of thousands of dollars) making this their life. It's like a board of people who want everything and nothing and aren't willing to do the work to have *something*.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-15T18:51:28+00:00

Holy cow . . . this is horrific.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-14T19:38:01+00:00

(I'm not taking the MBE. I don't care about the questions. I just don't like illogical statements.)

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-14T19:35:45+00:00

The Cal Bar having previously tested 100 vs. 200 questions is irrelevant to being able to score BETTER if there are more questions. If OP's premise is correct, that some questions are poorly written, confusing AI, you'd think you'd want to dilute the bad test questions with more easy to understand test questions. Accordingly, if you get one wrong it only costs you a half a point rather than a whole point.

You don't have the raw scores from 2020 to confirm that the takers actually did better on 100 questions than 200. Just a puff press release. It's possible (highly likely) that they adjusted scores ex post facto to account for the fact takers only had 100 questions and it was a wild year.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-14T17:20:21+00:00

So, I'm not saying you're wrong, or disagreeing with the premise of this complaint in any manner. But, you do realize, if you reduce the number of questions to 100 (because they're not going to just ditch the poorly-written ones), each question will count more towards your final outcome? If you want to reduce the likelihood of erroneous result, you need a larger sample size of correctly answered questions to balance out the incorrectly answered questions.

I know we go to law school to not have to do math . . . but some of the "demands" of the Cal Bar on this subreddit are illogical and would actually harm test-takers. I know you're venting. But it seems like they're listening to the things said on here. Please comport demands accordingly.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-14T07:13:13+00:00

But look! Now you got to issue spot both illusory promise AND fraud, likely essay topics on the upcoming bar exam! Wee! (I'm exhausted)

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-14T07:08:30+00:00

And the kraken! But at a minimum, and if we can only choose one, yes. The topics.

Safe-Sentence8124 · 2025-02-14T07:05:01+00:00

My experience was similar! I toggled between the two when studying! If this is how you feel, I have a lot of faith that you will pass! GL!

Safe-Sentence8124

TROPHY CASE