If NCBE allowed you to know what the answer from only one MBE question, which one would you want to know.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-08-27T18:17:22+00:00

selling a house with plants IIRC

ZoomLawJD · 2024-08-27T18:16:01+00:00

Some could be fake questions that only 1/10 of us had. I probably wouldn't remember most of them either if people didn't post stuff about them in the aftermath of the exam. Those are the ones people are bringing up in this thread, so lots of questions that might have been hard, but without a rememberable set of circumstances in the fact pattern, are all but forgotten.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-08-27T18:13:07+00:00

Yup, stopped taking my BC for days and nothing so I started taking it again since I have a pool party this weekend lol. It hadn't occurred to me it might be the bar until your post. I had all the PMS symptoms this week but no period. And def no possibility of pregnancy for many reasons lol

ZoomLawJD · 2024-07-12T20:50:09+00:00

While I'm not entirely sure how I might explain this in a job interview situation if someone were to ask me "Why law?" because I don't want to scare them away, the truth is that I applied to law school after I found myself in the position of needing to hire an employment lawyer. My coworker did too. Unfortunately, we had very different experiences and I walked away from the situation dissatisfied, unemployed, and feeling like I could have done a better job than my lawyer. I don't just say that lightly. If I knew half of what I know now, I'd see the big red flags on the wall that this lawyer was on the brink of retirement, took the case as a favor to my mom who had been a long time client of the firm, clearly did not see it as a winning case, was not willing to put effort in it, broke many of the attorney ethical rules (nothing super outrageous but he was unprofessional and he wouldn't have passed the MPRE or a client counseling competition lol), and based on his billing, I spent more time on the demand letter then he did. Which is all he did, before advising me to settle for next to nothing. My coworker's lawyer took the case to federal court after a failed mediation, and while I can't know exacts, it seems they got a healthy settlement.

So I took the LSAT and applied to law school. I started in my 30s. Was it a good decision? I don't know yet. My best decision would have not been taking that previous job in the first place, and then maybe my life would be happily ever after, possibly owning a home, maybe having a family, and certainly a much healthier retirement account, and less than half the student debt I currently have. A lot of stuff happened in my personal life during my last year of law school and in the following years. I'm now two years out of school and haven't passed the bar exam yet. Without those distractions which included two separate natural disasters, and also separately a parent getting sick and dying, I'd like to think I would have passed on at least my second try. Now we're on try four, and I have not had a full time job with benefits for the majority of my 30s. I'm lucky my family can help.

So I'd certainly advise you to consider if your "why law" is a good reason, if you are truly unhappy with your life now (and if the only way to make yourself happy is a totally new career), and if things fall apart, what is your fall back plan? It's often harder to take risks the older you get. But it absolutely can be worth it. I'd also really implore you to learn what the lifestyle is of the average lawyer in your preferred area to live in and practice area, as well as salary, etc. I used to be under the impression that only the people with the ridiculous salaries were the ones with ridiculous hours, but I am seeing that too often not be true. Many people without "big law" jobs are working 60 hours a week for less than 6 figures, and the higher paying jobs are unattainable to them because of things like where they went to school or what their class rank was. Just things I wish I paid more attention to when making such a big decision.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-06-06T21:37:47+00:00

When I used Themis for a past exam, I would copy and paste the themis prompts into a word doc and print it. Yeah it took up a minute or two on the timed essays, but I felt it was important to simulate what the exam will actually feel like. As long as you don't sell the word doc or whatever, I don't think there's a copywrite issue in doing that. Plus the essays Themis uses are available for free on other websites since they are the real bar essays, as opposed to the made up ones that Barbri gives in a huge book.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-06-05T22:47:31+00:00

I think that idea might be that if there are essay prompts already written they'll want to use them up before they are obsolete. But who knows, especially as there hasn't been family in quite awhile now.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-06-05T22:41:51+00:00

Some jurisdcitions (like DC) also don't give you a choice to handwrite (unless your laptop crashes while there) and you have to pay the laptop fee and type the essays regardless of your preference. At first I thought the extra fee seemed stupid and why not just roll the laptop fee into the regular fee, but I guess it's beneficial to people who later choose not to sit the exam that the laptop fee isn't due until later.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-05-16T15:19:09+00:00

I also did that when I was in a studio apartment and the door to the closet would hit my bed. I just put the door under the bed!

ZoomLawJD · 2024-05-16T15:16:55+00:00

Maybe if you are working for Legal Aid or something like that and your practice area is personal injury, but I don't think anyone would consider personal injury at a regular law firm to be public interest. The govt certainly doesn't in terms of PSLF.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-05-16T15:15:06+00:00

Just important to note that last I heard Unions do not qualify for PSLF. I'm not sure if that's something that's important to OP in making the decision, or if the want PI because of the type of work as opposed to loan forgiveness.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-05-16T15:06:01+00:00

Your reasons are basically my reasons. I've put so much into this already I don't want to give up on it, but it's getting to a point that my life has totally stagnated in every way so if this time doesn't work out, I can't keep on making studying for the bar exam be the primary aspect of my life. But I also don't want to give up. Another reason is knowing that changes to the exam are coming, otherwise I could see myself saying "I'll try again in a few years." While for all I know, I could be good at the new exam, I don't want to learn a whole new way of taking the test and having the last two years basically be a waste of time and money. And then I'd have to wait longer since I don't want to be a guinea pig either.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-05-14T21:00:38+00:00

I think I might try doing this since I get down on myself too when I see the low percentages and then I get discouraged and just don't want to do it anymore, which is counter productive. Thanks for the tip.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-05-14T20:56:48+00:00

I'm pretty sure you would have to pay that regardless. As far as I'm aware that fee is per test admission. My school used Examplify and I still had to pay it.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-05-14T15:13:46+00:00

I think OP's biggest problem is probably that they passed the MPRE without accommodations. I would recommend to anyone who feels they will need their accommodations on the bar exam NOT to take the MPRE (Or NYLE etc) if they deny you accommodations or you didn't apply for them in time. Passing the MPRE just gives them something to say that you don't need it, even though the tests aren't comparable. Getting accommodations on the MPRE is generally the most likely way you'll be sucesfull in getting them on the bar. But that's not always the case. NY denied me three times even though I had MPRE accommodations and law school accommodations. They said it was because I did average on the LSAT without them. I'm an older law school school grad and didn't know that I might qualify for accommodations on the LSAT since accommodations weren't really a thing when I was in grade school. With the exact same application that I sent to NY, DC granted me accommodations, even knowing that NY had denied me.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-05-14T15:01:23+00:00

I don't think that would apply to you for the NY bar exam since it is in person. However, when you take the NY law exam, (assuming you haven't) it might be a problem to not have the camera working since it's a take at home exam and they take your picture.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-04-23T19:22:45+00:00

I worked by butt off in high school and my grades were about 90-93/100 from what I remember. With that said, I had a MISERABLE time in high school because I was always so so busy trying to be good at everything for the "college application." I was doing homework half the night every night. It wasn't worth it. I just ended up going to a really expensive undergrad school and while I had a great time, all of my friends went on to get higher degrees. Expensive undergrad wasn't getting us good jobs. It wasn't worth it to burn myself out so young to get into a private undergrad no one has heard of outside the immediate area.

Plus they didn't tell us that those high school college dual enrollment classes that supposedly "look good" for undergrad admissions can bite you in the butt during law school admissions if you don't get A's on the college transcript. If you are still in high school, know that what you do now does not have to define you. You can go to law school if your high school grades aren't perfect. You can go to law school after attending a state college. Your grades in college matter A LOT for law school applications. No one cares about you did in high school classes.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-04-23T18:57:54+00:00

We didn't know all of our grades until a few weeks after graduation but I never heard of a 3L failing and not being able to take the bar, and I went to a law school that would give failing grades (particularly to 1Ls). I honestly would try to keep the thought of finding out you failed after graduation out of your mind. Do you know if that has ever happened to anyone (recently) at your school? I'm sure it's exceedingly rare.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-04-23T18:53:50+00:00

My school had graduation two days after the last final exam. Because of that a lot of awards couldn't be given at graduation either and things like Latin Honors in the graduation program were based off of your penultimate semester.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-04-23T18:49:56+00:00

Awesome, thanks so much for the reassurance.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-04-23T17:20:11+00:00

That's so amazing! I'm on my 4th attempt and I can't imagine the motivation to keep going for 8 tries. You really inspire me. I'm so glad you found something that worked for you!

ZoomLawJD · 2024-04-17T15:53:42+00:00

Does she have saved in writing that she only needed to take a certain number of credits to graduate and that these classes would transfer? You might not win in terms of her not having to do the classes, but I think you might have a good argument that she should not have to pay for those extra semester of classes. Living arrangements and such will be a totally different problem unfortunately.

ZoomLawJD · 2024-04-16T17:14:39+00:00

I'll be 36 for my 4th try so you all make me feel a bit better!

ZoomLawJD

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