Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Bar Exam (Part 1)

Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Bar Exam

To: Bar examinees and those that are bar-curious.  

Forward
These are my lessons learned from the Bar Exam.  At this point I still don’t know if I even passed the exam but I felt pretty comfortable in taking it.  I finished each section with time to spare and had a clear understanding of every section I took.  These musings are what I used to study, what I wished I knew, shoutouts, methods that worked, what I didn’t think worked well, and general information for getting through this time.  Take what you will from it and know that my method may not work for you.
Moreover, I would like to thank Camille, Aiden, and Lili-bug for being understanding and letting me alienate you guys for the two-plus months I had to put in to study, let’s pray it was worth it.  I would also like to thank Everett for all your personal time you spent teaching me how to answer multiple choice questions and especially corner office to study in; Donnie for keeping me accountable; and Andy for keeping it real and keeping me from going mad from studying alone.  
Good Luck, Have Fun, God Bless!
- Dave Olivas, JD.

Don’t Panic1

1.  Pretest

The bar exam was one of the best experiences of my life.  When I say this I do not mean it was pleasurable, quite the opposite.  The three days were grueling and intellectually draining, but the feeling of accomplishment of surviving it and knowing I did the best I could do with the preparation I had.  The only way I could describe this is a marathon runner doing her thing.  While it sucks during the run the feeling of accomplishment at the end is incredible.  

- What the bar consist of
        The Texas Bar Exam consists of three day mental “jumping-in” process that will test the mettle of all candidates.  As this is a state licensing exam the threshold is set lower than law school exams; 675 out of 1000.  The low threshold does not mean the test is a cakewalk by any means.  Instead, it is a challenge that, if you prepare properly, you will survive.
The test is three days long usually the final week of February or July.  Day One has the Multistate Performance Test (MPT), and Procedure and Evidence (P&E) tests and counts for 20% of the entire exam.  Day Two is the dreaded MBE (Multistate Bar Exam), 100 multiple choice questions in the morning and 100 in the afternoon.  Day Three is six essays in the morning and six in the afternoon.

 

Day One

      The MPT is can-you-perform-as-a-lawyer? exam.  This is the only part of the exam that you cannot really study for.  BUT, do not neglect PREPARING for it.  In 90 minutes you take all the facts and laws they give you and create what they ask you to compete.

      The P&E is as close as you can get to an Undergrad exam.  Rote memorization and practice, practice, practice will allow you to finish the 20 short answer questions for both Texas civil and criminal procedure and evidence rules.  This test will bring you from the beginning of a case through the pre-trial, jury selection, trial and post trial.  The short answers are required to be handwritten on five lines after the questions.

     

Day Two

      What else is there to say?  You will have three hours to answer 100 multiple choice questions in the morning and three more hours to answer 100 more after lunch.  The questions range from six areas of law, Contracts, Constitutional Law, Evidence, Criminal procedure/Criminal Law, Torts, and Property. The area of law here is multistate so you will be asked about the majority rule and the common law.  The following day will focus on Texas Law.

Day Three

      Twelve essays and six testing hours separate you from freedom; six essays in the morning and six in the afternoon. Here you will see:

·         two wills essays,
·         two family law (including community property),
·         two property (to include Oil/Gas),
·         two Business Administration (Corporations, Partnerships),
·         two UCC; Commercial Paper (UCC 3) and Secured Transactions (UCC 9),
·         Consumer Law, and
·         Either Guardianship or Trust

The three hours for six essays in each session.

Remember this test is a minimum competency exam, you’re not expected to know EVERYTHING.  Once you master that concept the bar will seem slightly less daunting.

Studying comes in two phases:  Learning the law and Practice and memorizing.  

Learning the law.

Here is when I would sit through the lectures. took notes and started outlining the subjects into ONE PAGE outlines that I could quickly refer to when I was practicing essays.  I would also use this time to focus on small pocket areas of law.  For instance instead of studying Torts I would study only strict liability. then move to some other pocket area in Torts.  My way of learning may not work for everyone.

The Practice/memorize part comes closer to the test date, figure around two weeks out.  At this point my one page outlines were done and I was practicing essays.  Usually, two-four of my weak areas and two different strength areas (for confidence boost).  

The Texas Bar Exam is not an easy feat.  It will beat your brain into submission and God help the person who takes this test cold.  Approximately 75% of first time takers pass the exam.  I’d be willing to bet, dollars to donuts, that  their preparation has helped them reach the 675 passing score.  

-  Choosing a test prep

Commercial Bar Prep is essential to passing the bar, in my humble opinion.  After I graduated from school my uncle, a Texas lawyer, showed me a string of emails to see how I would approach the issues he was working on.  I told him:  “Uncle Carlos, I just graduated law school.  You know I don’t know shit about the law!”  He chuckled and said, “you have a point, it’s not until after you’re done with the bar will you have the knowledge.”
I am not a proponent for any commercial bar prep over the other.  Each has success and each will give you the tools to pass the bar.  The tools may differ but it’s using these tools that will prepare you.  A hammer is useless unless you pick it up and strike a nail.  Your mountain of books will arrive and you will be instantly intimidated at the sheer knowledge of law you’re expected to comprehend.  As my buddy Andy would put it:  “we’re expected to know an ocean of law, fortunately it’s only an inch deep.”
The bottom line here, pick one that you can afford and follow what they suggest.  Don’t get bogged down in the minutia and don’t fight their answers.  Pick up a few pointers and move on.  
    -  Sticking to the schedule

The journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step.  These commercial bar prep businesses have helped thousands of people in the same position you’re in now.  They know the ins and outs better than I can explain.  Follow their schedule but remember they don’t know your own strengths and weaknesses.  Play to your bolster your strengths and become knowledgeable in your weaknesses.

    -  Making it your own

In making it your own, you will apply more effort to your weaknesses and while avoiding neglect to your strengths.  You will always find something new to learn up to the point you enter the convention center and the proctor says “Good luck, you may begin.”  

These commercial guys know how to organize their information, but do not limit yourself to what they suggest; use it as a base and build off of it.  I practiced P&E questions and tried to do an MPT here and there.  I found this practice paid off just for the peace I had while taking these tests.  The bar prep you get will have all the areas and may have you practice one section for two or three days.  I had contracts for three days and family law for two.  I used that time to learn UCC 9 and Consumer Law, classes that I didn’t take in school.  

Fortunately, my test prep had proficiency tests at the end of the lecture.  I would take that and focus in on the weak areas, then spend time working on my weak areas of law.  To do this I would focus on the pocket areas as I mentioned before.  My bar prep suggested 10 MC questions in that particular area and I would do about 15-20 untimed and would read EVERY answer explanation.  The explanations taught me more than the lectures did.  I could see HOW the law worked and WHY it was applied in that situation.  I would begin to recognize situation and predict what the answer was, then because of a small change in the fact pattern, an exception would trigger.  Every wrong answer I would get I took as an opportunity to learn.  It was still discouraging to get lower scores but better to get the crap scores now than on Day Two.  As long as I would pick up a nugget here and there I was amazed how much I retained when reading hypos and seeing the issues CLEARLY.  

When approaching the weaknesses it gets easy to say “I’m going to punt on UCC 9 because I didn’t take it in law school.”  My mentor Donnie verbally chastised me into learning enough law to discuss all the areas of the exam with some degree of proficiency.  In other words, I had enough to “bullshit in a bluebook” and actually know what I’m talking about.  I found that after a few weeks of practice I would understand what the test makers were looking for in their exams and if asked I could discuss certain areas with proficiency.  While I would not get 100% on that essay, I would a hellovalot better than the guy who skips it.

Mentors.  I work best if I am accountable to someone.  I knew shortly after I began that being accountable to myself would not cut it and after talking with my friend Lori Ann, she told me about additional work she had to do for her mentor.  “Mentor?” I asked her. “How do you get one of those?”  Fortunately, she gave me the know how and I asked the academic support director Everett for help and he appointed me one of his mentors, a recent bar taker.  If you don’t have one, get one if you can.  I had Donnie.  His intensity and fervor kept me honest and my devotion to duty kept me accountable to him.  I wanted to skip a few areas but at his insistence and efforts UCC 9 became a strength; one more exam I did not have to worry about.  I wanted a mentor just so I could have someone to hold me accountable.  It’s pretty easy to get lackadaisical and set yourself up for inadequacy, or be overly harsh and push yourself into a nervous breakdown.  Donnie set high-yet-tangible goals for me to reach each week.

He pushed me to learn the tiny minutia of the law with a high level of detail.  While I knew this would OVER prepare me, I would much rather have gone into the bar exam with 5 bullets instead of 4.  For the essay portion of the bar I felt completely at ease. I spotted the issues I felt the testers where looking for and on areas that I was weak I wrote  “an argument with a straight face” type of essays.  This is where I really didn’t know the area of law they were looking for but I discussed the areas I knew and tied them in somehow.  Long story short, got through all the essays and hit up every point I could in the allotted time provided.  I could not have entered taken this test with ice water in my veins if I hadn’t had people behind me, like Donnie and Everett, pushing me forward.  Additionally, I would not have felt, as my buddy Andy coined “cautiously confident” about the test without putting in the long hours required to learn the ocean of law (an inch deep).

 

1. Douglas Adams Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy   

New material coming soon

Between the finishing my final semester, graduation from Law school and preparing for the bar, I have neglected this little project.  BUT fear not!  I have some new material in the works that you all should enjoy!

Till then!

GL HF

Dave

The Whirlwind Subsides

In the time between this blog and the last (august 11) many changes have taken effect.  First and foremost I became a dad again, this time to my own little girl.

On September 7, 2011 at 1433 Liliana Elise Olivas came into this world.  Whether the experience I've gained in raising my son made my outlook different or not, I didn't feel frightened by having her in my life or what my life would be like when she came around.
I looked upon my family and though, OK, I think I'm done having kids.  Not for any selfish reason but because my family life feels complete.  I have a boy, a girl, wife, two dogs and a frog, what else could a man want for? Good looking out God :).

Besides the home life, school is almost over, though not over enough.  I really lack the ganas to read for class but do so out of fear, (getting called on and not prepared isn't one of those things you forget once it happens to you in law school).  The only class I find interesting is Preparing for the Bar.  It seems very realistic (rather than theoretical) and I can use the principles our professor shows us in a practical way come Feb 28th.

Back into the Breach

It's really been a month since I've written?!? 
I hope you all (all four of you) will mind the irony of writing to complain that I don't feel like writing. 
Being forced to write (papers for class that should not require papers) kind of turns me off to writing for fun.  The stress of having a deadline for an informative paper for a pass/fail class seems silly to be but, I do what is asked. 
I begin thinking about being forced to write when I'm a lawyer.  I hope I will have the motivation to write (seeing as it will be my JOB) and not be beaten down by it as I am now.  On the other hand academic papers are not exacly legal briefs. 

Next Monday marks the beginning of the end of my Law School adventures.  after 16 short weeks I will have my JD and plundge head first into bar prep.  While I will miss actually going to the school, it is not the classes that I will miss, instead, I wil miss my friends and organizations I'm involved in.  The social aspect of school has always appealed to me, not so much the classes, as my grades show.

Besides the school, and work, it's HOT outside.  DAMN HOT!  100+ heat for about a month.  Keep cool and stay thirsty :)

D

Full Frontal Nudity

And the beat goes on... and the beat goes on.  This coming Tuesday I will take the Marital Property Exam.  Thank God I took it pass/fail.  It promises to be challenging and, luckily we will have notes, books and whatnot to rely on.  The ability to use our notes will make the curve more shallow and as long as I don't COMPLETELY miss the target I should get my P and be done with it. 

Besides summer exams, summer school is just about done.  I have one ADR class remaining (week long sit in the cold room and have a negotiation competition for three credit hours) then I will have three glorious weeks of summer to play with my son, wife and zergling.  And by play I mean get our house ready for the arrival of Liliana. 

Now that you have been updated on my life, here is what you're really here for:  ( o Y o )

A few nights ago I had a "Momento-esque" dream.  Funny thing was I didn't realize I was dreaming until I woke up. 

1.
I see a light from behind my closed eyelids.  What is that? I think to myself and begin to open my eyes.  I am temporarily blinded by the sun streaming in through the window and wonder whose bed I'm in and more importantly where in the hell I am? 
What happened last night? I ask my inner voice as I swing my legs to the side of the bed.  My pajama pants clinging with static to my legs as I step onto the wood floor.  My eyesight is returning and I can see the room I've landed.  To call it nice would do it a gross injustice.  The king-sized four-poster bed is one of three articles of furniture in this glorious room.  Sheer white curtains surround the bed on all sides.  The linens  too are white and smell of lavender.  How did I get here? 
I push the curtain aside and move about room.  A dresser and desk are the only other furniture pieces in the room.  No TV, No Phone, No lights, (like Robinson Carusoe it's primitive as can be, I sing to myself).  I see a continental breakfast waiting for me on the desk.  The water glass is sweating.  I move to it and drink it down in one gulp.  I didn't realize how famished I was until I begin eating the breakfast without regard for who put it there or whether it was poisoned or not.  It didn't taste poisoned and I couldn't imagine a more tranquil place do die.
I sit at the desk and kick back.  I closed my eyes and the darkness that envelops caused a flash.  I see people but it's like looking through think fog.  A man in a white shirt.  A lady in a yellow dress.  Were they dancing?  A knock at the door startles me back reality.
The visitor knocks again and I move toward the door.  I look through the peephole and see a man in a polyester white jacket with black piping, a steward.  He must be here for the dishes. 
I let him in and he moves sliently to the desk, picks up the tray and starts to head out. 
"Um, Excuse me" I say to him and he looks at me quizically.  "where am I?"  he smiles, it's what I was afraid of.  "English?"  I ask with my hands up hopefully.  He smiles again, his teeth reflect years of smoking and the absence of a toothbrush.  He points to his chest.  I see the crest of the hotel I've landed in and notice the name: Serenity. Usually the name of the location you're staying at is below, but curiously enough, this does not. 
He gestures past me and continues about his duties.  I watch him walk down the hall and head back to my into my room. 
...

My Underutilized iPhone Camera

While I love using my Nikon (D80 or D90) I often times overlook the incredible resolution and crispness I get from my iPhone 4's camera.

Contemplating evolution (SO3 Ranch)

I'm one of those "wired in" kinda guys that will not leave his house without my phone.  This past weekend I didn't feel like lugging around my D80 while going out w/ my friends, but I felt like taking pictures.  So, while toying w/ the idea of just using my iPhone for a few weeks to capture shots, I pulled out my phone and fired a few ones.





While it does not have the control and will require quite a bit more post production to get the look I want, this phone will get the job done.

Shooting Skeet 

Nailing shots, I have learned, is being in the right place at the perfect time at the perfect angle.
If any Apple programer are out there, find me a why to set my ISO and shutter speeds and we'll be cooking w/ gas :) Though, that will be asking quite a bit coming from a point and shoot PHONE.

Poker w/ Professors

 MOST of the people reading this blog have a phone on them at this very moment.  Some may even have iPhone 4s as well. I want to challenge you all and at least twice today, while checking your email and Facebook status, shoot a picture of where you're at (let's hope it's not in the can) and upload it to FB.

You might be amazed at what you discover when you look up from your social media and actually become social.
Albeit, many may check statuses while, shall we say, indisposed, (please spare us THOSE pictures); instead while at dinner, in traffic, waiting in line at the store, fire a shot and upload what you see to your FB.  

Gib Lewis in his trophy room (SO3 Ranch)

I really look forward to seeing what people come up with and how you guys view your lives or what you think is pleasing to the eye.  

Call it a social experiment; we can see who can jump on and post a picture of where we are at and what we are doing at particular time.  Example?  At 1:37pm (CST) I will most likely be at work.  I could take a picture of my workstation, co-worker, the classified door I have to pass through and leave my phone and all recording devices behind. 

"Studying" at Half Acre Hall, Flying Saucer- Ft. Worth

Texas Sunrise

Or we could set an alarm and fire a shot 6:42pm (CST), some of us may be out with friends, getting dinner, on our way home from work, on our way to school.

Texas Sunset

So for the rest of you wired-in folks out there have fun with this little experiment and good luck playing with your cameras phones.  I hope to see plenty of interesting, quirky, inventive and imaginative pictures.  Forward this along and let's see just who is up for it. 

My Trip to Six Flags Over Texas

Last Friday, the building I work out of was closed for some reason or another.  Having the day off and not having anything really to do I treated myself to an afternoon of thrill rides at Six Flags Over Texas.

The climb

I could not remember the last time I went to Six Flags, some things change yet some things stay the same.

They recently "updated" the Texas Giant thus prompting my motivation to go.   I loved the Giant ever since I first rode it.  Many would complain about the roaring headache this wooden beast would give its riders but for me I found it pure excitement.



While waiting for in the line the anticipation of riding this incredible feat of modern engineering what I couldn't get over was how quiet the roller coaster actually is.  The rattle and squeaks that came from the old Giant were replaced by a slight whisper from the rails and fearful screams from the riders. 

From wood to steel

When I saw the 79• drop I knew I was in for some fun.  I was not disappointed.

The anticipation is palpable

The 79• DROP!

This drop started the show and the thrills continued the entire ride.  Where some rides slow down in the middle (to keep us passengers from flying off) this Giant pauses long enough to inhale before it takes your breath away again through it's high angle turns and plenty of "hang time".

Coming out of a high angled turn

"Adios"

The update created an extremely fast and exciting ride that glides like a skater over ice (yes it's that smooth).  

As I rode roller coasters a scene from "Parenthood" came to mind.  An old lady described how some people love the Merry-go-round and others loved roller coasters.  (metaphors for life)  Where the merry-go-round is fun but it's safe and not exciting. The roller coaster will surprise and excite you and is not as safe.

I came up with this metaphor while walking in the park:  We live our lives normally waiting/planning/working toward goals  (ie we wait in line).   As this line progresses we see alternatives to these goals but the steadfast will remain (deciding to skip this ride and try again later or carry forward).  Once the goal is in sight we can either choose to take a small reward or put forth the effort and strive for something better. (do we ride the middle now or wait for the front?)

High Angled Turn

The ride itself begins with the climb.  We wait, we anticipate, we regret, we have anxiety build, but there's nothing we can do at this point.

The drop is what happens to us some idle Thursday at 1:37pm when we discover our well-laid plans go wrong and we scramble to get back.  The stress that we face and hardships we endure are all part of our ride.  WE have the choice to either fight the ride, (we'll end up w/ a headache) or raise our hands and realize our path is set and enjoy it as much as we can.

'57 Bel Air Converted train