Bar Bri / PMBR
11:21 AM will go down as the time all 3Ls collectively had to change their underwear.
Why? Bar Bri sent out the schedule for this summer.
Notes:
(1) Yay, I hear this will be FUN!
(2) Yay, at least they got us a Berkeley location(s).
Any thoughts on them?
- Eshleman Library, 7th Floor, On Bancroft between Telegraph and Dana Streets
- Evans Hall, NE Section of Campus near Gayley Rd.
- I-House, 2299 Piedmont Ave.
--------
ALSO: PMBR - yes or no? Does firm payment change the answer?
Armen's fancy search box helped me find this earlier thread that discusses merits of PMBR in the comments. But please feel free to revisit the issue here as well...
Why? Bar Bri sent out the schedule for this summer.
Notes:
(1) Yay, I hear this will be FUN!
(2) Yay, at least they got us a Berkeley location(s).
Any thoughts on them?
- Eshleman Library, 7th Floor, On Bancroft between Telegraph and Dana Streets
- Evans Hall, NE Section of Campus near Gayley Rd.
- I-House, 2299 Piedmont Ave.
--------
ALSO: PMBR - yes or no? Does firm payment change the answer?
Armen's fancy search box helped me find this earlier thread that discusses merits of PMBR in the comments. But please feel free to revisit the issue here as well...
Labels: Bar Exams
posted by tj at 6:35 PM
28 Comments:
The Bar Bri Brown Note?
But for those of us taking it in the city, what's up with this Saturday Preview in the first week. WTF mate?
Damn! I can't believe they found all 100+ of you a place to take BarBri on campus, while the 15 of us doing the NY BarBri have been moved to Oakland.
Like what, there isn't a classroom that sits 15 people with a TV/VCR in all of UC Berkeley?
kim, i think they're doing construction on those rooms. hahahahahahaha
Kim(bo), I think its just a recognition on the part of BARBRI that California is better than New York.
Kimbo already knows that, though. She's coming back to take the REAL bar (i.e., California) in Feb.
ok when did this turn into a thread on MY bar plans? haha
I know you all love me, but for goodness sakes show your love by coming out to bar review tonight... not discussing my life plans on N&B.
(JP: You happy? Now everyone is using Kimbo).
Did you get knocked out in 14 seconds or something?
I told you, it was just a matter of time.
For 4K can't they send us a live person?
what are these "preview" classes the first week?
Since this is a 3L-focused thread, can I just say that I'm really kind of disappointed in the 3L t-shirt design? I hope this won't hurt anyone's feelings--and I'm imagining it won't because the class probably farmed the design work out to some t-shirt company. That bear is terrible. I voted for the blind bear of justice, but THIS bear looks so DOPEY. I thought it would look like a respectable bear. This bear looks slightly confused and like he may be standing in front of a firing squad...
PMBR is a NO. I took it and I'll tell you you're not missing anything. The test PMBR gives is ridiculously hard (getting 50% is considered "good") and focuses on bizarre little quirks that are unlikely to show up on the Bar and that you shouldn't waste your time learning. The only thing that was good about it was it gives you an extra full day MBE (BarBri does one full day MBE), which is important because the MBE is a long, hard day. That being said, BarBri provides more than enough MBE questions for you to do your own full day MBE in the library.
Seriously, do not take PMBR. It will completely freak you out just two weeks before the Bar, which is the last thing you need.
This feeling is universal among my friends who took PMBR.
Hoe-rammed.
I may not be a friend of 6:24 pm, but I liked PMBR. I took the three-day session about three weeks before the Bar Exam, and found it to be tremendously helpful. I found that after using Barbri MBE practice exam questions throughout the summer, I began to already know the answer (they tend to repeat the fact patterns/questions). So, having a different company (and a slight kick in the butt) was a good reality check and a true test of my knowledge.
Further, I can think of at least 10 questions in my PMBR review course (the exam only, in the end of July) that were on the real MBE. I also found PMBR's Exam Review so much more helpful than Barbri's. Plus, keep in mind that reviewing for PMBR doesn't only help you for MBE, but also those 6 subjects as they apply for the essay.
Will someone please get a scanned copy (or original?) of the hoe ram t-shirt?
If you don't want to take PMBR, or your firm doesn't pay for it, then don't worry about it. I saw zero correlation among our class last year between who took PMBR and who passed. It's fine, but it won't make or break you. In fact, no one day will make or break you. Bar study is a marathon, not a sprint.
I second 5:39...what are these Preview classes? And what is up with the Saturday meeting for those taking it in SF?
tj - found it.
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/1853/tshirt7.jpg
excellent!
Yes, if someone could comment on what this "preview" week is, that would be great. Mostly because I'd really like justification to skip it.
We didn't have a "preview" week for barbri. We started one week after graduation (the Tuesday after Memorial Day). There's your justification.
I didn't do PMBR and did just fine. If you think you need a little extra push, do PMBR. I have heard good things about the week program and bad things about the 3 day. The 3 day is usually really close to the bar and I personally think my time was better spent studying my weaknesses rather than taking another simulated MBE and then listening to someone read me the answer.
I think the PMBR Cds are gold and should be used even if you don't take the class. I think I killed the MBEs (but luckily passed and don't know my score) because I listened to those CDs over and over. They are truly helpful if you learn by repetition.
I found the PMBR course helpful. As said above, it was useful to see questions developed by a company other than BarBri, and it was good to have a full-length MBE that late in the game. Plus a number of the more difficult PMBR questions actually came up on the real exam, which made me glad I had taken it at the time.
That said, was it so helpful that it was worth the money it costs? If a firm is offering to pay for it, you have nothing to lose; worst case scenario is you'll skip the class in July and your firm will never know the difference. If you're paying for it yourself, it's probably not worth it; you'll likely pass the exam anyway and you can use a friend's unused PMBR books for a similar effect.
Under normal circumstances, yes, you have nothing to lose if the firm pays for it. But in this economic climate [Patrick, move the knife away from your wrists], you'd be wise not to expend firm resources needlessly.
If your firm pays for PMBR, get the books even if you don't plan on sitting in on the class. They are a great second set of practice questions, and worded differently from the Bar Bri practice questions. I would *try* to do at least 30 PMBR questions a day, and I think it helped, especially in areas where I was weak.
Also, the reason everyone thinks that they fail the MBE is because the real questions are totally different than the practice questions. Bar Bri provides 200 real questions from the actual bar exam, and I highly urge you to do those questions so that you know how different they are and that you did just fine on them. :)
The PMBR schedule for Berkeley seems to directly conflict with Barbri classes. Does that always happen? Is it worth it to sign up just for the books? If a conflict, would it be better to skip Barbri and go to PMBR?
Thanks, elders.
The PMBR schedule always conflicts with Barbri. But, by the time you get to the PMBR 3-day, you'll be done with Barbri's substantive lectures and can easily skip out on what will likely be an essay review or something similar.
That being said, I didn't find the PMBR 3-day particularly helpful. I barely did any PMBR questions during the Barbri Paced program (not much extra time) and then only ended up taking the practice exam (I skipped the one-by-one question review). If anything, I would take the PMBR 6-day review that begins before Barbri. Get your extra MBE practice in and brush up on the MBE subjects before the Barbri lectures.
p.s. don't just sign up for the books. You won't have time to use them anyway.
And, one more thing: I didn't think that the Barbri or PMBR questions were very similar to the actual MBE questions.
Post a Comment
<< Home