P.A.S.S. The Bar Exam

Taking the Bar Exam in 2009?

Whether you are taking in February or July, the time to Invest in your success is NOW.  Enroll in early-bird Performance Test instruction.  Master the Performance Test for maximum extra points on the written portion of your Bar Exam.

Info at http://www.passlaw.com/passptonline.htm

Sample PT workshop at  http://www.passlaw.com/ptvideo.htm

Hear from successful students who completed PASS the Performance Test, and PASSED their bar exams:

"The [Performance Test Book] is wonderful and very helpful. It helped me to understand how to write and what I did wrong."  K Kardashian, law student.

"The [Performance Test Book] was very helpful because of the information and past tests." J. Cardenas, law student.

"The Performance Class and Review Book [are] very good." T. Tavolaris, law student

"[I have seen massive] improvement in my PT writing. The Prof has been of great assistance in helping me develop my usual weak areas." J. O'Diase, law student.

"Even though I thought I didn't need to (wrong!) I learned a lot from [the Performance Test Workshop]. I appreciate the formula for breaking down the cases/library." C. Barganier, law student.

"This [Performance Test Workshop] was great! The two days were needed and having the course on-line... was very helpful." D. Butler, law student.

"The Performance Test Workshop gave me an introduction and several samples as to what the real test is all about. I feel that regardless of the format given at the exam, I will be familiar with it." S. Puentes, law student.

Performance Test Sunday

What are you doing this afternoon?  2-5pm is a great time to do a practice PT, to write it out in full.

If you are not doing a simulated bar exam as part of your bar review, and you have not yet done many PT under timed conditions, do one today.  Then, spend 5-6 studying the model answer.

-Did you finish?
-Did you follow the instructions given in the task memo?
-Did you use all the relevant authorities?
-Did you bring in key facts to support all the points you have made?
-Is your answer well-organized and easy-to-read?

Failed the Bar because of Performance Tests?

“Unheard of,” you say. “Those are the easy parts!”

Think again! Taking the Bar this Winter 2008? What you need to do is get on an early bird study plan to master the performance tests.

Why PTs? Because they are skills based and open book. You can learn those skills now, in advance, and save time for when you need to be memorizing, in January and February. (And same thing goes if your intensive study time is June and July before the July ’08 exam.)

One of the toughest parts of the PT is mastering effective time and effective data management. There is a lot of material. Take a look at a typical File and Library in a typical PT and you’ll see!

It is incredibly important that you see the challenge time management poses. That is perhaps the single most difficult element of the performance test. So, if you’ve done any practice PTs and have trouble with completing them in three hours, know that you are right in line with all those preparing to pass this exam. You are in great company!

A couple of thoughts for the day on time and data management. Whether writing or typing, it is critical to keep in mind that all the handwritten notes you take will ultimately end up in the trash, and you get no credit for them unless that information has successfully been transferred to your answer. It is important to be mindful of that and keep the bulk of your critical thinking in your official answer and not let it slip into the garbage where graders won’t see your thoughts.

Your efficiency will increase the more practice exams you do, so the best and most important thing you can do for yourself is to complete practice exams under timed conditions. In addition to that, keep in mind some basics for a data management system, and review the system in PASS the Performance Test, the Study Guide you can purchase at your local legal bookstore or from PASS on-line at http://www.passlaw.com/passptbook.htm

Having an effective system will increase efficiency.

Library: Think about ways to condense the main rules. We talk about this in our workshops and in the Study Guide. http://www.passlaw.com/passptonline.htm You can buy the book directly from PASS --email info@passlaw.com or from http://www.legalbooksdistributing.com (Title is PASS The Performance Test.)

File: The facts are numerous and can be duplicative. You must read them with a system so that you don’t get bogged down in irrelevant information. How to do that? Well, there are numerous tips and suggestions, tried and true strategies but one place to start is to be certain that you have fully and completely studied the task memo and know exactly who your client is and what they want, and what you are expected to produce.

Note-taking: Well, you cannot take post-its or paper in, but you can take paper clips and different colored pencils, and there are systems you can effectively use to organize all the relevant information neatly, so that when the time comes to write, you will have it all there, ready to go.

Impossible to fail because of the PT?? Oh, No --it's very possible. Don't let it be you. Master this essential portion of the Exam!

PASS The Performance Test can be purchased from PASS at info@passlaw.com or from the bookstore at http://www.legalbooksdistributing.com.

Taking the February 08 Exam?

Get on the Early Bird Study Schedule now!!!!! Start with Performance Tests!!! If you need a PT review course, check out PASS the Performance Test at http://www.passlaw.com/passptonline.htm, or get the Study Guide and start on a home review, http://www.passlaw.com/passptbook.htm.

How does a performance test differ from an essay? Name five distinct differences.

-PASS offers online bar review and academic support. To learn more about PASS, the PASS faculty and the PASS bar review courses, go to www.passlaw.com or call (310) 288-4374.

MPT

Performance Tests serve as the practical portion of the Bar Exam in many United States jurisdictions.

The next MPT will take place on July 24, 2007. Does your Bar Exam include an MPT, and are you ready for it??

The types of tasks you will face on the MPT are similar to the work you might do as a beginning lawyer in a law firm — drafting legal memoranda, writing briefs to the court, letters to clients, discovery plans, settlement offers and more.

To complete a Performance Test, you will be called upon to read and analyze a case File and a Library of legal authorities, and draft one or more document(s) based upon information you glean from those materials. Whatever the exact tasks you must draft, passing a Performance Test requires that you demonstrate competency in the following skills:

-sort detailed factual materials and separate relevant from irrelevant facts;

-analyze statutory, case, and administrative materials for relevant principles of law;

-apply the relevant law to the relevant facts in a manner likely to resolve a client's problem;

-identify and resolve ethical dilemmas, when present;

-communicate effectively in writing;

-complete a lawyering task within time constraints.

These six skills are described in the National Conference of Bar Examiner's The MPT 2007 Information Booklet. More on CA Performance Tests and the Multistate Performance Test at www.passlaw.com, http://www.passlaw.com/passpttompt.htm, and http://www.passlaw.com/passptonline.htm

Maritime Law on the Bar Exam?

How many different areas of law have been tested on the Performance Test?

Lots!

There have been sports law questions, maritime law, you name it. I've written many answers to performance test questions, many have been published in the Daily Journal. (Some favorites of those were aptly titled, "Is Landowner Liable for Injury and Death of Farmworkers Who Were Living on Property's Encampment During a Fire?" from the Daily Journal - May 28, 2003, and "Dear Client: For You to Get Custody of Your Daughter, We Must Look at Who Spends More Time With Her, Among Other Things" from the Daily Journal - Nov 25, 2003.

Writing these answers keeps us in touch with what you all are going through. Writing a PT answer, a really good one for a CA Bar Exam in only 3 hours is a truly tough task. (Most of us could easily write a perfect one if given three days, but three hours???).

And the MPT --90 minutes to draft a well-written, well-organized response to sometimes 20 plus pages of materials.

No, not easy at all.

The good news is you need no substantive familiarity with these subjects. So long as you know how to read and brief a case, read statutes and other sources of law, you are set. The library will have everything you need. And often the law is easier to understand in areas you are not familiar with than it is when a PT is based on contracts or torts law or something familiar.

The key to PTs is skills training. So work them. Take a good PT review course, and practice with lots of practice PTs, under timed conditions. Studying the model answers, always, to see how you can improve. And, if you need some further help on the PT, try this book at http://www.passlaw.com/passptbook.htm. (Note that if what you're after is looking at lots of sample forms, having text on exactly how to draft a simple and straightforward closing argument, or opening statement or witness cross examination, or more, another book to check out is Represent Yourself in Court: How to Prepare and Try a Winning Case at www.nolo.com. It's written by myself and UCLA Law Professor Paul Bergman for lay people in civil litigation but provides just enough background for an easy quick read for law students who might want a bit more detail on PT tasks.) Note these sources will help students preparing for the MPT as well.

Good luck on the PTs! Study essays, but do not neglect those PTs. Each PT is worth twice each essay (so they can very well be the "not so secret" edge to the written portion --65% of your exam score!

PT Practice?? You better, you better, you Bet!

How many performance tests have you written out in full???? If you don't have a good PT resource book, get one now. (http://www.passlaw.com/passptbook.htm)

As one former student who passed the bar recently wrote: "Thank you for everything! Thank you for being there for us, for keeping us in your thoughts, & for having the confidence in us even we didn't believe in ourselves. ... I don't know if you will recall this, but one time ..., I mentioned that the PT was going to be my achilles' heel. You immediately shot back that YOU were not going to let ME fail the PT. That was the turning point for me where PT's were concerned. I knew I would blow them away & I really felt that the best I did on the exam was on the PT's. ...."

If you have just 12 hours, just twelve hours, consider doing the PASS the PT, a supplemental course that will help train you for success on this portion of the exam. (And, remember, in CA the PT is insurance. Each PT is worth twice each essay, so do well on a single PT and you can fail two bar essays and still pass.)
http://www.passlaw.com/passptonline.htm