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Virginia Bar Exam

Virginia Feb 2013 Bar Exam Essay Analysis

The Feb 2013 Virginia bar exam is over.  The questions were right in line with predictions and the MBE (to be discussed in a later post) was average.  Question 1 started out with property, a Virginia favorite, followed by my favorite local govt law and VA Civ pro for question 2.  Question 3 was a hybrid wills and Prof Responsibility question.  The fourth questions was UCC2, sales, and finishing up the questions for the morning section was our old friend corporations.  The afternoon gave us another local govt question followed by the evil subject known as creditors rights which was mixed with more corporations and property. There was a nice Federal Jurisdiction question, and then finally, a nice gift of a question featuring personal property and wills.  Short answer/multiple choice were straightforward as always, with a few gimmies and a couple head scratchers, but nothing crazy.  It was interesting to see the bar examiners leave out UCC 3 and 9 (thank you!) and go a big lighter than usual on the VA civ procedure (thank you again!).  Depending on how you studied for this exam, it either seemed very hard, or tough, but fair.

Good luck to everyone that took the exam!  I’ll post estimated dates for when bar exams across the country will be posting their results.  Got a few months of painful waiting until then, so try and think about something else other than the exam for the time being.

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Bar Exam DC Bar Exam MBE MD Bar Exam NY Bar Exam Virginia Bar Exam

Weekend before the February 2013 bar exam

It’s almost here.  The Feb 2013 bar exam.  The final weekend of studying is an important one, and usually a stressful one.  The feeling of all the months of studying coming to an end, and the feeling that it was not enough time.  Rest assured that I don’t think very many people feel “fully prepared” before taking the bar exam.  There is simply too much law that can be tested to know it all well enough to feel like you are going to ace the exam.  Good thing is, the bar exam is a pass/fail situation with a passing score being usually around the 65% mark.  This isn’t law school, you can’t get an A, or a B+ on the bar exam.  So, you don’t need to have mastered every bit of law in every subject they can possibly test.  Hopefully that little tidbit will help ease some nerves this final weekend.

OK, how about some final tips and advice?

For VA takers, don’t forget to

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Bar Exam MBE Virginia Bar Exam

2 weeks of studying left, strategies for the home stretch

OK, we’ve got 2 weeks of studying until the February 2013 bar exam.  I believe that this is the most important time to focus on studying.  Here are a few tips I’ve learned along the way:

1) Focus on your weak areas – If you have been avoiding evidence, or property, or any other subject because you “don’t like it”, or “just don’t get it”.  Then you really need to put in a little extra time now to try and get more comfortable with whatever subjects you have been avoiding.  Don’t be the ostrich.

2) Be sure and do at least 10 or 15 practice MBE questions every day between now and the bar exam.  This is a good way to ensure you stay fresh on your MBE skills.  I keep hearing people say things like “I heard you need to do 50 per day”.  That may be fine if you have

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Bar Exam MBE Virginia Bar Exam

6 weeks until the Feb 2013 Bar Exam

With 42 days remaining, we’re at the 6 week marker until the Feb 2013 bar exam. Most folks are totally immersed in studying right now, a trip to the law library confirmed that for me today. I talked to a guy who is working full time but has Monday’s off until the bar exam. We were discussing how it’s hard to get in enough study hours while also working a full-time job. I gave him the best advice I know of, which is just do the best you can with the time you have.

Check my twitter feeds for daily MBE and Virginia bar exam tips during the weekdays as well.

On an MBE note, I’m going to post a mini-review of the latest edition of one of my favorite bar prep books, Strategies and Tactics for the MBE. The 5th edition (2012) has a purplish-reddish color and a few nice updates. I’ll write that up and publish it soon.

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Virginia Bar Exam

Virginia Bar Swearing in Ceremony still taking place today

Despite other closings due to Hurricane Sandy, the Virginia swearing in ceremony is still happening: “The Admission & Orientation Ceremony at the Richmond Convention Center is scheduled to take place.”

http://www.vsb.org/site/events/item/state-offices-closed-2012-10-29

This has been confirmed with the convention center directly as well. Here are the specifics for the ceremony this morning:

Click to access VABar102912Ceremony.pdf

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Virginia Bar Exam

July 2012 Virginia Bar Exam results posted

The results for the July 2012 Virginia Bar Exam have been posted online. As I predicted, they were released 1 day before the scheduled date, so if your friends are still waiting for tomorrow, let them know the results are up and available now.

As usual, there are 2 lists: Pass list A for those of you who passed and have no outstanding paperwork or issues with the VBBE; and Pass list B for those of you who passed and still have pending issues/paperwork to submit to the VBBE. Those on the first past list are now licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia, so congratulations!

For those who didn’t pass this time, try not to be too hard on yourselves. It is a difficult exam and you can always re-take in February 2013. Think about how you studied, how disciplined you were in following your study plan and what you would have done differently. For most people,