Things BarBri didn’t tell me
First, the law library at the University of Montana Law School has copies of every Montana Bar Exam (at least the Montana essay portion)since 1991. Anyone can get copies of these just for the cost of the photocopying. Good to know!
Second, in the same place you can find a chart of the frequency with which each subject has been tested in the last five years on both the MTEE (Montana essays) and MEE (Multistate essays). Also good to know.
For the curious, I’ve summarized those frequency charts after the jump….
MTEE topic frequency from most-freqently to least-frequently tested:1
- Family Law (11/11)
- CivPro (10/11)
- ConLaw (10/11)
- Contracts (10/11)
- Evidence (10/11)
- CrimLaw/Pro (10/11)
- Property (9/11)
- Torts (9/11)
- Wills, Trusts & Estates (7/11)
- Corporations (5/11)
- Taxation (income, Estate & Gift) (5/11)
- Secured Transactions (Art. 9) (4/11)
- Business Organizations (3/11)
- Partnership (3/11)
- Sales (Art. 2) (3/11)
- Worker’s Compensation (3/11)
- Agency (2/11)
- Prof. Responsibility (1/11)
MEE topic frequency from greatest to lowest on the last 10 exams:
- Decedents’ Estates (10/10)
- Family Law (10/10)
- Federal CivPro (10/10)
- Agency & Partnership (9/10)
- Commercial Paper (9/10)
- Secured Transactions (8/10)
- Corporations (7/10)
- Trusts & Future Interests (7/10)
- Conflict of Laws (3/10)
- Sales (1/10)
Looking at it this way isn’t as helpful as I thought. Considering that the MTEE only has four questions now instead of 11, the examiners have to be a lot more careful about what they put on there. Will they stick with topics they frequently test, or will they let the MEE hit those core subjects? (The MEE has six more questions, so we’ll have a total of 10 essays.) The Feb. ‘06 MTEE tested core stuff: Family Law, Crim, Property, and Torts. Does that say anything about the July test?
I know, I know: I should just study it all and be prepared in case they this is the year they decide to test on Agency, Sales, and Conflict of Laws.
*sigh* [tags]barbri, montana[/tags]
- Numbers in parens are number of times the topic has appeared out of the 11 total exams given in the last 5 years. These numbers are a little skewed b/c the MTEE dropped from 11 questions to only four beginning with the most recent exam in Feb. ‘06 b/c that’s when the state introduced the MEE in addition to the MTEE.↩
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July 10th, 2006 at 7:27 pm
In Georgia, Secured Transactions was tested 2 of the last 20 times. (As of 2005) So what did we get last summer? SECURED TRANSACTIONS!! And no one had studied for it.
Boo!
July 10th, 2006 at 7:34 pm
Exactly! These freqency charts can end up being pretty unhelpful b/c the examiners could easy choose to test *only* the topics they least commonly test and if you just follow the freqency charts in your studying, you’ll get a big zero on that exam. Of course, if everyone follows the frequency charts and everyone gets big zeroes, we all pass, right?
Who’s gaming who here? Let’s turn the tables on the examiners: How about we (meaning everyone taking the MT bar, at least) all agree to study only the first 5 topics on the above lists. That way, if the exam tests anything else, we’ll all do more or less equally bad!
July 23rd, 2006 at 11:52 am
[...] At this point I’m having some luck thinking of the six subjects on the MBE as one subject so I can hold them all in there at the same time. I think I’ll be ok for that on Wednesday. But tomorrow for the Montana essays, I’m expected to have 18 subjects crammed into my head and ready for quick and detailed recall and regurgitation. Eighteen freaking subjects! As if. Tuesday is better—only 10 possible subjects to keep in mind, and that’s basically just a subset of what I’m supposed to know tomorrow. [...]