california essay bar exam

An Essential California Bar Exam Supplement

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REAL GRADED ESSAYS:

BarEssays.com has spent years and countless hours constructing our database of California Bar Exam essays . You will have access to thousands of authentic essays that have been graded by the California Bar Examiners.

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With each premium subscription to BarEssays.com, you gain access to hundreds of Professional Bar Grader Model Answers and Professional Bar Grader Reviews of selected essays in the BarEssays.com database, written by official former graders of the California Bar Exam.

OUTLINES, CHECKLISTS, TEMPLATES

With each premium subscription to BarEssays.com, you receive a complete set of California Bar Exam Short Review Outlines, Checklists, and Essay Attack Templates.

EASY SEARCH:

The BarEssays.com search engine allows you to browse essays by subject, essay score, handwritten/typed essays or examination year and includes links to officially released answers. The BarEssays.com search engine will dramatically increase the efficiency of your California Bar Exam studies.

A Database of Over Three Thousand Authentic Graded California Bar Exam Essays

BarEssays.com is a unique and invaluable study tool for the essay portion of the California Bar Exam. We are, by far, the most comprehensive service that provides REAL examples of REAL essays and performance exams by REAL students that were actually taken during the California Bar Exam and graded by the California Bar Examiners. Since launching in 2007, thousands have successfully used the BarEssays.com essay database to prepare for the essay portion of the California Bar Exam, with several entire law schools, review courses, and tutors providing access to all of their students.

California Bar Exam: Essays

• Performance Test
• Multistate Bar Exam
• Business Associations
• Civil Procedure
• Community Property
• Constitutional Law
• Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• Professional Responsibility
• Criminal Law and Procedure
• Real Property
• Performance Test Questions
• Online Resources
• Bar Review Books
• Games and Flashcards

CA Bar Exam Essay Test Instructions:

"Your answer should demonstrate your ability to analyze the facts in the question, to tell the difference between material facts and immaterial facts, and to discern the points of law and facts upon which the case turns. Your answer should show that you know and understand the pertinent principles and theories of law, their qualifications and limitations, and their relationships to each other. Your answer should evidence your ability to apply the law to the given facts and to reason in a logical, lawyer-like manner from the premises you adopt to a sound conclusion. Do not merely show that you remember legal principles; instead try to demonstrate your proficiency in using and applying them. If your answer contains only a statement of your conclusions, you will receive little credit. State fully the reasons that support your conclusions, and discuss all points thoroughly. Your answer should be complete, but you should not volunteer information or discuss legal doctrines that are not pertinent to the solution of the problem. Unless a question expressly asks you to use California law, you should answer according to legal theories and principles of general application."

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• Last Updated: Oct 7, 2024 1:20 PM
• URL: https://libguides.uclawsf.edu/ca-bar-exam

Passing the Essay Portion of the California Bar Exam: Insider Tips and Strategies

Understand the format of the exam: The essay portion of the California bar exam consists of five essay questions that are based on the subjects tested on the exam. These questions are designed to test your ability to analyze legal issues, apply the law to given facts, and communicate your analysis effectively .

Study the relevant law : The essay portion of the California bar exam is based on the law that is tested on the exam. Therefore, it is essential that you have a thorough understanding of the relevant law before you take the exam. Unfortunately, memorization alone will not suffice in passing the essay portion of the California bar exam. It's important that you understand how the rule applies. This includes studying past essay exams to see how a certain legal rule was used with a unique set of facts. You have to understand how one legal rule can be used in multiple ways.

Practice writing essays: One of the best ways to prepare for the essay portion of the California bar exam is to practice writing essays. This will help you develop your writing skills and become more comfortable with the format of the exam. You can find sample essay questions and model answers on the California State Bar website. Pro tip: there is a 99% chance that PR is going to be tested so it's wise to study and take a look at most, if not all, past PR exams that were administered. Scoring high enough on PR will offset other lower scoring essays.

Use IRAC/CREAC method: IRAC is an acronym for Issue, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion. CREAC is an acronym for Conclusion, Rule, Explanation, Application, Conclusion. Using this method can help you organize your thoughts and present a clear and logical analysis of the legal issues in the essay question.

Time management: The essay portion of the California bar exam is timed, so it is essential that you manage your time effectively. Make sure to read through all of the essay questions before you begin writing, and plan out how much time you will spend on each portion of the essay. We recommend not spending more than one allotted hour per essay subject. You should have a pre-planned approach for each essay. Here is what you should be thinking about: how much time do I spend outlining? How much time should I spend writing? How many times should I read the fact pattern? The more practice essay exams you do, the better prepared you will be on exam day!

Proofreading : Always proofreading your essay before submitting, it could be a game changer in terms of points. Make sure to take the time to proofread your essays and correct any errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling (if you have the time)!

Get feedback : If possible, have a mentor, attorney, professor or someone who has taken the bar exam before to review your essays. Getting feedback on your writing can help you improve your skills and identify areas where you need to focus your study efforts.

These tips should help you to prepare effectively for the essay portion of the California bar exam. Remember to study the relevant law, practice writing essays, use the IRAC/CREAC method, manage your time well, proofread your work and get feedback from an expert.

Understanding the Internal Scoring System: A breakdown of how essays are graded on the California Bar Exam:

See below for a guide to the components and percentage weight assigned for each component on the California Bar Exam. You will be graded on the following components: Organization/format; issue spotting; rule statements; analysis; and conclusion.

Analysis: 40%

Issue Spotting: 25%

Rule Statements: 20%

Organization/format: 10%

Conclusion: 5%

Recent Posts

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California Bar Exam Update: February 2025 Exam in Flux

California Bar Exam Details

Important note : BARBRI is aware of the State Bar of California’s proposed changes to the California bar exam. As of October 4, the State Bar of California released an update stating it had resubmitted its petition to the California Supreme Court, and is pending approval. We will continue to provide up-to-date information as it is available.

Bar exam details

A typical California Bar Exam is a 2-day exam

• Three 60-minute essay questions (in the AM)
• Two 60-minute essay questions (in the PM)
• One 90-minute Performance Test (in the PM)
• Multistate Bar Exam (MBE), a 200-question, multiple-choice exam (100 questions in the AM, 100 questions in the PM)

Subjects tested

• Constitutional Law
• Contracts/Sales
• Criminal Law/Procedure
• Federal Civil Procedure
• Real Property

California Essay Subjects

• Business Associations (Agency and Partnership; Corporations; and Limited Liability Companies)
• CA Civil Procedure
• CA Community Property
• CA Evidence
• CA Professional Responsibility
• CA Wills and Succession
• Plus all MBE subjects

California Performance Test

• “Closed universe” practical questions using instructions, factual data, cases, statutes and other reference material supplied by examiners.
• A scaled score of 86 on the MPRE is required for admission.

Click here to learn more  about the MPRE .

The MBE score is 50% of the total score, while the written portion accounts for the other 50%.

A passing score of 1,390 or greater on a 2,000 point scale is required based on the combined scores of the California Performance Test, the essay questions, and the MBE.

Reciprocity

Acceptance of mbe score.

• California does not accept an MBE score from an exam taken in another jurisdiction.

Admission on Motion

• California does not provide for admission on motion. Examination is required of all applicants. Attorneys who have been licensed in another jurisdiction for four years may be eligible to sit for the attorney exam (written exam only).

International law graduates and lawyers

If you are a foreign law graduate or lawyer, you may already be eligible to sit for a U.S. state bar exam with your current credentials.

California operates a relatively open policy in permitting foreign law graduates or lawyers to sit the bar examination, and does not impose restrictions to admission on grounds of nationality or residence.

Learn more about U.S. bar exam eligibility and requirements for foreign law graduates, lawyers, and U.S. LL.M. students.

BARBRI Bar Exam Digest

We compile all of the information that you need to know about the dates, format, subjects tested, deadlines, fees and more - for each U.S. state - in the free BARBRI Bar Exam Digest.

Download the Digest ›

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California Bar Exam Essay Frequency Chart

Are you looking for a comprehensive California bar exam essay frequency chart? Here’s our chart of the essay subjects tested on the California bar exam through the present date. The essay chart will show you which subjects tend to be frequently tested (e.g., Professional Responsibility!) and which ones are not tested as often (e.g., Agency).  You can also get an idea of which subjects are generally tested in conjunction with another subject (which you are more likely to see with the new test format as of July 2017).

Our chart provides a more accurate representation of when subjects were tested because we have separated Corporations, Agency, and Partnership; Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure; Contract Remedies and Tort Remedies; California Civil Procedure and Federal Civil Procedure; Trusts and Wills; and the California Evidence Code and the Federal Rules of Evidence.

Key Takeaways from the California Bar Exam Essay Frequency Chart:

1. make sure you study professional responsibility..

Professional Responsibility has been tested more than 37 times since 2006 on the California essays. In addition to conflicts of interest, advertising, and fee agreements, you may see questions in the corporations context and the criminal context (e.g., duties of prosecutor). Almost every single essay asks examinees to answer according to the ABA rules as well as the California distinctions. Therefore, it is worth it to study the most highly tested California distinctions. There may be times when the ABA rule and the California rule are the same. In those instances, you should tell the examiners that the outcome would be the same under both rules.

2. Be aware of common crossover questions.

If you are aware that certain subjects are always or generally tested with another subject you will be more likely to spot all of the issues on exam day. Never read a fact pattern assuming that only one subject will be tested. Based on the chart above, some common crossover essays include:

• Community Property/Wills
• Contracts/Contract Remedies
• Corporations/Professional Responsibility

Additionally, Agency usually is tested with another subject. Because students will write five essays instead of six essays beginning with the July 2017 administration, it is highly likely that you will see more crossover essays (even though you will write one less essay you still need to study all of the subjects). Our chart tells you exactly which essay questions to review if you are struggling with certain crossover essays.

3. Even though California Civil Procedure has only been tested once, you should study it!

The Examiners tested California Civil Procedure for the first time on the July 2016 exam (three of the four questions required knowledge of California Civil Procedure). Even though the fact pattern did not state that examinees should answer according to California law, it is important to note that the case took place in California. Now that California Civil Procedure has been tested once it is likely that it will be tested again. If you have not read through this essay and the student answers, take a look at the past exams on the State Bar of California’s website.

4. It is possible for essays to test a subject more than once!

Many examinees think if a subject has been tested on one essay it will not be tested again during the exam! This is not the case. If you look at the chart you will see that the following subjects have been tested twice on the same exam: Contracts, Professional Responsibility, Federal Civil Procedure, and recently, Real Property. This is important to know so that you do not quickly dismiss issues as you read the fact patterns on exam day.

5. Review highly tested California Evidence distinctions!

Since 2006, Evidence has been tested a total of 18 times. On about half of those essays, students were asked to respond according to the California Rules of Evidence and on about half of those essays students were asked to respond according to the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE). Thus, both the FRE and the California Evidence Code are commonly tested. It would be a mistake to assume that you do not really need to study the California evidence distinctions.

This post was written by Ambika, our California Bar Exam tutor, who has passed not only the California Bar Exam but also bar exams in New York and New Jersey!

If you are looking for a new approach, please feel free to contact us at your convenience.

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California Essay Frequency Analysis

Subject Frequency Chart (out of 46 exams)

Rule Frequency (556 rules analyzed)

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Essay Exam Writing for the California Bar Exam (Bar Review) 2nd Edition

Purchase options and add-ons.

The Second Edition of Essay Exam Writing for the California Bar Exam contains everything needed to pass the essay portion of the California bar exam. The book combines a comprehensive, yet efficiently concise review of volumes of substantive law with the authors' proven-effective strategic plan for writing passing bar essays. Rule outlines are supplemented with issues checklists to aid issue spotting and memorization attack sheets, to make memorization manageable, while practice questions productively cover favorite testing areas so bar study is targeted and effective.

New to the Second Edition Update:

• Recent and updated rule developments in all subjects
• Expanded coverage of topics emphasized on recent bar exams
• Updated issues tested matrices, rule memorization attack sheets, and topic specific approaches to reflect current testing trends
• Updated practice essay questions and answer grids in all subjects including crossover questions

Professors and students will benefit from:

• Concise easy to memorize rule statements
• Fact triggers and exam tips that aid the transition to bar exam writing style
• Easy to follow essay approaches for key topics
• Practice essay questions with corresponding answer grids identifying issues and analysis required for a passing score
• Realistic sample answers that could be written under timed conditions
• Coverage of all heavily tested topics in each subject and crossover questions
• Issues tested matrices identifying the subtopics tested in every essay given in 30+ years
• ISBN-10 154381350X
• ISBN-13 978-1543813500
• Edition 2nd
• Publisher Aspen Publishing
• Publication date December 1, 2019
• Part of series Bar Review
• Language English
• Dimensions 7.25 x 1.5 x 10.25 inches
• Print length 1024 pages
• See all details

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Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Aspen Publishing; 2nd edition (December 1, 2019)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1024 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 154381350X
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1543813500
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.83 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.25 x 1.5 x 10.25 inches
• #2 in Bar Examination Test Preparation
• #83 in Test Prep & Study Guides
• #565 in Education Workbooks (Books)

About the authors

Mary basick.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Tina Schindler

For over a decade, Professor Tina Schindler has designed academic and bar exam support programs, created innovative curricula, directed bar preparation programs and pre-admission law school programs, taught courses and workshops in bar tested subjects, and published books that enable students to pass the bar exam. Professor Schindler has also graded and lectured for several bar preparation companies and served on national committees related to bar passage. She has also presented on bar exam topics at national conferences.

Prior to her academic career, Professor Schindler drafted patent applications and worked with clients to earn patents for their innovative inventions. She has taken the patent bar exam through the USPTO and is a licensed patent agent in addition to being licensed to practice law in California.

Professor Schindler has a passion for teaching and helping students achieve success on the bar exam. She has worked with several schools to create curriculum that has enabled at risk students to succeed in law school. Her innovative curriculum has resulted in increased bar passage rates for several law schools. Through her publications she hopes to provide the tools necessary to succeed on the bar exam to bar takers nationwide.

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Customers find the content excellent, nice, and a great reference book. They appreciate the clear essay examples and information about the book that is helpful for understanding issues. Readers also say it's well worth the cost.

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Customers find the content excellent and nice. They say it's a great reference book that provides clear explanations and practical tips. Readers also mention the book has detailed but abridged outlines for every section that provide more than enough information. Additionally, they say it tackles the most important points for Bar essays and is perfect for essay exam practice.

"...Another great feature about this book is that it also discusses the issues that are not common . It gradually works up to the harder topics...." Read more

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Bar Exam Preparation

Graded Bar Exam Essay Answer Bank

Are you writing bar exam essays the way the graders want? One way to check your work is to see graded essays, including high- and low-scoring answers from actual bar takers.

To that end, you’ll find two things here:

• Mostly for California. Other states like New York and Nevada are also available.
• For more actual essays from California takers, check out BarEssays ( click here to grab a $25 coupon ).
• Below the essay bank is a link to California bar essay issue charts by subject and year.

Real graded CA bar essay answers (some other states available)

Essay 1 (CA Community Property): 67.5 (65/70), 70 *

Essay 2 (Constitutional Law): 50 , 55

Essay 3 (Professional Responsibility): 70 , 65 , 60

Essay 4 (Evidence, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure): 70 , 65 , 55

Essay 5 (Contracts): 55 , 50

California PT: 60 , 60

New York MEE and MPT Answer Set 1 (MEE 1: 44.79, MEE 2: 54.53, MEE 3: 35.35, MEE 4: 49.59, MEE 5: 37.83, MEE 6: 57.81, MPT 1: 46.28, MPT 2: 47.66)

Washington MEE 1: 5

* I like what this donor said : “I am an ESL speaker, so please disregard any grammatical errors. However, I can still achieve a score of 70.” This is an optimistic view proven to be true which I hope to impart to others.

Essay 1 (Business Associations): 55 , 55 , 55 , 52.5 (55/50), 60 , 55 (55/55), 55 , 50 , 70

Essay 2 (Torts): 55 , 55 , 55 (annotated with comments) , 75 (80/70), 70 , 65 (65/65), 60 , 60 , 75

Essay 3 (Professional Responsibility): 60 , 60 , 45 , 50 (50/50), 70 , 62.5 (60/65), 50 , 60 , 60

Essay 4 (Criminal Law and Procedure): 55 , 55 , 50 , 62.5 (60/65), 55 , 52.5 (55/50), 65 , 65 , 55

Essay 5 (Remedies): 40 , 50 , 55 , 62.5 (60/65), 55 , 55 (50/60), 50 , 50 , 50

California PT: 60 , 60 , 55 , 65 (65/65), 60 , 65 (65/65), 60 , 60 , 55

Essay 1 (Civil Procedure): 57.5 (55/60), 60 , 55 (55/55), 65

Essay 2 (Constitutional Law): 57.5 (60/55), 70 , 52.5 (55/50), 55

Essay 3 (Real Property): 52.5 (55/50), 55 , 62.5 (70/55), 60

Essay 4 (Professional Responsibility): 67.5 (65/70), 55 , 57.5 (55/60), 60

Essay 5 (Evidence): 62.5 (60/65), 65 , 57.5 (60/55), 60

California 90-minute PT: 60 (60/60), 65 , 75 (75/75), 60

New York MEE and MPT Answer Set 1 (MEE 1: 50.35, MEE 2: 42.22, MEE 3: 40.51, MEE 4: 47.07, MEE 5: 34.95, MEE 6: 41.81, MPT 1: 39.36, MPT 2: 40.35)

Essay 1 (Contracts): 67.5 (65/70), 62.5 (65/60), 55 , 52.5 (55/50), 65 , 55 , 60

Essay 2 (Constitutional Law): 57.5 (60/55), 55 (55/55), 55 , 60 (60/60), 60 , 55 , 55

Essay 3 (Professional Responsibility): 62.5 (60/65), 60 (55/65), 50 , 62.5 (60/65), 65 , 55 , 55

Essay 4 (Business Associations): 55 (55/55), 57.5 (60/55), 45 , 60 (60/60), 50 , 55 , 50

Essay 5 (Wills, CA Community Property): 57.5 (55/60), 62.5 (60/65), 60 , 57.5 (60/55), 55 , 50 , 65

California 90-minute PT (Objective Memo – Torts): 75 (75/75), 65 (65/65), 60 , 60 (60/60), 65 , 55 , 50

New York MEEs and MPTs: Set 1

Nevada Essays and NPTs: Set 1

Selected answers for 2022 July MEEs and MPTs

The essays are generally structured fine. Formulaic IRAC is a good way to organize arguments.

Regarding the second essay specifically (Con Law), there were more free speech issues in the first call of the question, such as whether content-based or content-neutral rules apply in a public school. I didn’t see respective rules for those (strict scrutiny for the content-based, for example). I think you did well hitting on those threshold issues like overbreadth, but you may have missed more important issues.

This leads me to think that perhaps you are getting some issues right but not others. I encourage you to study when the selected answers get posted on the state bar website (or here ) to see which issues they discussed and how they’re resolved.

I think that you may also need to connect the rules to the facts, rather than simply listing out facts in your application paragraphs. I noticed this in the third essay (Professional Responsibility). One way is to use the word “because.”

I wanted to add that you did a good job on the PT. This is where some people lose a lot of points when they neglect it since it’s worth 2x an essay. 

Essay 1 (Criminal Law and Procedure): 67.5 (70/65), 70 (65/75) , 67.5 (80/55), 65 (65/65), 50 , 67.5 (60/75), 55 , 65

Essay 2 (CA Community Property): 72.5 (80/65), 57.5 (55/60), 65 (65/65), 65 (65/65), 60 , 65 (70/60), 55 , 65

Essay 3 (Torts, Remedies): 62.5 (65/60), 52.5 (55/50), 55 (55/55), 57.5 (60/55), 55 , 60 (60/60), 60

Essay 4 (Evidence, Professional Responsibility): 52.5 (55/50), 50 (50/50), 65 (65/65), 57.5 (60/55), 55 , 62.5 (65/60), 55 , 70

Essay 5 (Business Associations, Remedies): 65 (60/70), 62.5 (65/60), 65 (70/60), 62.5 (60/65), 60 , 57.5 (55/60), 55

California 90-minute PT (objective memo): 52.5 (55/50), 60 (65/55), 57.5 (55/60), 57.5 (55/60), 55 , 60 (65/55), 55 , 60

Some things to focus on:

• Lay out the rules first. However, try to only introduce rules that you are going to use. This keeps your answer tight and gives you more time to talk about the facts and other issues. If you are spending a ton of time writing about the rules, you may not have that luxury. Also, don’t introduce new rules after you start talking about the facts or applying another rule.
• Focus on completely identifying the issues. Ask yourself, what are they trying to test you on with these fact patterns? The more you solve similar fact patterns, the more you’ll see issue patterns you can whip out on the exam. Also, sometimes it’s better to have more issues identified with less analysis, especially for broad calls of the question. Professional Responsibility is one such subject where you want to focus on the issues and rules first (cook the essay), then fill in your analysis as time allows.
• Be clear with your organization and presentation. You want to make it easy for the grader to know what issue you’re discussing, what the rule is, and where you are applying the rule. And of course what your conclusion is. Use headings and paragraphs liberally. The easier you are to understand, the more likely they will give you points. Remember that reading thousands of these essays is exhausting for the grader. Give them a breath of fresh air. Writing bar essays isn’t just about legal knowledge; it’s doing a service for your client.
• Address all the questions completely.

From the applicant:

Here are a few of my thoughts: 

• Essay #1  – The 25 point discrepancy between the first and second grader makes absolutely no sense to me.  When I read my response, I cannot understand how I possibly could have been given a 55 by the second grader.
• Essay #3  – I broke out all the elements for the equitable remedies (TROs, Preliminary Injunctions, Permanent Injunctions) because this was a remedies-heavy question.  So again, not sure what I did to receive only a 55 on this essay.
• PT  – Because the bar exam was back in person in February, I had the ability to make a strategic decision to do my PT first (before Essay #4 and #5), which I did.  All I could hear anyone talking about after the afternoon session on the first day was how they did not finish the PT.  This made me feel even more confident because I did finish.  I even spent 5 extra minutes on the PT to make sure it was bulletproof to avoid what happened to me on the PT in July.  In July, I missed the infamous “Blue Pencil” issue and did not finish concluding.  Yet, I got the same exact score on the PT in February as I did in July.  When I walked out of the afternoon session on day 1, I thought I  at least  got a 65 on the PT, but I honestly was expecting a 70 or 75.  With how much the PT is worth, this dropped my raw writing score significantly.
• MBEs  – my percentiles went up in most areas compared to the July bar, but my scaled score was lower.  I understand the scaling changes for each exam, but not quite sure what else I can do for the MBEs when I spent 90% of my time during bar prep preparing for the MBEs.

My feedback:

First, I have to say that this was one of the hardest CA exams, with a 33.9% pass rate as you know. Even with a higher raw written score, you received a lower scaled score. Unfortunately, that’s just the casualty of whatever statistical adjusting they do. Theoretically, scaled scores are equivalent to one another… Theoretically. 

Essay 1 : 

I agree with you that the disparity in scores for Essay 1 is unusual. I don’t see how it deserves a 55. You pretty much did textbook IRAC, identified numerous issues, and organized and presented it all in a clean format. The only thing I can think of is that you didn’t actually connect the rules to the facts step by step. If you analogize it to an algebra problem, each line is a small step to the answer. Here’s an example:

Rule = perfect. (Note that I also had perfect rules on my first attempt.)

• “Here, Jim and Fred both armed themselves with handguns and went to the store on Avon street.” Great.
• “As an accomplice, Jim can be liable for any foreseeable crimes if he aided, encouraged, or abetted the crimes.” What made Jim an accomplice? The bridge is missing. One way to tell if you are bridging the rule to a relevant fact is if you can use the word “because.” The better thing to say here is to say  what Jim did  that would qualify as aiding, encouraging, or abetting. I don’t think the facts say such a thing.
• “Here, it can be inferred that Jim partook in these crimes and aided, encouraged, or abetted the target crimes and any foreseeable crimes.” I disagree with the “inferred” part. You should cite a fact from the hypo to support this. You talk about conspiracy below this, which is closer to what happened in the fact pattern.

My guess is that the 2nd reader read the essay more carefully since it was a reread in the gray zone.

I didn’t read through the rest in the interest of time, but one thing that’s evident is that essay grading is subjective. Hence, any “best practices” you can do to make it easy for the grader to give you points will help. I think your formatting is nice and clean. I love how you break down the issues, and you know your rules. You’re in a great place in terms of knowledge. Perhaps better usage of the facts will help next time around. 

Essay 3 : 

You did a great job on the remedies question. When the selected answers come out, take a look at what other torts there could have been. At first glance, you probably got the major ones.

Without doing a deep dive, I can only say that it was hard to see where the application of the facts was. I saw a lot of statutes being recited, and noticed your usage of facts in the middle of one of the paragraphs.

Raw written score :

Your average written score is 61.8 (432.5 / 7). You needed a 62.78 for this exam. That’s just 7 more raw points (~439.5 vs. 432.5). Can’t help but think that you would have “passed” the essay portion if they’d kept your first read.

VIDEO: review and breakdown of the 5th set of essays

Essay 1 (Civil Procedure): 65 , 55 , 55 , 55 , 62.5 , 50 , 50 , 65 , 50

Essay 2 (Professional Responsibility): 60 , 65 , 50 , 50 , 57.5 , 50 , 75 , 62.5 , 60

Essay 3 (Torts): 55 , 55 , 51 (adjusted for ExamSoft issue), 65 , 62.5 , 55 , 55 , 65 , 60

Essay 4 (Criminal Procedure): 50 , 60 , 50 , 60 , 62.5 , 65 , 65 , 65 , 57 *

Essay 5 (Wills, CA Community Property): 70 , 55 , 50 , 65 , 72.5 , 60 , 60 , 57.5 , 60

California 90-minute PT: 55 , 55 , 55 , 55 , 60 , 45 , 55 , 55 , 56 *

• PT-only donation: 65
• 2021 July was administered online, and the scores of 57 and 56 resulted from an adjustment for those who had issues with Examplify.

Washington MEE 1: 4

Washington MEE 2: 3

Essay 1 (Evidence): 55 , 45 , 52.5

Essay 2 (Contracts & Remedies): 60 , 50 , 60

Essay 3 (CA Community Property): 55 , 65 , 80

Essay 4 (Professional Responsibility): 50 , 60 , 62.5

Essay 5 (Real Property): 50 , 50 , 52.5

California 90-minute PT: 60 , 45 , 55

Second column of essays has some of my annotations in bubble comments.

Essay 1 (Professional Responsibility): 57.5 , 50

Essay 2 (Business Associations – Corporations): 52.5 , 50

Essay 3 (Real Property): 57.5 , 55

Essay 4 (Criminal Law & Procedure): 62.5 , 55

Essay 5 (Remedies – Contracts): 55 , 55

California 90-minute PT: 52.5 , 50

Essay 1 (Torts):  60 ,  70 ,  57.5 ,  60 ,  50  

Essay 2 (Professional Responsibility):  65 ,  75 ,  57.5 ,  57.5 ,  60  

Essay 3 (Contracts Remedies):  60 ,  65 ,  52.5 ,  60 ,  60  

Essay 4 (CA Evidence):  65 ,  60 ,  57.5 ,  70 ,  65  

Essay 5 (Business Associations):  65 ,  55 ,  65 ,  65 ,  55  

California 90-minute PT:  57.5 ,  60 ,  60 ,  55 ,  70

The recurring theme I see in your essays (nice job on the PT) is that issues are missing. I think your IRACing is good. However, you can’t do the IRACs if you don’t bring up the I (issue) in the first place.

To this end,  Approsheets  may be helpful. In addition, I’ve heard good things about  Mary Basick’s blue book (2nd ed.)  

Sample answers aren’t out yet, but I’d suggest looking at the higher-scoring answers in the essay answer bank for reference

Examples of things you could have discussed:

Q1. NIED. What recovery is possible (part of the questions)

Q2. PR essays typically have general calls (what violations or obligations are there)… Issue identification is especially important.

Q3. Valid contract formation. Could have discussed more specific sub-rules and corresponding facts for the elements for specific performance (final call of the question)

Lesser point: Since you’re handwriting, presentation becomes more important. Try to leave enough spacing between issues and discussions so that it’s easier for the grader to see where discussions end and begin.

Essay 1 (Civil Procedure):  55 ,  55 ,  55 ,  50 ,  62.5 ,  65 ,  60 ,  55 ,  65  

Essay 2 (Remedies, Con Law):  60 ,  62.5 ,  70 ,  55 ,  62.5 ,  52.5 ,  55 ,  72.5 ,  50 ,  60  

Essay 3 (Criminal Law and Procedure):  55 ,  60 ,  55 ,  60 ,  57.5 ,  65 ,  55 ,  55 ,  70  

Essay 4 (Prof Resp):  60 ,  55 ,  50 ,  50 ,  55 ,  52.5 ,  55 ,  65 ,  55 ,  55  

Essay 5 (Contracts):  60 ,  57.5 ,  60 ,  55 ,  57.5 ,  55 ,  65 ,  70 ,  60 ,  55  

California 90-minute PT:  55 ,  60 ,  60 ,  65 ,  62.5 ,  55 ,  70 ,  60 ,  60  

My assessment of essays in the 5th column of essays above (in  bold ).

Essay and PT set 1  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 57.5, Q3 62.5, Q4 55, Q5 57.5, PT 70) 

Essay and PT set 2  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 62.5, Q3 60, Q4 60, Q5 62.5, PT 62.5)

Essay 1 (Wills, Trusts, CA Community Property):  70 ,  60 ,  55 ,  65  

Essay 2 (Torts):  57.5 ,  65 ,  65  

Essay 3 (Real Property):  52.5 ,  62.5 ,  60 ,  65/70  

Essay 4 (Civil Procedure, Evidence):  65 ,  55 ,  60  

Essay 5 (Prof Resp):  55 ,  52.5 ,  60  

California 90-minute PT:  57.5 ,  60 ,  60 ,  65/60

Essay 1 (Contracts):  60 ,  55  

Essay 2 (Evidence):  65 ,  65  

Essay 3 (Prof Resp):  75  (sample from  BarEssays ),  55  

Essay 4 (CA Comm Prop):  60 ,  55  

Essay 5 (Con Law):  55 ,  50  

California 90-minute PT:  55 ,  55  

Essay and PT answers set 1  (scores: Q1 60, Q2 50, Q3 50, Q4 55, Q5 50, PT 55) 

Essay and PT answers set 2  (scores: Q1 65, Q2 57.5, Q3 55, Q4 65, Q5 55, PT 60)

New York :  2018 July New York (UBE) MEE and MPT set  (MEE 1-6 scores in order 57.06, 44.55, 55.46, 41.42, 53.79, 40.09; MPT scores in order 49.42, 52.44; total 137.7)

Essay 1:  55  ( Brian’s Annotations )

Essay 2:  60  

Essay 3:  60  

Essay 4:  65  ( Brian’s Annotations )

Essay 5:  65  

California 90-minute PT:  65  

Essay and PT answers set 1  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 55, Q3 65, Q4 50, Q5 60, PT 60) 

Essay and PT answers set 2  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 60, Q3 55, Q4 70, Q5 60, PT 50)

Essay 1:  60 ,  72.5 ,  60 ,  65 ,  60 ,  65 ,  60  

Essay 2:  60 ,  62.5 ,  60 ,  60 ,  55 ,  55 ,  65  

Essay 3:  65 ,  62.5 ,  65 ,  55 ,  55 ,  50 ,  50  

Essay 4:  60 ,  65 ,  65 ,  70 ,  60 ,  60 ,  65  

Essay 5:  65 ,  62.5 ,  60 ,  60 ,  55 ,  55 ,  60  

California 90-minute PT:  65 ,  57.5 ,  75 , –, –,  55 ,  45

Essay 1: –,  62.5 ,  60 ,  55 ,  50  

Essay 2: –,  57.5 ,  55 ,  60 ,  50  

Essay 3: –,  65 ,  55 ,  70 ,  65  

Essay 4: –,  60 ,  60 ,  60 ,  50  

Essay 5: –,  65 ,  60 ,  55 ,  65  

Essay 6: –,  65 ,  60 ,  60 ,  60  

PT A:  57.5 ,  70 ,  55 ,  70 ,  65  

PT B:  60 ,  60 ,  70 ,  65 ,  60

Essay 1:  55 ,  65 ,  65 ,  55 ,  55  

Essay 2:  55 ,  55 ,  60 ,  55 ,  45  

Essay 3:  60 ,  50 ,  60 ,  55 ,  55  

Essay 4:  55 ,  65 ,  55 ,  55 ,  50  

Essay 5:  55 ,  60 ,  75 ,  60 ,  55  

Essay 6:  50 ,  60 ,  50 ,  55 ,  55  

PT A: –, –,  50 ,  50 ,  55  

PT B:  50 , –,  60 ,  60 ,  55  

Essay and PT answers set 1  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 60, Q3 45, Q4 60, Q5 65, Q6 60, PT A 50, PT B 55) 

Essay and PT answers set 2  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 50, Q3 50, Q4 50, Q5 55, Q6 50, PT A 55, PT B 60) 

Essay and PT answers set 3  (scores: Q1 60, Q2 57.5, Q3 65, Q4 52.5, Q5 65, Q6 60, PT A 60, PT B 57.5)

Nevada :  Essays Day 1  (scores in order: 63.32, 90.06, 71.40 / 75.00 passing),  MPTs  (score in order: 67.50, 51.91 / 75.00 passing),  Essays Day 3  (scores in order: 61.52, 93.47, 76.43, 78.82 / 75.00 passing)

Essay 1:  60 ,  65 ,  62.5  

Essay 2:  50 ,  60 ,  60  

Essay 3:  50 ,  55 ,  60  

Essay 4:  60 ,  70 ,  55  

Essay 5:  50 ,  55 ,  57.5  

Essay 6:  50 ,  60 ,  57.5  

PT A:  55 ,  55  

PT B:  65 ,  70  

My analysis of the first column of essays and PTs above (in bold )  (my estimated scores before actual scores were sent to me + my evaluation of the answers and suggestions)

Essay and PT answers set 1  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 60, Q3 65, Q4 50, Q5 60, Q6 50, PT A 60, PT B 70) 

Essay and PT answers set 2  (ZIP file with images; scores: Q1 55, Q2 75, Q3 65, Q4 55, Q5 50, Q6 50, PT A 55, PT B 60) 

Essay and PT answers set 3  (scores: Q1 50, Q2 50, Q3 50, Q4 60, Q5 55, Q6 55, PT A 55, PT B 55)

Essay 1:  60  

Essay 2:  65  

Essay 4:  55  

Essay 5:  55  

Essay 6:  60  

PT A:  60  

PT B:  55

Essay and PT answers set 1  (scores in order: Q1 60, Q2 55, Q3 55, Q4 60, Q5 55, Q6 55; PT A 50, PT B 50) 

Essay and PT answers set 2  (scores in order: Q1 60/55, Q2 75/85, Q3 60/55, Q4 65/65, Q5 65/60, Q6 60/60; PT A 55/55, PT B 60/60)

Essay 1:  65  

Essay 3:  55  

Essay 6:  55  

PT B:  70  

New York :  2014 July New York essay answers set  (scaled scores in order: 60.82, 44.77, 43.83, 40.62, 45.01, 31.66)

Essay and PT answers set 1  (scores in order: Q1-6 55, 55, 55, 55, 55, 55; PTs 55, 60)

Essay 1:  65 ,  60  

Essay 2:  55 ,  50  

Essay 3:  55 ,  50  

Essay 4:  50 ,  55  

Essay 5:  50 ,  55  

Essay 6:  60 ,  60  

PT A:  55 ,  65 ,  70  

PT B:  60 ,  55  

Issue Outlines

Sample legacy (3-hour) CA PT answers by Brian

PT 2008 FEB B (Dr. Snyder)  — with grader commentary PT 2006 FEB B (Estate of Small)  — with grader commentary and self-analysis PT 2012 FEB B (State v. Dolan)  — self-graded PT 2009 JULY A (Farley)  — self-graded PT 2010 JULY A (Vasquez CC&Rs)  — self-graded with notes, comments, and questions Snow King Mountain Resort answer , notes Pearson

California essay and issue charts by subject

Anonymous donor’s how-to-use: Barbri has a different chart that has the subjects in the left column, the month and year of the test along the top row, and the question number where the subject and test date intersect, but creating the chart this way made me focus on my weakest subjects instead of trying to predict which topics would be tested. There were certain subjects where I missed a lot of issues, e.g., constitutional law and community property, because I didn’t take ConLaw II or CP in law school.

Instead of doing the same amount of essays for each subject, I’d only outline the subjects that I’d spotted most of the issues for and use my extra time reviewing how the essays were organized in my weakest subjects for as many essays as I could.  Having a chart allowed me to find those essays faster, compare how they were written from year to year, and create a template for how to approach issues that I hadn’t learned in law school.