Any other foreign or 'Alien' (as our American friends like to call us)bar takers on the board. I am preparing for the NY bar and one of my main drama's is 'unlearning' everything especially with subjects like evidence, criminal law & procedure and civil law and procedure. Does anyone else have this problem if so what is your strategy to overcome it!!!!!!

Score 150 on the MBE and you will be fine

I don't know about NY but you have to do better in Essays as well to pass in CA. However, you have no choice, my alien friend. Just study your ass off. There is no other alternative to learning. Sorry.

hi fellow ALIEN
I AM an alien and passed NY BAR
Pay attention to the DISTINGTIONS in NEW YORK STATE
Best Site to read about NEW YORK
IS
http://seperac.com
best outlines in the site ar Joeoutlines
Try to take his new MASTER ESSAY
Is great
I read the outlines even now that i am trying CA
Good luck

I'm a fellow alien and unfortunately havn't found a strategy to unlearn everything I already know. Still only getting between 50-65% of MCQs correct after practising hundreds and getting really frustrated! Any suggestions welcome

continue
do not stop
I finished the stategies and tactics MBE from emmanuel by topic
Finished the early Bird pmbr the easy barbri
You need to review the questions you had mistakes and retake them
to easy how your score is going to be
take and retake the questions makes you memorize the topic you do not perform well
Well back to constitutional law and constituional essays 

Hi dear aliens, I am one too, and taking the Louisiana Bar next July.  Any tips will be very much appreciatted.
Tks.

STOP CALLING YOURSELF ALIEN....you and me are like everyone else...people and that's it!!!

Ok, now I will keep with my advise
I am also a foreing attorney and I graduated from Law school 4 years ago and taking july 2009 Cal Bar...I am having a hard time with American Law and with memorization, but you have to focus and find the meaning of every single word and try to recall legal terms from your country, that had helped me a lot, specially with Real Property... What also had helped me a lot is continuous practice, once you practice and practice and practice you can memorize the rules and ...by the way, it does not matter where are you from or what university you graduated from, as long as you are disciplinated and stay focus on you goal....

Good luck !!!

We ARE Aliens (especially if you are not white). You will know this when you go out to look for a job.

Advice for Foreign Attorney's

Take some sort of Bar Prep course. This exam is testing even for home grown students so some sort of formal tuition/ class will push you along the correct path. Recommended are Pieper, Barbri etc (just look on this board for further recommendations). Also being in the same boat as other students helps quell your fears and you can motivate each other. Try and find a study buddy so that you can motivate each otehr.

Get hold of the Strategies and Tactics for the MBE book and spend 3 weeks working through the MBE's in this book and reading the strategies outlined for approaching each subject in the introduction to each chapter. Used correctly this book can easily raise you MBE by 20 to 30 points. It really helps to raise your MBE score.

Get a subscription to Adaptibar. Best $345 ($199) dollar investment youy will ever make for the Bar Exam.

The above will give you access to about 1400 past MBE's. The beauty of Adaptibar is that you get the answer straight after the questions and can download and print the questions you repeatedly get wrong so you can read through them later. It will also analyse your weak areas and strong areas and help you with your timing on the questions.

If you are studying for NY have a look at the www.seperac.com website for the Essay Portion.

Also download Essays for the last 5 - 9 years or so and work through them. I would say you need to write out in full at least 6 essays per week i.e. 1 each day and outline a further 3 - 4 each day taking about 30 - 40 minutes to outline and read the answer to each essay (15 minutes to outline and about 20 minutes to read and highlight weak or missed areas). For NY you should also follow IRAC religiously. Do not try to be smart. The Bar Exam is not about being smart but being effective. Spot the issues, identify them in your answer. Outline the rules of law and analyse to death always concluding effectively based upon your rule of law and Analyis.

Barbri have a service where they mark 6 essays for you as part of the course however I feel that the Pieper Essay course it far more comprehensive as you get 30 minutes on the phone with a Tutor to discuss how you did on each essay. Invaluable for gleaning advice on technique.

You will also find that towards the end that you are repeating Essay's and MBE questions however this is a good thing as you can then test to see if you are getting questions for the right reasons - i.e. remembering the correct theory to check that you are infact making progress.

The last 2 weeks you will find that you are also engaging in a lot of memorization. About 2 - 3 Hours every day ontop of MBE's and Essay's. You will find towards the end that you work through the MBE's and read the anwers much more quickly. With the Essays you will find spotting the issues quicker. This is the time to really start honing in on distinctions to pick up those extra lucrative points which make you stand out from the crowd.

Finally just a hint but those typing have a natural advantage over those writing and this is why.

When you get in the exam room, if you are typing when you start your essays, outline them on your pc as follows:


I- Issue - state the issue

R - Rule - state the rules of law which you feel are relevant to teh question or sub-questions.

A - Analysis - write brief notes on relavat points you wish to analyse in shorthand so as not to waste time.

C - Conclusion. Now write brief notes in shorthand on your conclusion.

Now when you go back to write your essay you only need "fill in the blanks" to create a more comprehensive answer. If you use this technique correctly you should not waste any time and complete every essay within 40 minutes and leave no stones unturned.

Further to make this technique even more effective, highlight the parts of the question in the booklet as you deal with it. By the end of each question you should find that most of the question has been highlighted thereby indicating to yourself that you have dealt will all the issues highlighted. This technique is especially good for NY where the questions are very heavily LOADED. Nothing happens for no reason (sorry double negative there) in NY. Every point seems to change an outcome whether in terms or rules statements or analysis so watch out.

Anyway my 2 cents and HTH's.