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Straight
talk
about bar
grading |
Scaling—the
actual nuts and bolts of how you receive
the four-digit score--is not understandable
by mere mortals. An explanation by the
psychometrician who invented it may help.
Steven Klein, who also came up with the
cure to this winter’s problems,
explained scaling to me in 1999, for The
Recorder. It is reprinted on my website,
“Why
the Pass Rate is So Low, Explaining the
Inexplicable.”
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Practical
things
to know |
Chances are,
you won’t master scaling, but here
are more practical things to know about
the bar grading that can actually help
you to pass the next bar:
There is no minimum required
mbe score. Nor do essay graders
know your mbe score! Points from all three
parts of the exam are added together to
achieve a total score. The points can
come from any part of the exam. As a matter
of fact, the multistate can’t contribute
any more than 35% of your total scaled
score, because the multistate raw score
is multiplied by .35 when it is scaled.
The written portion (essays and PT’s)
contribute 65% of your scaled score. Since
your total score comes one-third from
the mbe and two-thirds from the written
portions, you have to add twice as
many points to your mbe score to pass
than to your written score.
Why do people keep working on their mbe’s
instead of their written exams? People
feel more in control of their mbe score.
They can understand the scoring and reasoning.
Also, they know mbe law because that’s
what courses teach. California’s
essay law is a different body of law that
employs different memory skills. Mbe law
is vague recognition knowledge. You need
to know essay law in much more detail
and to be able to recite test elements.
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Reread
danger
zone
1390-1439 |
The score you
need to guarantee passing the bar is
1440. But
the danger of re-read still exists for
exams that fall short. When the total
scaled score for an exam is from 1390
to 1339.999, each essay and performance
test exam is graded a second time. The
grader who is doing the second-read is
not the same person who graded it the
first time. But the second grader and
the first grader were part of the same
group who trained to grade that particular
essay or PT. This is called calibration.
The goal of calibration is that graders
should not disagree about what score
to give by more than five points.
In Phase II grading, the first grade
and the second grade are averaged,
and that average is the score. After
all essays and performance tests have
received a second grading, That score
is again calculated with the multistate
score and scaled. If the total scaled
score is 1440 or above, the exam passes.
Under the former grading policy, about
seventy-five percent of the exams in
second grading failed the bar. This
percent is likely to be higher now.
This is because re-grading used to
include exams that received an initial
score of up to 1465. Those exams would
simply pass on first reading now. So
the exams most likely to pass in second
read, those with scores of 1440 to
1465, are not re-graded any more—and
it was probably those exams that accounted
for the 25% that passed on second reading.
If a given exam answer receives two
grades that vary by more than ten points
after Phase II, that exam answer will
be graded a third time by an experienced
grader who led the calibration sessions
on that exam question. This third grading,
or Phase III, will be the score for
that exam answer. The Phase III grader
is not constrained by either of the
previous scores that exam received.
Using the third score for that exam
answer, if the applicant’s total
scaled score is 1440 or above, he or
she passes.
The State Bar will automatically send
failing exams back to applicants along
with all scores the exam received.
So, on one hand the new grading is
fairer in that:
• 1440
really is a pass
• All scores the exams received will be released
to applicants
• Every grader evaluating an exam was calibrated to
grade that exam.
On
the other hand, the new grading may
be less fair in that:
• Ten-point differences in the score an essay or
PT gets are too great a discrepancy and are outside
of the Bar’s stated goal that all graders should
agree within five points of one another.
• No third chance is given to an applicant’s
exam as a whole. As there was in reappraisal, under
the old grading policy. The problem is we do not
know whether the third chance ever actually changed
a failing exam into a passing exam.
The
reason exams in re-read ultimately fail
the bar exam is the performance test.
That is unlikely to change under the
new grading regime.
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Performance
Test anxiety |
The performance
test is the reason the majority of exams
in re-read fail the bar. Of the
exams that make it into re-read, the majority
fail because of the performance test.
People feel the least amount of control
over this part of the exam and have no
idea how to improve them. One applicant
believed she failed a PT because she didn’t
have headings! People know what the Bar
is looking for on the PT’s because
the courses they took don’t know.
So most people crumple-up and throw away
the 26% of the exam PT’s are worth.
Getting a 110 on a PT (equal to getting
two essays graded 55) or 100 (two essays
graded 50) sink your chances of passing.
Instead of the myth that you need a certain
minimum mbe score, the truth is you’ll
fail the bar unless you do well on the
performance tests.
If the PT is why exams fail, you must
find someone who can tell you what the
Bar is looking for and how the PT’s
are graded. I have taken the PT exam for
the State Bar when the exam was being
developed and then I was a Bar grader
of PT’s. I know how the PT is designed,
as well as what graders are looking for.
With the PT technique I give you, you
can routinely get great PT scores. Instead
of believing PT scores are a roll of the
dice, you’ll understand the exam,
what the graders are looking for and get
150’s and 160’s. |
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No
model
answers |
The
Bar does not publish “model”
answers. The Bar does not say
the answers it publishes are perfect or
correct, only that they passed. You cannot
rely on these answers to improve your
writing or reasoning. The same goes for
the so-called model answers courses publish,
which closely resemble the Bar’s
answers. Generally, the more times you’ve
taken the bar exam, the more confused
you become about what it takes to pass.
It can drive you crazy comparing so-called
model answers and trying to figure out
what’s right about them and what
they got credit for.
Here is re-read hell in a nutshell: It
is almost impossible to improve your essays
or PT’s on your own because there
are simply no reliable model answers.
I give you accurate answers, and I make
sure you understand what gets you points.
Check my answers to the winter exam on
my website, www.calbarQandA.com.
Compare them to the other answers you
see in this newspaper (written by bar
courses and law professors). Which answers
stress reasoning and organization? In
The Writing Edge, I give you about 200
essay and 17 PT answers and I myself have
written all the answers. I explain these
answers to you, why they are good, why
they would receive a high pass. I’ll
also explain the answers on the winter
bar exam to you in a free introductory
session.
Schedule
of free sessions
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Reasoning
pays off |
Essays and PT’s pass
because of reasoning. When you
only know the law vaguely, you cannot
reason well about it. I pinpoint the law
to master for the essay exam, law you
need to know so well you can name the
test elements of each issue. I tell you
exactly what happens in those exam grading
sessions. I tell you exactly how the graders
think and what they are looking for. When
you know what to improve on your essays
and PTs, then you can learn how to improve.
Then the key is to take practice exams
over and over and over again. I give you
expert feedback, not only on your writing,
but also on your reasoning. You can pass
this exam, once you know how to improve
the parts of the exam worth two-thirds
of the points!
The Writing Edge is not for everyone.
It is for serious, committed people who
are able to focus on passing the bar this
July. I take attorney-bar applicants and
repeaters who have taken a basic bar course
and who either: (1) got 120 or better
raw score on their mbe and who can study
four hours a day and both weekend days
or (2) can take off two months to study
full time. I tell you the truth. My grading
is honest. I give you extensive detailed
timely feedback on your writing. When
you are in my course, I have no other
job and no other motive but to see you
pass the bar exam. I hold you to a high
standard of accountability and make you
work hard. Call me for more information.
But do it today. Classes start this weekend
and class size is strictly limited. Vivian
Dempsey (800) 949 7277.
Writing
Edge application
(PDF
61 Kb)
Writing
Edge application: Online fill-in
(PDF
340 Kb)
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©1997-2008 Vivian
Dempsey.
The Writing Edge. All rights reserved.
800-949-PASS |
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