How to Pass the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) with Ease

[@peternguyen2908]

This was the most useful video I have seen on how to do the performance test. The grid approach that you teach was an absolute life saver. I've taken a lot of performance tests but I was never able to put everything together and kept having to flip around the library during the exam to find where the relevant things were. This helped me organize and outline my arguments at the same time. I watched this video during my lunch break on the 3rd day of the California bar exam and it helped me improve my performance a ten fold. The performance test on the California bar is 3 hours long and there were about 10 cases, memos, and statute pages to keep track of and I wouldn't have been able to get through it without you. Thank you so much and God bless you for posting this.

[@erica5098]

Peter, I am happy it worked for you. Thank you for kind words.

[@dannyj.5702]

I agree! Why has no one ever portrayed it in this manner. So simple, but a perfect approach! Thanks!!

[@TheKsm2v]

I am taking the February 2021 Bar Exam. I just found your video hoping it would clarify something found in my AmeriBar materials. I want to thank you, because this video was so helpful to me!

[@erica5098]

Awesome, you are welcome. Best to you in February 2021.

[@nonyabusiness3127]

Ms. Lindsey - I just watched this video. I am SO grateful for you. This chart solves EXACTLY a problem I have been having keeping track of the content without a highlighter or sticker flags. THANK YOU SO MUCH ❤️!

[@erica5098]

I am happy it is working for you. I wish you the most success.

[@brianmiller2074]

The simplicity and thoroughness of your method is just what I need for this part of the exam. I am taking the July 2017 California bar exam with the first time 90 minute test and I feel confident that I can get this done. This makes it much easier to use all the facts and law. So when the graders align their grid with your grid the points should hopefully be forthcoming. Thanks for all your efforts. Much appreciated.

[@erica5098]

Thank you for the note. My best to you for your California Bar. It is good you are getting started early.

[@CRuSHiTT2n3]

I found this video on a whim and have found it significantly more helpful than commercial bar prep/anything else MPT related. Thank you for uploading this and for doing so in such a simple and digestible way! I echo all the other comments.

[@erica5098]

You're welcome, best to you.

[@Carmycarmyesq]

thank you! i was having a hard time using a roadmap because i just couldnt figure out how to organize my work product and my roadmap is all over the place. kind of counterintuitive because its called a “ roadmap” for a reason yet im still lost. haha. and then I found your video. after i watched it everything became clearer! cant thank you enough! taking it this tuesday!

[@erica5098]

You are welcome. Knock it out the park on Tuesday.

[@Yazan.Alkhuzai]

Thank you so much , I was really lost, when I used Barbri MPT method and it made totally lost and stressed out. I think I'll get this book and use your method. I was anxious but when I saw your method I felt much better , now I know how to practice and connect things together

[@erica5098]

Happy to help. Best to you!!!!

[@Michael-iw3ek]

ОMG the grid is absolutely brilliant

[@erica5098]

Thank you for the note.

[@jbijouphoto9397]

I heard this video was on YT, and literally 10 minutes prior to a test in Legal Writing (1L), I pulled up your video and ran through it. I couldn't catch everything, but the chart really saved me. I tend to "go off kilter" a lot. It helped me. Thank you.

[@erica5098]

Awesome!!! I never thought to use it in my 1L classes however my life might have been easier if I did. Best to you.

[@jbijouphoto9397]

@@erica5098 if you're making videos such as these, you probably didn't need this video during 1L! So you're good. Thanks again! :-)

[@theladiesman1987]

😭 thank you for this!!! I have been struggling with this so much.. I am putting this to use immediately

[@erica5098]

You are welcome, happy to help. Best to you.

[@TanishaHenson]

Thank you so much! This is immensely helpful. The grid will be helpful for the new online/remote bar exam this year!

[@erica5098]

Awesome to hear, best of luck to you.

[@TanishaHenson]

Thank you!

[@AzadiEvents]

Yasss sis! Thanks for the PowerPoints. I'm coming from Florida to Colorado and MPT/MEE are new sections that Florida doesn't test on.

[@erica5098]

J. Fallon you are welcome. I am sure you will pass with flying colors.

[@lotusgrl444]

I am taking an MPT class in my last semester, professor not very good but the way you explained this method has been making me feel less anxious and it just seems less daunting since the organization part was what I struggled with the most. The bad thing is that IL for Feb 2022 will not give us paper copies of the exam, just scratch paper...I'm a little bummed out about this....I'm not even going to get into how unfair this is.....

[@erica5098]

I understand your issue with the change. The system will still work just some minor tweaks :). Best to you in Feb!!!!

[@Battlejurist]

What a great demonstration. Thank you counselor.

[@erica5098]

Thank you for the compliment. Best to you.

[@Battlejurist]

Used this process on the bar exam today. It helped to save time and kept everything in order to write the MPT portion. I watched the video several times and practiced the method twice. I highly recommend this method and encourage everyone to add it to what your commercial trainers tell you.

[@erica5098]

That is awesome. When I took it last year, this process made the exam so much easier for me allowing me to produce a quality finished product. In my bar prep,no one could explain a process that would work efficiently so I created this to share with others. I am so excited you used it and performed well. Now knock out the MBE today, good luck.

[@arafatsa3479]

You blessed me. Thank you for this. Truly grateful.

[@erica5098]

You are so welcome.

[@LeviGovoni]

Such a helpful video. Thanks, Erica

[@erica5098]

You are welcome. Best to you

[@buenafreida7232]

Thank you very much for sharing . God bless your kind heart.

[@erica5098]

You are welcome. Best to you.

[@zeldabijou]

One (very small) issue with this approach might be that test takers may be strictly prohibited from writing anything on scratch paper prior to the "open your packet and begin" announcement - just make sure whatever you do, you don't break any rules set by the monitors - every exam will be a little different. The grid is a great idea but you may be required to quickly sketch it out after the testing period has begun. Just be vigilant either way.

[@erica5098]

Great Point. Every state is different so if one choses to draw the graph after the start of the exam, it takes maybe 10 seconds to draw so you are not losing any time. I would practice before the exam to make sure that you know what you want to do when the time starts including drawing the graph.

[@sv2999]

Yes-I was surprised to hear that in the video as well. I am taking the GA Bar and here we are not allowed to even touch our pencils until they say Start. I didn't realize it was different in other states.

[@gisellejaude1497]

Hello, I just wanted to say that I appreciate your approach and will try it on my next practice PT. I have been struggling with my outline organization. I have a question though. What do you recommend if there are only cases in the library with no statues? Read the cases first and then the file? Thank you for your time.

[@erica5098]

Thank you for the note. Yes, read the facts and then the library. Since the library has a lot of information you may lose time. The statutes are short that is why I recommend them first. At the end of the day, try my suggestion and if you feel something is missing try the library then facts. You need to be most comfortable with a solid process before you sit in July. Best to you.

[@koti7186]

My life saver.

[@erica5098]

Awesome to hear, I am happy it helped you on your exam. Take care.

[@eugenendukwe6019]

Thanks so much for this. It was very helpful.

[@erica5098]

You are welcome.

[@markjeong6467]

Thanks so much for this valuable advice.

[@erica5098]

You are welcome, best to you

[@lotusgrl444]

I hate MPTs but this helped tremendously!

[@hawarose7396]

REALLY HELPFUL. THANK YOU

[@erica5098]

You are welcome. Best to you.

[@mwanafunzi77]

Hi. Your format is really working wonders for me. Thank you so much for your insight on MPT. Am preparing for the February 2018 California bar. It will be the 2nd time the MPT format will be administered. I have a quick question. Supposing you are faced with an MPT that has a library without the statutes provided, do you advise reading the library after reading the instructions and task memo then the file or should one read the file then the library. I read the library first to find the law but sometimes in doing that I end up getting confused in finding the real issues required by the call of the question. Thanks in advance.

[@erica5098]

Thank you for the note. I would read the task memo, file then the library when there are no statutes. Read the statutes first when the MPT contains them.

[@mohitagrawal5022]

Hi! Totally loved this. But quick question, do we get scratch paper when we are attempting exam on the laptop in New York bar? If anyone can tell me, or have seen the same on New York bar, it would be a life-saver. Cheers! Thanks a lot again, Erica!

[@erica5098]

I can not say about New York, however the MPT is in a booklet with sheets of paper contained so I would guess you would have paper to write on.

[@mohitagrawal5022]

@@erica5098 Thanks, Erica! I will confirm with the Bar examiners too, as to if it was an option to just draw the grid beforehand, just in case. Again, your video was really helpful!

[@erica5098]

@@mohitagrawal5022 I would advise to wait until test officially start to draw grid, to avoid any potential issues. It should take 5 seconds at most

[@danielzachariah1100]

Thank you so much! A little confused, so discussion should only really be around 3 paragraphs as a whole? The sample answers are all something like 3-5 pages so I wasn't sure if I didn't hear it right!

[@erica5098]

Hello Mr. Zachariah, I do not recall how many pages my answer was because I typed it however I did the layout of 1) introduction paragraph - 1) paragraph to cover each issue seen within the case. 1) for the issue, each paragraph I had a topic sentence, the rule, the facts and a conclusion. Each one of these were 1-2 sentences max. This was done 3 times, one for each issue. If you have 4 issues, you do this 4 times, then 1) conclusion which an abbreviated version of the introduction. I hope this helps. Best to you!!!

[@danielzachariah1100]

@@erica5098 I did it! Thank you so much for the help, I followed this night before the exam and practiced it and did great!!

[@erica5098]

Awesome, congratulations 🎊

[@mrsdarcythefirst]

Hi Erica, Thanks for your video. I have the book that you suggested. The only thing I'm a bit confused about is, once the grid is done, and we are transferring the notes from the grid into our work product. Do you use a method to fill in the information using a top down approach or horizontal approach. Ex. Issue #1 has pg 5, 6, ,7, 8 dispersed via all sorts of information. and issue #2 uses pg. 6, pg. 9, etc. Do you go through the grid by working first completing all the information that deals with Issue #1 (horizontal) or the work through each document into subissues.

[@erica5098]

Hello thank you for the note. Horizontal approach, I write each CRAC paragraph with the information on each row. Once I finish row #1 information I will have a complete paragraph then I move to the 2nd paragraph with its facts.

[@lawrenceblackmon5319]

Black Girl Magic!

[@anthonyreaves5298]

well done thanks for the insight.

[@erica5098]

Thank you for the note; I appreciate all comments. Best to you.

[@davisr197]

I have a question about your approach on the MPT. I was taught to read the task memo and any documents referred to in the task memo, then read the library, then finish reading any and all remaining documents in the file. I have found this to not work for me because I don't know what portions of the case I want to use either as support or to distinguish, etc. So I am really just asking if I heard you correctly in the video that you read the task memo, then read only the statues in the library to get a basic understanding of the law, then go back to the file and read the remaining file facts, before moving on to the library. Is this what you stated and used during your MPT? Thanks in advance!

[@erica5098]

Yes, this is what I recommend. Try it during a pratice MPT and see if it works for you. Also I encourage you to watch the video in its entirety before trying the method.

[@allysonshorter1747]

Thanks for sharing this information!!

[@erica5098]

Thank you for the note. I wish you the best !!!

[@Galene2012]

I practiced using the grid today it saved me about 10 mins and I knew what I was looking for! However mine got a little messy because I had 3 issues with 4 file documents and 2 cases. How can I keep the chart organized? And any other advice I would be glad to take! Thank you!

[@erica5098]

I have not encountered this issue before. I would recommend having one issue per horizontal row and each file document and case should have its own column. I would watch the video again, if you have to draw the columns smaller or extend the paper to fit everything, that is fine.

[@dwaynepennant703]

Wonderful my dear sistren. Blessings

[@erica5098]

I am happy you found the video helpful. I hope you were successful in your quest.

[@verdeb2]

For filling in the template for the Facts parts, how do you know which facts are relevant to that task? I see you have facts referred to in your template but how did you know which facts in the fact section to extract? Sometimes the Task isn't as clear cut as looking for statements that refer to "head" injuries. For since, I just did a memo that had me determine if a person was liable for crop dusting under limited liability under an LLC without being involved as one of the tasks. I ended up predicting which facts that may be relevant to the issue and inserting it into the column which was ineffective because my predicting relevant facts before reading the cases was not effective for me. What am I doing wrong? I am so confused on how to apply this method. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Brandon

[@erica5098]

Thank you for the note. The system is reading the statues, facts then cases. In reading the statues I know the applicable law, facts I can see how the law and facts interact and the cases confirm the law with the facts in examples. This order worked best for me. If you read the cases before the facts you can still succeed. I have not ran into a situation where I did not know how to identify the relevant facts.

[@verdeb2]

Thank you for your reply!

[@YoungLadyInRed]

Thanks for this.

[@erica5098]

You are welcome.

[@cunay5666]

Thank you

[@erica5098]

Cunay you are welcome. Good luck.

[@sofabkiki84]

Thank you!!!!!!

[@erica5098]

You are welcome. Best to you in 2019 and years to come.

[@dgaldo2]

I'm trying your method with an MPT (In re Whirley July 2016) that has (5) statutes, (2) cases, and (4) task issues. I'm having a difficult time organizing my template according to your instruction because there are several statutes that generally apply to each task issue which are actually found in the file transcript and not in the task memo. I like your approach a lot but can't seem to apply it to this specific MPT. Any suggestions? Where am I going wrong? Thank you!

[@erica5098]

Interesting. I am not familiar with the instructions within the file transcript and I do not want to send you on a chase for answers. I would use the method on another MPT which will show you how it works with a traditional MPT. With the current MPT, I would develop a method that would be the most efficient in capturing the information and writing your memo. If you have several statues that apply to each task memo, I would classify each task, Task 1, Task 2, Task 3, Task 4 and then link each statute with the applicable task Statute 1, Statute 2, etc. You can do it in a grid however I would do this separately so it would not get confusing when you get ready to write.

[@sunkissedmel89]

#eaglepride! Thank you!

[@erica5098]

You are welcome

[@chelseawalker5126]

#blackgirlmagic

[@kingbobbyb7114]

I could kiss you. Thank you for this approach.

[@erica5098]

Happy to help. Best to you in your studies for the exam.

[@lakeshiamatthews7878]

Thank you!!

[@erica5098]

You are welcome.