[Music] in another video I gave an overview of the performance test and how to approach the performance test on the California bar exam in this video I'm going to go over some additional tips for the California performance test that will help you achieve a high score the first tip is to always read the task memo first Additionally you should read the task memo carefully the task memo is the first document in the file it's usually a memo from a hypothetical supervisor telling you what to do so this is where you'll find out who your client is what the case is about what task you are to complete and sometimes the specific issues that you need to address this information will also tell you if the tone of your writing should be objective or persuasive if you're writing a m demo assessing legal issues or an opinion letter to your client you should write objectively that means that you should consider all sides of an issue and weigh the likely outcome if you are writing a brief or a demand letter or a response to a demand letter your writing should be persuasive in which case you should advocate for your client's desired outcome you should also take note of who the audience is if you are writing to your client you should not use a lot of legal Lees in your writing but if you're writing to a judge or another attorney you can assume that the reader will understand the legal words and you don't have to explain them in layman's terms you may also find additional instructions in the task memo such as whether to include a statement of facts or a statement of the case you could also see instructions such as to address the arguments that the opposing party will likely raise it is so important that you follow all of the directions in the task memo because part of your score on the performance test comes from compliance with instructions as well as from the content thoroughness and organization of your answer use all of the information in the task memo as a starting point to organize your answer and keep coming back to the task memo to make sure that you are following all of the directions the second tip is to remember the jurisdiction in which the performance test is based on each past administration of the performance test the instructions have stated this task is set in the fictional state of Columbia one of the United States that means that you should not automatically apply California law to the issues instead you should follow the law given to you in the library even if you think you know the law that's being tested you should still read the library carefully and use that law because it's possible that the law in the libr library is not the same as the law you know and the examiners might be testing whether you're actually reading and using the library instead of just writing down the law that you know or think you know now you should take note of the jurisdiction from which the law in the library comes often times you will get cases from the Colombia court of appeals or the Columbia Supreme Court but sometimes you might receive cases or statutes from another hypothetical jurisdiction like maybe you get a case from the hypothetical state of Franklin be sure to pay attention to where the law is coming from if you are in Colombia then cases from Colombia courts are binding whereas cases or statutes from other jurisdictions are merely persuasive you might also receive cases from a US court of appeals or the US Supreme Court those cases would also be binding since the instructions tell you that Colombia is within the United States but should you see a case from a different jurisdiction like Franklin for instance your legal argument should point out the difference between binding and persuasive Authority and rely on the law accordingly tip number three is to prioritize your review by mastering the highly tested tasks first over the course of bar propep you should complete at least 10 practice performance tests under time conditions California has released all of its previously administered performance tests that you can use as practice now California changed its bar exam in July 2017 prior to that Administration the California bar exam contained two three-hour performance tests starting in 2017 the exam now only includes one 90-minute performance test because of this change you should only complete practice performance tests from July 2017 to the present because those are designed to be completed in 90 minutes older pts will not be as helpful because the skill that you're developing is how to answer a PT in 90 minutes since those older pts are designed to be completed in 3 hours doing them will not help you hone this skill since July 2017 the most commonly tested task is the objective memo we've also seen California test a variety of persuasive tasks including a persuasive brief a demand letter a response to a demand letter a closing argument and an oral argument because objective memos are the most frequently tested task you should start by mastering the object memo before moving on to the other types of tasks when a common task like an objective memo is tested the examiners usually do not give as much guidance as to how to format that task they expect you to know how to write a memo and a California performance test memo probably isn't the same as the memo that you wrote in legal research and writing or the memos that you might have written at a job so it's important that you practice this highly tested task so that you know the format of this task right away when you see that it's being tested that brings us to the fourth tip which is to know how to format the highly tested tasks part of your score comes from organization and to save some time you should walk into the exam with a good idea of how to organize the highly tested tasks so that you're not spending any time trying to figure out how to set up or organize your answer if you have memorized the general format of the highly tested tasks you can begin writing as as soon as you see what that task is specifically you should memorize the general format of a memo a brief and a letter now you may have to adjust the format slightly depending on for instance whether you're writing a letter to your client or a response to a demand letter that you received from another lawyer but generally speaking the overall format of the letter or the memo or the brief whatever the task may be will largely be the same in your handout you will find a link to JD advising performance test cheat sheet this sheet has the general formats for the most common tasks that you are likely to see a memo a brief and a letter as a disclaimer the cheat sheet is labeled as a multi-state performance test cheat sheet the multi-state performance test or MPT is part of the uniform bar exam which is not administered in California California writes its own performance test it does not administer the MPT as part part of the California bar exam that being said the California performance test and the multi-state performance test are very similar so this information is equally applicable to the common California performance test tasks the fifth tip is to practice pts under time conditions and compare your answer to the high-scoring student answers for many students the hardest part of the performance test is timing even if you are a great writer it can be very difficult to complete the assigned task in 90 minutes in order to be successful you need a great strategy for how to complete the assignment in that amount of time completing practice tests under actual time conditions is the best way to hone your strategy I have worked with many students who tell me that they struggle with timing on the performance test when I ask them how they've been preparing they will tell me that they complete the performance test without putting a Time on they just give themselves an unlimited amount of time to finish the task and they might tell me that it takes anywhere from 2 to 3 hours to complete the performance test and the students know that they need to complete that test in 90 minutes so they go back and they do another performance test hoping to just get faster the next time well I can tell you that you will not just get faster by simply doing more pts the only way to get fast f is to work more efficiently you have to change your strategy and find a new approach that allows you to complete the assignment a different way that uses less time for instance if you're reading the task memo then the factual documents then the library and then the factual documents again you're spending a lot of time reading the factual documents and if you keep doing the same approach you're always going to be spending too much time reading the factual documents so instead of just doing another PT and hoping that it goes faster you should change your approach try reading the library before you read the factual documents cut yourself off right at 90 minutes as you're practicing so that you can develop a better sense of how much work you are physically able to complete in 90 minutes and thus how much you need to change your strategy or approach in order to complete the task in that amount of time the the other part of this tip is that you should compare your answer to the high-scoring student answers now I know you probably just want to set aside that PT that you just wrote and not think about it again after spending 90 minutes on it but spending another 30 or so minutes comparing your answer to the student answer is how you're going to improve many students often ask whether they wrote enough for the performance test or how much they need to be writing looking at those release student answers is going to give you an idea of how much you could have or even should have written in your response now that being said keep in mind that those released student answers are some of the highest scoring student answers from the administration you certainly do not have to write as much to achieve a passing score but as you're practicing you should try to write as much as you can and cover the same amount of content as those high-scoring student answers when looking at the release student answers you should also ask yourself whether you organized the task correctly whether you used Ira whether you formatted the assignment correctly whether you used a similar amount of detail in your rule statements whether you made similar arguments in your analysis and whether you reached the same conclusion as the students reached in those released student answers there isn't always a right answer to the performance test but looking at the release student answers will help give you a better idea of whether you're on the right track if your response is wildly different from the released student answers take some time to try to understand those released student answers and why the students responded as they did that way you can try to mimic that type of response on your next practice performance test finally as a bonus tip if you run out of old California performance tests to practice you can use the previously administered multi-state performance test or mpts as practice material I previously mentioned that California does not administer the MPT as part of its bar exam but the MPT is very similar to the California bar exam performance test so if you need some additional practice you can turn to those mpts the National Conference of bar examiners has a number of mpts available on its website for free you can find a link to this in your handout Additionally the Georgia office of bar admissions releases sample high-scoring student answers to the mpts that you can review to get a sense of what a realistic high-scoring student answer looks like you can also use these student answers when you are reviewing your own student answer to see if you were on the right track and included the right information you can also find a link to the Georgia office of bar admissions website in your [Music] handout