MASTER Post-Exam Analysis
This page reports post-exam analysis of how each MASTER version performed in regards to the administration it was written for. Approximately 50-100 topics change priority between each MASTER version:
MASTER JULY 2008 consisted of 64 LOW priority topics, 122 MEDIUM priority topics, and 113 HIGH priority topics. On the July 2008 exam, 45% of all the July 2008 essay topics came from the MASTER 2008 HIGH priority topics; 21% of the July 2008 essay topics came from the MASTER 2008 MEDIUM priority topics; and 10% of the July 2008 essay topics came from the MASTER 2008 LOW priority topics (and the remaining 24% of the July 2008 essay topics were new topics that never previously appeared on a NY bar exam essay from July 1995-February 2008).
MASTER FEB 2009 consisted of 95 LOW priority topics, 97 MEDIUM priority topics, and 115 HIGH priority topics. On the February 2009 exam, 50% of all the Feb 2009 essay topics came from the MASTER FEB 2009 HIGH priority topics; 19% of the Feb 2009 essay topics came from the MASTER FEB 2009 MEDIUM priority topics; and 19% of the Feb 2009 essay topics came from the MASTER FEB 2009 LOW priority topics (and the remaining 12% of the February 2009 essay topics were new topics that never previously appeared on a NY bar exam essay from July 1995-July 2008).
MASTER JULY 2009 consisted of 115 LOW priority topics, 79 MEDIUM priority topics, and 116 HIGH priority topics. On the July 2009 exam, 52% of all the July 2009 essay topics came from the MASTER JULY 2009 HIGH priority topics; 20% of the July 2009 essay topics came from the MASTER JULY 2009 MEDIUM priority topics; and 16% of the July 2009 essay topics came from the MASTER JULY 2009 LOW priority topics (and the remaining 12% of the July 2009 essay topics were new topics that never previously appeared on a NY bar exam essay from July 1995-February 2009).
MASTER FEB 2010 consisted of 134 LOW priority topics, 69 MEDIUM priority topics, and 108 HIGH priority topics. On the Feb 2010 exam, 48% of all the Feb 2010 essay topics came from the MASTER FEB 2010 HIGH priority topics; 17% of the Feb 2010 essay topics came from the MASTER FEB 2010 MEDIUM priority topics; and 9% of the Feb 2010 essay topics came from the MASTER FEB 2010 LOW priority topics (and the remaining 26% of the Feb 2010 essay topics were new topics that never previously appeared on a NY bar exam essay from July 1995-July 2009).
| Master July 2008 | Master Feb 2009 | Master July 2009 | Master Feb 2010 | Master July 2010 | |
| LOW PRIORITY TOPICS | 64 |
95 |
115 |
134 |
137 |
| MEDIUM PRIORITY TOPICS | 122 |
97 |
79 |
69 |
69 |
| HIGH PRIORITY TOPICS | 113 |
115 |
116 |
108 |
111 |
| TOTAL | 299 |
307 |
310 |
311* |
317 |
*I deleted 2 topics for the Feb 2010 MASTER - I removed Wills: Mutual Wills and merged it Wills:Joint Wills and removed Wills: Revocation by Separation Agreement.
MASTER FEB 2010 Post-Exam Analysis
This is a post-exam analysis of how MASTER FEB 2010 performed in regards to the Feb 2010 exam. MASTER FEB 2010 consisted of 311 total topics and was released December 21, 2009. These 311 topics represented every topic on the NY bar exam essays from July 1995-July 2009. The accuracy of the MASTER priorities for the Feb 2010 exam was consistent with the accuracy of prior MASTER versions although there were more new topics in this exam.
Here are the essay topics from the February 2010 exam and the priorities assigned to them in MASTER FEB 2010:
| Essay 1 | Priority |
| DOMESTIC: Conversion Divorce | MED |
| DOMESTIC: Jurisdiction-Divorce | HIGH |
| AGENT-PART: Partner Liability | LOW |
| UCC: Art 9-Perfection of Security Interest* | MED |
| Essay 2 | Priority |
| WILLS: Creation/Validity | HIGH |
| WILLS: Layperson Opinion | HIGH |
| AGENT-PART: Agency Termination | NEW |
| WILLS: Antilapse Statute | HIGH |
| WILLS: Ademption | HIGH |
| WILLS: No Contest Clause | MED |
| Essay 3 | Priority |
| TORTS: Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress | HIGH |
| TORTS: Strict Liability for Animals | NEW |
| NYPRAC: Preliminary Injunction | HIGH |
| Essay 4 | Priority |
| PROPERTY: Easement-Merger | NEW |
| PROPERTY: Easement | LOW |
| PROPERTY: Marketable Title | NEW |
| CONTRACT: Statute of Frauds | HIGH |
| PROPERTY: Real Estate Brokerage Contract | NEW |
| Essay 5 | Priority |
| CORP: Shareholder Right to Inspect Records | NEW |
| CORP: Closely Held Corporation | MED |
| CORP: Director Duty of Care | HIGH |
| CORP: Director Duty of Loyalty | HIGH |
| CORP: Shareholder Derivative Action | HIGH |
* The MASTER topic for UCC: Art 9-Perfection of Security Interest was inadequate as it did not talk about automatic perfection in consumer goods - I subsequently added this to the response.
SUMMARY OF MASTER TOPICS ON THE FEBRUARY 2010 EXAM
HIGH PRIORITY - 11 TOPICS - 48%
MED PRIORITY - 4 TOPICS - 20%
LOW PRIORITY - 2 TOPICS - 16%
NEW TOPICS - 6 TOPICS - 12%
TOTAL TOPICS ON EXAM - 23
With 17 of the 23 topics being repeaters, the MASTER FEB 2010 outline contained approximately 74% of the topics on the Feb 2010 NY Bar exam.
MASTER FEB 2010 was approximately 1/10 the size of the BARBRI 2008 Long Books and approximately 1/4 the size of the BARBRI 2008 Conviser. The MASTER FEB 2010 outline was 94 pages long and consisted of approximately 73,700 words (tables of content or headings were not included in the word count). Based on a reading rate or 400 words per minute, it would take you approximately 3.1 hours to read the entire MASTER FEB 2010 outline once. In comparison, the 26 subjects in the BARBRI 2008 Long Books comprise approximately 1,267 pages and consist of approximately 754,000 words (tables of content or headings were not included in the word count). At the same reading rate, it would take you about 31.4 hours to read the 26 subjects in the BARBRI Long Books. Although the BARBRI 2008 Long Books probably covered almost 100% of the New York essay portion of the exam in detail, studying this entire book would take up a tremendous amount of your time let alone the difficulty in trying to process and remember everything. With MASTER FEB 2010, you would have had basic answers for 74% of the tested Feb 2010 topics in an outline that would take you about 3 hours to read. More so, with the MASTER FEB 2010 HIGH Priority Topics Outline (39 pages, approximately 30,6000 words), you would have had 48% of the tested Feb 2010 topics in an outline that would take you about 1.3 hours to read. This is what I mean by efficiency. Again, MASTER isn't perfect. It isn't on point every time and of course there will always be new topics, which is why you should study outlines and other bar materials also. However, I don't think there is a more efficient way to study for the essay portion of the exam than with MASTER. Keep in mind that MASTER 2009-2010 (or any other bar material for that matter) will not help you if you cannot spot the issues - the MASTER outline and the other material will help you focus on high priority areas, but you still must be able to issue spot and write a good answer.
| Resource | Pages | Words (approx.) | Words per page | Hours to read* | Hours to study* |
| MASTER Feb 2010 | 94 | 73,700 |
784 |
3.1 |
6.1 |
| BARBRI Long Books 2008 | 1,267 | 754,000 |
595 |
31.4 |
62.8 |
| BARBRI Conviser Mini Review 2008 | 682 | 287,000 |
420 |
11.9 |
23.9 |
*based on 400 word per minute for reading and 200 words per minute for studying.
MASTER July 2009 Post-Exam Analysis
This is a post-exam analysis of how MASTER July 2009 performed in regards to the July 2009 exam. MASTER July 2009 consisted of 310 total topics and was released May 26, 2009. These 310 topics represented every topic on the NY bar exam essays from July 1995-Feb 2009. The MASTER priorities for the July 2009 exam were slightly more accurate than the priorities for the Feb 2009 exam even though I allocated more topics as LOW priority for the July 2009 exam.
Here are the essay topics from July 2009 and the priorities assigned to them in MASTER July 2009:
| Essay 1 | Priority |
| AGENT-PART: Agency | MED |
| CONTRACT: Damages/Cover | HIGH |
| AGENT-PART: Agent Liability | NEW |
| CONTRACT: Installment Contract | MED |
| CONTRACT: Consideration | MED |
| Essay 2 | Priority |
| CRIMLAW: Larceny | MED |
| CRIMLAW: Issuing a Bad Check* | LOW |
| CRIMLAW: Duress | LOW |
| UCC: Art 3-Negotiable Instrument** | LOW |
| Essay 3 | Priority |
| DOMESTIC: Conversion Divorce | MED |
| DOMESTIC: Modification of a Separation Agreement*** | LOW |
| DOMESTIC: Modification of Child Support in a Separation Agreement | HIGH |
| DOMESTIC: Child Custody | HIGH |
| Essay 4 | Priority |
| TORTS: Negligent Supervision | HIGH |
| NYPRAC: Failure to State a Cause of Action | HIGH |
| TORTS: Negligence | HIGH |
| TORTS: Landowner Liability | HIGH |
| CONFLICT: Conflict of Law | HIGH |
| TORTS: Comparative Negligence | HIGH |
| Essay 5 | Priority |
| WILLS: Contest of Will/Competence | HIGH |
| WILLS: Elective Share | HIGH |
| WILLS: Distribution of Residuary Estate | HIGH |
| WILLS: No Contest Clause | HIGH |
| TRUSTS: Creation | NEW |
| TRUSTS: Irrevocable Trust | NEW |
* The MASTER topic for Issuing a Bad Check did not talk about defenses - I subsequently added defenses to the response.
** The MASTER topic for UCC: Art 3-Negotiable Instrument did not talk about notes or IOUs - I subsequently added this to the response.
*** The MASTER topic responses for DOMESTIC: Modification of a Separation Agreement and DOMESTIC: Modification of Child Support in a Separation Agreement were reversed due to a topic mis-labeling error.
SUMMARY OF MASTER TOPICS ON THE JULY 2009 EXAM
HIGH PRIORITY - 13 TOPICS - 52%
MED PRIORITY - 5 TOPICS - 20%
LOW PRIORITY - 4 TOPICS - 16%
NEW TOPICS - 3 TOPICS - 12%
TOTAL TOPICS - 25
With 22 of the 25 topics being repeaters, the July 2009 MASTER outline contained approximately 88% of the topics on the July 2009 NY Bar exam.
Master July 2009 was 93 pages long and consisted of approximately 71,400 words (tables of content or headings were not included in the word count). Based on a reading rate or 400 words per minute, it would take you approximately 3.0 hours to read the entire MASTER July 2009 outline once. In comparison, the 26 subjects in the BARBRI 2008 Long Books comprise approximately 1,267 pages and consist of approximately 754,000 words (tables of content or headings were not included in the word count). At the same reading rate, it would take you about 31.4 hours to read the 26 subjects in the BARBRI Long Books. Although the BARBRI 2008 Long Books probably covered almost 100% of the New York essay portion of the exam in detail, studying this entire book would take up a tremendous amount of your time let alone the difficulty in trying to process and remember everything. With MASTER FEB 2009 , you would have had basic answers for 88% of the tested July 2009 topics in an outline that would take you about 3 hours to read. More so, with the MASTER July 2009 HIGH Priority Topics Outline (33 pages, approximately 31,000 words), you would have had 52% of the tested July 2009 topics in an outline that would take you about 1.3 hours to read. This is what I mean by efficiency. Again, MASTER isn't perfect. It isn't on point every time and of course there will always be new topics, which is why you should study outlines and other bar materials also. However, I don't think there is a more efficient way to study for the essay portion of the exam than with MASTER. Keep in mind that MASTER 2009-2010 (or any other bar material for that matter) will not help you if you cannot spot the issues - the MASTER outline and the other material will help you focus on high priority areas, but you still must be able to issue spot and write a good answer.
| Resource | Pages | Words (approx.) | Words per page | Hours to read* | Hours to study* |
| MASTER July 2009 | 93 | 71,400 |
768 |
3.0 |
6.0 |
| BARBRI Long Books 2008 | 1,267 | 754,000 |
595 |
31.4 |
62.8 |
| BARBRI Conviser Mini Review 2008 | 682 | 287,000 |
420 |
11.9 |
23.9 |
*based on 400 word per minute for reading and 200 words per minute for studying.
MASTER FEB 2009 Post-Exam Analysis
This is a post-exam analysis of how MASTER FEB 2009 performed in regards to the February 2009 exam. MASTER FEB 2009 consisted of 307 total topics and was released December 26, 2009. These 307 topics represented every topic on the NY bar exam essays from July 1995-July 2008. The MASTER priorities for the February 2009 exam were slightly more accurate than the priorities for the July 2008 exam even though I allocated more topics as LOW priority for the Feb 2009 exam.
FEBRUARY 2009 EXAM
HIGH PRIORITY - 13 TOPICS - 50%
MED PRIORITY - 5 TOPICS - 19%
LOW PRIORITY - 5 TOPICS - 19%
NEW TOPICS - 3 TOPICS - 12%
TOTAL TOPICS - 26
Here are the essay topics from February 2009 and the priorities assigned to them in MASTER FEB 2009 :
Essay 1
HIGH DOMESTIC: Equitable Distribution of Marital Property
HIGH DOMESTIC: Equitable Distribution of Separate Property
LOW DOMESTIC: Equitable Distribution of a Gift
LOW NYPRAC: Discovery
HIGH PROPERTY: Restrictive Covenant
MED PROPERTY: Constructive Trust
Essay2
HIGH TORTS: Strict Products Liability
NEW TORTS: Labor Law § 240
NEW CORP: Sale or Other Disposition of Assets
HIGH TORTS: Landowner Liability
HIGH TORTS: Negligence
HIGH TORTS: Workers Compensation
Essay3
HIGH WILLS: Reference by Incorporation-Pourover Trust
MED TRUSTS: Trust Amendment
LOW WILLS: Pretermitted Children
LOW WILLS: Anti-Lapse Statute
Essay 4
HIGH CONTRACT: Creation/Validity
NEW CONTRACT: Mutual Mistake *
MED CONTRACT: Unconscionability
MED TORTS: Malpractice
HIGH PRO-RES: Fees
Essay 5
HIGH NYPRAC: Motion to Dismiss
HIGH CRIMLAW: Burglary
LOW CRIMLAW: Kidnapping/Unlawful Imprisonment**
MED CRIMLAW: Alibi
HIGH CRIMLAW: Right to Counsel/Miranda
* Although the NY BOLE Content Outline combines Mutual Mistake with Unilateral Mistake, I created a new topic for Mutual Mistake since the answer for Unilateral Mistake was insufficient to answer the exam question. I may combine the two in the future to correspond with the NY BOLE Content Outline.
** Kidnapping previously appeared in Feb 1998, but Unlawful Imprisonment never appeared. The Kidnapping topic could have been used to answer the Unlawful Imprisonment question, so I added to the Kidnapping topic and "merged" the two topics.
With 23 of the 26 topics being repeaters, the February 2009 MASTER outline contained approximately 89% of the topics on the February 2009 NY Bar exam.
MASTER FEB 2009 was 76 pages long and consisted of approximately 68,000 words (tables of content or headings were not included in the word count). Based on a reading rate or 400 words per minute, it would take you approximately 2.8 hours to read the entire MASTER FEB 2009 outline once. In comparison, the 26 subjects in the BARBRI 2008 Long Books comprise approximately 1,267 pages and consist of approximately 754,000 words (tables of content or headings were not included in the word count). At the same reading rate, it would take you about 31.4 hours to read the 26 subjects in the BARBRI Long Books. Although the BARBRI 2008 Long Books probably covered almost 100% of the New York essay portion of the exam in detail, studying this entire book would take up a tremendous amount of your time let alone the difficulty in trying to process and remember everything. With MASTER FEB 2009 , you would have had basic answers for 89% of the tested February 2009 topics in an outline that would take you about 3 hours to read. More so, with the MASTER FEB 2009 HIGH Priority Topics Outline (34 pages, approximately 32,500 words), you would have had 50% of the tested February 2009 topics in an outline that would take you about 1.4 hours to read. This is what I mean by efficiency. Again, MASTER isn't perfect. It isn't on point every time and of course there will always be new topics, which is why you should study outlines and other bar materials also. However, I don't think there is a more efficient way to study for the essay portion of the exam than with MASTER. Keep in mind that MASTER 2009 (or any other bar material for that matter) will not help you if you cannot spot the issues - the MASTER outline and the other material will help you focus on high priority areas, but you still must be able to issue spot and write a good answer.
| Resource | Pages | Words (approx.) | Words per page | Hours to read* | Hours to study* |
| MASTER Feb 2009 | 76 | 68,000 |
894 |
2.8 |
5.7 |
| BARBRI Long Books 2008 | 1,267 | 754,000 |
595 |
31.4 |
62.8 |
| BARBRI Conviser Mini Review 2008 | 682 | 287,000 |
420 |
11.9 |
23.9 |
*based on 400 word per minute for reading and 200 words per minute for studying.
MASTER JULY 2008 Post-Exam Analysis
MASTER 2008 consisted of 299 total topics. These 299 topics represented every topic on the NY bar exam essays from July 1995-February 2008. Based on the analysis that I discuss elsewhere on this page, the July 2008 topics were prioritized as follows: 64 LOW priority topics, 122 MEDIUM priority topics, and 113 HIGH priority topics. There were a total of 29 topics in the July 2008 essays:
On the July 2008 exam, 3 of the MASTER 2008 LOW priority topics appeared:
AGENT-PART: Partnerships
UCC: Art 9-Perfection of Security Interest
WILLS: Ademption
On the July 2008 exam, 6 of the MASTER 2008 MEDIUM priority topics appeared:
CONTRACT: Substantial Performance
CRIMLAW: Search of Car
EVIDENCE: Hearsay
PROPERTY: Easement-Abandonment
PROPERTY: Easement by Necessity
PROPERTY: Tenant Duty to Repair
On the July 2008 exam, 13 of the MASTER 2008 HIGH priority topics appeared:
CONTRACT: Modifications
CRIMLAW: Right to Counsel*
CRIMLAW: Warrantless Search Exceptions
DOMESTIC: Abandonment
DOMESTIC: Adultery
NYPRAC: Partial Summary Judgment
PROPERTY: Tenants by the Entirety
TORTS: Comparative Negligence
TORTS: Landowner Liability
TORTS: Negligence
WILLS: Anti-Lapse Statute
WILLS: Creation/Validity
WILLS: Pretermitted Children
* I ended up making this a separate topic called CRIMLAW: Right to Counsel/Recess in Testimony because this specific topic did previously appear in July 1998.
Finally, On the July 2008 exam, there were 7 new topics:
AGENT-PART: Accounting
AGENT-PART: Partner Liability
CRIMLAW: Right to Confrontation/6th Amendment
EVIDENCE: Excited Utterance/Present Sense Impression
PROPERTY: Power of Attorney
WILLS: Class Gifts
WILLS: Specific Gift
With 22 of the 29 topics being repeaters, the July 2008 MASTER outline contained approximately 76% of the topics in the July 2008 NY Bar exam. More so, 45% of all the July 2008 essay topics came from the MASTER 2008 HIGH priority topics; 21% of the July 2008 essay topics came from the MASTER 2008 MEDIUM priority topics; and 10% of the July 2008 essay topics came from the MASTER 2008 LOW priority topics (and the remaining 24% of the July 2008 essay topics were new topics that never previously appeared on a NY bar exam essay from July 1995-February 2008).
Master 2008 was 74 pages long and consisted of approximately 75,000 words. Based on a reading rate or 400 words per minute, it would take you approximately 3.1 hours to read the entire MASTER 2008 outline once. With MASTER 2008, you would have had basic answers for 76% of the tested July 2008 topics in an outline that would take you about 3.1 hours to read. More so, with the MASTER 2008 HIGH Priority Topics Outline, you would have had 45% of the tested July 2008 topics in an outline that would take you about 1.3 hours to read.
If you have any questions, email me at joe@seperac.com.
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