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[LuckyJuly]

For those who passed the patent bar, is it realistic to pass the patent bar with about 17 days of full time study?  For some personal reasons, it is best for me to take the test before the end of August and I registered my test on Aug 22 (the only one available in my area).  I bought PLI review course and will start to study tomorrow.  For background, I took a patent law class and a patent prosecution class in law school.  That’s all my knowledge with patent law.  I can devote the next 17 days full time to study.  Is it possible or realistic?  Thanks!

[MechD]

No. Especially since a lot of time should be devoted to practicing taking the exams. But I guess you never know unless you try.

[ME]

I guess if you signed up for the exam then you have to try!

I passed the examination on the first try. I did not do any practice examinations, however I did the PRG video course and used their examination software to practice answering questions. The video course was OK, but to pass the examination you really need to practive answering questions. You should spend most of your time doing this. The PRG software is nice because it shows you the relevant law/rules so it is a good way to memorize the relavant material.

The questions on the bar were very similar to the practice questions. It seemed to me like they took many of the same questions and made them more complicated.

A certain percentage of the questions on the exam don't count. If you do not know an answer do not waste time looking things up in the MPEP. There were a couple of questions where I knew the law and I was uncertain how I should answer. It would be really easy to waste your time on one of these questions.

-ME

[LuckyJuly]

Thanks for your reply!

How many practice tests did you do before the real test?  The PLI's patware is kind of confusing and I was not sure how many tests available there?

[ascent4man]

I'm only aware of one person who has pulled this off, but he was a real genius who had interned at an IP firm for a summer and had an uncanny knack for taking tests.   For the average smart person I have to say this isn't worth the pain of sitting without a real sustained effort of more than 3 weeks.

[Oh, Crud]

For those who passed the patent bar, is it realistic to pass the patent bar with about 17 days of full time study? 

I'm going to disagree with the consensus here if you answer this question the right way.  Do you find that you do okay on standardized multi-guess exams despite less than stellar study?  If so, 17 days (~ 13 remaining) of full time study can be a lot of studying, and may be sufficient.

I'm not ascent4man's (or anyone else's!) genius, but I tend to do okay on multi-guess exams.  In my case, I had bought PLI's VHS tapes (yeah, a while ago, but it was after the PTO went to the all-multichoice exam) but I didn't manage to get started on them until less than a week before the exam and even at that I was working about 60 hpw so I didn't have a lot of time.  A friend (who had been diligently studying) advised me which 4 or 5 of the ~ 25 tapes were "musts" and I managed to take one old exam under "real time".   I passed.  No clue whether I got a 70 or a 95, but it doesn't matter what you get as long as you pass, right?

[LuckyJuly]

Thanks for your replies.  It is actually a lot of material than I thought.  If there is a seat open up in late August, I will reschedule.  But for now, I just hope I can make this work.

[unitball]

i dont see how this is possible unless you already have a good grasp of the material already. I have a high capacity for cramming and studying new material. Starting from absolutely zero knowledge of patent law, I crammed every day all day for about 2 months, took the test, passed, but i still found the test to be pretty hard. yes i did many many many practice questions and got familiar with looking through the mpep. That being said, just do the best you can. you can always take it again.