New Patent Bar Online Exam - Prometric

[Isaac]

About studying from old material...

There probably are some small changes in law since 2002 as
well as some changes in rules.  In particular there are recent
changes to how amendments are done and I seem to remember at
least a few old questions about that topic.

The newer tests seem to have more emphasis on PCT subject matter.
I did not study that topic at all in preparation for the test I
took in April 2003.

Obviously the recommendations in the course about preparing
material to bring into the exam have to be ignored...

[Zack Zhao]

I took the USPTO Exam on September 2 and just received my result today.  The official notice letter is dated October 1, 2004.  

I wish you early exam takers all have good luck and have received your results, too!

Best regards,

[Joe_Blow_Man]

I took the USPTO Exam on September 2 and just received my result today.  The official notice letter is dated October 1, 2004.  

So did you pass? In light of passing or not passing do you have any advice?

Joe

[Janthkin]

I just took the exam today.  Oh, such fun....

Anyway, a few things I noted:
1) I had at least 6 Patent Treaty questions in the second half of the exam, most involving filing dates or filing requirements.

2) I had 2 questions which repeated themselves in part 2 (i.e. the exact same question appeared twice).

3) Computers were mostly okay - repeated use of "find next" could break the PDF viewer, though (fix was easy - hit esc to close the viewer, then Next/Previous to reset it).

4) Moving between questions resets the PDF viewer.

5) No keyboard shortcuts - no ctrl-f for "find", no F3 for "find next", and no Enter after typing in your search phrase.

I found it quite a bit harder than all of the prior exams I practiced on - I actually used up all of the time here, where I'd been getting through in 1:45 per section or so on the last few practice exams.  Some of that is the less-friendly PDF viewer they were using; I was getting pretty handy with Acrobat, and I really miss alt-tab; having to open & close the MPEP every time was slow.

[Andrew]

I also received my results today and I passed!!!!!!!!!!  I took the exam on August 24th, before starting law school.  In response to Joe's question, I studied for it from May 10th up until I took it.  I studied for it about 5 hours per day, sometimes more, and took 4 practice exams right before the real exam.  There were a lot of questions about the PCT, which I had not prepared for adequately, so I think this warrants a lot of attention.  Additionally, after taking it, I wished that I had done more to review or memorize old exam questions.  I saw about 10 repeats, and on 3 or 4 of them I remembered what I had chosen when I took the practice tests, but I could not remember if that was the right answer.    I used an old patbar review course that I bought off of someone, and I found it to be very BORING but it was a good course.  I think that they severely underestimate the amount of time that each "module" (the course is divided into 63 modules) takes, but it was nonetheless a good course.  I would recommend at least 3-4 months to study, and I would work A LOT on timing.  Taking the exam on paper, and with the paper MPEP, I was able to finish each of the three hour portions of the exam in about 2 hours, 10 minutes, but when I took the actual exam, I had to hastily answer a few questions in order to finish in the allotted three hours.  I cannot stress enough how much more difficult it is to search the electronic MPEP as opposed to the paper version.  For one thing, you have to zoom in each time you open the electronic MPEP, and it is not easy to flip to the page you want.  Anyways, I hope this helps, and if you have any other questions, I would be happy to address them.  
-Andrew  

[S James]

I received the good news today that I passed the exam!  I took it Aug 17th.  For those looking for shortcuts, I don't really know of any.  I used patbar.com and found it to be more than adequate, but I think any other study guide probably would have produced the same results.  It just requires a lot of work, plain and simple.  I spent roughly three to four hundred hours studying (the amount suggested by patbar) and found the exam fairly straightforward.  I am not attempting to brag, I just think that the best way to prepare is to just sit down and put the time in studying.  If you do, you'll find that you don't have to rely on the searchable MPEP too much and, therefore, should have plenty of time.  That's just my two cents for what it's worth...

[Isaac]

Congratulations to you both!

[David Givens]

I took the exam on July 28 and got my results today--I passed!  The notice was dated 9/30.  No score was given.

My best to everyone.

David

[Iris Mok]

I took it on Aug 2, and I passed too! Congrats to all who passed.  It was a tough 10 weeks while we waited for the result!
I recommend the PLI course for those who are planning on taking one.  Iris

[Andrew]

As I indicated already, I just passed the computerized patent examination, and I am now selling my Patbar materials on ebay if you are interested.  The Item number is 5525326925.  These materials sell for $795, and I have started bidding at $50!

[Scott Evans]

Congratulations everyone who passed!  I received my results today and I'm happy to say that I passed as well.
Scott

[William Murr]

I also passed.   It seems kind of strange that all the early test takers passed when I thought it was a very difficult exam. (perhaps the people who did not pass aren't posting)  Most likely, there were a lot of poorly written questions that everyone received credit for.  Anyways, congrats to everyone!

[tony starks]

Question:

Does any one know if there is a guide to outdated questions on old exams so someone can avoid those that are based on outdated law?

Thanks.  

Also, does anyone have Barbri Patent Bar materials that they would be willing to sell?

[hermit]

Took the computer based exam today in Madison, WI, and the problem with freezing when using "find again" was still occuring.  I found choosing the option of keeping the find box on the screen (check box in lower left corner) worked exactly as find again would, i.e., just keep hitting find and it works its way through whatever chapter of the MPEP or appendix you happen to have open.  

Based on my strategy while taking old exams, I relied heavily on the subject index in the MPEP.  Essentially, once you get to know this index for its relative strengths and weaknesses, it can become an invaluable aid in selecting the appropriate subsection of the MPEP to search in, better than scanning the table of contents in each chapter.  If the index failed, I resorted to the "find" feature, although I would strongly caution future test takers to avoid relying heavily on the find feature.  Its very important to be sure the section you're reading about is really the best for the question asked, and you can make sure of this by choosing the best context in the MPEP vis a vis what chapter you're looking at for your answer.

As usual, in several cases the answer could be located verbatim in the MPEP (always a nice feeling when you locate those, no?)

Additionally, several, i.e. at least 20-30 of the 100 questions were verbatim from past exams, and several were from the Oct 2003 exam.  I strongly recommend test takers drill on this exam AT LEAST the day before the exam.  In many cases, the answer options were verbatim as well.  

Several questions were new, and a surprising number were ambiguously written.  Disproportionately weighted subject matter was: actions during appeal (i.e. reply briefs, transfer from appeal back to prosecution, action by you and action by examiner after appeal); restriction requirements; broadening reissue (see below); PCT (several questions covered proper claims for benefit of priority of PCT application in fact patterns with complex foreign, international, and US priority situations, and the effect of such complicated applications as prior art under 102(e); questions (as usual) about filing date, especially when applications were filed with missing parts; and a surprising number of questions about appropriate actions to be taken in the event of deceased or incapacitated inventors.  I'd suggest drilling on this last topic, covered in MPEP 400, but its so easy to find during the exam you shouldn't bother memorizing it.  Instead, memorize the Oct 2003 exam.  You will be glad you did.  

Finally, beware a seemingly repeated long question in the afternoon session dealing with broadening reissue.  A similar version of this question appeared in the Oct 2003 exam, and the two fact scenarios, both of which deal with timeliness of filing declaration for broadening reissue, are NOT the same.  As always, READ the questions and answers carefully.  

I used Kayton's PRG exclusively, and found it very useful, but I would recommend other Kayton users to stress use of the computer simulated exams with looking stuff up via the MPEP index, and destress reading the written materials.  The 6 volume Kayton treatise appears to be an excellent work for patent practitioners, with a lot of extraneous information dealing with case history and litigation that is simply not necessary for any non-current practitioners preparing for the exam.

Most of all, good luck!

[drjimhood]

     Just finished taking the exam at the Montlake Terrace Prometric site. Had "freezing" problems with the MPEP. The suggestion of keeping the find window open by checking the box worked great. Also ran into a crash (didn't kill the computer, fortunately) when repeat searching "down", but when I changed to searching "up", freeze stopped. The location where I took the exam was pretty stiff about only one "piece" of scratch paper at a time, had to stay in the lobby during breaks, in general pretty restrictive.
     In terms of the exam itself, I'd estimate less than 20% were repeat questions, none involved biochem, about 20% were from PCT issues, 10 about revival issues, about 10 were reissue, and one really strange one about user passes at the Technical Centers. The rest seemed to be evenly divided between appeals, traversing, and writing claims. No claim counting.
     Good luck to those about to enter the gladiator's ring  .