Preliminary Pass - Sharing my experience with the patent bar

Hi everyone! I wanted to share my experience with the patent bar since I just received the preliminary pass recently.

First and foremost: Thank you to this sub! I found soooo much helpful advice just by reading older posts. This is my token to give back to this sub.

MY EXPERIENCE:

• Studying for the exam:
  • I took the PLI course and frankly hated it. It is nonsensical to have 80+ hours of videos with just a man talking to you on the screen, with zero visuals or anything. I watched every video and I don’t know how much stuff I truly retained. I did take notes during the videos, and reviewing my own notes was helpful for concepts.
  • I did not do the pre-course either, since I have some familiarity with the patent world (work at a summer associate in the IP group).
  • The most useful part of the PLI course was the post-course (poorly named). I did all of the questions in the post-course and did the 02/03 exams multiple times. I did them both in “real-time” mode and study mode. I made sure to look up exactly where in the MPEP I would need to look to answer each question.
  • For each question I missed, I put the question in a quizlet, and I studied the quizlet everyday for 4-5 days up until the exam.
• Exam day Logistics:
  • When I got to the test center, they seated me before my start time too which was great.
  • They provide you a locker to store your personal items. I packed a lunch, some brain food (almonds), and ibuprofen lol, all of which I had during the break.
  • I did get to use my phone during the break which was also nice.
  • My room was hot so that part sucked, but they had white noise playing in the background, which was a nice touch. Wear layers so you can take em off or layer them up.
• Exam itself:
  • There was a delay in opening the MPEP each time, maybe by a couple seconds. It was very important to know exactly which chapter you needed to find the answer, so you wouldn’t have to switch between chapters just for one question. I relied mostly on 600, 700, 2100, 1400, and Patent Rules.
  • The MPEP was also a blurry pdf. I could still read it but it was kind of annoying.
  • You cannot highlight any text in the MPEP pdf.
  • My strategy for the “find” function in the MPEP: Every time I opened a chapter, I clicked the first page of the chapter on the left side to make sure my search started at the beginning of the document.
  • Before the exam began/during tutorial time, I drew a chart that compared PGR/IPR/Re-exam etc. and I had spent the days leading up to the exam memorizing the chart. You get 15 minutes during the tutorial time, so it’s good to use that time to write out any information you need on the scratch paper. For me, the chart was useful to have.
  • Substantively, the exam covered a lot of PCT stuff and appeal stuff. My exam also had quite a lot of repeat questions from the past 02/03 exams, so it is worth doing those (multiple times too so you memorize the answers). Yes, they were word-for-word.
  • Make sure you know what you need to get the filing date for provisional/nonprovisional/etc.
  • Make sure you know 102(a) and 102(b) by heart.
  • Sometimes, when the question was too long, I skipped/guessed it. I figured it was not worth spending 5-7 minutes on a question which I would most likely get wrong anyway. Other times, I would just not read the question: I would start by reading the answers only and canceling out the ones that made no sense at all.
  • Unfortunately, I did not have any time to spare on both parts so I did not get to review my questions one last time before submitting. I did feel like I was running out of time for each section.
  • After you finish the 2nd section, you take a survey. After the survey, you receive your “preliminary pass” immediately if you passed. You can ask the proctor to print out the results for you too (I needed paper proof because I could not believe it lol).

This exam was tough but I think if you spend the time and effort, you will pass. Definitely read this medium article and this pdf. I found them to be helpful.

Good luck to you all! Thank you again for all the info on this sub. Edited to correct typos.