Done all the PLI problems but still failed!
Only got 60% and failed last week, so demoralized. English is not my firstly language and I have no any experience in patent prosecution. I have done all the PLI problems including the Custom Exam (977 problems in total, crazy!). And I can make 85% each session before I take the real exam. I must admit that I benefit a lot from doing PLI problems, it help me establish clearer concepts, solidify my foundational knowledge, and fill in many gaps in my understanding.
John, the PLI faculty, said if someone can get about 70-80% at the last 3 most released exams in the post course, they are ready to go for a real exma. I really don't think so, because it is not far enough. The real test is more complicated and difficult than I can imagine. The exam covers too many details that I never had time to look up in the MPEP, and they never appeared in PLI materials either. The MPEP on the exam interface was too blurry, and scrolling through it was extremely inconvenient (I didn't know there is a button to control it). For example, when trying to find the rule about using email to serve a respondent in a Derivation proceeding, I searched “email” and got nothing — only later did I realize I needed to search “electronically” to find it. That kind of fumbling wasted several minutes each time. By the time I reached the last 25 questions in the afternoon session, my head was already spinning. To make things worse, those final 25 questions were almost all long, complex ones, and my reading speed is already on the slower side. I’d finish reading and understand what the question was about, but the answer I expected wasn’t among the choices — so I had to eliminate distractors one by one. As time ran out, I had to rush, and I’m pretty sure I got too many of those last questions wrong, which likely hurt my overall score.
As I mentioned, English is my second language, and my reading speed is on the slower side, which makes the current long-format questions quite overwhelming for me. I even wonder whether the Patent Bar exam has gotten significantly harder this year. I think my only option at this point is to practice with more similar questions to improve my reading speed, fill in my knowledge gaps, and avoid spending too much time searching the MPEP — so that I can have enough time left to tackle the long, difficult questions at the end. Does anyone have any good suggestions? Or are there any better materials that could help me improve my score and pass this exam? I feel that PLI is no longer the right fit for me. Thank you so much!