8 strategies - patent education series

8 STRATEGIES

Successful Clients Use to Pass the

Patent Bar Exam

Maybe you're considering taking the

Patent Bar exam. Maybe you're already

waist deep in the MPEP.

If so, you're probably wondering how to best prepare for and pass this

monster of an exam.

We started helping people pass the Patent Bar exam in 2001. Since

then we've noticed that there are several recurring themes - things that

come up over and over again that contribute to the success of the

clients who write in telling us they passed.

This short report gives you insights on what our most successful clients

do to pass.

Some of this advice may sound like common sense, but it's often

overlooked and is well worth paying attention to.

Strategy #1. Successful Clients Actively Learn

the Material.

If you're reading this, there's no doubt you've taken many college

classes and have a degree (or possibly even multiple degrees). So you

already realize not all study time is equal.

Obviously, studying in front of the TV versus studying in a quiet place is

going to give you different results.

It's the same with passive versus active learning.

Passive learning involves activities like reading, listening to audio, or

watching a video.

It's called passive learning because the information is essentially being

fed to you.

Of the three activities, listening to audio and watching videos are the

most passive. The media can be playing, but you might not be paying

much if any attention.

Reading is a little different, because you have to actually interact with

the text in order to read it, but you may still not be fully engaged with

what you're reading.

Contrast this with active learning which is where you actually engage

with and interact with the material. Examples of active learning include

taking notes while you're reading, answering quiz questions, and

engaging in a discussion (even if it's just online).

Successful clients incorporate as much active learning as possible into

their study time.

They complete the interactive quizzes and practice exam questions we

provide them. Often they work through all the questions we have

(which is well over 2,000 different questions). They take notes and try

to organize the information instead of just passively reading through it

and/or only watching the videos.

“Passed With 3 Months of Studying”

“I used the 3-month study plan pretty diligently. 3 months of studying at

about 12 hours per week. About 150 hours total.

If you are a good self-studier then Patent Education Series is clearly the

best option available to pass the Patent Bar. They provide the material

necessary in a very logical manner in order to learn and understand the

information necessary to pass the exam. This study program saved me

thousands of dollars that it would have cost to purchase a similar

program. Thank you PES and especially Lisa for your quick responses to

e-mail!”

Ross

-Registered Patent Agent

Strategy #2. Successful Clients Learn to Search

the MPEP.

You have access to the MPEP (Manual of Patent Examining Procedure,

which is what the exam covers) on exam day.

However, the search function the day of the exam is very limited.

Unfortunately you will not be able to type in a search string and get

back a nice section like you're used to with a search engine.

The computerized MPEP you have access to the day of the exam will

give you the first location of the search string you type into the search

box. Then you will need to hit next in order to see the next location of

that particular search string. And you'll need to keep going like this to

scroll through all instances of the search string.

But even before you get to that, you need to know which of the MPEP

files to open. There are over 2 dozen chapters in the MPEP plus the

USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) often tests over

exam supplements. Each of these is its own file. So often you will have

more than 30 files to choose from.

You can't search across them all, instead you have to find the right file,

then open it. You have to get the right file open to even use the search

function at all so knowing which topics are covered in which chapters is

a bare minimum.

But our most successful clients don't just stop at learning which chapter

a particular topic is in.

They learn the different sections within the MPEP.

So they know that patent drawings are covered in section 608.02. That

way when they see a question on drawings they know immediately to

open Chapter 600 and go to 608.02 in the table of contents.

Then they can review the subsection headings and find the one that will

contain clues for the question at hand. Many clients become experts at

the structure of the MPEP which means they can look up a number of

facts very quickly on test day.

The MPEP Classification quizzes offered in our program will help you

become an expert at the structure of the MPEP. In addition, we offer

hundreds of summaries on the tested sections, subsections, and even

sub-subsections of the MPEP right in our course.

You can review those summaries throughout the course as well as

watch our Video Digests where we walk you through each chapter of

the MPEP by summarizing each section.

“Instrumental in Training Me”

“PES exams are actually more difficult than any practice exam published

by the USPTO (I cursed them while I studied) but turned out to be

instrumental in training me to know subject matter I needed and aiding

me in my ability to know where in the MPEP subject matter could be

found. The study section and advise regarding knowing chapters and

what subject matter is in each was the most helpful section of all! Topic

exams helped immensely! The old USPTO exam content is just not

enough anymore. I really needed the quizzes exams and advise from PES

to succeed! I already have clients calling me, thank you Lisa and PES!”

C.L.


Strategy #3. Successful Clients Focus on What's

Most Likely to be Tested.

Successful clients review all the material they can, however, they spend

the most time on what's most likely to be tested. They will even

differentiate what's most likely to be tested the heaviest. That means

they spend less time on a chapter that might only have 1 question while

they spend much more time on a chapter that's more heavily tested.

Although the PES Patent Bar review has helped create many success

stories, we do hear from people who did not pass the exam from time-

to-time. Many of them realize they did not put in enough study time to

get through the course. Sometimes they might even have skipped a

major section that is usually heavily tested, like PCT or AIA 35 U.S.C.

102.

At an absolute minimum, you need to make sure you get through

everything in our course and then plan to even spend more time on

those most heavily tested sections.

The PES Patent Bar review offers frequency charts outlining the most

heavily tested material as well as a simple 5-star rating system for each

chapter. In addition, there are also in-depth study planners to help you

plot out how to best spend your time. These include 4, 8, and 12 week

planners in addition to 6, 9, and 12 month planners. No matter when

you plan to take the exam, we can help you figure out how to best

spend your time!

Passed the Exam on the First Try With

Only 1 Month of Study

“Hello Lisa: I don’t know how many “Thank you’s” I should say to

express my appreciation. Due to a time conflict, I eventually only had

one month to prepare for the Patent Bar. Your books helped me a lot

and assisted me to pass this exam in the first try. Thank you.”

Boyuan Wang

Strategy #4. Successful Clients Realize They

Can't Just Memorize Old Exam Questions.

The Patent Bar exam pulls 100 random questions from a question bank

of at least several hundred questions. So every instance of the exam is

different.

This means you could see different questions and a different

breakdown of topics each time you take the exam (in the event you fail

it and have to take it more than once) and you will see different

questions and a different breakdown of questions from every other test

taker.

In addition, the questions are copyrighted and with the risk of losing a

hard earned USPTO registration no one is going to publish them. So you

cannot memorize questions from any question bank available to you

and expect to pass.

Instead the best strategy is to review current practice questions and try

to understand why the correct answer is right.

The PES Patent Bar review provides you with well over 500 practice

exam questions along with in-depth answers and MPEP cross

referencing. That way you can look up the material in the MPEP.

All the practice questions are organized by topic so you can see which

topics you need to spend more time on and which topics you've already

mastered. Many of the questions span multiple topics so we do our

best to organize them by topic, however these questions are primarily

meant to simulate the type of question you're most likely to see on the

actual exam (which includes multi-topic questions).

In addition to the 500+ practice exam questions, we offer over 1500

additional questions. These include true/false, fill-in-the-blank, short

answer, and more. This way you don't get fatigued on answering the

same types of questions over and over. There's variety. In the end you

want to focus more on learning the content as well as where tested

topics are located within the MPEP for quick exam day look-up.

“Thank You For All Your Help!”

“I sat for the patent bar exam last week and passed! I passed after 3

months with your course. I had spent about 3 months using a different

site but didn’t like how they presented the material. I failed using their

material so started over with you. Much preferred the environment,

and liked the larger number of quizzes and questions as it is how I learn

most effectively, (a.o.t. reading, taking notes etc.). Thank you for all

your help!”

Graham


Strategy #5. Successful Clients Aren't Afraid to

Memorize Some of the Information.

You don't need to try to memorize the entire MPEP, but for topics that

are heavily tested, a little memorization can go a long way. So be

selective on what you memorize, but don't be afraid of using this study

tactic.

For instance, parts of 35 U.S.C. 102 are important to memorize since

this is typically a heavily tested topic. We let you know exactly what

information is heavily tested. Some of it will come easier for you and

you'll have it down after one read. Some of it is more complex.

Consider memorizing the material expected to be heavily tested that

you find is manageable. To clarify, some of it will be too complex to

memorize so in those cases we suggest memorizing the exact section

number it's found within the MPEP.

You could spend 30 hours trying to memorize every last thing from

chapter 100 before you move onto chapter 200, but in the end you may

only see a couple of questions from chapter 100. So spending the time

and energy trying to memorize most of chapter 100 is not worth it.

Leverage your time. Make sure you only spend the time and energy

memorizing information that is crucial to the exam by letting our MPEP

frequency charts guide you.

“Great Study Tool”

“PES was a great study tool for me. I became very familiar with the

types of questions I would see on the exam. Thankfully my hard work

payed off!

I spent 6 months preparing for the test. Average of about 8-10 hours of

study per week. The last month or so was solely exam simulator, with

two full length exams taken on the two days prior to the actual exam.”

SEK


Passed the exam on March 11th, 2016

Strategy #6. Successful Clients Keep Going

Even When They're Not Fully Understanding

the Material.

It's a fact that successful students keep pushing through the material

even when they don't fully understand it. Patent law is essentially

made up of a number of laws and rules (hundreds upon hundreds of

them). Sometimes they're confusing, other times they're manageable

and straightforward.

You have to know many of these laws and rules in order to pass the

exam. Sometimes that will mean you have to work with the material a

number of times. Often, it comes down to your willingness to keep

going which may result in you not understanding something complex

until later on.

Much of the material builds on other material, but it's not always

outlined in the MPEP in the right order. We offer our Basic Patent

Training course to enrollees in our Patent Bar review which helps cover

the fundamentals and eases much of the frustration. However, you'll

still run into confusing material when you start getting into the details.

And in many cases, your time will be best spent by skipping ahead.

This complex information may sort itself out for you later, especially as

you work through the quiz and practice exam questions. If not, then

you'll want to start a list of what you're still finding confusing near the

end of your preparations. You may need to plan on looking that

particular material up should you see it in exam questions on exam day.

And that's OK.

You have to spend your time wisely and getting stuck on chapter 100

because there's a section you're not fully understanding is not going to

set you off on a good start. So keep moving forward!

Passed With Only 6 Weeks of Study

“I took the exam on Wednesday, 8 Feb 06. Preliminary results are that I

passed. It is unlikely I would have been able to pass with only six weeks

of study without the materials your course provides. Going in to the

test, I felt extremely prepared.

This particular test was, in my opinion, wicked and nasty. I was

constantly under time pressure, but the preparation provided by your

course materials gave me the confidence and skill I needed to be able to

search out and find the obscure answers required. Thanks for the

course."

Rich W. Houston

-TX Patent Attorney

Strategy #7. Successful Clients Use Their Time

Wisely.

Successful clients typically plot out a plan of attack before they do

anything else. That means they pick an estimated test date for taking

the exam. That can be anywhere from several weeks to months away or

even a year or more in the future.

The important thing to note is that you need to have an actual deadline

or you may drag out studying for years. There's a lot of material to

learn in order to pass the exam, but there's not so much that it should

take 3 or 4 years of your life to prepare! If you're serious about passing

the exam you need to start completing tasks as time moves on.

Once you've picked a deadline to take the exam, you need to download

one of our study planners and start reviewing the tasks to complete.

Mark it out on a calendar you keep at your desk or put it online.

A lot of time went into the creation of the study planners since they are

based on the likelihood of each chapter being on the exam. You are

given more time to complete the most heavily tested chapters so if you

follow a study planner, you'll be using your time wisely.

Passed on My First Try!

“I followed this course using the 6 month study plan. I didn’t follow it

exactly, but i got through all of the material and took about 4 simulated

exams. I am happy to say that I passed on my first try! I was worried

that this course might not be extensive as the other, more expensive

options, but man was I wrong. This has everything you need. By taking

many simulated exams, I was able to get myself to a point where I had

at least an hour on each half of the exam to go over questions I was

uncertain on.”

Mike B.


Strategy #8. Successful Clients Get Into a

Routine.

The PES Patent Bar review course includes dozens of tools and features

within it. There's so much that you will probably not need to use all the

tools available to you. It's best to start working through the course and

as you do so, get into a routine.

That will mean getting into a routine when reviewing each chapter in

the Guidebooks. The Guidebooks are essentially an outline of the MPEP

including summaries, key points, and frequency charts. Before you start

with a Guidebook chapter, you may want to start with the Video

Digests, then go through the text-based information while taking notes.

Finally, you should complete the Workbook quiz for that particular

chapter. At that point you should move onto the next chapter.

That's just one idea for a chapter-by-chapter study routine.

Alternately, if you're not as interested in watching the videos, you could

jump right into the text-based content taking notes. It's always useful

to re-write complex information into your own words, so as you come

across a section in a specific chapter that's heavily tested (which will be

identified to you in the Guidebooks), then you may want to take notes

on that material. Once you've gotten through that chapter you may

want to move onto the Workbook quizzes.

Do what works for you. This might include using our hard copy

materials which we offer for an additional fee if you feel you need them

to most effectively prepare.

“Very Well Thought Out and Organized Course”

“This is a very well thought out and organized course. The materials are

up to date, well vetted for relevance, and the PES staff was extremely

helpful when it came to answering my questions about the exam and

the materials presented. I would recommend this course to anyone

thinking about sitting for the USPTO Registration Examination.”

Vincent J. Wegher P.E., Esq.


That's a Wrap of the 8 Major Strategies

Putting these tips into practice will help you make huge strides forward

in preparing for the Patent Bar exam. If you'd like to take the next step

toward passing the exam, sign up for a Free Trial Account. You can get

started and try out the entire course at no charge (no credit card is

required).

Have any questions? Send them to us at:

[email protected]

We look forward to helping you pass the Patent

Bar exam!

http://www.patenteducationseries.com/trial-account

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