The Ultimate Patent Bar Study Guide: Pass the Patent Bar Exam with Ease

UPDATE: I did pass the test, and my process was as follows. Use this book to understand all of the tested concepts at a high level, by MPEP chapter. Read the whole book, and ensure you can distinguish between Exam (USPTO and PCT), Appeal, Reissue, Reexam and Review. This book does a wonderful job explaining these in plain english in a reasonable amount of time. If you cannot distinguish between these topics and know where to look to learn more about them in the manual, taking practice questions will be more difficult. Using this book is an efficient shortcut to larger summarizations of the MPEP. Then, take as many practice questions as you can. As you take the questions, and I suggest going slow, look things up in the MPEP and understand why everything you got right was right, and why everything you got wrong was incorrect. Courses such as PLI simulate the test software pretty well, which is important because simply googling for the specific rule in the MPEP is NOT representative of the resource you will have available to you on the test. I suggest creating a notebook of rules and takeaways from this process that you can study from before the exam, to supplement your practice tests. Eventually, work on your speed and ensure that you can work ahead of the 3 mins per question. I found that the practice questions widely available online are more difficult than the questions I received on the exam, and although I worked a lot slower in practice I had a pretty good command of my time on test day. Generally, this book was an important component of my test preparation, because it simplified concepts that were confusing and not concisely explained to me elsewhere. To rebut some of the other reviews, it adequately covers the AIA in about as much detail as it covers everything else. However, don't think that reading a 200 page book will suffice to prepare for a test on a 30K page manual. It will not. Work hard, and use this alongside other materials to master this exam.ORIGINAL REVIEW:I think that most reviewers are thinking that this guide will supplant the hours worth of studying required to pass the registration exam. There is no device on the market that will easily grant you the 70 points required to pass this test. That being said, this book's format is superb and it covers a tremendous amount of testable subjects. As a matter of fact, it is clarifying a lot of the general rules and exceptions that I got wrong the first time around. I suggest purchasing this book for the $40 Amazon asks for it, and using it to supplement your studying, reinforce your weak topics, and understand exactly where in the MPEP certain rules are discussed, so you know where to look when taking the test.Some reviewers critique the book for not being up to date. Although I have yet to get to those chapters, I will say that the table of contents indicates that the AIA is covered. Understanding the differences between AIA and pre-AIA law is essential on this test, so I will update the review if I feel like those distinctions are not made adequately clear.Another quick note, the format of this book was a detriment prior to having any legal experience, but now that I am a graduating 3L and have taken the test once already, I REALLY appreciate how the information is presented. It is organized by chapter of the MPEP. Each topic starts with the statute or regulation, the author then provides you with a layman's interpretation, and closes with a sample question that, in my opinion, accurately reflects how material is tested on the exam itself. When I first bought the book two years ago, I was intimidated by the statutes and didn't touch it until recently. However, I think this might be the tool that finally gets me over the hurdle in two weeks. Compared to the massive guidebook that PLI provides, for ~100x the price, this is simplistic and digestible. That said, I have to chuckle at the reviewer who commented that it's akin to learning how to swim by studying the Olympic regulations. I also felt overwhelmed in a similar way. Focus on the TOPICS, and not the legislation that introduces most of the chapters.Would I recommend exclusively relying on it and fooling yourself into thinking you will short circuit the exam? No. However, this book seems to cover the right topics, and replicates the organization of the manual itself, which is essential for mastering the test and looking up answers real time. It is really illuminating a lot of the rules that initially confused me and is superior to many other study resources I've found. I am confident that by using this manual and taking a bunch of practice questions, I will succeed the next time around. I will update this review and let you know if that's the case.

This book is a 5 star book. I am not the author or an affiliate.THE MPEP is not an easy read and is very misleading. If you did not take a patent law class, do not read the MPEP until you read this book.THIS book is WELL WRITTEN!Rule of thumb/bottom line for selected sections are given in this book, see "explanation".To pass the Exam:1) Read THIS book cover to cover, ask yourself questions (different scenarios, tricky scenarios...if your stuck Call Patent office and ask questions, someone will point you to who knows the answer...but dont be annoying.2) Take practice exam (first, read the question; Second, quickly look over answer choices; third, read the scenario LAST..read the long background story after you read the question and skim the answers) ***In this order, you will know what to focus on in background story***2b) When doing questions with dates, do this.... first, skim the lines and jot down each date:ex:-extra-16 March 20198 September 200711 June 2000-extra-Then, make a timeline and place the dates in chronological order (write dates on top of mark) and make an "extra" mark before the first date and after the last date, just in case something happens before or after those dates. Read the events that occurred on those dates and place them accordingly on the bottom of the timeline. This will allow you to quickly see whats happening. If you write the date as I am explaining, you will not get mixed up by overlooking or falsely reading numbers.--you must TAKE PRACTICE EXAMS-- find them on USPTO website, old exams.... or google them. You must practice how to set up your strategy for solving question. At most, you have 3 minutes per question.--The test is balanced... you will not get 50 questions, where each question requires 12 lines of reading. Lots of questions are 2 - 3 lines or 4 - 6 lines. These questions are straight forward, skip around the test and answer these questions first.--Never leave any question blank, quess if you need.-- Pay attention to every word in the Answers. IF the background story said "rejection of claims 1 - 6" and an answer choice says "because rejection of claim 1", please do not choose that answer choice. READ EVERY thing in that answer, you will be able to narrow down your choices to 2 out of 5.2c) Always think about what stage in Prosecution/Examination the application is in. Example:- After filing, but before examiner action-After examiner action, but before final-After final action3) IT is very important to know:-how to overcome rejections-how to traverse restrictions-what happens after final (VERY VERY IMPORTANT)-reply time-filing and assignments-102-101-112-Double patenting-PCT4) Make flashcards*do not buy pre-made flashcards*do not type up your flash cards*****write each flash card by hand, and write each card as one of a 1) true/false 2) fill in blank 3) scenario questionResources1) this book2) practice exam3) contact USPTO (if you live close to an office, just drive to office...its public and you can usually just ask a random examiner, who will give you tons of useful knowledge).P.S.****** IF you fail after all you were told, blame yourself **********

I've been using it to prepare my patent bar initial reading. You can't lose much when you have a small book that you can carry around in your bag. It is just convenience to have a book size small enough to study. It is similar to a law school outline.

This book is a good guide for getting an overview of different sections of the MPEP and providing a layman's intro to what different concepts tested on the Patent bar are. I especially liked the book's explanation about the PCT app examination process, because it presented everything in chronological order nicely. There is also a very useful section in the end of the book that discusses answers to questions that have appeared on the exam. However, one thing to keep in mind as you're going through the book is that all of the topics up until the penultimate chapter are pre-AIA laws, so if you are just starting to study for the patent bar, I would first go to the back of the book and read the "AIA changes" chapter before diving in. Otherwise, you spend time studying material about concepts that are no longer important for the exam, such as interference hearings and "reduction to practice," and you get used to thinking about applicant's rights in terms of a "first-to-invent" rather than a "first-to-file" system.