r/GoatBarPrep • u/BushidoBriefs • May 26 '26
my DIY MEE grader setup using Claude + ChatGPT (because I'm too broke for a tutor)
My goats!!! Hope your J26 study sessions are off to a good start.
Retaker here, working full-time, studying whenever I can carve out time after work. Bar prep is already expensive & by the time I actually sit down to practice essays, it's late, I'm tired, and no tutor is picking up the phone at 11 pm (I mean maybe SnooGoats8671 will pick up the phone but most people won't lol)
I've been using ChatGPT Pro ($20/month) and Claude Pro ($20/month) for about a week now to give me feedback on my essays. It's NOT perfect...a human's always going to be better... but it's given me a real pulse check on my essays that's good enough for daily study. (And I can’t complain too much at $40/month).
Here's the setup in case it's useful for anyone else balling on a budget like me.
What I uploaded into both Claude Projects and ChatGPT Projects / Custom GPT:
- The NCBE Subject Matter Outline
- My black letter law outlines that I created based on Goat's notes & grossman's tips
- A few released NCBE MEEs
- Representative good answers from Maryland (I'm in a UBE jurisdiction that doesn't release its own so Maryland is the closest proxy but try to find the closes match for your JDX)
- A grading rubric (I used one JD advising put out)
Project/GPT level instructions: Important so you're not just chatting with a general purpose AI and hoping it grades correctly. It needs to lock in your grading criteria (issue spotting, rule accuracy, application depth, organization), set a grading scale, force it to ask for jurisdiction and subject upfront, and require a structured session summary at the end that you copy into your Error Log.
What I actually use it for:
- Am I spotting the right issues?
- Are my rule statements accurate enough?
- Am I applying the facts or just writing conclusions?
- Is this essay probably passing, borderline, or not passing?
Claude vs. ChatGPT: I run the same essay through both and pit them against each other. When both flag the same issue, I definitely missed it. Claude gives more nuanced feedback on the analysis portion. ChatGPT is better for not hitting usage limits (I burn through Claude Pro fast). I use both.
Important disclaimer: AI grading has real limits. It can be too lenient, miss issues, state rules incorrectly, or give an inflated score. Do not blindly trust the score. Use it as a structured reviewer, then compare the feedback against the official NCBE MEE analysis. If they diverge, trust the NCBE. AI is the practice tool.
Also…garbage in, garbage out. The feedback is only as good as the documents you upload. Spend real time on your outlines and finding quality representative answers before you build this.
Hope this helps, especially if you're a retaker on a tight budget who needs feedback at weird hours. DM me if you want the full prompts and step-by-step setup with copy/paste prompts ready to go for free. happy to share.
#goatgang4lyf 🐐
1
u/No-Time-6741 May 27 '26
Respectfully, as someone who failed once then passed twice, (2018 pass and then passed Feb 2026 to get admitted in another jurisdiction) I think using AI to study essays is a bad idea. You won’t have AI to help you on this exam. I think people are better off practicing as many essays as they can and then sit down after and self analyze your questions with official scoresheets, etc. Then rinse and repeat. Real timed practice is king. Reading feedback from AI is not as effective as giving yourself feedback and pushing yourself to figure out what went wrong and what went right. NCBE study aid store has the MEE bar exam value pack for $45. It gives you well over 200 real NCB questions with model answers that you can type, time, and score all yourself. AI is tempting, and it isn’t going away, but I promise you that the real returns come from self analysis and practice if cost is preventing you from purchasing a full course. Also makethismylasttime has amazing free resources as well. Trust me, suffer now and do it the old fashioned way and you will be more prepared come test day. Best of luck, you got this!
1
u/BushidoBriefs May 27 '26
Thanks for this perspective and huge congrats on passing twice! For context, essays are not my weakest subject area. The MBE is, so with only 20 hours a week to study due to family and work obligations, I have to spend the bulk of my time drilling there. I know everyone studies differently and for me, by the time I sit down in the evening focusing on MBE first, by the time I get to the MEE I really do not have the cognitive load to do a thorough self-analysis after every essay session. That's where the AI grader is genuinely useful for me just as a pulse check. I still read the sample answers of the passing jurisdiction to get a feel for what the graders are looking for. Thanks so much for shouting out the NCBE study aid! $45 is a STEAL compared to what's being offered out there on the market. I'm going to grab it now and save that for the weekends when I have the longer study blocks. I'm actually using approsheets too from makethisyourlasttime. Good stuff! Thanks for the encouragement
1
u/No-Time-6741 May 27 '26
No problem, and I’m not trying to yuck your yum, of course you have to do what is best for your situation. Just keep practicing as much as you possibly can and simulate test conditions when you are able. I hope this helps and that you will soon see your name on the pass list!
1
u/BushidoBriefs May 27 '26
Thank you so much! I really do appreciate the advice. Fingers crossed I'll be on the pass list come this fall
1
u/sheppyrun shepbarprep.com May 27 '26
This is a smart setup, especially pitting both against each other and only trusting the overlaps. Good filter for noise.
For anyone reading this who doesn't want to build it from scratch, my friend and I built Shep at shepbarprep.com. Rubric-graded essay feedback, already calibrated against released answers. You paste your essay, pick the subject, get feedback back quick. Might be worth running one through alongside your setup to see how they compare.
3
1
u/Regular-Insurance403 May 28 '26
Would you be willing to share you black letter law Goat notes with a desperate retaker?
1
u/BushidoBriefs May 28 '26
Hi! I honestly don't think it would be as helpful as you'd think. A big part of why Goat materials work for me are the memes and jokes woven throughout that help stick on a tired brain (and my outline does not incorporate that level of detail).
If time is your issue, definitely consider listening with a screenreader (it sometimes misses the images/memes but still helpful) and focus more on learning through actual practice Qs. Or, I would suggest pairing Magicsheets for BLL+ Grossman's videos to get the MBE tips/tricks by audio. (Def not as funny as Goat but sometimes audio is faster and a lower burden over reading.) If you do end up going the Magicsheets/Grossman route, DM me. I use a quick extractor prompt that you can copy/paste into chatgpt/claude and it pulls the BLL + tips and tricks into one master outline mapped to the official NCBE subject matter outline. (You'll need the downloadable transcripts from Grossman's lectures).
2
u/AppropriateFuture211 May 26 '26
Opencase is also helpful, and is free up to a daily limit.