I don't mean to start another "which bar prep is best" thread, but I find the existing ones tend to focus on Barbri. B/c I personally hated my experience with Barbri, I'm considering Kaplan or Themis.
I've received discounts on both and right now Kaplan is costing about $300 more.
However, money isn't really an issue. For me, it's about presenting the information in the most concise and efficient way. I just need to know what I need to learn, rather than inundate me with information. So, based on your experience/opinion, which would you choose if Barbri wasn't existing?
Kaplan or Themis?? Forum
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Mr. Archer
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Re: Kaplan or Themis??
I took Kaplan and thought it was good. The structure worked for me. Kaplan does a full length midterm and a full length final, which I thought was really helpful. Taking the real exam was tiring but not as much as it would have been if I hadn't already taken two practice exams. However, I did not like the first week of Kaplan lectures, which are just a one day review of each subject. It might be a good refresher for some, but I should have just jumped into the full lectures.
Like all the prep courses, some lectures were better than others. The MBE subject lectures were all fine but some of the state ones were bad. Kaplan gives you a book of longer outlines and a small review book to go along with the lecture notes. I never used the big outlines because they were way too long, and I only rarely used the small review book. Kaplan doesn't give a printed book for lecture notes anymore, so I typed everything out and then printed the notes. I supplemented with Critical Pass, which was great.
As for practice questions, Kaplan was probably about the same as the other courses. You can do the ones online or practice in the book (they overlap questions a little I think but I mainly did online MBE questions). You can also highlight text while doing online questions, which you apparently cannot do with Barbri. I never spoke to anyone who thought the practice questions from Barbri, Kaplan, or Themis were like most of the real ones. But, at least some of the Kaplan ones were close.
I wouldn't go back and change courses, considering I passed comfortably. But, the people I know who took Themis seemed to like it. I think Themis has lectures broken into shorter sessions, so maybe that would work better for you. Kaplan lectures are probably more similar to Barbi in terms of length and presentation.
Good luck.
Like all the prep courses, some lectures were better than others. The MBE subject lectures were all fine but some of the state ones were bad. Kaplan gives you a book of longer outlines and a small review book to go along with the lecture notes. I never used the big outlines because they were way too long, and I only rarely used the small review book. Kaplan doesn't give a printed book for lecture notes anymore, so I typed everything out and then printed the notes. I supplemented with Critical Pass, which was great.
As for practice questions, Kaplan was probably about the same as the other courses. You can do the ones online or practice in the book (they overlap questions a little I think but I mainly did online MBE questions). You can also highlight text while doing online questions, which you apparently cannot do with Barbri. I never spoke to anyone who thought the practice questions from Barbri, Kaplan, or Themis were like most of the real ones. But, at least some of the Kaplan ones were close.
I wouldn't go back and change courses, considering I passed comfortably. But, the people I know who took Themis seemed to like it. I think Themis has lectures broken into shorter sessions, so maybe that would work better for you. Kaplan lectures are probably more similar to Barbi in terms of length and presentation.
Good luck.
