Best bar prep course Forum

[Anonymous User]

Which is the best bar prep course? Why?
I want one where I dont have to sit in front of lectures all day but can simply read the materials, transcripts etc.

[Whatislaw]

For me, its hard to say which is the best as I've only taken the California Bar once and therefore only used one Bar prep program. I used Barbri and I relied heavily on their Mini Outline for memorization and their MBE practice questions. I only did the 3 or 5 graded practice essays/PT that came with the program. Did no other practice essays and passed. I still looked at other essays to create a brief outline, but never wrote them out in full. The lectures are hit and miss for me. They're good, but sometimes took too much time.

[nixy]

The major ones - Barbri, Kaplan, Themis - are all organized around watching lectures, although they also provide extensive written outlines. At least when I took Barbri, the lectures provided more of the strategic info about subjects tested and so on; also, the main outlines were way too much/overkill to learn, and it was easier for me to identify the material I needed to know by sitting through the lectures. That said, the mini Conviser was a pretty good balance (I personally learn really badly from reading outlines without the lecture component, but that’s obviously individual).

There are other much more minimalistic prep materials out there, none of which I’ve used so I can’t name them, let alone comment on them (if you rummage around this forum you’ll see references to them). But if you know you’re not going to watch lectures, I’d rule out Barbri/Kaplan/Themis from the start, because that’s how they’re designed, and you’d be paying a lot of money for stuff you won’t use.

[UnfrozenCaveman]

Barbri or any that allow you to watch on 2x speed.

[Fireworks2016]

Which is the best bar prep course? Why?
I want one where I dont have to sit in front of lectures all day but can simply read the materials, transcripts etc.

If you're footing the bill, Themis. And probably also if you're not footing the bill, I'd still pick Themis.

[Anon115523]

I think all of the major bar prep courses have a lecture component to them. However, for Barbri at least, you can just read through the lecture handout (which is in one of the books you're provided) if you'd rather not sit through the lectures.

At the end of the day, the substance of the outlines isn't going to differ much from course to course. The MBE questions can, with many arguing that Barbri has the most challenging MBE questions. The MEEs are all from previous years' exams, so those don't change from course to course. Barbri has a lot of MBE questions that you can do if you finish with the standard assignments, and the questions are broken down by subtopic within a topic, so it's a pretty good resource. I obviously can't speak to the other courses, but I definitely would make sure that whichever course you choose, they have a large bank of MBE questions that you can access in addition to the questions presented as part of the main course.

Also, if your firm is footing the bill, Barbri gives you a $500 Amazon gift card. I know a few other courses have started offering perks as well, but of the ones I've come across, Barbri's is the best (since its basically $500 cash). You should note that if your firm foots the bill, it has tax consequences for you. It's minimal, but the higher the cost charged to your firm, the more tax you'll pay, since it's considered a loan or something--I'm not exactly sure on the specifics, but it can make a $100-200 difference from what I've been told.

[blair.waldorf]

Which is the best bar prep course? Why?
I want one where I dont have to sit in front of lectures all day but can simply read the materials, transcripts etc.

If you're footing the bill, Themis. And probably also if you're not footing the bill, I'd still pick Themis.

Yeah. I did Barbri and I genuinely did not think it was worth the extra money over Themis. If I could do it over, I'd do Themis + Adaptibar + Critical Pass flashcards for the MEE.

[lawlo]

I liked Themis although their outlines are really boring.

Themis, Adapitbar, and Critical Pass cards got me a great score. Videos largely didn't seem helpful to me but I passed so who knows. I think this is a great combo. Themis and Adaptibar for multiple choice questions (I did about 2300), Themis for essays, and Critical Pass to fill in gaps/as an outline substitute (they aren't really flashcards, they are big notecards with chunks of outline material).

My themis package came with an Ipad and my firm paid for it. That's why I chose Themis.

[nls336]

Barbri was a total waste of my money. You're best off buying the books off of someone to do work in, getting Adaptibar for the bar questions, and finding a cheap way to get lecture content or going with a cheaper option like Themis.

maaaajorly regret all the money on barbri. The lectures take way too long, and all of the activities, I think, are timewasters. Also hate that they design their website around provoking anxiety so you don't get to the 75% mark and can't recoup the services if you fail for another bar. I did like the lectures here and there, but I didn't like them for almost $4,500. maybe it would've been worth that If I'd been able to go in person, all things considered this year really does feel like a wash.

Really can't say enough good things about adaptibar. Studicata MEE outline was also good.