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Does taking a bar review course, Barbi, Kaplan, etc, offer a significant advantage for passing the bar the first time?

Are there many people who have passed the bar the first time without having taken the course?

For current 1Ls, 2Ls and 3Ls, that are registered, for example to Barbri's 1L review course, would you recommend these programs fro law school review or would you recommend just taking the bar review course only?

This is a fascinating question. Such research as there is tends to suggest that taking a bar review course improves one's chances of passing on the first attempt. At least, the law schools seem to think so. But one hears rumors about occasional J.D.s who pass without a review course but we know that the sidewalks are littered with the broken bodies of grads who took a review course but failed anyway. Given how much BarBri gets for its course, it would be nice to know whether it's worth it.

There's one outfit, bar outlines dot com, that offers ultra-cheap bar review materials and claims some ungodly high success rate. Judge for yourself at http://www.baroutlines.com A quarter century ago, I took a review course that even then cost 15 times what bar outlines gets. I honestly didn't know at the time, and don't know now, whether it helped me to pass.

FWIW, non-lawyers who attempt the notoriously difficult Tax Court Bar Exam almost universally fail unless they do a bar review course. But one would HOPE, at least, that law school taught us SOMETHING!

BeautifulSW wrote:This is a fascinating question. Such research as there is tends to suggest that taking a bar review course improves one's chances of passing on the first attempt. At least, the law schools seem to think so. But one hears rumors about occasional J.D.s who pass without a review course but we know that the sidewalks are littered with the broken bodies of grads who took a review course but failed anyway. Given how much BarBri gets for its course, it would be nice to know whether it's worth it.

There's one outfit, bar outlines dot com, that offers ultra-cheap bar review materials and claims some ungodly high success rate. Judge for yourself at http://www.baroutlines.com A quarter century ago, I took a review course that even then cost 15 times what bar outlines gets. I honestly didn't know at the time, and don't know now, whether it helped me to pass.

FWIW, non-lawyers who attempt the notoriously difficult Tax Court Bar Exam almost universally fail unless they do a bar review course. But one would HOPE, at least, that law school taught us SOMETHING!

Agreed. Thank you for your insight and response. We can hope.