CA bar exam in Feb - prep courses? Forum

[ringdabell]

Took one in another jurisdiction in July and passed. Want to take CA bar in coming February.
MBE should be the same + Civ Pro.
Should I just buy those prep books from online and study on my own? Anybody done this?
If a bar prep course is highly recommended (despite the $2K-3K that I would have to pay at my personal account, not the firm), what's good? Does Themis or Kaplan work?

[ringdabell]

or for that matter, AmeriBar? anyone?

[msch0i]

I took Kaplan for the cbx and passed, but wasn't very happy with it. Lots of inaccurate/inconsistent material in the outlines, though I heard Barbri has the same problem. If you do go with Kaplan, I would recommend sticking with the online-only option because the in-class lectures are only minimally helpful (the lecturers spend maybe 10-15 minutes answering questions outside of lecture). I heard good things about Themis from the few friends that have taken it, and it's way cheaper than Kaplan or Barbri.

If it were me, I would definitely take a full length course. There are lots of CA-specific topics and the essay grading might differ from the jurisdiction you initially passed in. The one thing I did like about Kaplan was the unlimited essay grading service, though it became less helpful toward the end when they were overwhelmed with submissions and took over a week to get back to you with feedback.

[dtl]

I passed July 2014 with Themis and was very happy. Taking the entire class is worth it if you have the cash, but if not you can get all the info from the books. I am actually still selling mine, and you can them online too.

Regardless of who you go with, you need their short outlines. I would recommend the Themis books plus Leansheets if you do not want to take a class.