Bar Prep Recommendations for the MBE Forum

[mouse89]

Repeat Taker here for IL (8 points to passing). I am doing fairly alright on my MBEs and am focusing on the essays for the most part. Studying will include
. a bar prep writing specific course
. a tutor
. reviewing subject outlines and what comes with that
. Between the available real MEEs and the practice essays I have in old Barbri books and my old Themis books, I have about 250 practice essays to work through

I have a question about what people would recommend for MBE prep. I don't want to ignore it completely and think it could help to boost my kind of lackluster 136. I have purchased two MBE books (Emanuel's Strategies and Tactics for the MBE) and will be working through those. I also have a big book of Barbri MBE questions. I was wondering though if anyone recommends paying for the official NCBEX MBE Study Aids. I don't want to miss out on anything and while I am watching my spending, if it gets me through the bar exam I will gladly buy a couple of those sets.

Any recommendations? I'm all ears and eyes

[Neve]

List of Bar Prep Recommendations for the MBE:

1) Critical Pass (http://criticalpass.refr.cc/3W6LZL6) - Great flashcards for the MBE! You can't apply the law to an MBE question, if you don't know the law. I used Critical Pass for my bar study along with the CMR from Barbri and their simulated questions (although the Barbri questions are very different than actual MBE questions). I also used Emanuel's S&T during my study period, but not as much as I should have since it's a great resource. Note: When I purchased Critical Pass flashcards, I got a free shipping code by liking Critical Pass on Facebook. However, I don't know if this code is still available.

2) Emanuel's Strategies and Tactics for the MBE - available on Amazon. Fairly cheap book. Has good tips on approaching the MBE and contains lots of practice questions.

3) Adaptibar (http://www.adaptibar.com) - I didn't use this, but wish I had since it has received raving reviews. The only con to Adaptibar is the price.

4) Barmax MBE Questions (https://getbarmax.com/barmax-mbe-questions/ - supposedly "comparable" to Adaptibar). At only $199, it's a good price, but Adaptibar has tracking tools to individualize your MBE study and show your progress in a method that Barmax can't. But Barmax seems to be more economical than Adaptibar. You also need an iOS device to use it.

5) OPE from the MBE site to practice the most recent test questions: http://store.ncbex.org/all-online-practice-exams/. At $50 per OPE it isn't the cheapest option, but these are real, recent MBE questions and not the souped up Barbri ones. Barbri questions are not representative of the modern MBE. I hear Barmax is only $199 and has all these OPEs included.

[TXlawyer17]

Kaplan's MBE QBank and Audio Lecture and the PMBR has also been recommended for supplemental MBE prep

[bmonroe]

List of Bar Prep Recommendations for the MBE:

1) Critical Pass (http://criticalpass.refr.cc/3W6LZL6) - Great flashcards for the MBE! You can't apply the law to an MBE question, if you don't know the law. I used Critical Pass for my bar study along with the CMR from Barbri and their simulated questions (although the Barbri questions are very different than actual MBE questions). I also used Emanuel's S&T during my study period, but not as much as I should have since it's a great resource.

2) Emanuel's Strategies and Tactics for the MBE - available on Amazon. Fairly cheap book. Has good tips on approaching the MBE and contains lots of practice questions.

3) Adaptibar (http://www.adaptibar.com) - I didn't use this, but wish I had since it has received raving reviews. The only con to Adaptibar is the price.

4) Barmax MBE Questions (https://getbarmax.com/barmax-mbe-questions/ - supposedly "comparable" to Adaptibar). At only $199, it's a good price, but Adaptibar has tracking tools to individualize your MBE study and show your progress in a method that Barmax can't. But Barmax seems to be more economical than Adaptibar. You also need an iOS device to use it.

5) OPE from the MBE site to practice the most recent test questions: http://store.ncbex.org/all-online-practice-exams/. At $50 per OPE it isn't the cheapest option, but these are real, recent MBE questions and not the souped up Barbri ones. Barbri questions are not representative of the modern MBE. I hear Barmax is only $199 and has all these OPEs included.

I'm struggling with this very thing. Im currently using Emanuel's S &T, kaplan quick bank, and pmbr for practice questions but I am also doing barbri. I keep hearing that Barbri's questions are much harder than the real thing. Even from professors at my school. Would you mind breaking down precisely what is the issue with the barbri questions? Are these questions so out of whack that you won't be able to answer a real MBE or are they just harder in general ? Forgive me if I'm not making any sense.

[waxecstatic]

Adaptibar

[Neve]

I'm struggling with this very thing. Im currently using Emanuel's S &T, kaplan quick bank, and pmbr for practice questions but I am also doing barbri. I keep hearing that Barbri's questions are much harder than the real thing. Even from professors at my school. Would you mind breaking down precisely what is the issue with the barbri questions? Are these questions so out of whack that you won't be able to answer a real MBE or are they just harder in general ? Forgive me if I'm not making any sense.

Barbri's questions are souped-up versions of MBE questions from primarily the 1980s and 1990s. Barbri desperately needs to overhaul their MBE component and bring it up to date to the modern MBE. The MBE is evolving and Barbri can't keep up with it. The Barbri questions are more verbose and test legal concepts (the forest, not the trees) whereas the modern MBE questions test nuances and are more concise than anything Barbri will give you. There were many subjects that were tested on the MBE I took (Fair Housing, 8th amendment, etc.) that Barbri didn't even cover in their program. The actual MBE (July 2014) was far more difficult than the Barbri questions I practiced with. I did pass the bar exam on my first attempt, but I felt that Barbri's MBE prep was grossly inadequate. I am very glad that I supplemented my Barbri course with Critical Pass and Emanuel's Strategies and Tactics - if I were to take the MBE again, I would add Adaptibar or Barmax to my prep.

[TXlawyer17]

I'm struggling with this very thing. Im currently using Emanuel's S &T, kaplan quick bank, and pmbr for practice questions but I am also doing barbri. I keep hearing that Barbri's questions are much harder than the real thing. Even from professors at my school. Would you mind breaking down precisely what is the issue with the barbri questions? Are these questions so out of whack that you won't be able to answer a real MBE or are they just harder in general ? Forgive me if I'm not making any sense.

When I took the bar exam last summer, I scored better on the Barbri simulated MBE questions than the actual MBE. Upon taking Barbri, everyone told me that their "enhanced" questions were more difficult, but the MBE exam was harder than I expected. If you only do Barbri questions, sure, you will be able to answer the MBE questions, but don't expect the same percentile you scored on the Barbri exams. Some people who took the MBE with me did better than their Barbri percentile estimate, while many others did worse on the MBE. Despite finishing all the assigned Barbri questions, I scored worse on the MBE than my Barbri practice tests due to the difficulty of the real MBE (harder questions, areas of the law that Barbri didn't adequately cover, etc.) The only way to gauge how well you will do on the MBE is to do real MBE questions.

[Kage3212]

This is not very good knowledge for all of us Barbri takers. Would you assess that Using the Emmanuel book and Adaptibar are GOOD indicators of how you will score on MBE? I find Barbri questions more difficult, and thus far have been scoring somewhat higher in both Emmanuel and Adaptibar.

[TXlawyer17]

This is not very good knowledge for all of us Barbri takers. Would you assess that Using the Emmanuel book and Adaptibar are GOOD indicators of how you will score on MBE? I find Barbri questions more difficult, and thus far have been scoring somewhat higher in both Emmanuel and Adaptibar.

I didn't personally use Adaptibar, but I would say that it is the BEST indicator for how well an examinee will do on the actual MBE. As previously noted, Barbri's questions are simulated/"enhanced" versions of real MBE questions and thus, it is not the BEST indicator for an examinee's score on test day.

[Neve]

This is not very good knowledge for all of us Barbri takers. Would you assess that Using the Emmanuel book and Adaptibar are GOOD indicators of how you will score on MBE? I find Barbri questions more difficult, and thus far have been scoring somewhat higher in both Emmanuel and Adaptibar.

Barbri claims their questions are more difficult than the real MBE questions and that most Barbri takers will gain 15-20 points on the MBE over their score on the Barbri midterm. However, the July 2014 MBE was definitely more difficult than the Barbri practice sets and if I were to take the bar all over again, I would add Adaptibar to my routine. Adaptibar is a better indicator of a test taker's performance on the MBE than Barbri's simulated questions.

[TXlawyer17]

This is not very good knowledge for all of us Barbri takers. Would you assess that Using the Emmanuel book and Adaptibar are GOOD indicators of how you will score on MBE? I find Barbri questions more difficult, and thus far have been scoring somewhat higher in both Emmanuel and Adaptibar.

Barbri claims their questions are more difficult than the real MBE questions and that most Barbri takers will gain 15-20 points on the MBE over their score on the Barbri midterm. However, the July 2014 MBE was definitely more difficult than the Barbri practice sets and if I were to take the bar all over again, I would add Adaptibar to my routine. Adaptibar is a better indicator of a test taker's performance on the MBE than Barbri's simulated questions.

This.

Critical Pass is good for getting the black letter law down. If I were to take the MBE again, I would supplement with Adaptibar.