Rain16 wrote:Hello everyone
I just failed February 2018 bar in NY by one point!

I will be retaking in July and want to work on my MBE skills. I previously used PMBR to prep, Critical Pass Flashcards and the Kaplan Red Book. I found PMBR to be excellent but I feel that at this point I have exhausted it, because I recognize many of the fact patterns. I read that many thought Adaptibar was good as well but due to the cost (I’m also considering purchasing JD one sheets for MEE) I am considering Kaplan’s MBE QBank and Audio lectures at $299 or another supplement they have called Qbank released for $249 with actual NCBE released questions. I don’t know anyone who has used any of these supplements and was wondering if anyone has any insight as to which would be more useful. I also don’t think this will be the same as the PMBR course because those are not NCBE released questions but again I’m not familiar with the Kaplan stand-alone Qbank. I just really need some guidance as to what other people thought about these courses and how much I could expect to increase my MBE score. I got a 133.7 on the MBE and want to raise it significantly so I'm not on that 1 point border again.
I will not be taking a formal course and instead will be using Kaplan MEE outlines (maybe JD one sheets too) and working straight from old questions. Is Adaptibar really worth the cost? If so, then I'll probably do it, I just need reassurance that it's worth it cause doing this all over again will burn a deep whole in my already shrinking funds. I will also be studying full time everyday.
Any suggestions, advice and all HELP is greatly appreciated!!! Thanks in advance!
1 point! That sucks

Were I in your shoes, I would do the same thing (i.e. not take a formal, one size fits all course). I don't know about the QBank so I can't really say anything about it in depth. I do know that it uses released MBE questions (as Adaptibar does). You definitely want to use those types of questions. I also am not familiar with Kaplan anything (although I had a friend who passed the bar exam with Kaplan bar prep).
However, I can comment on Adaptibar and it is definitely worth the cost. You can try it free first as well (which I'd recommend). I used it (asmy primary MBE prep) for last July and I found it to be very helpful. I was mostly worried about my time management (previously I would not finish on time), and also upping my % right (obviously - I was aiming for 150). I ended up coming close (I got a 142), and I got that just by doing & reviewing questions. There are so many ways to use it. You could just use it as a exam question bank. You can use it as a time management tool. You could also see how others in your state & across the country (using the program obviously) are doing too.
As for cost, Adaptibar (unless the price has gone up) is $370 with the discount while the QBank is $250. But keep in mind that Adaptibar has about 2000 questions whereas the QBank has 1200. So factoring that, they're about the same costwise. As long as you use real questions, it would be better than what you were using before.
If you have any more specific questions, I'd be happy to answer. Good luck!
My $.02