Thought this may be helpful for anyone making a last minute decision on which bar prep program to use. I took the February New York bar exam (and passed) using Barbri. I am currently studying for the July Virginia bar exam using Themis (about a week into study).
In general, Themis is acceptable but I like Barbri better. If I wasn't worried about watching the same lecturers and looking at the same interface and same questions so soon after doing it the first time, I would have taken Barbri again. Barbri has a much better user interface, much better statistics and reporting (that measures you against people in your state) and the biggest thing is that ALL of their question modes provide explanations for answers. In Themis, on their lecture assessments, there is no explanation of the correct answers which I think is a HUGE gap. While Themis does provide explanations for MBE questions, Barbri provided explanations for EVERYTHING. With Themis, I find myself looking at a wrong answer and not understanding why it is wrong (aside from seeing the right answer highlighted). This seems to be a huge gap for Themis in my eyes. Also, Themis does not have great statistics and reports. You can't compare your performance to others taking the test, there are really no charts and graphs, etc. The Themis interface is bare bones and is not very aesthetically pleasing or useful. You can't look at a monthly menu and click on the next day's assignments. You have to go to the assignment list (which is really long and not easy to view quickly), find what you're looking for and then click it.
Don't get me wrong, for the price, Themis is acceptable. The lectures are decent, the interface is usable and what I think they offer that Barbri does not, is that they give you a percentage split of answer choices for MBE questions. So, you can see what percentage of people selected the answer you did and see how far off you were. Adaptibar offers this as well and I found it incredibly helpful.
Bottom line (just my opinion) - Barbri is better and if you can afford it, buy it. Themis is (hopefully) good enough and a reasonable price but if you took Barbri before, you will find yourself noticing things that you are missing out on.
Barbri versus Themis Observations (from someone who has used both) Forum
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ScurryRay
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jrstephens1991
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Re: Barbri versus Themis Observations (from someone who has used both)
How did your midterm/refresher score for Barbri compare to your actual MBE?
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ScurryRay
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Re: Barbri versus Themis Observations (from someone who has used both)
I actually did better on the midterm than the refresher. I think I got 124 on the midterm and a little lower on the refresher. I ended up with a scaled 148.5 MBE score for the NY bar exam which someone (Joe Seperac) said equated to about a 125/175 on the MBE. So, pretty consistent with what I scored on Barbri.jrstephens1991 wrote:How did your midterm/refresher score for Barbri compare to your actual MBE?
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meat tornado
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Re: Barbri versus Themis Observations (from someone who has used both)
I’ve also used both Barbri and Themis, and I think Themis was much better. I couldn’t retain anything from Barbri’s insanely long lectures — partially because the profs kept going on tangents. I also thought Barbri’s MBE questions were horrible. Themis is much better, which I think is crucial because generally good MBE = passing the bar.
Ultimately, I think this all boils down to personal preference.
Ultimately, I think this all boils down to personal preference.
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jrstephens1991
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Re: Barbri versus Themis Observations (from someone who has used both)
Got it. Just trying to get an idea of where I may land on the actual MBE. I got a 132 on the midterm. I'm just praying I got at least a 150 on the actual MBE just in case I bombed the MEE.ScurryRay wrote:I actually did better on the midterm than the refresher. I think I got 124 on the midterm and a little lower on the refresher. I ended up with a scaled 148.5 MBE score for the NY bar exam which someone (Joe Seperac) said equated to about a 125/175 on the MBE. So, pretty consistent with what I scored on Barbri.jrstephens1991 wrote:How did your midterm/refresher score for Barbri compare to your actual MBE?
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ScurryRay
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Re: Barbri versus Themis Observations (from someone who has used both)
That's a really good score; sounds like you're in good shape.jrstephens1991 wrote:Got it. Just trying to get an idea of where I may land on the actual MBE. I got a 132 on the midterm. I'm just praying I got at least a 150 on the actual MBE just in case I bombed the MEE.ScurryRay wrote:I actually did better on the midterm than the refresher. I think I got 124 on the midterm and a little lower on the refresher. I ended up with a scaled 148.5 MBE score for the NY bar exam which someone (Joe Seperac) said equated to about a 125/175 on the MBE. So, pretty consistent with what I scored on Barbri.jrstephens1991 wrote:How did your midterm/refresher score for Barbri compare to your actual MBE?
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jrstephens1991
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Re: Barbri versus Themis Observations (from someone who has used both)
Thanks. I really hope so.ScurryRay wrote:That's a really good score; sounds like you're in good shape.jrstephens1991 wrote:Got it. Just trying to get an idea of where I may land on the actual MBE. I got a 132 on the midterm. I'm just praying I got at least a 150 on the actual MBE just in case I bombed the MEE.ScurryRay wrote:I actually did better on the midterm than the refresher. I think I got 124 on the midterm and a little lower on the refresher. I ended up with a scaled 148.5 MBE score for the NY bar exam which someone (Joe Seperac) said equated to about a 125/175 on the MBE. So, pretty consistent with what I scored on Barbri.jrstephens1991 wrote:How did your midterm/refresher score for Barbri compare to your actual MBE?
