Tis The Season

It's spring and lovely out and that means the law students are thinking about exams and graduation and summer plans. And some of them might be thinking nervously and not too for too long about the looming bar exam. I don't know if I have any 3L readers but I have lots of advice about preparing for and taking the exam. The biggest one is this: you don't need no stinkin' bar prep courses. Save your money. This kind of scare tactic blackmail is unconscionable. Don't you get it, by now? You're smart enough to do this. It's hard, yes, but there's no secret bullet of knowledge that you can buy for $3000 or whatever they charge now to watch a bunch of videos. They're selling reassurance. It costs way too much. 1Ls and 2Ls, avoid these scammers. You're better than that.

Comments

[moresilent]

Having shared Ms. S's law school (and bar exam) experience with her, I feel compelled to offer the following observations re: this post:

1) The fabulous Ms. S is absoloutely correct in her critique of the bar review scheme, its pressure tactics, its "you're gonna fail - everyone's doing it" blackmail approach.

Ms. S herself did home study and (obviously) acquitted herself admirably.

2) Her advice would not have worked for me, though, because I'm not nearly so disciplined as Ms. S. For me, what I bought from Barbri was the opportunity to be walked through the process (hand-held, as it were), and forced to be disciplined (by being made to go sit an an odd-smelling, off-the-beaten-path convention place and watch video tapes, which often did not really cover Maine law but were "close enough"). It was expensive educational baby sitting. For better or for worse, I quite appreciated that baby sitting and spoon feeding -- but parts of it (I took an "intensive 3 day" supplemental prep course as well) left me feeling over-tweaked and a little bit dirty...

I might also add that my friends in Massachusetts, who took a bar review that was tailored for Massachusetts and included speculation about which topics would be covered (predictions based on years of analysis by the experts, blah blah blah) were, as a group, 10 times more stressed than my friends taking the exam in Maine who only knew the generic stuff and no "inside information" ... this is a pass/fail exam after all....

3) so, all in all, Ms. S. offers a practical, fiscally prudent, and somewhat brave course that is the kind of sensible advice you likely won't get in your law school. I would say, though, be honest with yourself about your summer discipline level before making this decision ...

tp

[Carolyn Elefant]

I would have to strongly disagree with this advice. The bar prep classes offer many tips and strategies on what to do to pass the exam and give so many practice questions that you are likely to run into a couple on the test, thus ensuring a perfect score on at least one of the essays. The classes are costly, but the instructors typically have access to many years' of past exams - something that it is difficult for graduates studying on their own to lay their hands on. Plus, many jurisdictions like NY or MD test on areas of law specific to that jurisdiction rather than just first year standards like contracts, tort, etc...If you haven't covered all of those areas (which is unlikely), you'll barely have enough time to absorb them in the bar's cram sessions - let alone master the topics on your own through self study. For those who read my blog, I am the first to seek out a bargain - I recommend that solos take free pro bono training rather than costly CLE to learn how to practice and endorse sitting in court and observing as a cheap method to learn about a particular judge or what to do in court. That's because most CLE courses tend to be superficial and are mostly a way for a lawyer to sell his or her own expertise to attract referrals. But bar reviews are different - they are a "silver bullet" (compare the pass rates from those who've taken bar review vs. others and I'll bet the former rates are much higher) - and they also do prepare you in a way that self-study simply will not. Better to spend the $2000 up front for a bar review, than the extra time (not to mention cost) of taking the bar twice.

[mad]

I'm with Sherry on the bar review stuff. I worked full time at a big firm and studied on my own. The tapes were worthless. The best prep was to read the bar/bri outlines, do lots and lots and lots of practice MBE questions and work through plenty of practice essays. Especially if you go to a schmancy law school that does not bother with the black-letter IRAC approach, the practice questions train you in bar exam law, which is different from law school law or "real" law and requires that you NOT think too much about the answers.

I did think that PMBR was a valuable use of the $350 or whatever it cost, because the PMBR multi-state questions were harder than the real thing, and thus good practice, and taking two practice exams under timed, pressurized, room-full-of-nauseous-stressed-out-people conditions was great training for the real thing. Those two sessions also were the only time I spent with fellow bar-studiers all summer, and made me incredibly happy that I was studying solo.

But wise Ms. S forgot the MOST IMPORTANT bit of bar exam advice: All you have to do is PASS. No one cares what score you get. No employer will ever ask (and if they do, you don't want to work there). You don't get a bonus or better opportunities or a gold key or a snazzier certificate for getting a high score. So every point you get over passing is a beer you should have drunk, a baseball game you should have attended, a dinner with your significant other you should have relaxed and enjoyed, or a non-law book you should have read. Chill out, enjoy the process of learning the most law you will ever know, and do those practice questions.

[Balasubramani]

I would have to strenuously disagree. It takes much work to come up with the plan to study. It's doable. BUT in the end probably much simpler to just sign up for the course. They are not teaching you any knowledge, merely providing you the process and a forum to do the exercises in. I think I did a study at home once and did an in-person course for the other. Both were OK, but without the bar prep materials it would have been such a hassle.

Also I think all this varies tremendously by state. The Wash. bar seemed much less complicated than the CA. bar. For the CA bar the timing and other logistics-related advice were pretty relevant.

[Scheherazade]

I took both the Maine and the Massachusetts bars, by the way. But Maine's bar passage rate is really really low, and MA's is pretty high, so I didn't spend any time worrying about MA.

[Been there]

I agree that commercial bar preparation courses engage in scare tactics (at least to some extent). I would add, however, that what they offer students is a thorough approach to bar studies. Through the use of long and short outlines, I found that the law was presented in a manageable and somewhat understandable form. In the end, it sure beat going back through all of my law school notes trying to remember the intricacies of the parole evidence rule! For that, I believe, it was well worth the price of "admission."