Comments on: Bar Review Courses

By: Parker

Parker — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:43:55 +0000

Thanks so much for posting this. I am a 3L who didn’t want to put down a deposit for a course as a 1L or a 2L because I didn’t want to get roped in and I didn’t want to take the time to review the courses and make a decision then. Now as I’m gearing up to prepare for the exam this summer, I’m looking at all my options for study courses. I look at the review courses’ websites, I look at what they offer, I look at the price, and I start to sense what you described in your post. Reading your post has confirmed my skepticism about these companies and I’m going to not pay for the overpriced courses and pass it on my own just to spite them. I passed the CPA exam by getting some review books for just a couple hundred bucks. I know it’s much different, but it gives me confidence that I can pass a licensing test like the bar exam on my own and it show’s how it should be done.

I wish you could have left your previous post up, but I understand the choice you had to make and would have likely done the same thing. It’s sad that they have to make those kinds of threats to maintain an uneasiness over the bar exam and justify their service.

By: Dan Blanchette

Dan Blanchette — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:14:26 +0000

I didn’t even read half of this page and I had to respond- YES! the bar prep courses are way over priced, and this bit about graded essays is pure crap. I have a good friend who had been grading the bar exam for many years- he does think Barbri is good, but you really have to re-structure it for yourself. Other than that, just study the damn rules like mad, and regurgitate them back on the paper (they barely read the analysis anyway). Do not hire tutors and do not buy everything you see. Work hard and it will come together- hell, you got through law school.

By: Kim

Kim — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:48:28 +0000

My thoughts exactly!!! I think Barbri is only good for its books –EVERYTHING the profs say come directly from the outlines in the book. The classes are a huge waste of time. And charging $2500/student for this sham of a service is more evil than law school tuition itself. I have only gone to a handful of barbri classes, and found only 1 or 2 to be helpful. Talking about it makes me mad. ugh!!

Good post, by the way =)

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:57:14 +0000

Thanks for the tip, Sam.

Unfortunately, this is the first I’ve heard of Bar Breaker. Now I’m stuck with BarBri. Since I handed over the cash already, I feel compelled to show up at every lecture. It’s hard to shake the faint hope that one of the lecturers might actually tell me something I don’t already know. None of them have done that yet, though. For me, the lectures are just a way to force me to sit down and read through my outlines slowly.

I have caught on to the difference between the multistate questions and the essay questions. Nevertheless, the whole process is still pretty stressful.

By: Sam Freeman

Sam Freeman — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:51:56 +0000

I studied for (and passed) the CA bar primarily with Jeff Adachi’s Bar Breaker books, which you can get for about $100 on Amazon. The only truly worthwhile BarBri lecture was Honigsberg’s Performance Test analysis. Once you realize that only the Multistate is testing law, whereas the essays/PT are testing reading comprehension, you’ll do just fine.

By: Publius

Publius — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:59:25 +0000

Amen Brother! I am taking Bar/Bri and I really like the book materials, but, like you said, the lectures are just a talking head that you follow along with and fill-in the blanks. I tried to buy just the books from Bar/Bri but they wouldn’t do it. They said I had to do the lectures or the I-Pod program. What a crock.

A friend of mine gave me his old PMBR audio CD’s and those were good. I just listen to them in my car everyday and I put them on my mp3 player.

In any event, they are making a killing on this stuff. I figure that at my school there are about 100 people taking Bar/Bri at $2500 a pop. That’s $250,000 just at my school this semester.