BarMax Bar Review Course for the California Bar

I apologize in advance for the somewhat stream of consciousness blog post below. In an effort to be different from some other blogs out there, I want to talk about my actual experience vs just giving a list of BarMax’s features. 

I’ve been somewhat anxious to write a post about BarMax since writing the one about Themis below. Why? Because I think BarMax could be an excellent alternative to Themis for someone who is independent, on a budget, likes iPads and Apps, and wants no more content than necessary when studying for the bar. Keep in mind, you have to be cool with being lectured by someone without a video, because unlike every other review course out there, BarMax does their lectures without a video (you read the outline or fill out a blank one while listening).

Something I want to clarify before writing any further, I am in no way affiliated with BarMax or Themis and haven’t been paid to say anything positive or negative about either course. These are my unbiased opinions based on my own personal experience, and hopefully they can help you decide what review course is best for you!

Anyway… here are my thoughts:

It’s not a scam, it’s an actual review course

If you are anything like me, you might be wary of BarMax at first. They are the the course tabling at your law school with the least amount of visitors (sorry BarMax, but it’s true). If you’re on their mailing list, they send you kind of suspicious emails about special promotions (actually this is kind of cool, and real!) where you can get an iPad mini included in the cost of the course. They are the most expensive app on the iTunes store. They also haven’t been around for very long.

Well, BarMax isn’t a scam. Nor is it just some wannabe app masquerading as a review course. It’s an actual real review course that you can take and be adequately prepared for the exam. And perhaps some aspects of the course might actual prepare you better for the exam than Barbri, Kaplan, or Themis. In fact, BarMax is endorsed by the Barbri’s former president.

It’s an app for the iPad/iPhone– unlike the other review courses, all of their content is app-based

BarMax is basically an iPad/iPhone app that provides you with what I’d say are all the basic tools necessary to study for the bar. You get the app, then they email you additional files which you download to your computer (which include outlines you can fill in and past essays) and that’s it! Unlike Themis, they do not mail you books that correspond with the course, or send you skinny outlines as the course progresses. Also unlike Themis, all of the content, (save for the emailed stuff) including Practice MBEs, essay lectures, lectures, and outlines, is available right there on the app. Themis’ bar review app for iPad/iPhone only provides you access to the the video lectures and nothing more. That means, if you want to do, for example, practice MBE’s using Themis’ course you’re going to have to do them online through their website NOT through the app. Which means you’re going to have to have wi-fi access or 3G/4G. BarMax, on the other hand, has all of their content on the app available to download so that you do NOT need to be on wi-fi or 3G/4G to access the content. I really like this feature.

No additional books

Ok, one major difference I need to point out again… BarMax is NOT going to send you any additional books. You know those huge books you see for Barbri, Kaplan, and Themis for sale on ebay… yeah, BarMax doesn’t have those. It doesn’t necessarily mean the course isn’t as good. If you are the kind of person who doesn’t like or need 3 different outlines on a subject and just wants one concise outline, then trust me, not having all those extra books is probably going to work better for you in the long run. A criticism is that BarMax doesn’t provide you with skinny outlines to study from, which does seem a little lazy on their part. But, the one outline they do provide you with seems pretty damn good and pretty concise all things considered.

Real MBEs/Real Essays graded by former CA bar exam graders

The other thing that makes me respect BarMax is that they’ve made it a point to obtain licensing for real MBEs. This is great. If you see my post below on MBE study resources, you’ll see that I explain why practicing real MBEs is valuable. The one problem I have with BarMax in this area is that they only provide detailed answer explanations for the first 300 questions you do. They say they do this because they believe it is beneficial after that point to then self-regulate by going and finding the reason you got the answer wrong on your own. Like I said before, I understand the logic and potential benefit, but I don’t really think anyone studying for the bar has the time to do this.

I also respect BarMax because they provide essay grading by real former CA bar exam graders. The other review courses do not. See my post here explaining more about this in the context of the Themis review course. Former graders, I believe, are going to be the only way you get truly trustworthy feedback on your practice essays (this is my belief, I’m sure plenty of people disagree). You get two free graded essays included in the cost of the course, then will need to pay $20 for any additional essays you need graded (a VERY good price compared to the cost of a tutor). The $20 is no more than BarMax pays their essay graders, so BarMax does not make any more money off of you in this instance.

Important Note: I have never submitted an essay for grading with BarMax, so I can’t speak to the quality of feedback or turn around time. BarMax does send you a sample if you ask for it… but, of course there is the danger that it may not be of the same quality. I want to believe if it fell below quality they’d remedy it for you.

Cost

BarMax is affordable. My understanding is that it’s going to be less than $999 and there’s a good chance you can get a free iPad mini thrown in, or pay a bit more and get an iPad 2 or iPad air. If you are a public interest student, they can offer you a pretty heavy discount (iPad not included). I’m not sure if they offer you a deal if you already own an iPad and only need the course, but it’s worth inquiring about because BarMax seems pretty flexible for students serious about taking their course.

Shortcomings

As discussed above they don’t provide you with a skinny outline to study from in the last two weeks of studying. They also only provide feedback for 300 MBE questions.

Do I recommend BarMax? 

Yes. In fact, BarMax gives you life-time access which can’t be said of the other courses. I think BarMax is a good option in conjunction with other resources out there (Bar Breaker book, Strategies and Tactics, Tutors, etc) and because of its affordable price you can still afford to use those other resources. But, keep in mind, BarMax is really for the independent learner and thinker. There isn’t handholding in this course, and you are really going to have to be self-motivated. The outline content is much smaller than the other courses, so you are also going to have to feel comfortable with that notion. But, if you buy BarMax and find the outlines insufficient, there is the option to purchase Barbri, Kaplan, or Themis books on ebay.

Real MBE questions and where to find them

In my last post I talked about how I felt Themis (and Kaplan and Barbri) was lacking because it does not offer real MBE questions as part of the course. In this post, I want to talk about the various places that real MBE questions can be found.

As most people recommend, you should be completing approximately 1000 MBE questions in prep. Luckily enough, I’d estimate there are probably about 1000 real released MBE questions written by NCBE! Maybe even closer to 1300.

I do recommend using a mixture of the following sources listed below, but if you do choose to use a mixture of these sources to study, prepare to see the questions repeat amongst sources. This isn’t a bad thing. See my note below under the NCBE portion.

If you are taking a commercial bar prep course that is not BarMax, then you should definitely plan to supplement it with at least one of the following five things:

1. Strategies & Tactics for the MBE, Fifth Edition (Emanuel Bar Review)

Hands down, this is my favorite resource on the MBE. This book stands out above the rest because of it’s amazing Strategies and Tactics section for each subject area tested on the MBE. These sections clue you in to common pitfalls of other MBE takers and on how to approach the test thinking like an NCBE test writer. I also believe this book stands out because of the quality of the answer explanations. They are truly the best.

I should say that my only criticism of this book is that the questions can be a bit longer than what the “modern” MBE questions look like. That being said, I saw plenty of questions that looked just like the ones in this book on the actual MBE.

2. Strategies & Tactics for the MBE 2, Second Edition (Emanuel Bar Review Series)

Steven Emanuel’s follow up to Strategies & Tactics for the MBE is also worth a buy if you are looking for more questions. The format of this book is completely different. There is no Strategies and Tactics sections prior to each subject. Instead, the book is arranged by subject, then broken down into the subtopics within each. This means that if you are noticing that you are struggling specifically with mortgages, then you can go directly to the mortgages questions and work from there. Typically there is more than one question within a subtopic, with each question testing a different area of the same subtopic or showing you the different approaches the examiners may take to the same area of law. This is so helpful. When I took the bar, I read comments online that said that the practice MBEs from Kaplan and Barbri looked nothing like what was on the actual test. I can honestly say that many of the MBEs looked just like the questions in Strategies and Tactics. More importantly, the answer explanations helped me tackle the question with know-how.

My criticism of this book is that the answers are listed right below the questions. This makes it difficult not to see the answer before doing the question and have your practice tainted. It does make it easier since you don’t need to flip to the back of the book constantly like you do in the first book. My advice would be to go through a section and put sticky notes over any of the answers you don’t want to see ahead of time.

3. NCBE Practice Exams

You can also buy 100 question practice tests from NCBE. They currently have four priced at $50 each. I would recommend purchasing all of them. These tests will have repeat questions* from Strategies and Tactics, but there will be some new questions. The reason I recommend purchasing these practice exams in addition to Strategies and Tactics is that the exams are arranged just like a morning or afternoon section of the MBE. After completing the 100 questions, you can generate a score report for yourself which will give you an exact look at your overall scaled score. It will also show you whether you are scoring above average, at average, or below average for each subject area on that particular test. To me, this is the best indicator of how you will perform on test day.

The NCBE practice tests also provide annotated score reports which will give you an explanation on the answer you selected (only the answer you selected). These explanations are not nearly as thorough and thought provoking at Steven Emanuel’s, but they are sufficient for the purpose of reviewing that particular test.

The NCBE website has a surprising amount of features that allow you to take the exam times or un-timed, pause the exam, take only one subject area, or take only the questions you got wrong. You can take the exams as many times as you’d like, and you will have access for 1 year after the purchase date.

*My recommendation: take the first three tests while you are studying but save test 4 until the week before the exam. Test 4 was released in late 2013 and has new questions that are unlikely to be present in Strategies and Tactics. This way, you will have a truly “fresh” set of questions to test yourself on, and really gauge your progress. 

4. BarMax

BarMax is a “commercial” prep course that has only real MBE questions. They have answer explanations for each question telling you what you got right and why (or what you got wrong and why), and also gives explanations as to why the other answers are wrong (this is great!). But, BarMax only gives you answer explanations for the first 300 questions you take. Why? Their philosophy is that by then, you should be able to go and look for the correct answer yourself and take time to figure out why you got it on your own. Hmm… in theory, I get it. But, I can’t say I agree with this logic. I think as a busy bar examinee, you’re going to benefit more from having great answer explanations at your fingertips than to be left to search for the right answer.

I think BarMax is a total win for being a commercial course offering real MBE questions. This helps out on cost for sure. The major flaw is only offering explanations for 300 questions.

BarMax allows you to take questions in study mode (answer will generate right after you complete the question) or test mode. You can also take as many questions at a time as you’d like. It lets you pick what subject you want to work in or mixes them up.

5. Adaptibar

Adaptibar is the only MBE prep on this list with which I have no personal experience. On this blog, my goal is to not share too much about things I don’t know about because I think there are far too many people talking online about Bar prep who haven’t actually prepped for the bar recently. For that reason, I won’t say much, just this…

The reason I am including Adaptibar is because they profess to have only real MBE questions. I’ve also heard that the course tailors itself to give you the most questions in your weakest subject areas based on your practice sessions. That sounds really cool! Adaptibar also seems pretty affordable in the grand scheme of expensive bar study. If not for Strategies and Tactics, I would probably have considered purchasing this service. I think Adaptibar would be best for examinees who feel that the MBE is a considerably weak area and need the personalized service.

I did read a post in a forum in which the poster did say that the actual MBE was harder than the questions that he saw on Adaptibar. But, I wouldn’t read too much into that. The real MBE can be harder than practice for a number of reasons. I will say that the questions I saw were most similar to the ones on the NCBE website and Strategies and Tactics 2.

 

Disclosure: The above links are linked with the amazon.com affiliate program, so should you purchase an item using the link above, Calbarista does receive a small percentage. The goal of the Calbarista blog is not to generate income, but instead to provide meaningful advice regarding the California Bar Exam. Proceeds obtained through the affiliate program will help Calbarista pay for a .com domain hopefully in the near future 🙂

Themis Review and Thoughts

Here are my personal thoughts on the commercial review course Themis. If you are trying to decide what review course is best for you, I hope this helps by offering some candid feedback. There’s a lot you don’t know until you take the course, which I believe most reviews online do not talk about. I’m hoping this will help shed some light on things that most reviews of Themis don’t.

Upside of Themis- PRICE!

After initially putting down a deposit on the Barbri course my 2L year, I decided to back out and go with Themis towards the end of my 3L year. I did this on a recommendation from a friend who had used Themis and passed. The main reasons I decided against Barbri and opted for Themis was price (I received the public interest discount) and the convenience of studying at home. Themis cost me just under $1000 dollars with the public interest discount. I’m under the impression that Barbri would have cost around $4,000.  I don’t believe Barbri offers you significantly more than Themis in terms of content, especially if you are stuck taking Barbri at a location which uses only video lectures (no live lectures). Therefore, it felt like a no brainer in terms of cost.

Downside of Themis (for me at least)- Surprisingly Regimented

I was attracted to Themis because I love freedom. Well, Themis is surprisingly un-free. When you sign up for Themis, they mail you the books and then provide access to the online course on a day which they have chosen in advance. If you want to access the course before that date, you have to sign up for the early access course or you are just SOL. To me, that’s one of the biggest downsides of Themis as an online course. All of their content is online aside from the books they mail you, but they don’t allow you the start the course until a specific day. Like Barbri, it’s regimented in this way. I think the reasoning behind it is that they have to update their content from cycle to cycle. I get that. But, I feel that one of the biggest selling point of Themis (in addition to price) is it’s supposed to flex schedule. Well… it’s flex only to a certain point, really, since you still have to start after their designated start date, can only submit graded essays after a certain point, and can only access simulated MBE after a designated days. To sum up, Themis really likes designated days.

Also, Themis really likes to track your progress, call you, and then send you a lot of group emails about being on top of things. If you are anything like me, this will stress you out and make you screen your phone calls all summer long. If you need constant contact, you’ll like this aspect. But, if you are the type of person who needs constant contact you probably didn’t sign up for Themis in the first place…

Downside and Upside of Themis- Lectures

Themis lecturers are pretty good for bar exam review lecturers. As you should probably expect from any review course, some lecturers are better than others (specific shout outs to Zachary Kramer the Real Property lecturer and Pamela S. Karlan the Crimes lecturer). I would say that the quality of the lecturers on Themis is probably one of Themis’ biggest upsides (since apparently their flexibility isn’t really so flexible…).

That being said, I think Themis needs to do a better job of having their lecturers edit themselves and go at a more rapid pace. Professor Kramer is great, but after 6 hours of watching property lectures I still wanted to off-myself. And I really wasn’t retaining anything after 4 hours anyway. Keeping things brief would really help move the studying along. After spending hours and hours watching lecturers, I felt like the length of the lectures actually made my studying worse. Depressing.

If you really benefit from lectures, then Themis would be a good course for you.

Downside of Themis- Graders are not ex-graders and MBE questions are not MBE questions

Essays

Some people might see this is as nitpicky and unrealistic, but I think the major shortcoming that all the big commercial review courses share is their lack of ex-graders on the payroll. My essays were graded by an attorney who probably graduated 5 years ago and has never graded for the CA bar. Sure, she is trained by Themis (and maybe even trained by an ex-grader hired by Themis), but I really don’t think she knew how to provide the nuanced feedback that only a former grader is capable of providing. While I don’t think this will be detrimental to all bar exam takers, I believe anyone choosing a commercial bar course needs to be aware of the simple fact that in all likelihood, your essays will not be graded by an ex-grader. This may set some unrealistic expectations. Make of this what you will. As far as I know, the one commercial (if you can even call them this) bar course offering essay grading from ex-graders is BarMax. More on them later.

MBE

Themis, like Kaplan and Barbri, do not provide exclusively real MBE questions written by the NCBE. To me, this is a total deal breaker. Doing real MBE questions is critical to “getting into the mind” of the MBE. Why? The MBE is tough. I guarantee it will be easier if you study from real past MBE questions. If you sign up for a course that doesn’t utilize real MBE questions, you should supplement your studying with a program or a book that uses real MBE questions. This is an added cost. Not a huge added cost, but a cost all the same.

Also, as a side note, not doing the MBE questions that Themis provides you with will bring down your “percentage completed” on the course homepage, which in turn will make Themis call you concerned about your progress. If you’re like me, you’ll find this slightly annoying.

Would I sign up for Themis again?

Not at this time. If Themis were to get licensing for real MBE questions and some ex-graders on staff, I would sign up for Themis. Until then, I think there are better choices out there.

Introduction

Welcome! The purpose of this blog is to discuss study options for the California State Bar Exam. Here, you will learn about my experience with different review courses, books, and tutors. My goal isn’t to discuss how to pass the bar (sure, that’s the net effect of successful studying), my goal is to discuss how to study for the bar. This is advice from a recent examinee. Not from a professor who took the bar back in 1975, or from a biased commercial bar prep representative.