You’re staring at your bar exam registration deadline trying to come up with a game plan.
Your inbox is full of emails from Barbri, Themis, and Kaplan. “Sign up for our course to pass. Hurry!!!”
Then you see the price tag.
Is this mandatory? Or is it a sales pitch?
If you think about it, there’s no big reason you must take a course. What typically happens is that prospective bar takers default toward courses on auto-pilot after exposure to three years of marketing.
Understandable. Law schools and employers like to farm you out to one of the big courses. They’re not going to go out of their way to tell you about other options.
And it’s exciting when the first video starts playing. Time to buckle down and dive in! Yeah!! Whether you’ll end up lost and frustrated 5 weeks is another matter.
The bar exam sounds scary, and that’s exactly what they’re banking on.
Courses are a luxury option when it comes to bar review. Treat them as such.
❌ “What’s the nicest option?”
✅ “Where in this bar prep process are you going to feel stuck, and what can I use to make that part go smoother?”
❌ “Should I use Barbri or Themis?”
✅ “Should I use Barbri or Themis at all?”
The first question is like sorting by business class when shopping for plane tickets. Maybe this is how you want to travel, especially if it’s long distance or an important trip.
There are legitimate reasons some folks should buy a course. Not everyone should DIY this.
But maybe you weren’t even aware of other options. The first time I took the bar, I didn’t know there were paths other than the default one given to me. Options that also get you to point B more cost-efficiently (and more effectively while wasting less time).
I’m going to show you the evidence and perspectives you may not have considered so that you can decide for yourself.
Continue reading “Do I Really Need a $3,000 Bar Prep Course? Is Self-Study Enough to Pass the Bar Exam? What the Data Shows”
