You know me. I’m a proponent of DIY studying without a bar prep course.
Not just me. Many retakers who pass come back to tell me that they wish they’d abandoned the bloated courses in the first place. I hear this every year. Many repeaters and even first-timers tell me their bar review course wasn’t working for them, so they turned to alternative approaches.
But that’s not the point of this article.
The point is, how do we use our course effectively and properly?
While going solo can be effective not just in terms of cost but by virtue of its emphasis on learning, it’s not for everyone. Sometimes we want everything laid out and be told what to do.
You understandably feel lost with seemingly no other option other than a bar review course when you first start out. Even repeaters wonder, “What’s the best bar review course?” It’s such an important exam that you want to do it right.
Most people start with a traditional commercial bar prep course like Barbri, Themis, Kaplan (if you’re a masochist like me), or BarMax — or even a smaller independent course like that offered by JD Advising, Studicata, SmartBarPrep, or many others.
In other words, there are many ways to study for the bar exam. They can all work. Instead of debating for days which program is the “best” and ending up undecided, worry about being a good student.
Bar prep, at its core, is self-study. Courses and materials are merely there to support YOUR studies.
That said, let’s talk about how to pick a bar prep course and how to use it to move the needles that will help you learn.
Continue reading “What’s the Best Way to Study for the Bar Exam WITH a Bar Prep Course?”