Another reason why Bar/Bri is the devil

[jacy85]

I've been completely freaking out because I've been doing so terribly on the essays.  Terrible as in I know absolutely nothing.  My answers are more often than not 80% wrong.  Now, I knew that the Bar/Bri answers weren't quite accurate in terms of what people produce, but I was doing so terribly I figured there's no way I'm writing anything close to a passing essay.

And then I went to my state bar website and look at real answers that received high scores from person who wrote the questions.  And all of the answers get the law COMPLETELY wrong in one way or another, and some of the answers are about 5 sentences long (compared to Bar/Bri's 4 paragraphs).  It's one thing to provide a good model answer; it's another thing to provide students with something that's 100% unrealistic.    I'm not sure why I'm so surpised by this, since Bar/Bri makes its money by inducing panic. 

Anyway, in the effort of sparing others some of my complete panic, here's my PSA of the day:  Go to your bar's webpage and see if they put up any high scoring REAL answers to get a sense of exactly where you need to be, b/c Bar/Bri is yet again completely unrealistic in terms of what you have to know and what you have to produce to pass.

[Procedure]

thanks Jacy, this is fantastic news.  I seriously know nothing about nothing and its because i'm comparing myself to these model answers where they analyze literally EVERYTHING. 

Good job.  Now, if I can only find my state's model answers.

[jacy85]

Glad I could help.  I assumed I wasn't the only person freaking out.    Hopefully you can find some answers.  Georgia has a whole ton up (gabaradmissions.com - scroll down through the links on the left), so even though it's not YOUR state, you may be able to at least get a sense of how crazy Bar/Bri's answers are.

[NoUsername]

Two and a half weeks out, I have still yet to do a single practice essay.  I plan on spending all of next week reviewing my state outlines, and then the following week looking at and practicing essays.

On the plus side, I scored 72% on the practice MBE questions I have done so far today.  That is about a 158.

[jimmyjohn]

Good post.

The Barbri essay book is annoying as sh*t.  I completely lost it when they started citing Black's Law Dictionary and random cases in their answers.  I'm also pretty sure that the jackasses made several incorrect statements of the law.  I've also found that much of the time, the "model" barbri answers aren't even responsive to the f-ing question.  They just ramble on about irrelevant material and then spend 2 or 3 sentences discussing the actual issue or issues presented by the question. 

[TH14]

Jacy, how much does a Barbri course typically cost?

[jimmyjohn]

Jacy, how much does a Barbri course typically cost?

Too much.  Mine was $2,600.

[NoUsername]

They quoted me $4,600 for the home course with Ipod.  $500 refundable upon return of the Ipod.

I went with The Study Group bar review instead.

[jimmyjohn]

How are you going to be a lawyer if you don't know the law?  what's the point of the bar exam?   

To provide one final barrier of entry into the legal profession. They go in this order. 

1. LSAT
2. Admissions
3. 1L
4. Summer Jobs
5. Permanent Jobs
6. MPRE
7. Character and Fitness
8. Bar Exam

[NoUsername]

How are you going to be a lawyer if you don't know the law?  what's the point of the bar exam?   

To provide one final barrier of entry into the legal profession. They go in this order. 

1. LSAT
2. Admissions
3. 1L
4. Summer Jobs
5. Permanent Jobs
6. MPRE
7. Character and Fitness
8. Bar Exam

Lol.  I wouldn't call the MPRE a barrier.  The bar exam definitely is though.