The California Bar Exam begins next Tuesday. After a month+ of studying, I feel sort of ready. Unlike some recent law grads, I had a life pulling at me during my bar study time, so I simply wasn’t able to sign up to a service like Barbri that required hours of in-class lectures (often in front of a video screen, too, which certainly wasn’t appealing). So instead I turned to alternative approaches. The two I settled on were MicroMash (initially) and BarMax (finally).
MicroMash targets people like me who prefer to study on our own time and may well work while preparing (as I have been doing). They also have a computer-based MBE study system that claims to adapt to your level of success with particular areas, focusing on your weaknesses (I liked this). As it turns out, though, study materials are entirely paper based, and consist of some 40 pounds of outlines and books. There did not seem to be any real online study materials and very few, if any, audio lectures. Nothing was particularly portable, and the Web-based MBE question system requires an Internet connection to function. (I didn’t like this.) Cost is roughly $1,600 for MBE+California, with a money-back guarantee.
BarMax is somewhat similar in focus, but builds itself around an iPod Touch/iPhone app. It is, I think, the most expensive app in the Apple app store: $999 for the California focused app, no real refunds available (but you keep access forever, so if you need to take the exam again, you keep your materials). It comes with no paper at all, although it does have Word documents (outlines, etc.) that you can print out. Everything else is on the iPod, including outlines and hours of audio lectures. The lectures could use better audio quality, but they seem to cover the most important areas of the law for the exam in a relatively quick and efficient form. It also has a built-in flash card system and MBE test question section that works well.
Most importantly for me, BarMax is portable. My most effective studying came from long walks all around my neighborhood, focusing on the lectures and taking some notes as I went, then following up with the written materials later, along with MBE question review and practice exams.
MicroMash had good materials, but dumping 40 pounds of books on me as my only tool for studying was simply not practical for the way I personally work. BarMax, even if it is new and more experimental, fit my study style much, much better. As a result, I’ve been using BarMax every day for the last month+, but I returned MicroMash for a full refund after a week of trying to use it.
In short: I recommend BarMax. Good concept, good (not perfect yet) execution (bettwe sound would be good, for example), effective for multiple ways of studying (other than for those who prefer paper books–I would recommend MicroMash for you).
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