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Choosing Your Bar Exam Prep Company: 3 Crucial Factors

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Bar Exam Prep Company

Three Crucial Factors When Choosing Your Bar Exam Prep Company

If you are just starting out your third year of law school – or if you just received your bar exam results and did not pass – you are likely starting to think about a bar exam prep company.  With so many options available to students out there, and with so much on the line, the decision becomes extremely difficult.  As students make their decisions, we think there are three important factors they should consider when choosing their bar exam prep company.

Three Crucial Factors When Choosing Your Bar Exam Prep Company

1. Setting – In person or online?

Do you prefer watching lectures online, or do you enjoy attending in-class lectures? One of the most important factors when choosing your bar exam prep company is the setting in which you want to learn.  Some students prefer to learn by watching online lectures at their own pace. Others enjoy in class lectures with live instruction where they get to ask questions. To determine which option you prefer, think back to your college and law school classes.  Most students prefer live instruction because they are used to it. Sometimes students forget to take this into consideration when deciding which bar exam prep company to sign up for.

2. Source of Practice Materials

Another factor students overlook when making their decision is the source of practice materials. Students assume that the bar exam prep company that they choose uses the best source of practice materials available–that is, actual released questions. However, this is simply not the case. The NCBE makes multiple choice questions available at a fee. Most commercial bar exam prep companies, however, choose not to pay it. Instead, they come up with their own “multiple choice questions.” They then proclaim these are similar to the actual questions tested on the Multistate Bar Exam.

When making your decision, determining the source of practice materials is key.  You want to get yourself used to how multiple choice questions are framed and the terminology that the NCBE uses.  For the essay portion (and for the performance tests), you want to get used to how your state’s board of law examiners tests certain subjects.  By practicing with actual past exams, you are putting yourself in the best position to pass the bar exam.

So do not be shy about asking the bar review companies you are considering whether they distribute released bar exam questions.

3. Services Provided

Lastly, consider what additional services your bar exam prep company provides. This is important because you want to ensure that the additional services provided are beneficial for you. If you’ve never studied with flashcards before, a bar exam prep company offering elite flashcards may not be ideal. Or, if you prefer to do a lot of practice essays and have your answers graded, a company that only grades three essays will not fit with your study plan. A lot of bar exam prep companies will market that they provide additional services for students. However, students often fail to evaluate whether those are beneficial for them.  We recommend that students make a list of what is important to them, and then begin looking for a bar exam prep company that fits their list.

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