As a 3L, I am currently in 2 bar prep focused classes (survey and multistate). I find it interesting that we do not actually know how helpful these classes will be for us until we ultimately take the bar. In past years, these classes were pass/fail. This changed very recently. I am curious to know if changing them to actual graded courses has been beneficial to bar passage rates, or if other factors contributed more.
My dad went to law school years ago and found it surprising that bar prep classes are so common now. They were not offered when he went to law school, and bar prep was more of a self learning type of task. I feel like no one has really talked about this shift in focus onto bar prep.
In some ways, it must be beneficial because it helps us acclimate to the type of questions asked on the bar. However, when we are in practice we are not going to be asked a multiple choice question with a bizarre scenario. The bar exam is strategic, so learning these strategies is definitely helpful, but sometimes when I am sitting in class I wish I was learning about a legal topic that really interests me. On the other hand though, it is nice to have a head start into reintroducing topics that I haven't looked at since 1L.
I guess I am just hoping that these courses will be helpful when I start my bar prep and then take the bar in July. The best we can do is put effort into this courses and hope that they are worthwhile.
I was in law school from 1978 to 1981. The law school did not offer anything resembling a Bar prep course back then. We were left to study on our own or take one of the commercial Bar prep courses during the gap between graduation and the Bar exam.
ReplyDeleteThe course I took, offered by a company called Josephson's (not sure if they still exist) was excellent and prepped me as well as possible for the exam. I felt then, and still feel today, that a reasonably intelligent person could skip law school, take the Bar prep course I took, and be able to pass the Bar exam.
That leads me to conclude that if I were a law student today, I would do as I did 45 years ago and take courses that interested me without regard to Bar prep. The Bar review course should be enough to get you ready assuming you treat Bar prep like a regular 9 to 5 job and put in the time needed.
I'm currently in survey and overview of fl law. I am thankful for these classes because they are very chill and are going to help me enormously by forcing me to learn a lot of this material at least once before the real studying starts. But these classes are very hands-off, and I absolutely love studying on my own, at my own pace.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Overview is still pass/fail! But survey (as you noted) is sadly not.
I am currently in Overview of FL law as well, and I think that these classes definitely help with getting your mind ready for taking the bar.
ReplyDelete