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bar prep help: little late to teh studying party

post #1 of 15
6/1/10 at 7:07pm
Thread Starter 
so im taking the CA bar in late july, but i didnt sign up for a bar class cuz frankly, i dont have the money. ive been studying on my own, but was wondering what books i could buy.

is there a way for me to get the most up-to-date barbri/kaplan/etc books without having to take the courses for less money? i heard that they offer such packages, but i cant for the life of me find it on their websites.

thanks guys.
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post #2 of 15
6/1/10 at 7:41pm
I think the people who own barbri (thomson/reuters, i think) also have a number of "competing" bar review courses which are self study and should have up to date and nearly similar materials. Someone I knew took "MicroMash"** - it's about half the price of barbri, does not have the lectures and presumably has the same or similar materials (It may only have one set of outlines, whereas the full barbri thing included a set of long outlines and a set of short outlines and a set of even more concise handouts that focus the material even more). Another option is to go on ebay or craigslist or whatever and see if you can get the Feb. 2010 barbri bar materials for a reduced price.

edit: Ebay has - a 2006 Barbri set for a $350 BIN, and a 2008 Barbri set for a starting price of $250, and a 2009 barbri set for $349.00. It appears a full set should be about 12 books total.
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post #3 of 15
6/1/10 at 7:45pm
Look on ebay. Tons of them there, along with all the lectures on cd, and flashcards. Also look into adaptibar.com and Kaplan's QBank. The last two are invaluable - I did them both and got a 149 raw on the MBE.
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post #4 of 15
6/1/10 at 11:17pm
I took BarBri last year for the July '09 CA Bar Exam. I still have my outlines/notes if you want em.
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post #5 of 15
6/1/10 at 11:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoVaguy View Post
Someone I knew took "MicroMash"** - it's about half the price of barbri, does not have the lectures and presumably has the same or similar materials

I used this 6 years ago and it was good enough. I'd have rather have had the BarBri course with lectures, but I needed money for alcohol that summer.
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post #6 of 15
6/1/10 at 11:45pm
Emmanuels outlines are pretty good. Micromash is great for the MBE
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post #7 of 15
6/2/10 at 12:46am
Here you go: http://cgi.ebay.com/BARBRI-CALIFORNI...item1c13027f60 This auction has all the books and outlines. It'd be $400 well spent (and you can usually resell the whole set afterward). When I was studying for NY & MA, my main tools were outlines, Conviser, MBE practice questions, PMBR MBE questions (these were better than BarBri's), and essay answers from the previous exams (your Bar Examiner should have it available for sale or free download). The others were marginally useful, and frankly it wouldn't be detrimental if you didn't have them. Search your local craigslist, you might find these books even cheaper.
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post #8 of 15
6/2/10 at 1:21am
Thread Starter 
do you guys think itd be ok if i bought the barbri blue (july 09/feb 10) books instead of the green (july 10/ feb 11) books? goddamn, im starting to stress out. im just reading through some emmanuel outlines i have right now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BRAND-NEW-BARBRI...item439f9e5b3c
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post #9 of 15
6/2/10 at 1:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cheessus View Post
do you guys think itd be ok if i bought the barbri blue (july 09/feb 10) books instead of the green (july 10/ feb 11) books? goddamn, im starting to stress out. im just reading through some emmanuel outlines i have right now. http://cgi.ebay.com/BRAND-NEW-BARBRI...item439f9e5b3c
There's usually very little change year over year. Find out what the changes are for 10/11 and see if they're worth it (know anyone taking BarBri? Ask him/her.). Unless there's significant update in the law or format of the exam, last year's edition is fine. The key to doing this is to have a schedule and stick with it -- day in, day out. You're trying to jam a lot of information in your head in a very short amount of time, so you need a system to organize and recall this information. Download BarBri's study schedule from their website and try to stick to it as much as you can. As much shit as BarBri gets for charging a lot of money for their system, it does work.
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post #10 of 15
6/2/10 at 2:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cheessus View Post
do you guys think itd be ok if i bought the barbri blue (july 09/feb 10) books instead of the green (july 10/ feb 11) books? goddamn, im starting to stress out. im just reading through some emmanuel outlines i have right now.

Yeah that would be fine, it's not like the exam really changes, like DNW said. Get whatever semi-recent Barbri materials you can get relatively cheap. I might have a Barbri multistate review CD that I didn't get rid of, I'll PM you if I can find it.

You still have plenty of time at this point, so don't panic. Personally, I would advise you to try to start practicing the essays as early as possible, or at least taking 20 minutes to read over the question and do a solid outline. The essays were a bit unnatural to me, even after law school exams (I felt like they were more like AP tests in high school) so it took me a while to get good at them.
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post #11 of 15
6/4/10 at 6:16pm
Thread Starter 
hey guys, ive another question: im trying to find the barbri study schedule on the barbri website, but i cant find it. can anyone help? that site is driving me nuts. thanks.
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post #12 of 15
6/4/10 at 6:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cheessus View Post
hey guys, ive another question: im trying to find the barbri study schedule on the barbri website, but i cant find it. can anyone help? that site is driving me nuts. thanks.

That info used to be available publicly years ago. They've redesigned their page and I think that info is only available to enrolled students. Perhaps someone who's taking the course now in CA can get that for you.
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post #13 of 15
6/4/10 at 7:49pm
A good bar will have various kinds of liquor of varying qualities. And you probably don't need any help with prep. Just have herbs at the bar and make sure you have fresh citrus as freshly squeezed juice tastes much better.
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post #14 of 15
6/5/10 at 4:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DNW View Post
That info used to be available publicly years ago. They've redesigned their page and I think that info is only available to enrolled students. Perhaps someone who's taking the course now in CA can get that for you.
Unless I misunderstood what the question is, the schedule will differ depending on where you're taking the class, because although Erwin Chemerinsky seems like a superhero when he is lecturing without notes on Con Law, he can only be in one place at a time. So if this is the sort of thing you're looking for (again, unless I misunderstood the question), here's the summer 08 lecture schedule in pdf form: http://www.sendspace.com/file/am70to you could pick one of the locations and just follow that schedule. That was the only thing I have saved from the whole BarBri class that wasn't the practice essay answers I had written. I opened one of them up and at the top of the file I had written "THIS WAS ALL WRONG!! THE ANSWER IS REALLY RESULTING TRUSTS, PURCHASE MONEY TRUSTS, AND CONSTRUCTIVE TRUSTS" lol
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post #15 of 15
6/5/10 at 4:20am
You're actually right on time for the bar exam cram. Get a set of barbri books. Know any classmates who are taking barbri right now? Ask them for a copy of the paced program. It gives you a pretty detailed work schedule (more detailed than the lecture schedule linked above).
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