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DrainTheNCBEswamp

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The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by DrainTheNCBEswamp » Tue Apr 17, 2018 12:40 pm

Can we make a running *updated* list of the best MBE materials/courses/advice? As many of us know, the MBE has really changed A LOT. So it would be nice to get information from people who recently took the MBE or know of the best materials.

pfunkera

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by pfunkera » Tue Apr 17, 2018 2:04 pm

AdaptiBar was my go to source with Barbri's midterm, refresher, and 50 mixed MBE sets a close 2nd. NCBE has 4 question sets of actual MBE questions you can buy as well, but I noticed a portion (~10) of the one I bought were already in AdaptiBar.

alexgreat

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by alexgreat » Tue Apr 17, 2018 3:38 pm

what about ameribar? i failed FL 2 times now and im planning on getting a tutor, used adaptibar and barbri...

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SilvermanBarPrep

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by SilvermanBarPrep » Tue Apr 17, 2018 3:47 pm

The two books I would start with are Strategies and Tactics for the MBE (6th edition), and Strategies and Tactics for the Finz Multistate Method (4th edition). In addition, any released NCBE questions that are not in the 6th edition book (such as the most recent 200 questions that were released) should definitely be incorporated into the studying!

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MissT

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by MissT » Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:45 pm

I second the recommendations for Emmanuel’s Strategies and Tactics for the MBE and AdaptiBar. I’d also throw in Critical Pass Flashcards. And Professor Freer’s Civil Procedure lectures (through Barbri) will actually make Civil Procedure understandable. Civ Pro was one of my worst subjects in law school- I got a “C,” despite studying a lot, because I simply didn’t “get” it. On the civil procedure portion of the MBE, I ended up scoring in the top 5 percent of all test takers nationwide, thanks to Freer.

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Neve

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by Neve » Sat Apr 21, 2018 8:56 am

My running list of MBE supplements:

1) Emanuel's Strategies and Tactics for the MBE - available on Amazon. Fairly cheap book. Has good tips on approaching the MBE and contains lots of practice questions.

2) Adaptibar (http://www.adaptibar.com) - I didn't use this, but wish I had since it has received raving reviews. The only con to Adaptibar is the price.

3) Barmax MBE Questions (https://getbarmax.com/barmax-mbe-questions/ - supposedly "comparable" to Adaptibar). At only $249, it's a good price, but Adaptibar has tracking tools to individualize your MBE study and show your progress in a method that Barmax can't. But Barmax seems to be more economical than Adaptibar. You also need an iOS device to use it.

4) OPE from the MBE site to practice the most recent test questions: http://store.ncbex.org/all-online-practice-exams/. OPE it isn't the cheapest option, but these are real, recent MBE questions and not the souped up Barbri ones. Barbri questions are not representative of the modern MBE. I hear Barmax has all these OPEs included.

5) Critical Pass - Great flashcards for the MBE! You can't apply the law to an MBE question, if you don't know the law. I used Critical Pass for my bar study along with the CMR from Barbri and their simulated questions (although the Barbri questions are very different than actual MBE questions). I also used Emanuel's S&T during my study period, but not as much as I should have since it's a great resource.

rNadOm

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by rNadOm » Thu Apr 26, 2018 4:20 pm

Another shout out for Critical Pass! They were amazing.

I purchased AdaptiBar as well - it’s definitely useful but I personally dont feel I used it enough to justify it so wouldn’t have purchased if I were to do it all again.

maxmartin

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by maxmartin » Thu Apr 26, 2018 9:26 pm

S&T and Kaplan blue book.

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Neilt001

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by Neilt001 » Fri Apr 27, 2018 10:09 am

I'm just gonna go ahead and give a shout out to Themis. Obviously you have to buy the whole course (it doesn't just come in discrete MBE-only packages) but:
- it has around 10,000 MBE questions, all pretty much the same or identical to the NCBE ones
- it has very clear explanations re the answers, including why all the wrong answers are wrong
- You can build your own quizzes to drill weaknesses
- it gives you full analytics (eg time taken to answer each question, average time to answer questions in a particular subject, percentages correct, etc. So you can really see where your weaknesses are and what you need to work on)
- it also has practice and full test modes (with timers).

I also got Critical Pass which is a good way to do review in bed or on the go, but found I didn't use it that much.

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sprintin23

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by sprintin23 » Fri Apr 27, 2018 10:39 am

I would say a combination of Strategies & Tactics, Critical Pass, and The GOAT MBE. I used all of them this time and I passed in Ohio. If I could say anything it would be practice on actual NCBE questions. I wish I would have known that the first time around.

verejacob

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by verejacob » Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:02 am

For me, Barbri's midterm, refresher, as well as NCBE questions helped a lot. I bought S&T. Never opened it. Bought Critical Pass too but dumped it after some time because I don't learn well from flash cards. I also almost subscribed Adaptibar but backed out at last moment. For Feb 2018 exam, made own outlines based on Barbri lectures and Conviser. Foreign educated and repeat taker. Scored 100 in MBE in Feb 2017, 135 in July 2017 and passed Feb 2018 exam with 140.5 in MBE. Not a stellar score but am very happy because I just practised 300-400 questions for Feb 2018 exam compared to 1200-1500 questions for the July 2017 exam.

Law&coffee

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by Law&coffee » Sat May 05, 2018 6:18 pm

Critical Pass - amazing cards and a time saver
Strategies and Tactics - great book for the value
Adaptibar - a must for the MBE

Neve

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by Neve » Sat May 05, 2018 6:23 pm

[quote="Neve"]My running list of MBE supplements:

1) Emanuel's Strategies and Tactics for the MBE - available on Amazon. Fairly cheap book. Has good tips on approaching the MBE and contains lots of practice questions.

2) Adaptibar (http://www.adaptibar.com) - I didn't use this, but wish I had since it has received raving reviews. The only con to Adaptibar is the price.

3) Barmax MBE Questions (https://getbarmax.com/barmax-mbe-questions/ - supposedly "comparable" to Adaptibar). At only $249, it's a good price, but Adaptibar has tracking tools to individualize your MBE study and show your progress in a method that Barmax can't. But Barmax seems to be more economical than Adaptibar. You also need an iOS device to use it.

4) OPE from the MBE site to practice the most recent test questions: http://store.ncbex.org/all-online-practice-exams/. OPE it isn't the cheapest option, but these are real, recent MBE questions and not the souped up Barbri ones. Barbri questions are not representative of the modern MBE. I hear Barmax has all these OPEs included.

5) Critical Pass (http://criticalpass.refr.cc/8GVXRT9 - referral link contains a discount code for 20% off) - Great flashcards for the MBE! You can't apply the law to an MBE question, if you don't know the law. I used Critical Pass for my bar study along with the CMR from Barbri and their simulated questions (although the Barbri questions are very different than actual MBE questions). I also used Emanuel's S&T during my study period, but not as much as I should have since it's a great resource.

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Nightcrawler

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by Nightcrawler » Sun May 06, 2018 1:05 am

I've sat for the exam 3 times and this is what I think.

MBE Study Aid (newest 210 released NCBE questions, including Civ Pro): the closest you can get to the new "style" of the MBE. They are short, clear but tricky. The only problem is that there are only 210.

Adaptibar: still the best out there IMO as it still increased my score over the attempts, however a LOT of the questions are outdated. Luckily they just added the 210 questions of the MBE Study Aid.

Emanuel S&T: I've just started it waiting for the results of my third bar. So far I like it apart from their civ pro questions (which are simulated). The strategies part is useful and straight to the point. However, I haven't sat for the exam after using it so I don't know for sure. regarding its questions, it uses I think the OPEs from NCBE.

Barbri: nope. Between their "no need to memorize! you just need to be average!" and the rest of their marketing BS + their obnoxiously long questions that are completely different from the real thing, I can only recommend against for the MBE prep. To be fair though, it helped a little in understanding the law. Critical Pass was a lot better at that though.

Law&coffee

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by Law&coffee » Mon Jun 11, 2018 9:12 pm

Problem with Barbri is that it's a cookie cutter program. It's designed for the masses, not the individual student. Sure, most will pass with it, but others will struggle. Barbri doesn't adapt to each student's learning style.

I didn't faithfully follow Barbri. They tell you to focus on your weaken, but I didn't do that. I played to my strengths and it paid off for me and I passed on my first try.

shaq23

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by shaq23 » Mon Jun 11, 2018 10:16 pm

Critical Pass is a great option to help you remember succinctly remember the rules. They have an app (electronic) version and physical flashcards. If interested, you can click on the link for a discount and to purchase the flashcards. https://www.virginiabarprep.com/refer/criticalpass/

Adaptibar is a great program that will help you prepare. Everyone has their own opinion as to the explanations they offer. There's a reason that many find the program to be helpful. In the next 1.5 months you simply do not have the time to sit there and figure things out for yourself. Adaptibar helps pinpoint the topic areas that you need to improve on, so you can focus on just that - improving your score! Here's a review of the Adaptibar. If you feel the program is appropriate for your, there's a link in the review that redirect you to make a purchase. https://www.virginiabarprep.com/review- ... ou-get-it/

Another option is Emmanuel's. Emmanuel's provides you a great strategy to help you tackle the various subjects of the MBE. They also then allow you to test their strategy on practice questions. Click on this link to purchase Emmanuel's. https://www.virginiabarprep.com/refer/e ... h-edition/

Lawworld19

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by Lawworld19 » Tue Jun 12, 2018 10:50 pm

sprintin23 wrote:I would say a combination of Strategies & Tactics, Critical Pass, and The GOAT MBE. I used all of them this time and I passed in Ohio. If I could say anything it would be practice on actual NCBE questions. I wish I would have known that the first time around.

Taking Ohio now. Really need to pass this exam for a huge list of reasons people probably do not care about. In your opinion what is a fool proof way to pass (if there is any). I really cannot afford to fail.

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juliejul

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by juliejul » Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:37 pm

I relied entirely on Themis practice questions, and scored a 160.6 on the Feb '18 UBE. I don't think it's a matter of having 6 different study supplements and I don't understand how people even have time for this - just figure out what works for you, and commit to it. Put in the time and be disciplined about it.

justanotheruser

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by justanotheruser » Wed Jun 13, 2018 3:35 pm

I finished Emanuel S&T first and then moved over to Adaptibar. I did about 1900 questions for the Feb. '18 CA bar exam. Passed the test and, according to NCBE's score advisory, my MBE score was at least 150.

ContingentRemainder

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by ContingentRemainder » Tue Jun 19, 2018 8:54 pm

MissT wrote:I second the recommendations for Emmanuel’s Strategies and Tactics for the MBE and AdaptiBar. I’d also throw in Critical Pass Flashcards. And Professor Freer’s Civil Procedure lectures (through Barbri) will actually make Civil Procedure understandable. Civ Pro was one of my worst subjects in law school- I got a “C,” despite studying a lot, because I simply didn’t “get” it. On the civil procedure portion of the MBE, I ended up scoring in the top 5 percent of all test takers nationwide, thanks to Freer.
Hi, Civ Pro is currently my weakest subject. I agree that Freer's lectures are great, but there is a lot of detail I didn't have to worry about in law school! If you're still active on here, any other tips for those of us who could use some for this subject? What did you use to practice questions/memorize? Thanks

M_Law

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by M_Law » Tue Jun 26, 2018 11:35 pm

justanotheruser wrote:I finished Emanuel S&T first and then moved over to Adaptibar. I did about 1900 questions for the Feb. '18 CA bar exam. Passed the test and, according to NCBE's score advisory, my MBE score was at least 150.
Curious if you were also using a commercial bar prep program on top of the other stuff?

I definitely am getting results from doing REAL questions in the Emanuel S&T with a combo of BarMax questions, which are mostly UBE I believe. I feel like BarBari has an overkill of videos and miscellaneous tasks that tend to consume too much time without consistent MBE practice questions. Thoughts?

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justanotheruser

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by justanotheruser » Wed Jun 27, 2018 1:58 am

I used zero commercial bar prep materials for the 2/18 CA bar. Strictly Emanuel S&T + Adaptibar for MBEs. Good luck!
M_Law wrote:
justanotheruser wrote:I finished Emanuel S&T first and then moved over to Adaptibar. I did about 1900 questions for the Feb. '18 CA bar exam. Passed the test and, according to NCBE's score advisory, my MBE score was at least 150.
Curious if you were also using a commercial bar prep program on top of the other stuff?

I definitely am getting results from doing REAL questions in the Emanuel S&T with a combo of BarMax questions, which are mostly UBE I believe. I feel like BarBari has an overkill of videos and miscellaneous tasks that tend to consume too much time without consistent MBE practice questions. Thoughts?

L_William_W

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by L_William_W » Wed Jun 27, 2018 1:38 pm

Kaplan MBE

Strategies and Tactics Finz

Emanuel MBE bootcamp

AVOID ADAPTIBAR

I literally went from a 118.6 MBE on the July 2014 NY bar exam to a 149.3 on the July 2017 NY bar.

perplixityparanoia

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by perplixityparanoia » Wed Jun 27, 2018 3:22 pm

L_William_W wrote:Kaplan MBE

Strategies and Tactics Finz

Emanuel MBE bootcamp

AVOID ADAPTIBAR

I literally went from a 118.6 MBE on the July 2014 NY bar exam to a 149.3 on the July 2017 NY bar.
I am doing Kaplan PMBR and also doing Finz. Could you tell me if you did all the questions for PMBR and Finz? I know it’s quality over quantity but trying to assess in addition to licensed questions how many should I aim to practice on Kaplan PMBR and Finz.

Usually people tend to highly review AdaptiBar, did you find the actual MBE questions more in line with Finz and Kaplan in terms of complexity and the AdaptiBar questions are easy?

L_William_W

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Re: The best materials and courses to study, and kill the MBE

Post by L_William_W » Wed Jun 27, 2018 3:38 pm

Do as many Kaplan and Finz questions as humanly possible. If you get a question wrong, make a flash card of the pertinent rule. The questions on the bar are roughly the same level of difficulty as Kaplan. Finz is a tad harder than the questions on the bar. As far as Adaptibar, the questions are easier than the questions on the bar. They lull you into a false sense of security. 75% of the Adaptibar questions can be found either on the NCBE website or Strategies and Tactics for the MBE at a fraction of the cost. Furthermore, the MBE portion of the bar is with a pencil and paper, not a computer. Wouldn't you want to be acclimated to the conditions of the actual exam?

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