Big Difference Between Barbri Questions and Adaptibar Forum

[nthp]

This is a question for those of you who have passed the Bar. If you used both Barbri (or Themis or Kaplan) and Adaptibar, did you notice a big difference between how you scored on Barbri versus Adaptibar? I am averaging between 70-80 percent correct on Adaptibar, but am getting about 50-57% correct on Barbri on some of my sets, and 60-70 percent in others. It's been suggested that I should move on and focus solely on essays because I'm in a good enough score range (don't know if that is true), but I can't help but panic because of the inconsistency between the two companies. Did you find your actual scores closer to your exam prep company, or Adaptibar?

[pfunkera]

I scored lower on Barbri than I did on Adaptibar. Adaptibar has some real easy questions that you normally will not find on Barbri. However, the actual MBE will have some easy questions but after the exam you will only remember the hard ones. I was in the 70%+ range on Adaptibar overall but closer to 75%+ near the end. Barbri I was around 60-65% on the mixed sets near the end. I scored way better than I needed to so you should be fine.

[nthp]

Thank you for your input, pfunkera! That makes me feel better.

[sarahbeck10]

From my understanding Barbri does not use licensed MBE questions.

Themis and Adaptibar do.

I could be wrong about Barbri but I know for a fact Themis and Adaptibar use actual MBE questions. This could explain the difference in scoring. Based on your Adaptibar scores I think you will be fine. That's higher than needed to pass. Good luck!

[nthp]

Thank you, sarahbeck10. I appreciate it.

Barbri uses some real questions. At least I think so. I only know because I got something infuriatingly wrong on Barbri. So much so that I remembered it, and the question showed up on Adaptibar a few weeks later.

From my observation, it looks like Barbri likes to give you more "gotcha" questions than does Adaptibar. Failure of service vs. failure of service of process? Does the Bar actually have answer choices as to both in one question to test whether you know the distinction? That said, Barbri's attention to detail and nuances did help me learn the law better so that I could answer Adaptibar questions. I just hope it pays off for the actual Bar.

[Wild Card]

I've been scoring 70-100 percent on BarBri's hardest questions (MBE Questions By Topic).

I've been using PMBR's 7-Day Review and scoring between 67 and 75 percent on their questions.

[nthp]

I've been scoring 70-100 percent on BarBri's hardest questions (MBE Questions By Topic).

I've been using PMBR's 7-Day Review and scoring between 67 and 75 percent on their questions.

That's a very good Barbri score, as well as for the PMBR. Congratulations! I find Barbri questions much harder to do, and gave up on doing them by topic.

[ndbigdave]

I never took Barbri but have had plenty of friends who did and I have been reading these boards for years. The general feeling is that Barbri's questions are "harder" because they are routinely more "wordy" and are often times very nuanced. This usually puts immense fear into students to read questions more closely and to study more minute details - which usually leads to success on the bar exam. In my opinion, the added stress and fear really isn't necessary and makes a crap experience even worse.

That being said, and to answer your question, I would fully expect most (all?) bar-preppers who use both Barbri and Adaptibar to have a higher Adaptibar score. With just days left, keep doing the questions, keep reviewing and go do your best.