CALIFORNIA BAR EXAM REVIEW COURSE: ESSAYS, PERFORMANCE TESTS

What do Yale University, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, UC Berkeley, Columbia, USC, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Texas have in common? They are all elite law schools ranked in the top 20 according to US News & World Report 2012 Edition. That was easy, but what you would be shocked to discover is that of the 35 students from the aforementioned elite law schools that took the California Bar Exam in July 2011 as a repeat examinee, only 9 passed. Think about that, the brightest legal minds of our generation failing the California Bar Exam for at least the second time. Aren't these guys supposed to have stratospheric LSAT Scores in the 170's range? Weren't they born with a Pentium Chip hard wired into their brains? How could they possibly fail with all that talent? Wanna hear something even stranger? Did you know that graduates from NON-ABA Accredited San Joaquin College of Law outperformed graduates from the top 20 elite law schools on last year's bar exam? And here's the kicker: BOTH first time examinees (63%) AND REPEAT examinees(26%) from the San Joaquin School of Law yielded a higher pass rate. As one ponders the implications, one overarching question looms: if graduates from the top law schools in the world can only muster a 1 in 4 chance of passing as a repeat examinee, what does that say about the leading programs?

You already spent $3,000-$5,000+ with the other guys, and they didn't get the job done. Of course, they would like you to believe that YOU didn't get the job done. They would have you believe that you aren't fit to be an attorney, and that your commitment to your career has come into question. Because you couldn't memorize 30 pounds of books, and couldn't stay awake watching a law professor on a DVD drone on and on about ethics, somewhow you aren't qualified. However, if you think about it, what does it say about a tutor or a bar review course that they hand off a 30 pound box of books to you and say: have at it! Isn't that kind of like having a chef at a restaurant take you into the kitchen only to have you do the cooking,? Isn't it their job to condense the materials and to make it more user-friendly to you? Isn't it their job to show you what bar graders want to see in your blue books? Isn't it their job to show you how to structure an essay to maximize your point total? Well, of course the bar review courses could say that's what you should have learned in law school. And of course, law professors being all about theory will blame the bar programs pointing the finger in their direction. But at the end of the day, you've got a six-figure loan to pay back, and three years of your life consumed by all-nighters, and you still can't pass the exam? Something's wrong here!

Don't believe the hype? Well, let's consider the numbers.Betcha didn't know that First-Time Examinees on the July 2011 Exam from the San Joaquin College of Law more than DOUBLED the bar exam pass rate of Repeat Examinees from USC. Yes...that's right, THAT USC! Now, of course, you can argue that there's a big difference between being a repeat examinee from USC, and being a First Time Examinee from a Non-ABA Accredited School in the San Joaquin School of Law. But that raises another question entirely: how can students more than double the pass rate of a select group of students sporting LSAT Scores of 165+ with an impressive Undergraduate GPA to match? Still not convinced? Well, did you know that First Time Examinees from the Western State School of Law beat the pass rate of Harvard's Repeat Examinees (77% vs. 75%)-yes, THAT Harvard! Again, sure, you can say that there's a difference between being a first timer, and a repeater .(Of course, as a repeater, one would expect that you would not repeat your same mistakes again, especially if you're a Harvard alum). But, we're talking about Harvard Law School. Don't these guys have a class on "What to do when you become Chief Justice", or "Best practices of getting the President of the United States to put you on his short list 101"? And if you're still not convinced, what about the fact that the only two repeaters from last summer's exam from Yale Law School (ranked #1 by US News & World Report-2012) flunked, whereas 3 of the 15 repeat examinees from the Ventura College of Law managed to pass. So...what does this all mean?

It's one thing for the leading prep companies to blame California's low pass rate on the laid back-surfer atmosphere, the fact that it is a 3 day exam as opposed to other states, and to attribute the low scores to California Law Schools themselves. However, as noted supra, some pretty motivated Type-A personalities with matching 170 LSAT Scores had problems too. So, if those students struggled mightily, how does that bode for your chances? But more importantly, what does it say about the techniques, classroom strategies, methodologies, and training of the leading review courses? Could it be that their system is fundamentally flawed, and that it is those flaws which pose the most serioius threat to your chances of overcoming the next hurdle?