Final thoughts on self-study materials for the DC Bar and MBE/MEE/MPT

Now that the Feb 2009 bar is behind us, I wanted to discuss the materials I used… I must be honest, 90-95% of my study was on the MBE. I put in less than 1 week of study on the MEE subjects (much less than 40 hours), and about 20 hours of study for the MPT. So the other 300-400 hours I spent studying were MBE focused… I did this because the MBE is 50% of the exam, and the MBE subjects are usually 2-3 of the 6 essay questions on the MEE. The MPT does not require more than 20-40 hours of study, so I decided to roll the dice and focus heavily on the MBE subjects and MBE test-taking strategies and tactics. I feel that the gamble paid off well, as I was quite comfortable with the MBE material, MBE essay topics on the MEE, and the 3 MEE questions that I did have that were non-MBE subjects, I felt that I did about the same as everyone else I talked to after the exam… So I don’t think I would have gained much by having spent more time studying on the MEE subjects, but I definitely think I would have done worse on the MBE had I studied less for it…

Anyway, on to my ratings of the materials:

Here is my analysis of all the materials on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest)

PMBR Questions – Excellent. (8/10) These questions, while old, are a great way to prepare for the MBE and are indicative of the fine-line style of questioning the examiners use… I highly recommend doing at least 1000 PMBR questions and reading the answers to those questions. Take your time, and LEARN from them, don’t just do the questions and not learn anything…

PMBR Outlines – Excellent. (8/10) Great outlines that came in the PMBR red book. Different but equally good to the Barbri Conviser outlines.

PMBR Audio Lectures – The best! (9/10) LOVED these lectures. I listened to them all the time and this is what made the difference for me. The lectures are a bit old, but 95% of what’s on them still applies. The only lecture I didn’t like was Contracts, but the others were great. (And Bob Feinburg is a hilarious guy to listen to, I would love to attend one of his lectures in person one day)

Barbri Conviser Outline – Excellent. (8/10) Well, this is the standard review book, no review is complete without it. Honestly, I didn’t use it that much, but it was a nice reference from time to time… I could have done without it though (see my list below of “necessary” books)

Barbri MEE book – Good, but you can get most of it free elsewhere. (7/10) A great way to go over released MEE questions with actual essay answers instead of simply the point sheets.

Rigos/Emanuel MEE Book – Excellent. (9/10) – The best MEE subject outlines I found, very concise with excellent mnemonics and tips. Highly recommended.

Rigos/Emanuel MPT Book – Very good. (8/10) – Great MPT strategy book with good practice MPTs. Highly recommended.

Released MPT questions 2007/2008 from NCBE – Excellent! (10/10) I felt VERY prepared for the 2 MPT’s during the bar exam as I did four actual MPT’s the week before the bar.

Released MBE questions – OPE-1 and OPE-2 – Very good. (8/10) These questions are the most like the actual bar exam questions.

Released MEE questions – 2007/2008 – Excellent! At least 75% of my study was simply reading the essay questions and answers.

Emanuel Strategies and Tactics Book 2006 – Excellent! (9/10) My main study guide… I read this thing about 10 times, cover to cover, and did all the practice questions and sample exam. So 550+ released MBE questions and great outlines and strategies and tactics.

Barbri MBE questions – Good (7/10) – I didn’t like these as much because they have 3 different levels of questions. The easy are too easy, the difficult are too long (not even too hard), and that just leaves the intermediate, which are decent. I like the PMBR approach of simply having 1 class of question that is similar in difficulty to the actual MBE.

Barbri long multistate outline – Good (8/10) – Good if you have mastered everything else there is to know, and you are ready to really hone in on the fine-line distinctions. I did this for mortgages, some Evidence stuff, and a bit of crim law… But really, if you know the material that well, and want to score those extra points to get a score to brag about, you’re better off reading hornbooks…

Micromash – Well, I didn’t really use the micromash stuff all that much… Honestly, I didn’t like their MEE or MPT materials, but I did spend a few hours reading the long multistate outlines in mortgages and evidence… I didn’t like their summary MBE outline, I think the barbri conviser is better… Too many typos and stuff in the Micromash materials, it’s a bit distracting… Also, I must note, I did NOT have the practice MBE questions for micromash, just the printed materials…

So, if I had to pick just the bare materials to study for the DC bar and pass, I’d say to get the following:

MBE Materials:
Strategies and Tactics by Emmanuel ($60 new) (This contains ~550 practice questions + outlines)
PMBR Red Book ($50-100 used) (This contains ~1000 practice questions + outlines)

MPT Materials:
Rigos/Emmanuel MPT Book ($50 new)
NCBE 2 most recent exams MPTs ($40 downloaded from ncbex.org)
NCBE all released MPTs (free from ncbex.org) (NOTE: Although I’d download them, I’d just skim them, I would not attempt to do them all)

MEE Materials:
NCBE 2 most recent exams MEEs ($25-30 downloaded from ncbex.org)
NCBE all released MEEs (free from ncbex.org) (NOTE: This is basically all the Yellow Barbri MEE book is, except the barbri book has actual essay answers instead of point sheets)

That’s it! That would be my minimum study materials, and that’s a ton if you actually do them all… Total cost: About $250.