Comments on: Bar Exam Classes v. Interesting Classes

By: Tg

Tg — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:32:41 +0000

I would say, “It depends . . . ”

It depends on what bar exam you’re taking:

Consider:

1.)
Is community property heavily tested or not?
If not, you may not need that one.

2.)
Does the state you’re taking the bar exam in have low pass rates?
If not, you may not need to worry about it too much.

Example:

Taking the Bar Exam in California:
I’d try to take every bar related course I could.
This is a difficult bar exam, typically 48% pass rate.
I might not take Community Property if I had to really sacrifice in order to get this class, why?
Because it’s not even tested every year, and also, it’s a small subject area.

So, I would have to say, I think it’s a “multi-factor” consideration regarding whether someone should take all the bar exam related classes, heavily dependent upon which state you’ll be testing in.

Just my 2 cents. . .

I once asked one of my law professors, “Why do some of the professors here recommend that I not worry about taking all the bar classes and focus on what I’m interested in?”

Her reply: “They haven’t taken the California bar exam.”

By: Mar

Mar — Sat, 16 May 2009 03:22:40 +0000

My vote is that people should NOT take tax (unless you’re taking it pass/fail) and save that for BarBri. Every professor besides my tax professor told me the tax questions on the bar are so limited that it’s just not worth the pain- unless you’re wierd and like tax and want to go into tax law, or you’re dumb like me and listen to your father who thought that you’d be able to do his taxes for him for free from now on. Note: taking Tax Law does not in any way help you do your taxes, although it will teach you whether or not you should be reporting those free concert tickets your boss keeps giving you for being a suck-up.

Even a tax attorney I spoke to asked me why in the world I would take tax law if I wasn’t interested in it at all- he said it was such a “specialized field” that it just didn’t make any sense. Oh the regrets.

My second comment is that I think Bar courses are important because as cheesy at it sounds, it makes you a well rounded lawyer. No you shouldn’t take corporations if you think your calling is being a public defender and you’ll never use it in life, and yes you can learn the skills you need on the job, but I just think it’s important to know about the profession we’re entering in a deeper than BarBri sense. Plus I’ve heard lots of stories of people who discovered “a whole new world” (cue Aladdin soundtrack) after taking a Bar course, and suddenly realized which area of law they’d like to practice.

As Andy says, that’s my .02

-Mar

p.s. now that I’m not in school and still unemployed I find myself with free time to stalk your blog. Please block me if I get annoying. I know Josh knows how to do that with his master computer knowledge.

By: Melanie Klinghoffer

Melanie Klinghoffer — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:52:39 +0000

For the majority of your classes take what interests you and ignites a passion to learn. Substantive bar courses are designed to teach you what you need to know on the exam. The key to passing the bar is giving yourself the mental edge with proven success strategies.

When it comes time to take the exam the substantive courses will adequately prepare you to learn the rule of law necessary to answer the questions. However, I would strongly encourage you attend a seminar that helps you create a personal plan for success focusing on the mental, emotional and physical aspects of taking the bar exam.

Good luck when the time comes!

By: Andrew Schnitzel

Andrew Schnitzel — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:39:28 +0000

I’ll add a third category — classes you can do well in. Like staying sober for the final during “summer session” or study abroad, there are some things that all law students are GPA boosters. You hear of people getting As after just using an outline and not buying the book. An insurance law final with true/false! An advanced legal research final with matching!

So do we take these classes that might help our GPA but not our future career? I’m saying no, because they’re likely so boring that you won’t put any effort in and get meh grades. And even if you do put effort in, there’s a chance that there’s an easy test w/ thin curve and you get the same grades as you would in a hard class that you tried in. I’m not saying throw in a few easy classes now and then, but temper it with the fact that every three credits costs $6k or so plus expenses.

My plan is to take certain bar classes, and then stuff that i’m interested in or will help the career. For 3Ls at least, most bar classes are also general practice/need to know classes — like conflict of laws and corporations.

By: Joshua Auriemma

Joshua Auriemma — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:13:45 +0000

Right, good point: I should I have mentioned the correlation between interesting classes and good grades.

Also, a whole class on sex crimes? I thought the 2 weeks in crim law that we spent on rape was overkill.

By: Huma

Huma — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:37:56 +0000

Well, my property prof was horrible, and he teaches Sales & Transactions or something like that, which I’ll most likely be saving for BarBri. Although, he did tell me that based on what I did in his class, I’d probably like Tax law, too, so I think I’m going to end up taking that in law school at some point. And also Sex Crimes. It was taught by my CrimLaw prof and even though he wasn’t my strongest prof, I still think the class will be good. But figuring out courses is always tough based on exactly what you said here. Practicality v. courses that you’re likely to do well in precisely because the subject is of interest.