The positive feedback you see here was most likely written by Vivian herself. She mentioned in passing that she monitors these forums. She was truly unhelpful for my prep. That's 5K I'll never see again.
The positive feedback you see here was most likely written by Vivian herself. She mentioned in passing that she monitors these forums. She was truly unhelpful for my prep. That's 5K I'll never see again.
Yes, took her class. She isn't worth $.01, so certainly not $5K.
Really??? I did sooooo much essay and PT writing and our class did such detailed review of how to write a stronger answer. I learned tons and feel that my performance improved dramatically. I won't lie, she doesn't always treat everyone nicely. That didn't bother me too much, but I can see that it might invite some negative karma.
Here's an exchange I had with her during class one day:
Me: "Regarding the establishment clause, wha--"
Vivian: [In a loud voice, almost yelling] "WHY ARE YOU ASKING ABOUT THE ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE?! READ MY CHAPTER, I SAID IT IS NOT TESTED ON THE ESSAYS! YOU ARE TOO RELIANT ON BARBRI!"
Me: "Okay."
[Fast Forward to the Bar Exam]
X wants to raise the establishment clause as a defense. Discuss.
Agree w/ previous posters that she is no good. As soon as she gets your $ she turns into a different person. You stress out about how you can get your $ back b/c she sucks so bad while you have to study for the bar at the same time.
I'm posting this from another thread because I'm hoping that it will be helpful to someone out here:
This last time I took the bar (my 2nd time), I studied with Vivian. She sometimes misstates the law, but I learned far more law with her than I ever did with BarBri because she made it manageable. Having said that, I still failed the second time. And it was because of my writing (I got a 138 raw/152 scaled MBE). In fact, my writing scores were the exact same as they were the first time around when I didn't know what the hell I was doing and really hadn't learned the law very well (I was too burned out after law school). Moreover, only 1 of 18 in our Los Angeles class passed the Feb. 2011 CBX... which is terrible (we all have emailed one another; that's how I know).
This time, I'm taking Steve Liosi (BarPerfect). Vivian focused on memorizing the law and practicing. Steve focuses on analysis and practicing. I'm hoping that Steve will give me what I need to pass. I don't need to learn the law so much anymore after Vivian's class, but I think that she graded exams so long ago that she perhaps has lost touch with precisely "how" to show the examiners that you are writing in an analytical way.
Hope this helps someone out there. I'll update in November after getting results from this July's CBX.
I usually don't do this because I believe Vivian is a nice woman but I feel it necessary that people know not to bother with this course. First, Vivian's outlines are wholly inadequate and need to be supplemented. Second, the presentation of her material is convoluted, she's not straight forward. Third, it's her way or the highway and while I have no doubt that her strategy may be good, if you are more of an independent studier than don't take this course!!! My suggestion, although have did not sit for it yet, buy used Barbri books DO KAPLAN FOUNDATION (WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE) and purchase Bar Breakers for additional essays. Bar Breakers has one or two mistypes here and there but for $100 buck I PROMISE YOU WILL FIND IT WORTH IT! Best of luck to ALL!
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