heelate

Has anyone used NBR (National Bar Review) before? Please share your personal experience.

iaudi

Don't take NBR!!!!

I did the National Bar Review and did not pass. First, they tell you that someone will work with you one on one six to eight hours a day. They represented to me that they specialized in the MBE and that my tutor would do about 100 MBE's a day with my tutor so that he could tell me what I was doing wrong and show me an approach that would work specifically for me.

When I met my tutor I learned that he had just passed the bar after having taken it seven times. During the three months I took off of work I met with him one on one approximately 15 times for at most three hours a day. I had talked my employer into paying for this course for me which I was told could be broken down into payments so long as the final payment was made before the bar exam. By the time my last payment was due it was a week before the bar exam. Also during the week before the exam my employers brother died expectantly. causing him to go back to NY. That stupid place called me every day several times a day during the most stressful time of my life about a $1000 payment that I did not have as I had gone three months without a paycheck. They left terrible messages for me which included threats of reporting me to the bar despite the fact that it was my boss that signed the contract. This continued up and through the bar exam. The week following the bar exam my boss wrote a check for the final balance but of course the damage had already been done. In short, don't waste your money on this bar class.

Source: TeriMaxey

sharif

They don't teach you well, then they don't call you back

I didn't pass. I am a repeat taker. Scores were never so low. He sucks you in, because you are desperate and don't know what else to do. he takes advantage of your weakness, encourages you and says : great, continue to write like this, this is great!...

When you fail, you call him. He has his admin, email you: will call
you tomorrow to discuss your scores... like that for a total week.
NEVER calls you back.

Source: lucrel

TXMAX

I used NBR for CA bar and thought it was wonderful and worth every penny. I think the key is to do everything they tell you - which may mean studying 8-10 hours (or more) every day, along with exercise and good nutrition (yes, they even told me to stop studying and not call until I had a good work out). I never worked with the gentleman who is the primary owner, but the lady who is part owner was fantastic (not sure if she still works there). I appreciated that they have employees who have been bar graders and they had A LOT of good insight on key things to avoid if you don't want to fail the bar.

J.D.

I used National Bar Review for the California bar exam, paid over $6,000, and was extremely dissappointed for several reasons.

I did not have a personal one-on-one tutor:
Before hiring them, I met with Dan in person to ask about the program. I wanted a personal one-on-one tutor and Dan said he would be my tutor throughout the course. That was not the case. I saw different tutors throughout the course. The reason why I wanted a personal tutor was so that he could read my essays, get familiarize with my writing, and offer suggestions on how to improve my writing and get a passing score. The sub-tutors did not know my writing style, did not the topics Dan and I covered in prior meetings, and did not know my progress or work.

My essays were scored, paragraphs analysis not read
I expected him to read my essays - that's why I paid $6,000+. In the beginning he gave me scorese of 60-65 and then about 2 weeks before the bar he scored my essays 75-80's. I think he did this for one reason: to give me what I wanted to hear and see. I just wanted to write a passing essay during the exam. I did the work writing - about 60 essays and 10 PTs. I made sure he received them before our meeting. But, during our one-on-one meeting, we went over a few of my essays.

Meetings were not one hour long but less
My private tutorial meetings ended in less than one hour. Dan was always in a hurry or was always running late. I took the class in SF and he's from LA - so he flew in during the morning and flew out in the afternoon. I felt rushed.

MBE waste of time and waste of money
The $6,000 + tuiton included MBE tutoring. We never discussed MBEs during the meetings. In fact, he only brought up the MBEs in January. His technique was giving thick handouts and writing the answers on a blank piece of paper, circling the wrong answers and go over them.

Performance test waste of time and waste of money
Dan's idea of helping his students with the performance test was: conduct a a 3 hour meeting with all the students in the class, pizza provided, and go over one performance test with the rest of the class.

I didn't pass
I called him almost in tears when I didn't pass. I asked him if he could read my essays and tell me what I did wrong - since he was giving me 70-80 scores. He wouldn't help me unless I was willing to pay in full again.

They charged my credit card without my knowledge
So, I opted for installment charges. I waited to pay for the last installment after I took the bar but before I found out the result, because I was so annoyed about what happened during the course (see above). I wanted to talk about what happened - tutors, mbe, essays, and performance test. They charged my credit card without my permission/knowledge!!

raidermarc

I have and they were terrible. they said they would meet you and never show up.