Review of bar exam books and materials

I compiled a summary of all of the books and materials that I came across during the bar study process. I used old copies that were given to me by fellow law school students that graduated a year before me so I didn’t break the bank on these. My law school library also had copies of most of these books. Almost all of these materials are available used on Amazon, craigslist or ebay type sites.

The Bar Code Cheat Sheets in Action by Whitney E. Roberts: This was by far the most helpful book I used. It’s a bit pricey at just over $100.00 but it is a great investment. It is a book of essay templates, broken out by subject. The essays are fairly short so you can easily see the format of how each issue should be approached. By using this method, I didn’t have to second guess what issues should be discussed, the order of presenting the issues, and how to break out key elements. I particularly liked the head note style of writing. It uses a one or two word heading and short paragraphs for each analysis. I used this book to evaluate my essays and I wrote every single essay in this book. I carried this around everyday.

California Bar Exam Survival Kit by Jeff Adachi: This was my second go-to book. This is a great value for its cheap price of around $35.00. It is a very brief outline on the substantive law for each subject on the bar. If I was writing an essay or working on MBEs and had to look up the law on any issue, this was the quickest and easiest starting point. It is just high-level rules; it does not contain the subtler distinctions. The acronyms are a bit silly and difficult to remember but overall, the presentation is good. The idea is to break each subject down into “Law Charts” but I found that it was really just organized in a tiny outline form. Since it was so slim, I also carried it around everyday.

Bar Breaker Volumes 1 and 2 by Jeff Adachi: This set is a helpful essay-writing tool. I used it a lot in the beginning of round two at the bar. The books contain a step-by-step process on how to write an essay for each major issue covered on the bar. The essays and answers used here are the ones that are released by the bar committee. I found it helpful to see which issues need to be raised together and what order the discussion should follow. However, it was not as simple as the Cheat Sheets format as it doesn’t use head notes. On the other hand, there were far more essays per subject than Cheat Sheets so I was able to cover the subjects in more depth using this series. I didn’t have the patience to follow each step that the book sets out. I did find that the process was very helpful and I got a good feel for what the bar wanted for each issue.

Bar Secrets: An Essay Approach to the California-Specific Subjects and Bar Secrets: An Essay Approach to the Multistate Subjects by Dennis P. Saccuzzo and Nancy E. Johnson: These two books are a good resource for writing bar essays. I found that there was a mix of model answers written by the authors and student answers released by the bar committee. I tend to find that model answers are good to read for their content, flow, and analysis but they are not realistic in terms of what a student can write on the bar. I wrote many of the essays in this book. Overall, these two books were a helpful reference.

Bar Secrets: The California-Specific Subjects by Dennis P. Saccuzzo and Bar Secrets: The Multistate Subjects by Dennis P Saccuzzo: These two books set forth the substantive law for each subject covered on the bar. It uses a flow chart schematic to break each subject down to its basic elements. There are high-level outlines that contain the main issues at the beginning, which you are supposed to memorize first, then each additional chart breaks the issues down further and further. I remember actually visualizing parts of the chart on the bar when I was trying to remember the law. Since the rules are broken down into very small elements and one sentence rules, it was easy to memorize and a great quick reference during bar study.

Law in a Flash series by Kim Walton: This is a great series of flash cards to use while in law school but not so great to use during bar study. Each subject is sold separately and there are hundreds of cards for each subject. One side of the card has a fact pattern and question, the other side has the answer and an explanation. I used these with groups of friends during law school to break up the tension when we had long study sessions. The cards are designed to be funny; they use weird character names and have cutesy things like drink recipes. During law school, it is a good way to learn the law as each I remember the law better when placed in context. However, it is too much extraneous material to go through during bar study and it would waste way too much time for even a small section of cards.

Strategies & Tactics for the MBE (Multistate Bar Exam) by Kimm Alayne Walton: This is a great resource for MBE questions. The book is broken out by bar subject. Each section starts with a intro and summary of what makes each particular section difficult and tips and tricks for that section. The answers are helpful and it includes explanations of why an answer is correct or incorrect. The book includes specific words to watch for and explained how to analyze each type of question. This is the most helpful MBE review book that I used.

Strategies and Tactics for the Finz Multistate Method by Steven Finz: This book is a good compilation of MBE questions and strategies to approach the elimination process. The book sets the questions out by each subject and provides an analysis on how to approach the questions. I found the explanations helpful as well. This book was a good secondary resource after I had exhausted all of the questions in the Walton Strategies book above.

PMBR Multistate Workbook Volume 1 &2: These are the big red and blue books that everyone feels compelled to use for MBE practice. I went to the PMBR 3-day review and only used the books once or twice after that. PMBR was previously known for getting questions that had shown up on previous bar exams and students said that they recognized questions during the exam. Since the PMBR lawsuit, the bar committee is probably changing the type of questions to remove any advantage PMBR students had. The books were too large to carry around and I found that the questions were very difficult. It is probably the most comprehensive compilation of multiple-choice questions that I have seen.

PMBR Multistate CD Review: The PMBR cds are 6 cd recordings of substantive law lectures for the multistate subjects. The lectures are old but I found them useful. I listened to them on my ipod when I worked out or needed a break. I disliked the evidence lecture but loved the other lectures.

Fleming's Fundamentals of Law Sail Through Law School Exams with The Exam Solutions: There is a cd lecture and written outline for each bar subject. I used these during law school and occasionally during bar study. I also found the lectures to be a bit old but still mostly relevant and helpful. The outlines are a good high-level resource to answer questions if you are unsure in a particular area. I also listened to the cds on my ipod during down time.

Fleming's Fundamentals of Law Multistate Examination Workbook Volume 1 & 2: These MBE workbooks were helpful for additional practice questions. The books contains MBEs broken out by subject and there are answers and explanations for each question. This was a good secondary source for MBEs if you need additional practice.

Legal Education Conference Center (LECC) flash cards: The cards are only available used as its part of the LECC bar review course but the cards are fantastic. It will save you an incredible amount of time by not making your own cards. The law is broken down into very short statements, the law is accurate, and the cards make it very easy to memorize. The cards are comprehensive but at the same time, they do not provide too much extraneous information.

The Conviser Mini Review, California (Barbri): This book is only available used as it comes as part of the whole Barbari review course but I recommend getting a copy. It is a condensed version of outlines for each subject. It is still fairly large so it is difficult to memorize everything, but it was a great resource when I was unsure what the law was in a particular area.

Tim Tyler’s Nailing the Bar series: I had not used these books but I heard many great things about them. He has a book on each subject and a few books that cover several subjects. I particularly wanted to get the books that discuss how to write a con law essay since that was a weakness for me but I ran out of time and I had so many other resources that I never got around to it.

California Evidence: A Wizard's Guide by Gerald F. Uelmen: This was a good reference to learn California evidence law. It’s a short, easy to read, paperback that explains evidence law in California and only costs about $20.00. It was very helpful when I was practicing the transcript style questions as I didn’t have a trial practice class in law school and I was not sure what all of the appropriate objections were. I skimmed the whole thing in about 1 sitting and had a much better understanding of the law.

Federal & California Evidence Rules by Daivd W. Miller: This book is a great reference for the differences between California law and federal law. It has the federal law on one side of the page and then the California law is on the other side of the page so you can easily compare the differences in each law. I didn’t read through the book from cover to cover, but I used it to look up rules when I needed a better understanding of the differences.

I hope this helps! Please feel free to leave a comment if you used any other helpful materials that I did not mention.