The first time I met with Steven, I explained to him that I was a husband and father of three young children. We discussed my schedule and Steven created a realistic and very complete study schedule, that took into account my own personal strengths and weaknesses. I must say, going into that first meeting I had no idea what my strengths and weakness even were, but Steven zeroed in on them incredibly quickly. After that first meeting, I knew that Steven had the keys to passing the Bar Exam. All I had to do was learn what Steven had to teach, and follow his methods as if they were the only way to take the Bar Exam.

As the weeks of studying progressed, my confidence grew. Then, life stepped in. My wife and I stumbled across the perfect house we had long been looking for. I knew that Steven had told me to avoid getting involved with just this sort of distraction, so I didn’t tell him about it. I probably should have, but I didn’t. I did, however, manage to keep up with Steven’s study schedule.

Steven’s program and methods are fantastic. When I took the Bar Exam, I knew exactly what I had to do. When I saw the first three way cross-over ever on that Bar Exam, I knew exactly what it was and exactly what I had to do. And when the realtors and banks decided that the closing on my home purchase had to be in the evening on the second day of the Bar Exam(!!!), the foundation that Steven had provided allowed me to confidently close on my house. Needless to say, I passed the California Bar Exam.

It is without reservation that I recommend Steven to you. It is without reservation that I tell you I would be taking the Bar Exam again if it were not for Steven Harris.

Regards,

Justin Zahrt, Esq., passed the California Bar Examination

I couldn’t have passed the bar without Steve. I know this because I failed three times before I met him, and then my wife had our first child (a month early) while I was studying. Steve managed to schedule in some time off so I could be with my wife and new son, and I still passed. Steve gives you two things that traditional bar courses do not:

(a) Steve tells you HOW to write essays and performance tests. It’s not enough to know the law; there are secret rules that the traditional bar course don’t tell you, but Steve does.

(b) Steve tells you how much work you really need to do to pass, and he keeps you on track. Quite simply, the traditional bar courses don’t.

Steve has my highest recommendation for anyone taking the exam, even for the first time.

Hi Steven,

Well, thanks to you and your PT class last summer, I passed the July 07 bar and now work for this small international business law firm in Lafayette. I am doing exactly what I set out in law school to do–before the Bar got in the way, twice. I guess the third time’s the charm!

Congrats on your book! I am going to recommend it to my colleague who is going to law school next year. I really think putting your mind in bar mode, and getting accustomed to Bar-like outlines, from your first year of law school will really help both on LS exams and in the Bar later on.

I have some friends who are getting their results back at the end of the month. I will be sure to refer them to you if they don’t get on the Pass list.

Take care,

Jon

Steven,

Thank you for the congrats. I’m still pinching myself to make sure I am not dreaming. I started law late, 48 when I went to paralegal school and in my 50’s when I started law school and now 58, after an injury in a previous job.

You can use anything I say as an endorsement of your books. I honestly feel using both books made my 8th attempt successful and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you for writing them. Anything I can do for you, anytime, just email me.

My first exam I took Barbri and Micromash and exam 2-7 I looked at everything, other people’s outlines, Adachi, you name it I looked at it. I think what I was doing was making it harder than it had to be. I spent more time looking for stuff then I did actually being productive. The 7th time I ordered both WINNIN’ TIME! and The Trigger List. Yeah I glanced at them but I did not really look at them.

The 8th time I reviewed Barbri (the big books) and used your books exclusively to prepare. The combination of both books was an invaluable asset. I went to the Bar site and downloaded past exams, read the questions and then reviewed the information contained in both books.

WINNIN TIME! gives you short, concise explanations of the law, ones that I incorporated into my responses to essay questions. I used the The Trigger List to double check issues I might have missed and in what combination issues were tested.

Both books are affordable, especially when compared to some of the more expensive and less useful books out there, and invaluable.

Thank you Steven.

James L. Miller, Esq., passed the California Bar Examination

I come from an unknown, local CBA law school. The past few years of bar exams had produced low (28- 30%) passage rates from alumni of my school. It is no secret, especially from those who read the statistics about passing, that CBA schools, and those who graduate from them, have a much lower success rate than their ABA counterparts. This frightened me. I knew that if I wanted to do this once, I needed to do this right. After expressing this concern, I received a glowing recommendation from a former student of Steve’s. At that point I knew that if I didn’t use Steve, and I failed, I would never forgive myself. So, I signed up.

I religiously followed Steve’s schedule. I knew that the MBE’s were going to be difficult. I read through The Trigger List and made sure to understand the rules it was laying out for me. I would go over my wrong, and sometimes my right, answers with those rules. It cemented concepts that I wasn’t sure about.

Then there were the essays. I knew that this was where the battle had to be won. WINNIN’ TIME!, and the essay review Steve gave, got me through this exam. WINNIN’ TIME! offers clear, broken-down rules. They are essay ready and couldn’t be easier to understand. It also gives great advice on how to review past essays and understand where/how to spot issues. The critiquing I received from Steve topped this all off. He gave clear scores, showed where I missed issues (big ones and little ones) and explained how I could improve.

Lastly, and maybe the best aspect of this program and the books, is confidence. Reading WINNIN’ TIME! and The Trigger List gave me the opportunity to easily digest what was coming at me in this short period of time. And with Steve’s criticisms, I knew the mistakes I would never make again.

Because of Steve and his materials, I walked into the bar exam and knew that no matter what the outcome, I did everything I could to pass. And I did!

Heather Rubino, Esq., passed the California Bar Examination

I mistakenly thought that my law school coursework and a bar prep course along with months of study were enough to pass the bar exam. Although I was familiar with Steven Harris’ books, WINNIN’ TIME! and The Trigger List, I did not consider them to be primary sources for bar study until I failed the bar exam on my first attempt. At that point, I hired Steven as a tutor, and everything changed. Throughout the two-and-a-half-month tutorial, I threw out all of my outlines and rules, and used only those in WINNIN’ TIME! Because of the format of the book, I quickly learned to streamline my issue and rule statements, making them uniform and automatic. The book also includes some “boilerplates” in selected subjects (Evidence, Professional Responsibility, Property, and Civil Procedure), which are strictly guided sections that tend to be the same regardless of the particular question call and, thus, can be memorized in full before the exam. Learning these streamlined rules and boilerplates then freed up much valuable time for issue spotting and analysis during the actual exam, not to mention the vast increase in confidence.

The tutorial includes the Essay Review Week, which is clearly outlined and self-explanatory in The Trigger List. I recommend that anyone taking the bar exam (or even individual course exams) follow this plan; it is enormously empowering because it forces you to see multiple, but limited, possibilities in fact patterns and question calls. It truly makes an otherwise intimidating universe smaller and more manageable. I wish I had realized its value on my first try, but I was still thinking that it was an “extra” for which I had no time. I could not have been more wrong.

In addition to these two widely available books, the tutorial included a custom-designed study schedule, weekly private meetings, and access to Steven Harris’ recently-developed materials on MBEs and PTs that also proved greatly valuable. He is easily accessible during the process, and his feedback on essays and PTs was phenomenal—sometimes as much as ten pages of commentary. The program is comprehensive and complete in and of itself. Steven is like a benevolent master: strict, keeping you focused and accountable, but always with unwavering support and encouragement. Following this plan completely and exclusively, I passed on my second try, making up over 150 points. I could not have done it without Steven Harris’ tutorial and accompanying materials. I only wish I had appreciated the materials that were available to me on my first attempt.

I have been working in education for over 30 years, and I have no reservations in saying that this plan is pedagogically sound as well as unique. If one is serious about passing the bar exam, Steven Harris’s books and tutorial plans are well worth any price. — Ellen Eggers, Esq., passed the February 2011 Cal Bar Exam

Attention all Attorney Applicants for the California Bar Exam!!!! Don’t worry any longer…Steve Harris has created the perfect method to allow attorneys to pass the California Bar Exam. I passed the February 2012 attorney applicant exam. This was my fourth attempt after practicing for 11 years. Let me briefly tell you the road I took to get here and add my testimonial to the others as to why WINNIN’ TIME! and The Trigger List were my keys to success.

In December 1999 I graduated from the University of Santa Clara School of Law. Santa Clara is ABA approved but I did not take advantage of anything that the school had to offer. As a full-time student I worked full-time in a law office and rarely studied. I did just enough to pass my classes. Having never failed a class or test in my life I thought I could walk into the bar exam and pass—even if just barely.

How wrong I was! I believe I bought a used set of Barbri books from a former Santa Clara student. I studied them pretty rigorously, but nothing near the amount that those who pay for Barbri or a similar course do. I sat for the February 2000 California Bar Exam. Needless to say I failed. I barely failed, but I still failed. I am sure that I was a disgrace to Santa Clara . My life seemed to stop.

I immediately signed up for the July 2000 exam. This time I did not study at all thinking that I was so close before that I would for sure pass this time. Wow, how arrogant! I learned very dramatically, when I got my second rejection letter, that the California Bar Exam is not for the ill-prepared. Once again my life was in turmoil. I did not know what to do.

An opportunity arose to move to Oregon for a new job in the legal field. This seemed like the answer because I would have time to study and rumor had it that the Oregon Bar Exam was easier than California ’s. I studied well. Still only from my old used Barbri books. Chalk it up to luck, and now some experience in taking the test twice, I passed the Oregon Bar Exam. I opened up my office and never looked back.

Flash forward to January 2011. Another opportunity arose to expand my practice but this time I would need a California license. And to my dismay California and Oregon do not have reciprocity. So that I meant I would have to take the California Bar Exam again. All the horrific memories began to resurface of my failures a decade earlier. Could I really subject myself to this torture again? The opportunity was calling, but the gloom of potential failure was almost tangible. The biggest concern I had was now as a practicing attorney I had very little time to dedicate to studying for the exam. It wasn’t like when I was a student, a lot younger, with a small family, and very few demands on my time.

Impulsively I signed up for the test. I know, crazy! My thinking was if I sign up then I will force myself to get a return on my investment. I will find the time to study.

I quickly bought up a bunch of guides I found online. I would list them here but the titles really are not relevant. They each gave their secret to success. I printed off all of the past exam questions and answers I could find. I began to overwhelm myself with methods and strategies. I spent most of my time looking for study tricks instead of spending the time answering the nagging voice in the back of mind that what I really needed was to spend time memorizing. I hate memorizing. I thought that there had to be a way to pass this test without memorizing everything. Heck, my mind just doesn’t memorize like it used to.

So I am sad to say I failed the third time I took the California Bar Exam. Here are my scores: Q1 55; Q2 60; Q3 55; Q4 50; Q5 50; Q6 55; PTA A 70; PTA B 60. Grand total was 1360.1961. Don’t ask me what that all means. I just know it was bad. I was really embarrassed. Didn’t all my years of practicing law mean anything? Why couldn’t I pass this darn exam? I am lucky that I had a good life in all other respects otherwise this failure might have really made me depressed.

Instead, a new feeling emerged in me—anger. I was angry at myself for all my prior follies. And angry at the exam and its writers. In my fit of anger I signed up for the February 2012 exam.

The next day I woke up wondering what I was doing. This was insanity! Why keep taking a test that I would not study for expecting to pass? Because I was a good person?

Now the plug for Steve Harris…I probably would have repeated my failures if it were not for something I consider miraculous now, finding WINNIN’ TIME! and The Trigger List. Finally, books that made sense. The perfect mix of strategy and comprehensive, memorizable study materials. I loved how Steve made the definitions into opening sentences for my paragraphs. And I finally saw the forest from the trees. I could see how I should put down the definition and then follow it with sentence after sentence of “Here, this element is not met because…”

I know without a doubt that I never would have passed in February if it were not for WINNIN’ TIME! That book was my life saver. I could handle three hundred or so pages of material that was absolutely relevant. (I only wish there were boiler plate answers for more than just Evidence and Professional Responsibility) And The Trigger List really works. I loved the spotted issues with their corresponding triggers. I could now look at an exam question and almost see all the triggers in my mind.

I admittedly went into the February 2012 exam thinking that I was still going to fail. I mean I had confidence in Steve’s methods, but failure breeds the feeling of further failure. But after day one of the exam I felt something completely different. I now thought that I did pretty well. I kicked myself when I realized that I missed an easy Organizational Standing issue in Con Law. But I knew that I was close based on my now well-founded understanding of WINNIN’ TIME! and The Trigger List. Like I said I could clearly see Steve’s books in my mind while I took the exam. The second day was a breeze and I know that I really nailed it.

So now I can close this chapter on my life. I have exorcised the demon of the California Bar Exam. And I attribute it all to WINNIN’ TIME! and The Trigger List. I am a Steve Harris convert. Now to tackle my next demon—my waistline. Best of luck on passing the exam. I know that you can do it with Steve’s help. Damian M. Idiart, Esq. – passed the February 2012 California Bar Examination

When I found out I didn’t pass the July California Bar, I couldn’t shake the feelings of embarrassment and disappointment. As a father of three small kids, I didn’t know how I was going to find the time and energy necessary to study. To add insult to injury, I knew that my chances of passing the bar decreased with each additional attempt. I honestly considered giving up — more than once. I knew I needed something miraculous to help me overcome the odds. I needed some way to study more efficiently.

A friend who had been a repeater and then passed, recommended that I contact Steven. I was skeptical at first, but when my friend showed me the WINNIN’ TIME! book, and Steven’s other materials, I knew I had found my miracle. Steven and I had our first conversation Thanksgiving morning. I could tell within the first minutes of talking to him that he had the knowledge and experience to help me pass. Furthermore, with his coaching I felt like the bar exam was a conquerable foe. He took the time to create a custom plan for my particular circumstances that allowed me to prepare to pass the exam, without missing out on sharing the Holidays with my family.

Even though studying for the exam is never an easy process, with Steven’s guidance, I felt much more confident that what I was studying would be converted into points on the bar exam. His PR, Evidence, Civ Pro and Property Boilerplates are point generating machines! For me the best part was Steven’s unique approach to the Performance Test. His advice and explanations turned what was once a source of anxiety to me, to the portion of the exam I looked forward to the most.

Plain and simple, Steven’s methods unlock the mystery of the California Bar Exam. When I learned that I had passed the February exam after using Steven’s methods, there was no doubt in my mind that it was his guidance that had given me the edge to pass. — Nick Anderson, Esq., passed the February 2011 California Bar Examination, McGeorge alum

Steven Harris’ The Trigger List is a very high-level study guide that will definitely help you with passing the California Bar. The book alone is very much like a personal tutor because it shows you how to look at the test from a completely different perspective. When I first bought this book I was slightly skeptical but after completing the Essay Review Week I realized what a huge benefit it was. Not only does it teach you to think on a different level about the exam but it forces you to review a huge number of exams so that you understand the entire subject as it has been tested over the past 20 years. You will be amazed at what you find out after reading this book.

MBE Primers And Flowcharts makes taking the MBE much easier. MBE Primers and Flowcharts demystifies the subtle nuances between questions and clearly states what to look for and what will be the right answer. I personally looked at one subject a day for a month before the bar and when I finally got to the test the MBE section was much clearer and I understood what to look for in each question. Steven also gives some great tips as to what to look for and what to be careful of on the MBE section of the bar. This is a great book for MBE section and will improve your score.