CA Bar is not an IQ Test
The California Bar is a beast, and don’t let anyone tell you any different. The first time I took the bar, I used one of the most popular programs out there in the bar prep world. Don’t get me wrong, the program was professionally done and provided useful information for the California Bar. What you won’t hear however is that the people who use these programs often times use a third party for their bar prep in order to be better prepared for the essay portion. I was not in a position financially at the time to invest in these third parties in addition to the program I was enrolled in. I figured that if I worked harder than everyone else (which is hard and maybe even impossible to do) I would be ok.
What I didn’t fully appreciate until after I signed on with Steve Harris was that the bar exam is far less a measure of intelligence (plenty of people smarter than you will not pass the bar) and much more of a measure of “can you play the game effectively?” I unfortunately did not pass on my first attempt, and it came down to the fact that I didn’t understand what the bar examiners were really asking for on the essays. Fortunately, within minutes of us finding out that I didn’t pass, my wife immediately began looking for a tutor. I then joined her in the search, and I was lucky enough to find Steve. Steve kindly laid out the program and made me feel that he really did understand the pain that comes with not passing the bar.
Once I joined the program, his directions were simple: Stick to the schedule. That’s it. While Steve provides strategies that you certainly will not get from the bigger programs available (far more essay feedback, and more difficult MBE questions among other things), the real question is are you committed? I can tell you firsthand that this program is doable, and Steve truly is invested in your success. I was nowhere near the top of my law school class but guess what, I get to put Esq. at the end of my name. Bar passage is the result of hard work and effective strategy. If you complete this program you will have demonstrated hard work, and you will have effective strategy. I cannot recommend this man or his program enough. In conclusion, I simply did what Steve told me to do, and I passed the CA bar exam. – Penn State Dickinson alum, Esq., passed the February 2022 California Bar Examination