BARBRIReviews of barbri.com

I have used BARBRI twice before (for the NY and MA bar) and always passed on the first try, so I really trusted the method and the approach. This, however, was the first time I doubted the efficacy and reliability of the material. What I liked: the bite-size lectures; the questions within the lectures to force us to learn actively; the good mix of lecture and quiz; the way earlier material was tested later to ensure that we didn't forget it; the learning pace and time left at the end to absorb it all. The BARBRI teaching method clearly works. What I didn't like: the material was not up to date, eg criminal law, trusts and estate (this is not acceptable); some new legislation appeared in the exam both morning and afternoon sessions (eg, The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 in constitutional law) that was not featured in the material at all (also not acceptable); some exam questions / answers were erroneous (not many thankfully, but there shouldn't be any), once you doubt the accuracy of the material, it makes learning that much more difficult; I found the exam MUCH harder than the mock exams provided, it was quite a shock to find out on the day of the exam, and it made it difficult to remain calm when realizing the order of magnitude by which the difficulty level was increased. But I passed both the FLK 1 and FLK 2 on the first try, and am grateful to BARRI for it because I used nothing else to prepare for it. Last point, I definitely walked into the exam (at least the first one) more confident than I should have been (my confidence was based on my scores in the mock exams) and I walked out of both exams wondering what hit me. In the end, I scored 65% and 59%. I know that the only thing that matters is to pass, but I didn't have that much margin for someone who completed the entire course and who did fairly well (around 75%) in the exam preps.

All is good except test qs which are easier than the real test

BARBRI was chosen by my employer and I did not have a choice, but I was not impressed. SQE 1 was alright, though patchy across subjects, and I was concerned they prep you for c.60% when the pass grade is 56-58%, leaving a sliver of a margin. But SQE 2 was a disaster - you arrive to the start of the course and they tell you it is a presumption that you know all law required for SQE 1 (see 60% comment above), and then they train you for how to take the exam, but even there they train you for some of the exercises, but not really the others (like CMA and Drafting - these were almost non-existent in BARBRI's course). I appreciate some of this is due to the SQE being new and the SRA not releasing much information and binding all takers with an NDA, but then the price for BARBRI's course, esp. SQE 2, is absolutely disproportionate to the value. When you read reviews for BARBRI - distinguish between US law reviews (there's a reason they're good there - the bar exam questions are released for tutors to improve their materials on) and UK law (SQE).

i am taking the sqe exam in Jan 2024. What if i dont pass this time and need to resit. Is the course materials still open for access online until my resit?

The course is structured, logical and easy to study - thank you for that. However, the mobile app is hell - it never works properly.

I leveraged the Barbri materials to the fullest but still felt unprepared. I needed a more strategic overview, especially toward the end as the bar approached. I resorted to paying for additional bar prep services more directed at this strategic summary approach.

The prepared multiple choice questions that Barbri offered were nothing similar to the mc questions on the actual UBE.

Lectures and preparation material was pretty good, as was the MEE testing material. But the practice questions for MBE were too focused on exceptions and did not mirror the style and/or subject material of the test-day questions.