Is the 3-day PMBR review worth it? It depends

A lot of people at this stage of the race are asking whether PMBR's 3-day review is worth it. Even the guys over at Blogging the Bar wonder whether it is worth it. Here is my response.

First, the PMBR 3-day is crap. It is at least as bad as the Barbri 3-day, and is probably harder. I say that because they self-proclaim it to be, and I have no reason to doubt it. Hence the 36-point curve (after dropping, as they put it, 20 or so "gimme" questions). According to the answer book, the average on the PMBR 3-day is 94 or 95, but I think if you take it later in the summer, it is closer to Barbri's 3-day average of 110. Likewise, the Barbri practice test in the drills book, as well as the PMBR blue blue book MBE probably is easier, and I suspect the second Barbri mbe curve is comparable to PMBR's 25 point one.

If you were well above (or even slightly above) the 110 average on the test, you may consider spending your time studying for the essays. Likewise, if you sat through Barbri's 3-day review, PMBR's is probably not that much different and for the point or two you may gain, your time may be better spent doing something else (including reviewing your answers on your own. My personal thoughts having sat through it until the first break can be found here. The reverse would apply if you have Barbri's 3-day before PBMR's. (and yes, PBMR is funnier to say than PMBR).

If you were below average or didn't do quite as well as you wanted, that's okay. In this case, I would say that you may want to sit through the lecture and try and absorb some of their tricks and tips. If you can see why you got what you got wrong, then that's half the battle on the assumption that these questions are mildly similar to the real thing.

If, like my friend in Florida who is taking it next week and is worried about his time management with the finish line so close, you are also worried that the PMBR 3-day review will be a gigundo (or ginormous as it is) waste of time, you can always go to it and play it by ear. As I've stated many times over the past two months, PMBR's already won by taking your money. They could care less whether you attend their lecture or not. If I had more monopolistic powers like Barbri (or PMBR since they have sort of colluded on the whole scheduling around each other thing), I would operate the same sort of business plan. It's nearly as good as convincing everyone that a 50 cent cup of coffee is worth $3.

My final thoughts on whether PMBR is worth it or if Barbri (or Micromash or Pieper) is enough will come after the bar. As I have stated many times, I think if you have had decent grades in law school and are disciplined to study on your own, the bar review course should be plenty and if it comes with the barbri problems, those should be plenty. If you are hurting for more problems, you can avoid all of PMBR's lectures by buying the books on ebay sometime in December or early May. More on that in August.

Lastly, what does it take to get listed on some of these other legal blogs? In particular, and in addition to Blogging the Bar (which has been added to my side list by the way), I would like to be added to the blog roll at Above the Law and Top Law Student.com for starters (or at least its bar exam blogs link).

Tags: pmbr 3-day, should i take the pmbr 3-day, should i do the pmbr review, pmbr 6-day, pmbr, barbri, law blogs, studying for the bar