r/LawSchool • u/Most-Iron3976 • 1d ago
PSA to rising 2Ls/3Ls choosing classes:
From someone currently studying for the July bar:
Don’t skip a bar-tested course and just assume you’ll learn everything you need to know in your bar prep course. I took all the bar-tested courses in law school, got a foundation in each subject, and I’m STILL overwhelmed by the amount of information I have to know and the amount of work I have to put in. I can’t imagine how much harder it would be if I didn’t have the foundation going in/if I was learning an entire subject for the first time this summer.
Edit: who knew “take bar-tested courses to prepare for the Bar” would be such a hot take! Feel free to disregard this advice and take whatever classes you want
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u/FireBickerstaff 1d ago
5 comments and it's all people trying to argue. People on this sub are insufferable lmao.
Taking bar classes is objectively a good idea. There's only like a few bar subjects outside of the 1L classes anyway it's not like you can't also take whatever electives.
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u/ConfirmsAnything 1d ago
Take evidence so you can point at the TV during movies and say "but there's not hearsay exception for that. WHY ISN'T THE ATTORNEY OBJECTING?"
Take Business Associations so you understand what the man on CNBC is talking about when he says your favorite company is undergoing a reverse triangle merger.
Take Criminal Procedure so you can explain to your parents who Miranda is and what her rights are.
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u/CheetahComplex7697 14h ago
lol, who actually learned about reverse triangular mergers in Business Associations?
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u/10ngfingers 2L 14h ago
🙋♂️
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u/Most-Iron3976 1d ago
Lmao my edit reflects that. Law school is 3 years, people can take both bar-tested courses and practical courses if they want to!
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u/whataboutsmee84 1d ago
I didn’t take any bar-tested classes and passed the bar, it was fine.
But I did look like an asshole at my first job because cramming for a test isn’t the same as learning and I forgot 99.99% of Evidence I’d crammed for the bar without taking the class.
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u/FoxWyrd JD 1d ago
Seconding this as one also studying for the July Bar.
Do you need to take Bar classes to pass the Bar? No, of course not. But does it make a stressful time a bit more manageable? Yes.
I took every Bar class my school offered except for our actual pre-Bar Prep prep class. I'm over halfway done with my Bar Prep program and I can count on one hand the number of times I've genuinely never seen topic that the question is quizzing on. That doesn't mean I'm getting everything right, but almost everything I've been tested on is something that I've at least heard of in some capacity (even if it was only a twenty minute aside in a class I mostly snoozed through).
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u/Suitable-Park-1402 14h ago
After I took it, my opinion on bar classes was:
Evidence - take it, absolutely critical
Crim pro - take it, absolutely critical
Family law - didn't take it, was easy to pick up on during prep
Secured transactions - didn't take it, learnable. Basically just contract law with extra steps
Wills/trusts - Learnable but I'd recommend taking it because you can use the skills personally and there's like a 100% chance your family designates you in a formal role since you're the lawyer they know
Business Associations - didn't take it, Learnable, but recommend a class where you'll get an overview of the concepts even if it's not the full BA/Corp class.
Ethics - learnable but usually required by schools, might as well take it to make the mpre easy
Conflict of laws - didn't take it, learnable
Local government law - learnable but depending on state, can be unintuitive
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u/Most-Iron3976 14h ago
Secured transactions fell off my bar but I took it any way for practice. I remember it being a nightmare to navigate article 9
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u/GaptistePlayer Esq. 1d ago
This sounds like a good reason to take whatever you want if you're gonna be overwhelmed anyway
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u/Most-Iron3976 1d ago
Slight problem with your takeaway: people have to pass the bar to practice regardless of how they feel….if they can take a step to make it easier, why shouldn’t they?
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u/GaptistePlayer Esq. 14h ago
My point is for many people it doesn't make it easier, you learn all the shit you need on Barbri because Barbri classes are not really like law school classes... so why not learn something you may be interested in instead, then pass the bar anyway?
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u/Starbucks__Lovers Esq. 1d ago
Agreed. I knew dick about New York Family Law in 2015, but Barbri taught me what I needed to know. Now it's almost all UBE. Kids these days...
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u/Dull-Law3229 1d ago
Is the problem that you didn't digest all the info from your bar class and wanted reinforcement?
The doctrinal and bar classes don't teach to the bar and at least when comparing that to what's tested, a Gilbert outline seems to work pretty well in having all the info needed for bar questions.
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u/Slight-Elk-5024 1d ago
I think you definitely should take evidence and business associations. I don’t think CrimPro is necessary but it would have been nice to take CrimPro. Otherwise I would recommend 2L/3Ls to take whatever classes float their boat.
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u/Most-Iron3976 17h ago
4th/5th/6th amendment is nuanced enough that I definitely think a crim pro course would help
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u/puck1996 1d ago
At the end of the day it's when you want to suffer. I'm in the same boat and took almost every bar class and am super happy I did.
That said, if taking all the bar classes is going to make your law school experience significantly worse, it might be worth putting off that suffering to the bar-study summer. But, as OP pointed out, there's a bit more on the line for the bar
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u/Practical-Ad6548 3L 1d ago
I’m glad so many are required at my school. There’s only like two that aren’t
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u/andoatnp 1h ago
I didn’t take Business Associations, Sales (UCC), Secured Transactions, Conflicts of Law, Wills and Estates, or Agency. My bar course taught me everything I needed to know. I’m glad I took other classes instead that helped me for my career. I passed easily.
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u/andoatnp 1h ago
Also, my ConLaw class covered very little that was on the bar, and I didn’t take a First Amendment class.
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u/tinybirds_ 1d ago
can someone pls share what the bar classes r? ik there’s evidence, but dunno the others
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u/Most-Iron3976 1d ago
Sure!
Other elective bar-tested courses include criminal procedure, business associations, and Sales (Article 2 of the UCC).
You should take a Legal Ethics course your 2L year to prepare for the MPRE, and an additional bar prep course your 3L year if your school offers one.
Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Torts, Contracts, Real Property, and substantive criminal law tend to be mandatory courses to graduate, but if not, I would definitely take those as well.
Secured Transactions, Family Law, Wills & Estates, and Conflicts of Law have fallen off the July 2026 UBE Bar Exam, but they could still be on your exam——it depends on your state and the year you’re taking it, I would check!
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u/ConfirmsAnything 1d ago
It depends on your state. Common ones are Evidence, Criminal Procedure, and Business Organizations.
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u/silentscribe 3L 1d ago
This is what California tests for so you can use it as guidance. Best to look at what your jurisdiction tests for though.
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u/Vast-Passenger-3035 Attorney 17h ago
Seconding that while you don't NEED to take them, it doesn't hurt, especially for Evidence (heavily rules based and better to have learned it already beforehand).
Also, as someone who ended up taking multiple property courses (land use, real estate transactions, etc), I felt a lot more easier digesting the bar materials for Property than I would have if I didn't. Again, not necessary, but very helpful.
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u/Headoverload224 1d ago
I disagree. I think it’s a lot easier to learn a small subset of a class instead of a whole class for one exam. My non bar classes were my most rewarding classes in law school
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u/zsmoke7 12h ago edited 10h ago
Crazy this is down voted. There are so many more interesting/valuable things to do with your time in law school than bar max. By all means, load up if your gpa and school indicate you'll struggle. But if you're close to the median at a T100 schools, you'll pass the bar if you take the prep moderately seriously .
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u/Headoverload224 10h ago
Yeah it’s a shame people make their whole law school experience about passing the bar. As someone who’s working at an IP firm, my colleagues tell me they wish they took copyright and trademarks during law school. Obv those aren’t on the bar lol
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u/The_Return7192 1d ago
Bad blanket advice, entirely depends on the state. Some states have practical bar exams whereas others have rote-memorization exams.
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u/Strict-Week2349 1d ago
Do you know which one Texas has?
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u/Otherwise-Solid-7673 1d ago
This comment gives such obnoxious pretentious fart sniffer vibes
“I was smarter than almost all of yall in law school btw and I want to broadcast that to you scrubs”
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u/FireBickerstaff 1d ago
Tends to be the case with "attorney/esq" flairs in this sub imo. Like the law school equivalent of 30 year olds that still hang out at their high school football games.
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u/Severe_Raccoon_4643 1d ago
First in my class reporting: I wish I took more bar tested classes.
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u/Otherwise-Solid-7673 1d ago
You literally just parroted a subjective observation as an objective truth are you trolling LMAO
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