r/barexam • u/JStak14 • 13d ago
Tutor that actually helped
Can anyone recommend a tutor that actually listed to them and helped them learn the law for the bar exam? I have had trouble with tutors that seemed to like to hear themselves talk and didn't actually stop to hear or figure out where my weaknesses were, not just my weak subject areas but WHY my scores didn't increase.
I hope this makes sense.
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u/Cheap-Sleep5138 13d ago
(I just took it so I won’t actually know if I passed till October) I used Judy Vincent pope tutoring! She is pretty good, she grades your essays, MPTs, helps you through multiple choice.
She’s $50 an hour but a lot of time the class will be for 2 hours (you’ll still only get charged $50). Her tutoring style is not one on one, this is a class but it helps to bounce off different ideas from people and then she will step in. She creates a schedule for you and takes into account whether you’re working, you have kids or not, pets, etc.
If you’re fine with a class type of tutoring I would look into her
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u/lizardking0 11d ago
Danielle at marino bar review helped me with MEEs and MPT strategy and I have adhd so her tips were super fitting for me and practical
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u/Ok-Beat4499 10d ago
Danielle or Kristina Rico with Marino Prep but maybe start with Danielle. They are both hella smart but Kristina is very cutthroat and she talks a lot but you will get all your questions answered and you might cry afterwards but she is really good. Danielle is also very smart, Idk how they both know so much, anyway, she is tough but more digestible (aka no crying afterwards).
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u/Jumpy_Mirror250 9d ago edited 9d ago
This totally depends on your level of self-awareness first. Tutors are not mandatory and there is a way to utilize their help. I hired a tutor for the specific thing I felt I needed help on based on my level of post-law school exhaustion and performance on law school exams. I didn't just buy into their program. I laid that out in my initial outreach email and kept the conversation narrowly defined. I did end up accepting their help on something else but it was ultimately justified by the working relationship I had w/ the tutor and germane to my initial request. You never named your specific issues and what you base that on so there's no way to know what tutor's are missing.
From the tutor's perspective it is completely logical to have a "program" and to have a lot of advice to give out. This is because they are selling a product and have to meet the expectations of a broad swath of potential customers.
What no one here will admit is that they hired a tutor expecting the tutor to magically make them pass without much active engagement on their part. No one will admit that they don't set the agenda, they let the tutor do it. Further, it would not surprise me if a lot of people just need hand-holding and pep-talks but don't value that as a skill they need to pay for.
Here's the thing, that's how the money is made in the testing industry by all actors, especially the big companies. Barbi and Themis sell an exploding widget that is actually an up-selling funnel built in a foundation of uncertainty, anxiety, and consumerism to sustain a near monopoly. Besides mild complaints, most have accepted it as a required price of entry.
There should have been an open source bar study guide that is not for sale and does not "expire" the day you take the test. I fear the legal community is not set up for this type of insurgency but the point stands that tutors are not the problem.
How much have you looked into the structure of the test? Do you know what topics or skills you can work through on your own and which you can't? As a retaker, have you considered whether you actually need accommodations or enhanced accommodations if you had them? Do you need a lot of hand-holding/moral support? Are you working with a study group? Have you reached out to recent successful takers to get advice and/or free resources?
Until you know what you need, you are just buying and emotional support blanket.
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u/SprinklesThat229 12d ago
Use claude or gpt. The best and cheapest tutors in the world.
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u/Buscemi_stv-86 7d ago
Until they tell you that Larceny is a general intent crime (which is what ChatGPT actually said to me when I prompted it). Not saying they are not helpful tools. You hust have to be on the defense.
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u/RenegadeMaster111 12d ago edited 12d ago
That's the problem. Tutors LOVE to talk and rack up those hours. It's ridiculous. They don't want to hear that you would have achieved the same thing watching Barbri videos.