I know some people stumble upon this blog looking for some insight on how Kaplan is vs. Barbri... so I can give you what I've got so far... I HATE IT. Maybe its because I feel like the rep they have running it gives me a feeling like she lied to me to get me to pick this course and now is sliding in all of these other things that I swear weren't there before like "oh there will be some Saturdays" have turned into every single Saturday except two. And the fact that when I ask questions about this discrepancy I get an answer of "I don't like whiners." Whatever though, thats a personality thing, not something to do with the program.
As far as the program so far: Our syllabus is all fucked up. There are phantom things there in our "personalized" syllabi that shouldn't be there that they have recognized but haven't removed. This causes the days to remain unchecked... and for an anal retentive person like me... drives me utterly insane and causes me to recheck things thinking that I'm consonantly missing things. So thats annoying and not getting fixed apparently and is all over the syllabus which is supposed to be "personalized."
Another thing... that really gets to me... is today I went to take our first graded essay. At this time we've studied TWO subjects: Torts and Contracts. So I open up the file to look to see what I have to type to actually send in to be graded and what is the subject?? OHHHHH Agency. AGENCY?! Thats not even a core subject!!! I've never taken Agency!!! Sure, I should have taken it, but I didn't because I thought I would be taught it by my bar class that I paid through the nose for. So what, now they are deciding to test me on a subject that I've never ever even attempted to take and that isn't required... for my first EVER attempt to turn an essay into them. WONDERFUL.
FAIL.
There are positives about the program... I just don't feel like listing them right now. At this point I feel like my friends are happier taking the BarBri course than I am stuck in the Kaplan course. Take it for what it's worth.
Two things...
ReplyDeleteAbout your bar freakout... RELAX. It's happened to the best of us (mutliple times).
Secondly, I REALLY disliked the Kaplan material compared to the BarBri materials and that was just for MBE. Agency also matters. It's pretty much always on the Bar. If you had taken it with Walton you'd be feeling really good about it.
I hope Kaplan was ready to help people prepare for the bar on their own. But there is plenty of time so just follow the syllabus as best you can. You can do this!
to qualify: I said "thats not even a core subject" because that was the first time they were asking us to write an essay. Fine had they asked on Crim, because everyone has taken Crim, even if we haven't reviewed it, but to not review something and to give a question on a topic that isn't a core subject is not the fairest thing there is. Doesn't really set one up in a positive light.
ReplyDeleteI hate my Kaplan program so much. So many mistakes in the videos. Slides don't sync with lectures. Ohio distinctions videos are painfully hard to watch and listen to. Every other video I watch is out of focus. It seems like there was absolutely zero thought put into editing, post production and quality control. I expected more the $$$ I paid and as a past educator, I pretty pissed off at this test prep company.
ReplyDelete