Bar Breaker Vol. 1 and 2 (Set) [Paperback]

Jeff Adachi (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 1121 pages
• Publisher: Survival Series Publishing Co.; 2 edition (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882278046
• ISBN-13: 978-1882278046
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.7 x 3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #436,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Past BAR questions/answers in book form w/ writing strategy., January 12, 1999

By 

David Stager (West Hampstead, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bar Breaker Vol. 1 and 2 (Set) (Paperback)

The book is written by a San Francisco Public Defender, past bar exam grader and essay exam writer. He organizes numerous past bar exam essay questions in two volumes. He provides a strategy for organizing and solving the 13 essay topics and provides comprehensive model answers. The book demands an active learning approach and explains how an essay is graded by the Bar Examiners. If you want to know what's expected of you to pass the essay portion of the exam, this is the book. However, it can be discouraging to see how smoothly an experienced attorney can dissect questions even the best law students would stumble over. It just goes to show again that the most important thing I learned in law school was how stupid I really was and how much I had to learn.

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All you need to pass explained here., November 30, 2004

By 

Frank S. Capwell "Frank Capwell" (Orange, Ca) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bar Breaker Vol. 1 and 2 (Set) (Paperback)

You can ask me questions at frankcapwell at hotmail if you have any questions about this. Many people rolled their eyes at me when I told them I read NO outlines, wrote NO outlines, made NO cards, or did any kind of painful manual labor. I trusted in Adachi.

I passed on my first try, and to be honest, the examination was not what I hoped it to be, a let down of sorts because it simply failed to challenge me. Why? Because I studied smarter, not harder.

Have faith in Adachi's system. You will feel like it's not enough, but don't believe the hype. It is exactly what you need, so of course you will feel like you are not doing enough if you do what I did:

Everyday for a couple months I typed out multiple essays (5 at the most, 2 at the least depending on whether I needed to go over certain areas of law I missed) from the two volume Bar Breaker Series, I did ONLY AND ALL of the MBE questions from PMBR and Adachi, and reviewed the bar exam survival kit (yes it's outlines, but it works with this two volume set wonderfully and is laid out in the actual way you will write the essay itself, so your memorization will actually be useful) and I reviewed the bar cards at my leisure, which helped me learn community property and wills and trusts.

And to be honest, if I did not know the law, I would copy the model answer verbatim after carefully reading and trying to outline the question. So there is no excuse to not keep moving forward.

Towards the end, I could sit in a Carls Jr during the lunch rush and do 200 questions straight with no breaks in 2 hours and get 82% correct and TYPE out three essays in less than 2 hours.

That's it--because ALL I did was what I would be doing on the day of the examination thanks to Adachi.

Here is ALL I had at my fingertips, anymore than this spells failure (which I saw first hand, and I'm still bummed my good friend failed):

All PMBR books--red, blue and green

And

The entire Adachi System: Volumes I and II (A GOLD MINE), bar cards, Survival Kit, and the awesome MBE survival kit.

And the Adachi Essay Book, Bar Bri edition, that was a GOLD MINE too! It includes scored essays from 50 to 85 or so, giving you a glimpse into what you need to do and not do, I recommend that book towards the end if you can find one.

That is ALL you need to pass. I repeat, THAT IS ALL YOU NEED. THROW EVERYTHING ELSE AWAY if you already have the above mentioned items.

With Adachi, you are in a perpetual state of execution after you read the first 80 pages. If you are in a state of execution, and stay out of the comforting, but wasteful, state of preparation (making outlines and cards, trying to find an easier less painful way to do it, wasting time on the internet), you will pass. By the way, after you get Adachi's materials, I hope you stay away from the internet until after the examination--if you want to pass that is.

Best Regards,
Frank Capwell, Esq.

p.s. and for those who preach "everyone learns differently" like a mantra, remember that "everyone" will be doing the exact same thing and half of everyone is going to fail. It's doing it Adachi style that makes you a passer, regardless of learning styles.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only Essay Book You Need!, January 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Bar Breaker Vol. 1 and 2 (Set) (Paperback)

I used these two volumes as a second time taker of the California Bar Exam. On my first attempt all but three of my essay scores were not passing. After focusing my attention on the process taught in these volumes I can say that I felt confident the second time and I attribute my success to it.

For those of you who are having trouble on the essay portions buy this book and keep to the scheduale. Although the scheduale is demanding the results are well worth it.