bar exam | Advocate's Studio

Remember that $1,000 iPhone app from BarMax (link here) that contains an entire Bar review course on your iDevice? Well, guess what? It’s actually turning a profit (hard not to do – simply sell one or two apps), and BarMax is expanding into New York State. While $1,000 ($999.99 actually) seems a hefty price tag, consider it a megabyte of information for each dollar spent – there is literally half a Gigabyte ton of information packed into the application. Apparently, the app is averaging a 4.5 star rating, which is not too shabby by App Store standards, even without considering the price effect. According to the TechCrunch article, BarMax will be adding Illinois, Texas, and Florida to the mix in the short run and in the slightly longer run, a built-from-the-ground-up iPad version. The great numbers (#6 in What’s Hot, #36 in top grossing) don’t even take into account downloads of the free ethics exam review.

So long, BarBri. Hello, BarMax!

Would you pay $999.99 for an iPhone app? How about an iPhone app that includes a full Bar prep course for approximately 1/4 to 1/3 less than the full-on, in-person BarBri course? BarMax CA, (link here), currently the most expensive application in the App store, is brought to you by Mike Ghaffary of TrialPay. The app is more than a gigabyte in size and is loaded with Bar prep features. Included are hordes of pages of review material, hundreds of hours of audio lectures and the ability to review the entire course via your iPhone. Furthermore, as part of the app, you can request the supporting paperwork from the various sections to be sent to you from BarMax.

As can be seen from the name, BarMax CA is for the California Bar, which includes multi-state, state essay and ethics portions of the test. BarMax intends to develop apps for other states and is also plannnig to offer a discounted ($500) version that includes the multi-state portion only.

BarBri also has a free Bar prep app, but you must be enrolled in the BarBri course to access the content.

What do you think? Could you study for the Bar exam using only your iPhone / iPod Touch? Are the classroom and paper elements necessary? I am a bit old school here and think I might need that human interaction in order to “get it.” However, I am not of the generation that grew up with on-line course work. Maybe BarMax is the wave of the future of education.

Hat tip to Techcrunch.