A year ago I mentioned BarMax, a bar review app for the iPhone. At $999.99 it was the most expensive app on the App Store (I don’t think that Apple lets you price any app higher than that) but compared to the cost of other bar review courses, that price is reasonable. And for that price, you don’t just get an app; the developer also sends you a packet with hundreds of pages of materials for your computer. There are versions for the California Bar Exam, the New York Bar Exam and the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE). The MBE version is only $499.99.
I mention this app today for two reasons. First, I see that there is now an iPad-specific version of the California version of BarMax, so aspiring attorneys won’t strain their eyes as much looking at the small iPhone screen during that stressful time.
Second, I see that there is a also free MPRE version of the BarMax iPhone app, so if you are a law student or an attorney taking a bar exam in a different state, you can try out the MPRE app to decide whether you like it. I took a look at this app, and it works well. From the main menu, you can choose to listen to a lecture, answer real practice MPRE questions from past exams, or Flash Cards.
When you listen to a lecture, you see an outline of the lecture on the screen (for which you can adjust the font, font size, colors, etc.). There are controls to play/pause, skip back 30 seconds, etc. Unlike the BarBri iPhone app that I reviewed last year, the BarMax app only provides you audio. With the BarBri app, you need to download the lectures, but you have a choice of downloading audio or video. With rare exceptions, the BarBri instructors did not use visual aids, so it was never necessary to watch a person speaking. Having said that, it was nice to have the option to see a person talking; with BarMax, you can only listen.
For the multiple choice questions, you are presented with the question, you tap an answer, and then you are told whether you are right or wrong.
The BarMax MPRE app doesn’t explain why the answers are right or wrong. However, I see that the other BarMax apps (the ones that you have to pay for) do provide explanations for the different choices. One nice feature of the BarBri app that seems to be missing from BarMax is that for BarBri, each multiple choice answer is linked back to the outline, so if you miss something, in addition to being told why your answer is wrong, with one tap you can quickly jump to the outline to learn more about the subject area from which the question was derived.
The Flash Cards function simply displays a title of an outline and then, upon pressing a button, shows you the sub-categories in that topic. Not very sophisticiated, but still, this could be a useful way to learn an outline.
Although the BarBri app has more features (and is part of an overall course that provides you many more resources, such as live lectures, tons of printed books with outlines, practice tests, etc.), it can cost thousands of dollars to take a BarBri course. BarMax is far less expensive, and I suspect that for many people (especially those who prefer to study at their own pace and who don’t want to attend live courses), BarMax would be a good way to study for bar exam. For example, if you are a practicing attorney considering a move to California, you might not want to put in the time and money for a full BarBri course, and BarMax might be a perfect alternative.
And of course, if you are studying for the MPRE, why not give the BarMax MPRE app a look. It is free, and if nothing else can serve as a complement to your other study aids.
Click here for BarMax CA for iPad ($999.99): 
Click here for BarMax CA for iPhone ($999.99):
Click here for BarMax NY for iPhone ($999.99):
Click here for BarMax MBE for iPhone ($499.99):
Click here for BarMax MPRE (free):
Thank goodness I will not need this App!!! Love your site.
BarMax advertises 1,470 practice questions, but only has 600 questions available in the UBE app. The same 600 questions that are available for $125 on the NCBEX website. The MEE essays spend hours on material that isn’t tested in the MEE. And there are only 60 practice essays available, and not for every topic on the MEE.
This supposed “study program” is just a sloppy mess of material that is free elsewhere, presented in a disorganized way, for way too much money, on an iPad. Oh, and it isn’t even available on the iPad consistently, because the site goes down at random, but fairly frequent, intervals.
This is a waste of money. I realized there were only 600 practice questions available three weeks before the bar exam. Customer service told me they would fix that “glitch” in A MONTH!!! So I asked them to mail me the questions that I had paid for, but could not access. Four days later I received a packet with THE SAME 600 QUESTIONS I HAD ALREADY FINISHED. These guys are either total morons, or they knew that “glitch” was permanent and hoped to avoid being caught. Save your money.
TOTALLY agree!!!!
Not to mention that the lectures are terrible:(((
The hypos? Ah, even my 9 year old can come up with more realistic and useful ones.
Suggestion: try buying “recycled” Barbri outlines -beware of recent changes in the law though
and buy the adaptibar to practice the MBE portion of the test. As far as essays, you have many different resources but one I tried was simply comparing my answers to the selected answers posted on many free websites.
SAVE your money please!!!!
Very misleading people.
NO BARMAX please
What a waste of money!!!!
Gave up on using the useless BarMax lectures and went back on some recycled Barbri lectures from 2006!!!!
They are SO much better than this garbage that BarMax presents. If you can get a hold of old Barbri lectures and materials, all you need to make sure is that you have the most up to date info regarding law changes since 2006 (which, in my case, is NOT that significant despite being over 10 y. old)
With Barmax I learned the hard way that you really get what you paid for. Save your money
To all: be aware that BarMax MBE online question bank ONLY has 16 questions for CIV PROCEDURE
Something they don’t tell you until you have an unfair surprise…