FAQ

I’m thinking of taking Pieper, but would be relying exclusively on the recorded lecture videos; will I be missing out on anything if I am not in the live class in Manhattan?

Absolutely not. Each bar review course lecture is digitally recorded. Students relying on recorded lectures hear every word of the live lecture. The only difference is that before and after the live class, students are able to ask the lecturer questions. But this difference is easily overcome by email and telephone. Our staff attorneys can always assist you, and if for any reason they don’t know the answer right away (for example, if the lecturer made a comment in passing about a personal experience), they’ll be able to get the answer for you. For this reason, if you live and work outside of Manhattan, you are probably better off attending one of our video classes at a location closer to home so that you’ll save time commuting to each lecture. You’ll see once you start the class that your time becomes a precious commodity. Many of our former students who lived outside of Manhattan and started at the live class have chosen to switch to another location after several classes and found that the cutting down on their commute provided them with a lot more time to study. Again, we’re flexible—start at the live class, because you can always switch to lecture videos if you change your mind.

Does Pieper prepare its students for the Multistate Bar Exam?

Of course. For 40 years, Pieper has specialized in helping law students pass the New York Bar Exam, which has always been comprised of the MBE. As of February 2016, Pieper shifted it’s training from the New York Bar Exam to the Uniform Bar Exam.

If I’m signed up for Pieper, should I take a supplemental MBE class like Adaptibar or Kaplan/PMBR?

There’s no need to, but in the end that’s up to you. Pieper will provide you with all of the substantive law you need for the MBE portion of the exam, and will also provide you with more than 1,200 simulated MBE questions, including two full-length exams of 200 multiple-choice questions each, plus every question released by the National Conference of Bar Examiners in the past ten years, through which you will be able to refine your techniques for answering such questions. Therefore, you will not need a supplemental course to prepare you for the MBE. That said, some students, especially those who have the financial resources and have traditionally struggled with standardized, multiple-choice exams, find the additional practice beneficial.

At what time do the lectures take place?

Each four-hour lecture at the live class begins at 5:30 p.m. and ends at 9:40 p.m., with a ten minute break at 7:30. Every video class location meeting in the evenings follows the same schedule. Video class locations that meet in the mornings meet at 9 a.m. and end at 1:10 p.m., with a break at 11:00.

When class meets on Saturdays (approximately three times during the course), the lectures are six hours long. The live class and all video classes meet from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with brief intermissions to use the restrooms and a one-hour break for lunch from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

What can I do to prepare for the exam prior to the start of the Bar Review Course?

Many law students don’t begin focusing their attention on the bar exam until their final year of law school, and the great majority of those students do little to prepare for the exam until after graduation. That said, there are some basic steps that you can take to familiarize yourself with the exam that will pay dividends when you really start studying:

• Take law school classes in areas covered on the bar exam.
• Take a for-credit bar review class if one is offered at your law school (we have been hired to teach such a course at law schools in New York).
• Visit the New York State Board of Law Examiners’ website www.nybarexam.org and the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ website www.ncbex.org to get an idea of the format of the exam and the types of questions you will face.