I recently received a question by email asking whether it is possible to study using bar prep materials that are a few years old.
I seem to get that question once or twice per bar exam, so I thought I would do a quick post to answer it.
Yes, you can use older bar preparation books to study for the bar exam.
Bar exam law changes little, if at all, each year. So, prep materials that are a few years old or even many years old typically contain the vast majority of black letter law you need to learn to pass the bar exam.
That said, let me give you a few caveats:
- If your jurisdiction has done a massive overhaul of how it administers the bar exam since your older materials were created, you will need to update. For example, has your jurisdiction recently adopted the UBE? Maybe your jurisdiction has ditched the MBE, and added some new essay subjects.
- Constitutional law and civil procedure seem to be the places where there are some tweaks from time to time. So, if your materials are older than 3-5 years, you may want to update those subjects.
- If you have materials older than ten years, you should update to be on the safe side.
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I hope you enjoyed this Q&A. If you have any bar exam questions you would like me to answer, just drop me a line.
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