SU College of Law offers free bar-prep course to students

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Syracuse University (SU) College of Law has partnered with legal-education nonprofit AccessLex Institute to offer AccessLex’s interactive Helix Bar Review prep course for free to all Syracuse law students. 

Helix Bar Review is a bar-review program that offers students full access to the program during their third year of law school, up to 20 weeks before the bar exam. AccessLex is headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, per its website.

Early access is one of the “distinguishing characteristics” of the Helix Bar Review, according to an SU College of Law news release. It ensures that students with multiple responsibilities in law school, at work, or at home, can start their review early and complete the entire course on the schedule they choose. 

Other bar-preparation programs are not fully open to students “until much later,” Syracuse said.

Helix Bar Review uses all the traditional components of a bar-review course, but the program employs active learning and other methods that are based on the “most up-to-date” learning science and support long-term retention of knowledge. Those traditional components include substantive law outlines, practice questions, and flashcards.

Learning methods include short videos, illustrations, checklists, and performance tests. In addition, Helix Bar Review uses gamification to provide supplemental practice opportunities; live “Ask the Experts” webinars that target frequently missed questions and misunderstood concepts; and “intensive” day-long workshops called “Pass Classes.” 

“… I am thrilled that Syracuse Law is the first school to partner with AccessLex as they launch their new Helix Bar Review program. This groundbreaking program offers the tools and preparation our graduates need to efficiently and effectively prepare for the bar exam,” Craig Boise, dean of the SU College of Law, said in the release. 

Kelly Curtis, teaching professor and director of academic and bar support at the SU College of Law, added. “We know there are law students who do not purchase a commercial bar-prep program because of the cost implications. The additional cost of bar prep should never be a barrier to a graduate’s success on the bar exam. With this partnership, we remove that barrier.”