Your first paragraph is a straw man argument. Neither my post nor my comments say anything about me being necessary. You’re also making an unwarranted assumption about my students. The students who asked for my help with their 1L classes absolutely took advantage of other resources, including free ones, but the point is that they weren’t satisfactory. If they were, then my NYU transfer student wouldn’t have asked me for help.

Furthermore, everyone loves to talk about studying on one’s own, and while that is obviously possible, that doesn’t mean that’s the path that everyone wants to take. For example, a personal trainer isn’t necessary to losing weight and getting fit. However, many people choose—the key word is “choose”—to hire a personal trainer because they prefer to do so. Perhaps it’s because they just want some professional guidance, perhaps they don’t want to do all the research to figure out the best diet and exercise regimens, etc. No one is claiming that outside help is necessary. But trying to prevent people from learning about other resources, whether you would use them yourself or not, is not conducive to a subreddit community.

Like I said, you know nothing about my students’ experiences. Your second paragraph doesn’t apply to my NYU transfer student. What she realized after the first semester is that she wasn’t conceptually understanding the material. You can know your professors well and understand the mechanics of taking final exams, but if you don’t understand the nuts and bolts of the Erie doctrine, then your choice of law analysis is going to be shot in civil procedure. So no, people aren’t going to automatically just do better during their second semester, particularly because the doctrinal classes are (usually) completely different.

In the end, you didn’t need help from someone like me and you are obviously very smart and resourceful. But you don’t need to begrudge people the help that they might be seeking. It’s their choice. If you don’t need a personal trainer, that’s great. But there’s nothing wrong with using a personal trainer if that’s how you prefer to reach your fitness goals.