Grasping the magnitude
Ok, I’m finally getting my head around this bar exam thing. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean I’m beginning to feel prepared; far from it. What it means is I finally feel like I can see it as a coherent whole and how I should have approached preparing for it. I should have done what everyone else is doingÃ¢â‚¬â€ťspent the first month getting the MBE subjects in my head and preparing for a practice test this weekend or last. Then I could shift focus to the essays and everything else for these last two weeks.
That’s what I should have done. But I didn’t. So forget what I said yesterday about taking a practice MBE today. It would be a complete waste. I spent at least 8 hours yesterday doing practice questions in multiple subjects and I’m just getting far too many wrong to make a practice test meaningful. Although I hope to take a practice test next weekend (the next time I can realistically block off the required 6 hours for that purpose), I take some small encouragement from the Millbarge School of Bar Review (scroll down to #5):
I didn’t start studying until after July 4th. I mean, I went to the BarBri lectures and filled in the blanks in the book, but I didn’t do any out-of-class studying until July. That gave me about three solid weeks of heavy-duty studying, and not much else. . . . But I also never took a full practice test and didn’t write any practice essays. I think I (a) take tests pretty well, (b) retained a lot from the lectures, © felt pretty good about what I learned and remembered from the courses I took that were tested on the exam, (d) studied hard those last three weeks, (e) took the bar in not the most difficult jurisdiction in the country, and (f) didn’t get freaked out about it. Depending on how any or all of those apply to you, adjust your own study time accordingly.
[Link via Wanye's 2006 Bar Exam Blog.] I have only just begun the “heavy-duty” studying with only two weeks left to go. Otherwise, the plan sort of fits: I (a) take tests ok, (b) don’t feel like I’ve retained a lot from the lectures but I’m confident that a little review of those notes will bring it back, © feel just ok about what I learned in the courses I took that are going to be tested on the exam (mainly just MBE subjects; everything else is pretty new to me), (d) am going to study very very hard for these last two weeks, (e) am taking the exam in not the most difficult jurisdiction in the country (about an 80% pass rate), and (f) am fighting against the freakout.
Along with the sheer lack of time left to prepare for the exam, the freakout is really the biggest foe. At about midnight last night, after getting question after question wrong, the prospect of catching up and turning this trainwreck around just looked impossible. Freakout loomed. But sleep is often a magical cure for such heebeejeebies. Today’s a new day and a new chance to cram more of this into my head. It feels a little like a perverse mental eating contest (how many property hot dogs can you shove down your mind’s gullet in the next hour?!?), but, well, I do like to eat….
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July 9th, 2006 at 6:04 pm
I’ve been reading your blog a while now, and the last thing you have to worry about is the bar. From the prosecution perspective, I can say, with complete candor, that we need people on the defense like you. We absolutely must have people who care about defendants and who are decent writers. You fit the bill on both counts.
Work hard, but I’m confident that whatever your pass score (and it will be), you’ll be an asset to the system, ensuring that whatever the circumstances, justice will be served. It’s an adversarial process for a reason. Without defense attorneys like you will be, the system is disabled.
And having worked in situations where the defense attorney is inadequate, I can tell you that you will definitel be an asset.
I’m happy you have chosen this career. Have fun, and don’t forget the Big Picture.