All About the Bar!

Finally-- I am posting right in the middle of the Bar Exam! There are a few details that I haven't shared with you yet, so I thought I'd post and catch you up.

First off, I left kind of early on Tuesday to make sure there was plenty of time to settle in before the exam start. For some reason, I was under the impression that time meant something to these people. The first thing I encountered was a $7 charge for parking! Like they haven't already charged us enough to take the exam! You would think they could afford to cover parking-- or at least charge us ahead of time. I'm just glad that I had cash so I didn't have to figure out what to do about parking.

So, I parked and walked towards the building. The exam is being held in the big expo center-- it's a flea market on the weekends, just so you have an idea of how big this building is. Of course, we were not allowed in the building yet, so all 2,000 of us were in a big, long line out into the middle of the parking lot. We waited for 40 minutes. That was my first clue that they didn't really think starting on time was that important!

So, I already told you about Candy Boy who sits next to me. What I didn't tell you was how he stretches RIGHT NEXT TO ME before each session. I don't think he is very aware of his surroundings, because if he was-- he would have seen that there was a ton of space at the back of the room where he could stretch as much as he wanted WITHOUT nearly hitting me in the face.

As I've already told you, the questions the first day were Torts, Con Law, and Contracts. I have gone back and forth from fairly confident to pretty sure I really messed up all three questions! There's no way to really know (and I'm not willing to look things up right now). All I know is that I DO NOT EVER have to know about Con Law again, if I don't want. :D

I have come back to the hotel for lunch both days which was absolutely the best idea. It's nice to come back to a home base and regroup before going back. The nights are really boring, though-- and lonely. I'm glad I went down to Sunnyvale this evening. It was great to hang out with Rusty for a couple hours and see the kitties. Home is so comforting.

So, I think I'm all ready for tomorrow. If you've checked back at my predictions, you'll see that I was totally wrong about Contracts. So, I guess that shows you how much I know! Still, I think that it's likely that there will be a Crim question, and probably Evidence (cross your fingers!). We'll see soon enough!

Anyway... it's 9pm and I really want to shower tonight so I can sleep in a little tomorrow. I'll let you know how things go!

On My Way!!

I am just about to leave for the hotel. I can't believe it! Time really has flown. Taking the day off yesterday ended up being a VERY good idea-- thanks again for the great advice!

Well, I'm pretty nervous. I just need to get my stuff together and then I'm going. Now I just need to make sure that I remember everything I need. It's list time, I guess.

I'll try to get online at the hotel and I'll post again after the exam tomorrow.

OK-- I love you. Wish me luck!

3 Days!

Well, it sure was nice to talk to you today. I'm sure things will be fine, even though I get nervous. I just can't wait for it to be over now.

I guess I don't have much else to say. Things are going fine, but it's awfully quiet. I just finished up outlining several essays in a row and actually said out loud towards the end of the last one, "Who cares?!" I think I might have overdone it.

Anywho... I'm going to relax for the rest of the night and get myself ready for the last ditch effort.

Love you!

4 Days Left

The countdown has started. Only four days left until the Bar Exam and I am seriously running out of steam. I only have essay outlining left now-- 16 essays, to be exact. At least that part doesn't take that long. It's the memorizing that will kill me.

One more subject left before the big, sweeping, all-encompassing, mind-stretching, 72 hour review.

Anyway... nothing to really report. Just getting a little loopy.

Yesterday...

It went pretty well with my "sort-of" practice tests. I ended up doing really well in Crim and Torts (90% on each), so I'm no longer worried about those. Property was good (76%). I did reasonably well in Con Law (67%) and Evidence (63%). But I'm still worried about Contracts (45%). BUT-- I must follow my schedule, it tells me all!

Today is Professional Responsibility and Civil Procedure. I need to review both and outline a couple essays. I need more work in Prof Resp than in Civ Pro, so I'll do that first and work until I can remember it all. So much to do!!

I hope you guys will have a good time while Rusty's out there! Give my love to everyone.

Practice Tests

Well, I think you're right about the concentration/relaxation thing. When I'm more relaxed it's easier to focus and really pick the question apart. I can't really predict how I'll feel on exam day-- other than to say I'll be freaking out. But I am getting better at talking myself down when I feel like I'm getting wound up. Rusty might not agree with that last statement.

The practice test last week was a disaster. I was more brain dead than I thought possible. The questions seemed really oblique and I missed major issues. I could feel myself spinning off in the wrong direction. At then end, I just wanted to take a week off. I was exhausted and frustrated and completely brain dead.

Anyway-- I have another practice exam today, but a kind of chopped-up version. I have MCs in one session and then a performance exam in another. I'm actually looking forward to just doing MCs-- I'm tired of reviewing (read: memorizing) and outlining essays. My hand hurts from all the outlining I've been doing.

I'll let you know how it all goes!

WOO HOO!!!

I got my very first round of 100% correct MC questions today!!! I am SO thrilled. Today was Crim, which I knew I was pretty strong in. I have been doing 10 questions, grading them, reviewing and then doing 10 more. It's a nice way to break things up. So... Crim was going fine-- average 70% which is OK. Then WHAM-- 10/10!! :D

It's the little things that keep me going!

More tomorrow.

Going Into the Last Week

As I'm sure you heard, today was a toughie. I just about lost it after a really bad Con Law essay where I made up the law regarding in forma pauperis only to discover that it actually made no difference. I also kept thinking, "I don't know how to analyze this because I don't even know what this guy would argue in respect to the discrimination!" Of course, the answer informs me that in that situation you would use the rational basis test. That is one of the very basic ideas in Con Law. I felt like a complete dolt.

Then, the rest of the day was Contracts. You know how I feel about Contracts.

Kim called about an hour ago and I talked to her. She said, "I wonder how you would do if you just took the next week off?" I wish I could do that and feel confident about my likelihood of passing. There's just no way that I can do that.

So... I need to recoup and attack it again tomorrow with fresh eyes. I feel like I hit another wall today. What is that? Number 3? I don't know, but I have to think it's normal.

Next week (the last!!) will be better, I'm sure. Although I'll be lonely without Rusty.

:)

I did extremely well on my Evidence essays, if I do say so myself!

Good night!

Wow-- Time Has Flown

I can't believe I haven't posted in so long! Sorry. It's just been crazy. The pace has really picked up, if that's possible. I know that the schedule doesn't look that busy, but it is.

I review every day for about an hour before doing 66 MC's (another hour or so). Then, I have to review which takes another hour or two (depending on how poorly I did). The essays take a little over an hour total. Then reviewing the essays takes another hour or so. Then I review the approach recommended and write a checklist which takes about two hours. So, that's about 7-8 hours of work. Of course, I have to add in prep time for everything (getting papers in order, printing, organizing flashcards, etc).

My mood is variable and changes with each right/wrong answer. I've had some really yucky essays-- on one I completely messed up. I wrote about contract remedies when I should have been writing about tort remedies! Woops! My whole essay ended up sounding like, "Well, this element will fail because... And this element will fail because..." Dumb.

I'm about to do Evidence essays right now. The Evidence MCs went really well today. I got an average of 70%-- but there was one section that I just aced! Of course, that made me feel pretty good. I worry about essays, though.

Just so you get an idea of how I'm doing-- I haven't showered in 2 days (I should do that) and I stopped wearing makeup (I don't go anywhere anyway). I'm running out of hair ties because I have my hair in a pony tail all the time and the hair ties are loosing elasticity. What else? My desk is the usual metropolis of Diet Coke bottles and cups. I did go grocery shopping today, so that was a step towards normalcy. But usually, I don't know what day it is or how long I've been working on any given task.

And soon (too soon!) it will be all over. I can't wait to veg out!!!

There's a scene from the Simpsons that seems pertinent here. Grandpa asks Bart if he wants to learn something new and Bart responds (looking self-satisfied): "Nah. I know enough."

It's Been Going.

I can't really say that it's been going well, but it's been going. Saturday was a simulated essay and performance exam day. I totally blew it. There was one question that I approached in totally the wrong way (although in my answer I recognized that it was a hard sell). Another question I was just making up the law because I couldn't remember a darned thing (I guessed right about half the time). Anyway... it was rough.

I started freaking out yesterday (after grading my practice exam). It was as bad as when I thought I wasn't going to graduate-- I really started to loose it and had to do some serious, concentrated self-talk to get myself together. Even now when I think about it, I start to tighten up and find myself holding my breath.

Anyway... that's why I haven't been writing. It was just too stressful to talk about.

Today I feel a bit better. I did some memorization yesterday in Remedies and I still remember it today. I significantly improved my Remedies essays by the time I was done with them yesterday.

What's on the schedule for today? Well, I have another simulated performance test (which I think I'm just going to outline since the writing part is not where I struggle-- just outlining the issues) and some MCs. Then I'll probably have some time to do a little catch up, although I'm starting to think I'm going to have to let some of the catch up work fall off my list. For sanity's sake.

What a Lovely Thursday

I can say that because tomorrow is the last substantive lecture! Hurray! No more force-fed rules of law! I'm so happy. :D

So, Mom goes in for her MRI tomorrow, huh? When will they have the results? I hope she doesn't have to get surgery or anything. Rest assured, though-- if she does, I'll come out there after the Bar to help out. OK?

I was going to call you tonight, but it's too late, I think. I just wanted to hear about how things are going out there. Rusty said things sounded OK except for Maija messing up the amp and Mom's arm still hurting. That's really rotten.

About the questions from last time-- you're absolutely right about the force majeur clause. Of course, putting that kind of thing in an MC makes it pretty clear cut! Force majeur is pretty much the default under the UCC anyway b/c of principles that excuse performance under those circumstances. I just thought it was unreasonable to expect the guy to delegate.

The other question-- you were totally right. That's exactly what the answer said. It stated that since it was likely that she was going to the funeral anyway, it can't really be said that she relied on her brother's statement. As for there being a contract, there definately wasn't one. However, under "quasi-contract" you can still recover if you reasonably relied on someone's statement (despite there being no contract-- you don't even have to have an offer!). That's where I got tripped up.

Anyway-- I better go. I still have flashcards to make. (But soon... there will be no more stinking flashcards!)

Oh-- below I have the entire schedule from here on out, in case you're interested. I also put a permanent link to the right, in case you should like to keep track of me!

The Rest of the Plan

The following is the how the rest of the study plan goes:

7/8 Simulated Written and Performance Exam (all day)
7/9 Remedies: Review; 2 Essays. Catch up.
7/10 Simulated Performance Test; 50 Mixed Subj MCs
7/11 Corporations: Review; 1 Essay. Catch up (last chance)
7/12 Torts: Review; 66 Advanced MCs; 2 Essays
7/13 Evidence (same as above)
7/14 Property (same)
7/15 Con Law (same)
7/16 Contracts (same)
7/17 Crim (same)
7/18 150 Mixed Subject MCs; Outline a Performance Test [Rusty Leaves]
7/19 Professional Resonsibility: Review; 2 Essays. Civ Pro: Review; 2 Essays
7/20 Community Property: Review; 4 Essays
7/21 Wills/Trusts (same as above)
7/22 Torts/Contracts/Con Law: Review; 3 "cross-over" Essays [Rusty Arrives]
7/23 Property/Crim/Evidence: Review; 3 "cross-over" Essays
7/24 Non-MC Topics: Review; look at essay approaches. Stop studying by 5. [Move to hotel]
7/25 Either drop dead or take the exam (I haven't decided yet)
7/26 Exam
7/27 Exam
7/28 Drop Dead for sure!

What's Coming Up

The fireworks were really fun last night. The orchestra played movie themes; a couple times they had scenes from the movie playing on a big screen while they played. It was really fun. The fireworks were really close! I'm glad we went-- it was like vacation!

So, today was an easy one-- just reading for tomorrow and Friday. We are on the last two subjects: Wills and Trusts.

My multiple choice seems to be going OK. I was getting 80% on Con Law questions (intermediate ones) and something approaching that on Contracts questions (the easy problems). I don't think I've ever explained how they organize the MCs. For the subject-by-subject ones, they have the introductory, intermediate, and advanced questions. Then there are "Mixed Subject" which are like the intermediate ones mixed up. Then the "Simulated Exam" that I did a while ago and that's like mixed advanced questions.

Anyway... so I'm on track with Con Law, but still struggling with Contracts. What frustrated me about the K questions was that a bunch of them required a judgment call on whether an intervening event was actually foreseeable or not. That's something that's easy to address in essay because you argue both sides. But on MC, you just have to guess right. Two examples:

A contracted with B to buy all of the honey B's bees produced. B got really good at honey production and all of a sudden was making 50 times as much honey. B asked A if it was OK if they amended the contract to limit the amount of honey B had to sell A. A said it was alright. Then B suffered a debilitating injury and didn't sell A any honey. Does A have a cause of action for breach of contract?

Well, I thought that since B was really skilled with the honey, if he couldn't carry on it would be an unforeseeable intervening event that would excuse performance. I was wrong. Apparently, B should have delegated the honey-making to someone else.

Another example:

C's aunt had promised to will property to her and C's brother, D. When the aunt died, the will stated that only D should get the property. C contacted D and told him of the promise the aunt made. D said, "We should probably share it. Let's talk about it at the funeral." C thereafter bought an airplane ticket costing $800 to got to the funeral. After the service, she talked to D about the property. He told her to go fly a kite. Can C recover the $800 for the airplane ticket from D?

Well, I thought yes, since it was foreseeable to D that C might rely on his statement that they would talk about it at the funeral. It's not a contract, but what they call "quasi-contract." I was wrong. D apparently could not have foreseen that C would rely on his statement and come to the funeral.

That's why I've pretty much given up on contracts multiple choice. Now on essays-- I think I have a better shot since I would argue both sides on issues like those.

Anyway... so, we have Wills tomorrow, Trusts on Friday and then a few days off (with the next simulated exam on Saturday). Then, Monday and Tuesday are the last lectures on essay writing and performance test-taking.

As for my plan after that... They have it all scheduled out, but I think that deserves its own post.

I'm Living in a Montage

You know how in sports movies they always have that musical montage sequence, showing how the team is training and getting ready for the big game? That's my life right now. I sometimes find myself wondering what day it is. Every day is the same. Hopefully, the trend really is that I'm getting better like a in a movie. Here's how my montage would be scripted:

--Music: "Eye of the Tiger"--

We see Barb sitting at her desk, going through flashcards.
Another shot, on the couch in the living room, typing on her computer.
Another shot, clearly a few days later, sundry water bottles and soda cans litter her desk, she is taking a multiple choice exam.
Now sitting on the floor in her room in the same sweatpants she's been wearing for days, Barb is outlining essays.
More flashcards. More typing. Grading multiple choice tests.
Quick cuts-- we see her getting 20%, 46%, 78%, 30% (as she cries) and then 80% (she jumps up and down in her room, wearing the same sweat pants and surrounded by water bottles).

--End Scene--

Happy 4th! Hope you all have fun over there!

How the Plan is Going

Well, the plan is going fine. I did everything but Con Law on Saturday and I got through everything I needed to yesterday (despite stressing out). Today is all about Community Property, practice MCs and Contracts. I need to try to fit in some Con Law, too-- just because I have time right now. I'll do the rest of Con Law tomorrow along with what I already have planned.

I think it's going fine! Rusty had a good time at the BBQ last night--he's feeling pretty relaxed today.

Anyway-- I'll let you know if anything else comes up!

xoxo

The Weekend Plan

Thanks for the great talk today, Dad! It was such a great pep talk. I really needed it.

So, the plan for the weekend looks like this:

7/1: Community Property- review and two essays. Evidence and Con Law- catch up.
7/2: Civ Pro- review, two practice essays and graded essay
7/3: Community Property- review and two essays. MC practice (50 questions). Contracts- catch up.
7/4: Crim- Catch up and then off to see the San Francisco Symphony + fireworks!

I will be almost totally caught up then. :)

I'll let you know how the plan works out.

Another Day Another Bother

Hee hee. I'm actually doing OK. Thank you for the great e-card, Dad! It really made me giggle-- just what the doctor ordered!

I'm still slugging it out today. I'm looking forward to the weekend-- no lectures and time to catch up. I overheard a girl say in class today, "So, when do we get time to memorize?" That's how I've been feeling, too. It seems like most everyone is pretty overwhelmed.

Just a little side story-- So, I was sitting around yesterday getting frustrated. I was thinking, "Should I go into the law? Will I like it? What should I do? What do I want to do?" I was getting pretty worked up. So... I pulled out the scriptures and tried the old "open and point" trick for a quick pick-me-up. This is what I opened to: "...ye ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly." Acts 19:36. OK. Got it. I guess sometimes I need the message pounded in to my head-- Now is not the time to be worrying about that stuff.

So... off I go to continue the work.

4 Subjects Left

There are only 4 subjects left before the end of Bar/Bri. Of course, there are a bunch of practice tests and "essay sessions" that fill in the gaps. I'm tired of learning.

My predictions are only guesses as to what's going to be on the exam. I'm not going to drop subjects out just because I don't think they'll appear. You never know. And I'd rather have a vague idea of the topic rather than no clue at all. Although, the way Civ Pro is going, I'm not going to have a clue even though I'm studying really hard!

I am hitting another wall. It's not just that it's hard-- it's the exhaustion. I can't get enough sleep and I always look like I have the flu. I'm really far behind. I need to do over 300 mc's and 14 essays to have even completed everything on the Barbri schedule up to this point. I know what I'll be doing on 4th of July!

Anyway... the sheer amount of information is starting to overwhelm me-- how can people keep this all in their heads? I guess it's normal to feel this way. But it is discouraging.

I'm so tired.

I hope Mom starts feeling better soon!

Predictions

Well, it might be early yet, but I'm going to go out on a limb and make some predictions for the essay portion of the exam. There are a total of 6 essays. Based upon the frequency of topics covered in the past, here is what I think will show up this year:

Civil Procedure
Con Law
Crim/Crim Pro (in a cross-over question)
Evidence
Professional Responsibility, crossed over with something else
Remedies and Torts (cross-over)
Trusts and Wills (cross-over)

Topics I don't think will show up this time:

Community Property
Contracts
Corporations
Real Property

I'll spare you my analysis of topic frequency at this point.

But as they say, the bar exam is unpredictable at best. For example, Remedies had never been tested twice in a row until all of a sudden it was tested 8 times in a row from the Spring of 1999 to Summer 2002.

Stats from the Practice

So, I thought it would be interesting to look at some stats from my practice test. My overall score was 111/200 = 55.5% which doesn't sound too impressive. But, as I've said, the nation-wide average is 104, so I'm just a tad above that. Broken down by subject, it looks like this:

Torts: 62%
Property: 58%
Con Law: 58%
Crim/Crim Pro: 55%
Evidence: 52%
Contracts: 50%

So, it would appear that I'm strongest in Torts, Property and Con Law. That Crim grade is interesting because in Crim Pro I only get a 27%, which means I'm getting 68% of the pure crim questions right. So Crim Pro is my weakest subject. As I suspected, I really need to work harder in Contracts.

The first 100 (during which it seems I had a pretty consistent performance) I took at the kitchen table in the morning, moderately stressed and bored. It looks breaks down like this:

Torts: 67%
Property: 63%
Con Law: 50%
Crim/Crim Pro: 63%
Evidence: 44%
Contracts: 44%

But here's something I find even more interesting. The last section of 100 questions there is a big divide. I took it in the afternoon. I did 50 questions at the table, stressing out and not focusing very well. The last 50 I did in my room, on my bed, very relaxed. Here's how it breaks down:

First 50 Questions:
Torts: 50%
Property: 44%
Con Law: 33%
Crim/Crim Pro: 30%
Evidence: 60%
Contracts: 45%

Second 50 Questions:
Torts: 58%
Property: 63%
Con law: 82% !!
Crim/Crim Pro: 71%
Evidence: 57%
Contracts: 80% !!

That first group of 50 in the afternoon really dragged the rest of the test down!
I would assume that the first 100 from the morning are the most similar to how I would do on the real exam. The bad 50 from the afternoon would be worst case "freak out" scenario. Then, of course, the last 50 would be a "perfect world" kind of situation.

I have to point out that even in the morning, my Crim Pro stuff was ba-aad! 20% on that stuff. On pure crim stuff I got an 82%. I sure do know those crimes!

Practice MBE Day

Today was the practice MC day. (MBE stands for Multistate Bar Exam and it's the mc portion.) It wasn't looking pretty until I found out what the "average" score it. It turns out that students on average get about 104/200 correct. I'm a little above that, so I guess I'm doing alright.

*Sigh.* One would think that doing a ton of mc's would lead to a complete familiarity with the questions. The only common threads I've noticed so far are:

1) If a tree branch falls, it's a torts question;
2) If they're going to ask you which situation is most likely to result in a murder charge, two answers will be stupid and two will be a close case;
3) If it's a K question, I might as well just pick "A" and save myself the time;
4) If two merchants are engaged in a "battle of the forms" and the last one includes a new arbitration clause, it is a material change to the K. Or not. Flip a coin.

So... that's pretty helpful. But mostly what I learned from today is that my biggest enemies are stress and boredom. In the exam, if I freak out, I stop reading closely and miss things. If I get bored, I start skimming the answer and feel sorry for myself for having to work so hard and miss things.

Falling Behind Again

I thought I was pretty much all caught up, but I realized yesterday that I totally skipped an exercise a couple of days ago. No wonder I was feeling so relaxed! Well... "relaxed" is maybe not the right term.

Anyway, things are OK. We did Remedies today. It seemed pretty straightforward, but still a lot of information to grapple with. I didn't do flashcards ahead of time, but I also didn't do them during class either. It'll be a good review to do them now-- making it my third time through the material on Remedies. My tactic for Crim seemed to work as a time budgeting method, but for actually learning the stuff, I'm not sure it was better.

I'm pretty tired and felt really burned out yesterday. I was pretty bummed out yesterday, thinking about how I don't have a job, haven't had any positive feedback from firms yet, and generally don't know what I'm doing. But I don't feel like there's anything else I should be doing now, so I guess it'll all work out.

I reread my patriarchal blessing the other day and there was one part that seemed different. Then I realized that it wasn't different, it was just that I had been infusing all this meaning into one phrase. I had totally convinced myself that it said something about being a success in the career of my choice. That's not what it says at all. It says,

You've been blessed with a keen mind and you'll have the opportunity to obtain the degree of education and learning that you so desire. I bless you that your mind may be open, comprehensive of the things that are taught to you, that your memory may retain them for use in whatever field you desire to excel.

That might imply that I will work (as I expect to), but it doesn't say that I WILL excel or that I'll even have a "career." I had been operating under the assumption all this time that this big career lay ahead of me. That's what I get for thinking for myself, I guess.

Rough Day

Well, it's been a tough one so far. I just got done doing a bunch of MC and it didn't work out so well. This was my first try at "Mixed Subjects" as opposed to focusing only on questions for one subject. So, you're basically reading the question trying to figure out what subject and then what rule to use. Too bad they don't label them! That would be great. (#9-- Torts.)

I have just graded a 50-question MC. Here are my stats:

Total: 27/50 correct.
Torts: 4/9
Property: 7/9
Evidence: 6/9
Con Law: 5/7
Crim: 4/7
Contracts: 1/9 (gasp!)

I'm kind of surprised that Crim wasn't better since yesterday I was getting 80% on those questions.

I've done 550 multiple choice questions so far. I've heard people recommend doing 2,000 before the bar exam. I'll get close to that-- if you can believe it. If I only take 2.5 minutes per question that's 83 straight hours of multiple choice-- 3.5 full days (24hrs straight). That would be two full weeks of work if it was a job.

Not having to do multiple choice for a living-- priceless.

PS. Am so glad you got the books, Dad. I thought that Tom Brokaw book looked interesting. The other one might be cheesy, but it sounded interesting, too. I don't know much about Tim Russert-- I was afraid he was too liberal, but Rusty said it probably wouldn't matter.

Thanks for the birthday card! It cheered me up yesterday. And thanks for the check! Thinking about how to use it... :D

Why MC Rocks

I really like MC. I do-- no joke. Multiple choice questions are easy. The answer is there, you just have to find it. The best part is when the examiners are predictable. The same kind of question starts showing up over and over again. That's the best.

Now essays... those are hard. There is NO right answer. You have to come up with everything on your own. It's especially hard when you can't remember the law or don't have concise words to describe the rules. Ahh... but Barbri has an answer for everything-- even that. When you don't know the law? Make it up!

So easy.

Yeah, right!

People Bother Me

I am increasingly annoyed by random people. There was intitially Granola Girl, who would lean over the empty chair next to her to prevent people from sitting there. Then, during class, she would open a granola bar and s-l-o-w-l-y break off a piece and c-r-u-n-c-h.....c-r-u-n-c-h.... all through class. That bothered me. Granola Girl has recently relocated to another part of the room. No doubt due to me-- Glaring Girl.

Now there is Pointless Dude. He is a nice enough person (which is how I know that my irritation is unreasonable). However, during the breaks, he insists on talking to the guy who sits behind me-- and this guy is obviously not interested in whatever pointless story Pointless Dude is relating. An example, I think, is in order. Pointless Dude turns around and says, "Hey-- did you hear that Contracts lecturer yesterday?" The following conversation follows:

Other Guy (OG): Yeah, I was here.
Pointless Dude (PD): He sounded like a robot.
OG: Hee hee. Yeah...
PD: No, I mean... he sounded like a robot. There was a character on Star Trek the first season-- what was the name of the original Star Trek? Enterprise?--but this character was like... a robot or something. This guy sounded like him... like a robot. I mean, JUST. LIKE. A ROBOT!
OG: Yeah.

So-- that's what I'm talking about. Today his conversation centered on peanuts. It went something like this:

PD: Hey. What you got there? Cream cheese?
OG: No, it's peanut butter.
PD: Oh, man. I. LOVE. PEANUT. BUTTER! I mean it! I'll put it on anything. Or even just peanuts. I love peanuts on everything. It's crazy really-- but it's just that peanuts are so good. And so is peanut butter. I love it!
OG: Yeah.

But like I said, this guy is nice enough. He just wants to talk to people. There's nothing wrong with that. It's me. It's all me. I am the jerk here and I know it.

Well-- back to studying.

Graders' Comments

I thought you'd be interested in seeing some of the comments I'm getting from the graders. Here are some tidbits.

From Torts:

"THIS IS A MATTER OF PUBLIC CONCERN SO YOU ALSO NEED TO DISCUSS FALSITY AND FAULT.
·YOU NEED TO DISCUSS WHETHER ED WAS A PUBLIC OR PRIVATE FIGURE.
·DISCUSS ALL DEFENSES: TRUTH, CONSENT & QUALIFIED PRIVILEGE."

I did discuss falsity and fault. That's what threw me initially with this comment. I didn't discuss public/private figure issues, though. Also, for the defenses, I discussed all of them except qualified privilege.

From Evidence:

"WHAT MATTERS HERE IS WHETHER TOM, THE DECLARANT, WAS TRUCKO'S EMPLOYEE. BOYD'S STATUS IS NOT RELEVANT HERE."

The grader was wrong, actually. Boyd was the declarant, not Tom. Tom was the witness. FYI.

"YOU DISCUSSED THE MAJORITY OF THE ISSUES REASONABLY WELL."

Well, isn't that sweet?

From the Performance Test:

"GOOD USE OF DETAILS FROM THE FILE IN YOUR LIST OF LEGITIMATE ACTIVITIES."

"INCREASE YOUR ANALYSIS, MAKE SURE YOU USE A LOT OF DETAILS FROM THE FILE AND COMPARE TO THE CASE LAW IN THE LIBRARY FACTS."

The grader made that same comment a couple of times on my essay. Honestly-- it was so hard to get to everything I DID write! It just sounded to me like the grader was saying, "Do more."

Crim

Another day... it is our first break during the first day of crim in Barbri. I am really tired.

+++

Later On

Sorry about the false start there. I realized that I was way too tired and had absolutely nothing to say yet.

Well, I am getting ready to do today's assignment and it looks like it will be an easy one, if you can believe it! I have 17 practice mc's to do in crim and then listen to the downloadable lecture. After that, all I need to do is read the mini review for crim pro for tomorrow and I'm done.

I tried something new last night. As I read the mini review, I made preliminary flash cards. I find that I'm so desparately trying to keep up with the lecturer in class, that I sometimes miss what they say. I figured, this way my reading would be more interactive and then I could pay more attention in the lecture. It mostly worked that way in practice. The one glitch was that I had printed out the flashcards last night, so I didn't want to edit them! (That's a lot of wasted ink and paper if I had to reprint them!)

So, new plan: today, I'll go ahead and make the flash cards, but I won't print them. Then I can edit them during the lecture and still keep up.

The rest of the week's lectures are: Crim Pro, Essay Writing, Remedies, All Day Practice Exam, two days of rehashing the practice exam. I've heard the two days of rehash are pretty pointless since all they do it read the answer explanations from the back of the book. But, it's two full days, 9-5, so I'm thinking they must say something more than that! Of course, it takes that long just to take the exam, spending about 1.5 minutes per question. Certainly explaining the darn things would take twice as long! Anyway... we'll see. I'll go to the first one and see if the rumor is true. If it is-- wouldn't that be great? I'd have my birthday off!

Oh, by the way, Crim Pro is the last subject that we study that is on both the multiple choice and the essay portion. Hurray! Soon, all I'll be doing is essays, baby!

Oops. I meant to call!

I really did! I'm sorry, Dad! But the good news is that your Father's day gift is on its way. That should make you feel better. Presents make everything better.

Well, it's been a long day so far. I have done a bit of make up work for Ks (which was excruciating and frustrating). I still need to do the graded assignment for Ks. But on the bright side, I just did the graded assignment for Property. It made me feel better since I feel like I have a much better grasp of Property than I did of either Ks or Con Law. :P

Tonight I need to read the Mini Review for Crim Law and Crim Pro. The next two days are going to be lectures on those topics. I did take Crim law first year, but I didn't take Crim Pro (Criminal Procedure). It'll be my first try at learning all of the law through Barbri. Hopefully it won't be as bad as I fear!

(Yes, I made it to church.)

XOXO

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD!

I promise I will call later, but I just wanted to wish you a Happy Dad's Day before I leave for Church. I have about an hour before I have to start getting ready and I thought I'd post and give an update on yesterday.

Thanks for the offers for a clock. I went out yesterday to find one and found it VERY difficult. I guess no one really wants tiny analog clocks anymore. Finally, I decided to just order one from Amazon. I ended up getting three so I can pick the best one when they get here. They were VERY cheap!

So, I didn't get too far in the MC's yesterday. After the "Introductory" problems, I listed to the downloadable lecture on them. The first thing the lecturer said was, "Contracts is the hardest area on the Multistate Exam. You won't get them all right-- in fact, you'll probably only get around half right." That should have made me feel better since I did only get about half right on the practice, but it didn't. It made me angry at the bar examiners for designing questions that they hope people get wrong! I don't know why they have to be so tricky-- why can't they just test the law?

Here's an example: One question gave a simple fact pattern. (A baseball player promised a little kid that he would hit a home run for the kid. Later the kid's dad told the baseball player that the dad would pay him $$ if he did hit the homer.) The call of the question was: "Which is true under the modern trend?" OK, so... you read the answers and think about what "trend" means. I thought that meant the majority view (that's a trend, right?). Nope. "Modern trend" apparently means the minority view! And it gets worse-- the lecturer said, "Are you expected to know the minority view? No. All you need to know is that it isn't the majority view." So, you find the majority view and then pick whatever answer is opposite. BUT THAT DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK! Sometimes the minority view isn't the opposite-- sometimes it's just a slight variation.

So, I guess the moral of the story is this: for contracts, you get the basics down and then forget the rest. The lecturer said, "Don't waste your time trying to learn the law-- it's not going to help you. Just cut your losses." Nice. Really helpful. Thanks!

So, the answer to the baseball player question? Well, the question wasn't really about whether there was a contract (K) or not. It was whether the K was enforceable b/c there was "preexisting duty." The promise to the kid put the baseball player under a moral responsibility to perform (get the homer). A later K to perform the same duty would not be enforceable under the majority view because there is no new consideration/promise. You can't get a benefit for something you already should do. The minority view is that when there's a promise to a third party the preexisting duty rule doesn't apply.

Now let's hope that exact question is on the exam!

Into the Den of Books

First off, I have to mention to Dad that I think this is a great way to communicate. Other methods would also work! :) I thought comments would actually appear on the page, but instead it just has a link to them. Oh well. I think everyone can still look at them if they click the link.

Anyway... today is all about setting my house in order-- literally. My room has gotten too disorganized to work in. It is depressing. I have old glasses sitting around, laundry all over the place, and of course Barbri books EVERYWHERE! I'm thinking now is a good time to take that all in hand and make my room a nice place to study. Of course, I then need to put my room to use.

I also thought maybe I'd get a few things done for the exam that have recently come to my attention. Get them off my plate before I become too overwhelmed. One is the task of finding an analog, battery-operated clock that is no larger than 4" x 4". That might be tough these days! The exam room doesn't have any clocks (if you can believe that!). I thought I'd get a small clock (comforming to CalBar's requirements) just in case my watch dies during the exam. Another thing to do is find a cushion that I can sit on for six hours straight. The chairs in the exam room are not cushioned-- so it's up to us to provide for our own comfort.

Guess what else I found out-- no food or drinks are allowed in the exam room-- not even water! You just have to suffer if you get thirsty! I couldn't believe it when I heard it-- so I went and looked it up. It's true. You can't even chew gum during the exam. (Well, that one I can agree with at least. Who needs a gum-snapping neighbor in that kind of situation?)

Anyway... after I run my errands and start my laundry, today will be all about Contracts. I am totally behind in my practice tests, so I need to catch up. First is 17 "introductory" mulitple choice (MC) questions followed by a downloaded lecture on how to approach Contracts MC's. That will take about 1.5 hours. Then I have another 36 MC's (about another 1.5 hours after reviewing where I went wrong) followed by another 37 MC's (another 1.5 hours). Then I get to outline two Contracts Essays, which will only take me an hour total. If you're playing along at home, that's a total of 5.5 hours. Then I will be all caught up on Contracts and can start in on what is assigned for today-- 74 MC's and outline two more essays. That's another 4 hours.

Hmm... That's 9.5 hours of work and it's already 11am. That means I'll finish by 8:30 if I don't stop for meals or run any errands. Actually, I won't do it all today. Even though I have a ton to do tomorrow, I need to spread out the make-up stuff and just try to keep up.

So, I'm off to start my laundry and clean up my room!

Halfway through Barbri and I just thought of this?

Yes, it's true. I'm not very bright.

I'm about halfway through Barbri. OK, that's a little optimistic, but it makes my heart smile, so there you have it. Anyway... I figured that since I'm about to go to the dark place again (full-on Bar study mode), I should establish some reliable way to stay in touch with the real world without infringing on my study time. No! I promise I won't let this blog take away from study time!

After the whole "NR" incident, I realized that studying for the Bar had made me a little crazy. Actually, I didn't even feel like myself. I call that other person "Bar Barb"--hence the title for the blog. She was crazy! And mean. Just ask Rusty.

Anyway... so I think I'm rebounding alright. I finished my flashcards for Contracts. Well, I finished the "A" set. For each subject I have the "A" set and the "B" set. The A set is all typed up and neat. They cover everything from class (I basically take notes in flashcard form). The B set is the more useful set. They are handwritten and taken from the multiple choice answer explanations for questions I got wrong. That's why the B cards are more useful-- it's all stuff I still have to learn. I estimate that at this point I have about 300 cards in the A set and maybe 80 in the B set.

So.. some more good news today (besides the "NR" being changed). I got some practice essays back (Evidence and the Performance Test) and I passed both of them! That really makes me feel like I can do this. It doesn't guarantee that I'll pass the Bar, but it does make me feel a little more competent!

Anyway, it's late. There's no class tomorrow, but I'm still tired and I need to get a good night's sleep so I can jump start this thing in the AM.