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