The California bar exam is a three-day trial of one's patience. I just finished day one.

Today, like Thursday will be, was split into morning and afternoon sessions of essays. In the three-hour morning session of both days, we have three essays on substantive areas of law. In the three-hour afternoon session, we have the "performance test," which is hard to explain.

I thought this morning's essays were relatively straightforward, though the third, a contracts question, gave me more fits than I anticipated such a question would. I thought I had put my contracts difficulties behind me. The three questions potentially covered (and ostensibly, eliminated from possibility Thursday) three areas of law. However, I'm not sure that the second question was truly a cross-over or not.

The performance test was straightforward enough to make me worry that I did something horribly wrong. Time will tell on that one.

Finally... Sheesh. It seems like two days have passed in less than one full day. But half the hard part (the essays) is over. Bring on the MBEs.