Otherwise Occupied - barexam

Less than 24 hours to the results

gregh — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:55:28 -0600

Less than 24 hours to the bar exam. I've suddenly become rather nervous, though I'm not entirely sure why. It's not like I have anything lined up Monday other than the same job I've had for the last 5.5 years. I won't be rushing to take the oath as soon as possible.

On the plus side, the state bar sure hurried up their determination of my moral character. I received the positive determination on November 5, less than 5 months after submitting it. I'd been a little worried, because I'd heard they take even longer than normal for those with longer backgrounds -- people like me, forced to attach a sheet for additional employment lasting longer than 6 months.

However, based on that concern, I was very complete in everything I listed. I contacted as many former managers as I could find, going back to my first high-tech job in 1995. I didn't have any information for my job at Mellon Bank prior to that, and before Mellon Bank, no job met the 6-month threshold. Still, I dug up the temp agencies I did work for in 1994, thanks to the security clearance paperwork I had from the Foreign Service oral assessment. I listed my summers between college semesters. Basically, I did everything I could do to make sure it wouldn't get spit back, as I've heard and read of that happening, with results in the 7- to 8-month range.

On the other hand, I've also heard of very short periods with the analysts, and I've begun to wonder if they don't hurry them along as bar results creep closer, potentially prioritizing those coming up on February results over those who were more conscientious and go their applications in earlier. In the end, I have no idea. I briefly spoke with the analyst handling my file, because I was told my law school declaration wasn't in. I was told that that was normal, because they probably hadn't updated all of the files yet, but that when she actually got to reviewing my file, I would be notified if it was still a problem. Just over a month later, I got the positive determination.

And so, with about 23 hours to go until results, I just have to assume that I did well enough. During the last week, I've been rehashing essay answers over and over in my head, picking out the numerous flaws. I've wondered if I should have organized my answer to the first performance test clearly enough and obviously enough to satisfy the grader who read it. So many little things. Hopefully, all this worry will be for naught. I don't want to be the first person in the top-20% to fail since 2002 (and I keep wondering, how did three fail all in one year?)

I'll report back tomorrow.

Bar Results Waiting: Day 4

gregh — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:21:21 -0500

This is my second day back at work since the bar exam. I came in Friday, but things were generally dead. It's not dead today.

I have not been keeping count of the number of people who ask me how I did on the bar exam. I'm not entirely sure how I wish to answer such questions. I've settled on, "I think I did well enough to pass." Does that sufficiently hedge?

I just made the mistake of reading someone's breakdown of questions and issues, which suggests that I missed more issues that I had originally believed. In particular, it appears that perhaps my Question #3 and Question #5 were weaker than I had originally believed.

Oh, man. It's going to be a long wait until November 21.

Bar Exam: Day 3

gregh — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:04:59 -0500

Three more essays, one more (seemingly) straightforward performance test, and the 2008 July California Bar Exam is done. Now, I just have to wait until November 21 for results.

And now, I guess I've got to do something about this blog. The title no longer really fits.

Bar Exam: Day 2

gregh — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:42:28 -0500

California bar exam day 2. Yay!

Day 2 is the Multistate Bar Exam ("MBE"), a 200-question multiple choice exam given in two 3-hour parts. It's a tough patch of work, but nowhere near as exhausting as a performance test like yesterday's. I feel a whole lot better today post-exam than I did yesterday. On the other hand, the MBE's also a crapshoot. I felt pretty good about some areas that had given me problems before (mortgages!), but as often occurs on the MBE, you find yourself down to 2 correct questions and must choose the "best" response. I've been convinced by a friend that on at least one of those questions, I chose incorrectly.

I use one of the time management techniques suggested by Professor Sakai (a USF prof, and one of the Bar/Bri lecturers) to split the questions into blocks of 20, based on the size of the vertical columns on the answer sheet. I budget 33 minutes per column, which leaves me with 15 minutes of buffer. In the morning, I was running around 7 minutes behind going into the last block of 20. In the afternoon, I had 55 minutes remaining going into the last block of 20. Go figure. It's all meaningless until I find out whether I pass or fail.

One more day to go. There's plenty of anxiety about the remaining areas to be tested on the essay tomorrow. There's also lots of speculation that after the basic performance test we got yesterday that tomorrow's may be harder. I'm not too bothered by that -- we had some toughies thrown at us in Legal Drafting, and I did best on those ones. However, there's always the possibility of not doing best on those, and that's just losing the free points that should come from the performance tests.

The mechanics of the bar exam.

gregh — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:06:03 -0500

A bar taker breaks down the mechanics.

Day One Down, Feels Like Two :

Anyway, the test. In all the stuff I read beforehand, from various sites on the web, and in everything people told me, nobody really said what the exam is actually like, down to the nitty-gritty details. So I thought it might be helpful for some people to explain how it all goes down.

Other locations may be a little different. (E.g., in Los Angeles this morning there was an earthquake—a friend sent me a text message and said chandeliers were swinging and people were screaming during the third essay question). Here’s how it went down in San Mateo, July 2008.

It's a good run-down of the process. It's pretty much how it worked for us at the Oakland Convention Center, other than our absence of a huge parking lot; most people here are staying at the Marriott or across the street (where I am with hideous Internet service) at the Courtyard.

Others were smart and scoped the place out ahead of time. I just read the instructions and figured I'd figure it out.

The person next to me on my right hurt her back last week, so she's constantly adjusting herself. I've found the chair I'm on is (surprisingly) comfortable for about 2 hours, after which time I crush the cushion under my mass and my tailbone suffers and I start shifting.

And at the rate we're going, we're going to spend almost 3 hours just listening to instructions and announcements over the three days.

Bar Exam: Day 1

gregh — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:00:51 -0500

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.

Bar Review: The End

gregh — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:42:13 -0500

Today's it. Day 63 of bar review. Ready or not, the bar exam is tomorrow.

I wish I could tell whether or not I'm ready. Every conversation seems to bring up some rule I don't know -- or haven't even heard of. On the plus side, I'm not always the one at a loss. "If you don't know it, fake it." That's the aim. Here's hoping I hit the target.

I'm kind of looking forward to going back to work on Friday.

Bar Review: Day 60

gregh — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:43:28 -0500

The question I keep going over in my head: Is there something I would not be able to write some sort of essay response on?

Short answer: I don't think so. Longer answer: I worry about freezing up.

During this process, we've seen nothing but very good essays as answer exemplars. I really want to know what a 55 looks like, what a 65 looks like, and what a 75 looks like. I feel that seeing only 80s or 85s (or whatever they are, since we don't know) makes it too hard to know what we should do when we fake it.

Or, maybe I actually don't want to know. I sure think I do, though.

Bar Review: Day 58

gregh — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:58:50 -0500

It would be really great if there could be just a few more minor, piddly little distinctions between California civil procedure and California evidence and the FRE and FRCP.

Bar Review, Day 56

gregh — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:51:18 -0500

Will the 29th hurry up and get here?

Someone mentioned to me that the bar exam is an endurance test, what with 3 days and all. I responded that I'm not so sure it's the three days I'm bothered by; it's the 63 days of prep ahead of it. I am so sick and tired of bar prep now.