I can’t seem to fall asleep. Since I have already taken my nighty night cocktail, I am useless for retaining any type of knowledge, so we will now begin a new feature that I will call Bar Exam FAQ. As a fellow blogger at BarExam06 pointed out, "They" don’t often know what it means to take the bar. I’m hoping this little segment can assist. For my non-legal readers (which i believe is 2 out of the five of you), please feel free to submit questions if there are things that you are curious about. Fellow examinees, if there are things you would like me to explain to the masses, I’m happy to address any issues that you come up with. And now, today’s installment.
The bar exam is just a test. You’ve been taking tests in school and doing well for your entire life. Isn’t this the same thing.
No, it goddamn isn’t the same thing. The bar exam shakes me to my very core. It is a beast that must be slayed. It is all of my fears and low self-esteem moments trapped into one three day marathon.
Sure, it is just a test. But to those taking it, it is much more than a test. It is the difference between being a lawyer and not being a lawyer. As this is how we get licensed, they make the bitch hard as hell. In Nevada, I will spend all of one day answering essay questions. The next day, I will answer an ungodly amount of the hardest multiple choice questions that exist on this earth. Then, I will come back on the third day and answer four more essay questions.
To do well on said beast, I will have to do the following:
- Commit to memory all important parts of 18 legal subjects. Subjects that took a long, long time to learn in the first place. Some, I never learned in the first place and I’m simply hoping for the best.
- Learn to apply all of the crap that I have memorized. Fortunately, the MC questions are based on a mere six subjects. Every subject can be an essay. And these essays – they’re tricky too!
- Keep a watchful eye on the clock because, frankly, they expect you to be able to complete these applications in a very short period of time.
- Don’t let my nerves get the best of me in the process.
So, yes, it’s just a test. But it is the most important test I will probably have to take. And I think I speak for all of those taking it when I say – We don’t want to take it again!! That’s why we are all so crazed and speaking in tongues. And, dear friends, when you say it is just a test, it is like you have slapped us. Because, for us, right now, it has taken over our entire lives. And sure, you can try to put it into perspective by saying it is just a test, but it is the last hurdle I’ve got to jump before I can make my educational and occupational dreams a reality. So, sure, just a test. But right now, it’s the only test that means anything. The others were simply warm ups.
Related posts:
I’m not a law student, and it gives me a headache just thinking about it…
Whenever a non-bar person even as so much suggests that this should be easy, I whip out some practice questions and make them take them. And watch them be all stupid and it makes me feel better – for a split second.
Thank you for your honesty. I came home tonight (I’m studying on the East Coast), graded my PMBR practice test and sunk into a deep depression. Sure I’ve done badly on all the one’s I’ve done to date, but seeing all those wrong answers combined into predictive badness less than two weeks before the exam . . . well, that’s disasterous.
I’m left wondering: What happened to me? I used to be really smart in high school. I even went to a fabulous college. And yet ever since I decided to flirt with the law, it’s been failures-ville all the way. Enough to make a girl quit . . . And like you, I’ve got one hand out for the bottle and the other hand out for the meds.
I appreciate your honesty. Feeling like I’m not alone makes it all better. Best of luck. I hear Nevada sucks.