Best of luck to all bar takers

I want to wish all my blogger buddies and July bar takers the best of luck this week. Be calm, breathe, and stay strong. In just a few short days, you will have a little bit a freedom and a big hangover to work on. You can do it!

Exam days

The July bar is about a week away and I have a few law school friends that keep asking what to do or expect during the bar. Here are some thoughts on how I spent my days at the bar.

• Bring essential study materials only. I brought flashcards, the Bar Code book, my mini outlines, and I had my MicoMash for MBEs on my laptop. Don’t bring crates of all of your books as you won’t have time to look at it all and it will only cause you to jump from one source to another.
• Limit the studying. After each testing day, I would eat dinner and relax for an hour or so. Then I would lightly review the material that had not yet presented itself. I wrote out my mini-outlines once to ensure I still had it. I would wrap it up around 8:30, watch a bit of tv and get to bed early. I would get up a full hour before I wanted to walk out the door in the morning. This gave me time to eat breakfast and review material for about 10 minutes. I just wanted to make sure that my brain was awake before I sat down to test.
• Stock up on food. I stocked up on bottles of green tea and water, a bunch of snacks like pretzels and trail mix, mini-meals like tuna lunch kits and meal replacement type granola bars. This way I didn’t have to track down stores and risk running into other examinees. I tried not to leave my hotel room for anything other than the exam itself. I did go out to dinner one night and ordered a pizza for dinner the other night. I also brought several beers- not enough to get me drunk but one to help me relax each night after the exam.
• Little baggie lifeline. I carefully triple checked my ziplock bag every day to ensure that I had everything that I needed. I tried to bring cough drops and the vitamin c drops, thinking that the sugar would give me a little boost if I was lagging but the proctor confiscated them. I argued that they might fit under the medication allowance on The List but she said no. I did not want to get the ominous Rule 12 violation write up so I just gave them up. I did remember that abbagirl had no problem setting out mints or something similar but she had hers unwrapped so maybe that was the difference. Just bring what is on The List and don’t worry about anything else. Don't stress over trying to find an analog clock smaller than 4x4' without an alarm as a watch with a large face works just as well. It is easier to pull the stem out on a watch to set it to 12 than it is to reset most clocks. (Press the stem back in when the proctor calls start so that it is easy to calculate 3 hours instead of trying to remember when the exam started and doing the math.)
• Testing room logistics. You have to leave whatever is not on The List in the lobby outside of the testing room and this may or may not be a secure area. There will be long extension cords and power strips in the laptop centers so you will not need to worry about bringing an extension cord. There are more than enough places to plug in. I brought a throw pillow that I initially used to sit on but found that I was more comfortable when I had it behind my back so I could lean back a little. It was small enough that I could shove it in my laptop bag so I didn't have to carry it far. I left my laptop bag, with my cell phone and bottle of water outside the testing room and had no problems with theft. I never got up to use the bathroom or water fountain so I am not sure what condition those facilities were in. There will be an unreal amount of waiting at the beginning and end of each testing session so be prepared. Wear your earplugs as the room is noisy with chairs scrapping the floor and people coughing every 30 seconds. The proctor will call out when there is 5 minutes remaining and 30 second remaining. I froze each time I heard the 30 second warning and my hands started shaking. I barely had time to finish a sentence. It is not enough time to use spell check. Don't take out your earplugs when time is called, you will still be able to hear the instructions or the table proctors will tell you what to do. It minimizes the chatter about the answers. Unfortunately, it seems like the loud talkers are the ones that want confirmation that they got everything.
• Lunchtime. I went back to my hotel room for lunch everyday. I was not hungry as the stress killed my appetite but I forced myself to eat and drink something. I ate a tuna kit or a soup that I heated up in the little microwave in my room. I heard people say they wouldn't drink during breaks so they didn't have to use the restroom during the exam but I thought it was silly to dehydrate myself as that makes me sleepy. I wore my earplugs during the walk to and from my room so that I couldn’t hear fellow examinees dissecting their answers. I only mildly reviewed my notes for the PTs on the first and last day but didn’t really do any reviewing on the middle day.
• Melatonin is magical. I slept so well during the bar that I knew I could bring my best game. I took 1 milligram (in this case, more is NOT better) about an hour before bed and slept for a full 8 hours. It’s not a sleeping pill so it doesn’t make you groggy in the morning. I also slept with my earplugs in so that I wasn’t woken up by the sleepless examinees next door.
• Ignore predictions. As much as I said that I wouldn’t change my studying on predictions, I still wasted time and misused time finding out predictions, creating my own, and putting emphasis where the predictions converged. I am a logical person and I studied statistics. It would make sense to determine which subject cluster or sequences were common, what has not been tested in so long that it must appear this year, and what was tested repeatedly and would be left off this time, so that I could put additional emphasis on those subjects. Well, on the February bar, PR was tested 3 times, murder was tested again, and civ pro didn’t appear at all. The problem is that the bar committee does not leave the exam subject selection up to statistic probability but instead, intentionally selects the subjects to eliminate predictability. Do not listen to predictions.
• Secure late checkout ahead of time. I requested to be able to check out late during the last day so that I could go back to my room for lunch and then put all my stuff in my car and check out. I left my car there but it was an easy escape for me after the bar ended. This saves having to pay for a whole extra day. After you are done with the bar you will not want to party nearby, you will want to get as far away from the testing center as possible.

Try not to do things that will stress you out as the experience is tiring enough. I didn’t call certain friends or my parents because I knew they would get me stressed. I focused on the present and didn’t let the enormity of it weigh on me. It is a time to summon up all your good energy. I played my favorite power songs. I took time to eat, sleep, and relax.

Passing is all in the preparation. Your work is almost done, now just show up and play.

Measuring up to expectations

I have been working for a few months now but it seems like just yesterday that I found out that I passed the bar. I’m at a small to mid-sized firm and I am generally happy here. I have received a lot of great experience and I do much more on my own than a typical first year associate.

At times, I feel that I am in over my head. I used to cherish that feeling because it meant that I was challenging myself and that I was learning, growing; reaching beyond my comfort zone. Now, I have deadlines that are unrealistic, I am asked to do things that I am completely unfamiliar with, and, my professional butt is on the line if I am wrong.

In a perfect world, I would stay all night until my task was done, my boss would review it in great detail – giving me suggestions about how to improve both the substance and the style of my work, and I would end up with a completed product that I am sure satisfies the goal. In reality, I don’t have all night, I get little feedback, and I am moving from one task to another so quickly that there is little time for reflection on how to improve the work product or myself in the process.

I know that I have a lot to learn and that this is typical of a young lawyer, but I am struggling with the fact that I am expected to have a certain level of knowledge as a lawyer and I don’t know what I don’t know. I have had some very interesting cases and it is different to view the cases from this side. Things can only get better.

Moving on

I finally tossed the stacks and stacks of bar exam papers that have been taking up space next to my desk. I had an unbelievable amount of past essays, performance tests, graded tests, mock exams, MBE questions and miscellaneous outlines that I had been avoiding looking at. I wish I had a fireplace so that I could take pleasure in watching it burn. I’ve donated my bar exam books and materials to fellow students that are currently studying for the bar. I archived all of the bar related stuff on my laptop and uninstalled Examsoft.

Although I feel like I have moved on and put the bar behind me, I am still compelled to check in with the blogs that I was so addicted to while I was going through the bar process. I am so sorry to see that some of my favorite blogger buddies did not pass and are in the process of tackling the monster again. I wish that I knew what to say to cheer you up or how to provide encouragement. From reading my old posts, I know what a lonely place you are in. This test is such an arbitrary measure and it really sucks that the process is so closed to the examinees. Just remember, this test has nothing to do with how smart you are. Hang in there.

A friend who is studying for the bar again asked me today if I found out how I did on my MBEs this time around. She was pointing out that we could transfer our scores to another state if we received over a certain number. It’s funny that before I passed, I thought for sure that I would do it so that I could see if my MBE scores improved over last time, but now that it is all over, I could really care less. I guess I am moving on.

Bar exam outlines

Memorizing the rules was the most difficult part of the bar exam study process for me. I would get overwhelmed at the sheer number of rules that we needed to know and I was sure there was no way I could have so many rules at my fingertips during the exam.

My strategy was to break down the subjects into the most basic rule sets. I wanted to be sure that I knew the major rules cold. I figured that I would be able to discuss the minor issues better if I didn’t spend time trying to remember or formulate rules for the major issues.

I spent a large portion of my study time with the mini outline that I created. To create the outline, I identified all of the major issues for each subject, then set out a very concise and simple rule statement, and then shortened each subject to about a half a page. The entire outline is only 7 pages. I could memorize 7 pages much easier than I could memorize hundreds of flashcards or the conviser mini review.

I created a blank template of my mini outline, deleting all of the rule statements, leaving just the headings, terms, and issues. I printed 10 copies of the blank outline and 1 copy of the completed outline. Everyday I would take 2 subjects and write out all of the rules, 10 times, by hand. By the time I finished 1 set of 10 copies in any subject, I had it memorized. Then I would move on to the next subject. In the beginning, I had to use my master sheet to just copy the rules, but after writing it 5 or 6 times, I didn’t need my typed copy. After I completely filled out the 10 copies, I printed 10 more blank copies. Instead of writing out all 10 pages for one subject, I would write out all of the subjects, one time. I did this everyday. By the end of my studying, I had memorized all the major issues for each subject and I could fill in the entire outline without looking up any rules.

My completed outline is available here and my blank outline is available here. The formatting is skewed slightly due to the limits of Google formatting. I hope this helps.

Review of bar exam books and materials

I compiled a summary of all of the books and materials that I came across during the bar study process. I used old copies that were given to me by fellow law school students that graduated a year before me so I didn’t break the bank on these. My law school library also had copies of most of these books. Almost all of these materials are available used on Amazon, craigslist or ebay type sites.

The Bar Code Cheat Sheets in Action by Whitney E. Roberts: This was by far the most helpful book I used. It’s a bit pricey at just over $100.00 but it is a great investment. It is a book of essay templates, broken out by subject. The essays are fairly short so you can easily see the format of how each issue should be approached. By using this method, I didn’t have to second guess what issues should be discussed, the order of presenting the issues, and how to break out key elements. I particularly liked the head note style of writing. It uses a one or two word heading and short paragraphs for each analysis. I used this book to evaluate my essays and I wrote every single essay in this book. I carried this around everyday.

California Bar Exam Survival Kit by Jeff Adachi: This was my second go-to book. This is a great value for its cheap price of around $35.00. It is a very brief outline on the substantive law for each subject on the bar. If I was writing an essay or working on MBEs and had to look up the law on any issue, this was the quickest and easiest starting point. It is just high-level rules; it does not contain the subtler distinctions. The acronyms are a bit silly and difficult to remember but overall, the presentation is good. The idea is to break each subject down into “Law Charts” but I found that it was really just organized in a tiny outline form. Since it was so slim, I also carried it around everyday.

Bar Breaker Volumes 1 and 2 by Jeff Adachi: This set is a helpful essay-writing tool. I used it a lot in the beginning of round two at the bar. The books contain a step-by-step process on how to write an essay for each major issue covered on the bar. The essays and answers used here are the ones that are released by the bar committee. I found it helpful to see which issues need to be raised together and what order the discussion should follow. However, it was not as simple as the Cheat Sheets format as it doesn’t use head notes. On the other hand, there were far more essays per subject than Cheat Sheets so I was able to cover the subjects in more depth using this series. I didn’t have the patience to follow each step that the book sets out. I did find that the process was very helpful and I got a good feel for what the bar wanted for each issue.

Bar Secrets: An Essay Approach to the California-Specific Subjects and Bar Secrets: An Essay Approach to the Multistate Subjects by Dennis P. Saccuzzo and Nancy E. Johnson: These two books are a good resource for writing bar essays. I found that there was a mix of model answers written by the authors and student answers released by the bar committee. I tend to find that model answers are good to read for their content, flow, and analysis but they are not realistic in terms of what a student can write on the bar. I wrote many of the essays in this book. Overall, these two books were a helpful reference.

Bar Secrets: The California-Specific Subjects by Dennis P. Saccuzzo and Bar Secrets: The Multistate Subjects by Dennis P Saccuzzo: These two books set forth the substantive law for each subject covered on the bar. It uses a flow chart schematic to break each subject down to its basic elements. There are high-level outlines that contain the main issues at the beginning, which you are supposed to memorize first, then each additional chart breaks the issues down further and further. I remember actually visualizing parts of the chart on the bar when I was trying to remember the law. Since the rules are broken down into very small elements and one sentence rules, it was easy to memorize and a great quick reference during bar study.

Law in a Flash series by Kim Walton: This is a great series of flash cards to use while in law school but not so great to use during bar study. Each subject is sold separately and there are hundreds of cards for each subject. One side of the card has a fact pattern and question, the other side has the answer and an explanation. I used these with groups of friends during law school to break up the tension when we had long study sessions. The cards are designed to be funny; they use weird character names and have cutesy things like drink recipes. During law school, it is a good way to learn the law as each I remember the law better when placed in context. However, it is too much extraneous material to go through during bar study and it would waste way too much time for even a small section of cards.

Strategies & Tactics for the MBE (Multistate Bar Exam) by Kimm Alayne Walton: This is a great resource for MBE questions. The book is broken out by bar subject. Each section starts with a intro and summary of what makes each particular section difficult and tips and tricks for that section. The answers are helpful and it includes explanations of why an answer is correct or incorrect. The book includes specific words to watch for and explained how to analyze each type of question. This is the most helpful MBE review book that I used.

Strategies and Tactics for the Finz Multistate Method by Steven Finz: This book is a good compilation of MBE questions and strategies to approach the elimination process. The book sets the questions out by each subject and provides an analysis on how to approach the questions. I found the explanations helpful as well. This book was a good secondary resource after I had exhausted all of the questions in the Walton Strategies book above.

PMBR Multistate Workbook Volume 1 &2: These are the big red and blue books that everyone feels compelled to use for MBE practice. I went to the PMBR 3-day review and only used the books once or twice after that. PMBR was previously known for getting questions that had shown up on previous bar exams and students said that they recognized questions during the exam. Since the PMBR lawsuit, the bar committee is probably changing the type of questions to remove any advantage PMBR students had. The books were too large to carry around and I found that the questions were very difficult. It is probably the most comprehensive compilation of multiple-choice questions that I have seen.

PMBR Multistate CD Review: The PMBR cds are 6 cd recordings of substantive law lectures for the multistate subjects. The lectures are old but I found them useful. I listened to them on my ipod when I worked out or needed a break. I disliked the evidence lecture but loved the other lectures.

Fleming's Fundamentals of Law Sail Through Law School Exams with The Exam Solutions: There is a cd lecture and written outline for each bar subject. I used these during law school and occasionally during bar study. I also found the lectures to be a bit old but still mostly relevant and helpful. The outlines are a good high-level resource to answer questions if you are unsure in a particular area. I also listened to the cds on my ipod during down time.

Fleming's Fundamentals of Law Multistate Examination Workbook Volume 1 & 2: These MBE workbooks were helpful for additional practice questions. The books contains MBEs broken out by subject and there are answers and explanations for each question. This was a good secondary source for MBEs if you need additional practice.

Legal Education Conference Center (LECC) flash cards: The cards are only available used as its part of the LECC bar review course but the cards are fantastic. It will save you an incredible amount of time by not making your own cards. The law is broken down into very short statements, the law is accurate, and the cards make it very easy to memorize. The cards are comprehensive but at the same time, they do not provide too much extraneous information.

The Conviser Mini Review, California (Barbri): This book is only available used as it comes as part of the whole Barbari review course but I recommend getting a copy. It is a condensed version of outlines for each subject. It is still fairly large so it is difficult to memorize everything, but it was a great resource when I was unsure what the law was in a particular area.

Tim Tyler’s Nailing the Bar series: I had not used these books but I heard many great things about them. He has a book on each subject and a few books that cover several subjects. I particularly wanted to get the books that discuss how to write a con law essay since that was a weakness for me but I ran out of time and I had so many other resources that I never got around to it.

California Evidence: A Wizard's Guide by Gerald F. Uelmen: This was a good reference to learn California evidence law. It’s a short, easy to read, paperback that explains evidence law in California and only costs about $20.00. It was very helpful when I was practicing the transcript style questions as I didn’t have a trial practice class in law school and I was not sure what all of the appropriate objections were. I skimmed the whole thing in about 1 sitting and had a much better understanding of the law.

Federal & California Evidence Rules by Daivd W. Miller: This book is a great reference for the differences between California law and federal law. It has the federal law on one side of the page and then the California law is on the other side of the page so you can easily compare the differences in each law. I didn’t read through the book from cover to cover, but I used it to look up rules when I needed a better understanding of the differences.

I hope this helps! Please feel free to leave a comment if you used any other helpful materials that I did not mention.

The grass is greener

My life has been sunny and wonderful the last few weeks. The pieces are falling into place. I was sworn in last week. I received an offer for an attorney position from the firm I am currently working for, I got business cards, I joined bar associations, and I go to functions every week. My wish of becoming a lawyer before I turn 30 came true.

The crazy ups and downs were far more extreme than I had expected. I am a different person now. I had a set back, I faced the failure, I met the challenge. I am humbled. I am more caring, more aware of others. I am grateful that I passed and I have no doubt that I was just lucky this time. I have been searching and reflecting for a whole year. I am more calm and I have learned patience. I dropped the judgmental attitude and I am no longer quick to snap when I come across something that doesn't meet my expectations.

I was broken but I am now back on track. I am determined not to let the failure taint the rest of my legal career or my personal life.

I am seeking new hobbies. I am reading books for fun. I am trying to meet new friends. I am trying to make up for the seclusion of law school and bar study. I am salvaging a lost year.

Thank you

I would like to give a big thank you to all of the people who provided their support to me and the blogging group while we studied for the bar. This blog provided me with a space to vent, be scared, nervous, to organize my thoughts on the process, and most importantly, a place to connect with others in my position and see that I am not alone. The fact that I went from 20 hits a day to 400 hits a day, shows that so many others were struggling to connect too. I appreciate all the people that took time out to share their comments and criticisms.

I saw comments on a fellow bloggers site that claimed that this informal blogging was not conducive to lawyerly thinking but I feel that the 2 minutes I took out of my day to express my thoughts on the process was a helpful break. The support I received in return was invaluable. I encourage others to continue blogging about the process despite the informality of the medium. The open sharing of ideas is refreshing in a world where we were so competitive.

I know how it feels to fail so I feel that I can say this, to those who didn't make it, never give up. I wasn't the top of my class, I didn't come from the prestigious schools, I did not have a wealthy upbringing or family connections. If I can do it, it is do-able.

I will post a few more bar-related things that helped me through the bar study process but I probably won't post much more after that. I really only posted about the bar; though I did post a few non-bar related things, the purpose of the blog was my journey through the bar. I will leave the blog up in the event that it helps people who are studying for future bar exams.

I wish my fellow bloggers the best of luck in all their future endeavors.

Welcome to the State Bar of California

I passed. Thank you so much for all of your support. To those that didn’t, please don’t ever give up.

echo echo ...

Today seems ominously quiet. Time is moving so slowly. It is weird, not knowing whether I will be celebrating or sobbing tonight.

I am preparing myself. I have learned a lesson in patience through this process. A reader K said that she feels stronger for this. I agree; I have felt that way for a long time. I know we will all reemerge as different, but better people.

I sincerely wish that we have all passed.