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July 26, 2005
Dr. Strangelaw, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bar Exam
Exam day one is over. Under no circumstances is a day of the bar exam a pleasant experience. It's probably not even fair to say it was only mildly unpleasant. It outright sucks.
But it wasn't as bad as it could have been, and that's all that really matters. The first session was the one I was most worried about. It would make or break my exam, either by what it did to my score or to my confidence.
Yesterday I was almost ill. Last night I did a little review and finally chilled out. I called the night at midnight, which is phenomenal for me, even right before the biggest test of my life. I was pretty comfortable with my position in the world. I had a mild freak out about -- of all things -- whether or not I'd be able to wake up this morning. I have an uncanny ability to set alarms all over the room and either sleep right through them, snooze them, or physically get up and walk over and shut them off only to climb back into bed and fall back asleep. It's my worst trait as a roommate. I was serisouly nervous about not getting up, despite the 5 alarms I set.
No need to worry. At 6, the first alarm went off, and I was already out of the shower before the official wakeup call came 30 minutes later. Usually, it takes more than 30 minutes just for me to finish the snooze, so that's an accomplishment.
It's roughly 95 degrees here in Ontario, but the convention center has good AC. 1300 of us are taking the exam on laptops in one room, and there are a bunch handwriting as well.
I got to my seat and started setting up around 8:15 or so. When I started my computer, 6 keys weren't working. They were important ones, like the 'e' and the 'n'. This had never happenend before until this weekend, and had gone away immediately (else I'dprobably have bought a new laptop Sunday). Today was the second time. Minor freak out again, but I quite literally beat the keys into submission before the exam started.
Moment of truth: I opened the exam and it wasn't my worst fears. Game on. I'm going to live. It won't be so bad that I don't bother coming back.
The day was smooth. Of the first three essays, I think I did well on one, mediocre on one, and poorly on one. The one I did poorly on seems to be the one everyone's bitching about. Someone in my room actually didn't answer it at all, rumor has it. I at least came up with some paragraphs and some underlined headings (which, if we're to believe BarBri scoring, is like 43% of the grade!). The afternoon performance exam was pretty straightforward (at least as these things go). I'm content.
I had a very nice, relaxed dinner with about a dozen folks from school, including the Fool and MBMc. Oddly enough, mid-bar, it was about the most relaxing evening I've had in a while.
More detailed accounts of the exam, including the substance of the questions, here & here & here & here.
Two more days. Good luck to everyone else. To those I've been ignoring, I have a week between the exam and my cross-hemisphere journey for August. I'll try to talk to you then.
Posted by buddha at July 26, 2005 10:09 PM
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Comments
¡suerte!
Posted by: shoepal at July 26, 2005 10:54 PM
Go, Jubu! Go, go, Jubu!
Posted by: jubro at July 27, 2005 03:43 AM
Good luck with the second two days. I know the process sucks, but it will feel great to be done! Eric.
Posted by: Eric Goldman at July 27, 2005 08:03 AM
Thanks all. Officially half done as of about 10 minutes ago. Just a little more.
Posted by: buddha at July 27, 2005 12:21 PM
Good luck Dan!
Posted by: DK at July 27, 2005 12:43 PM
you got this baby!!!
Posted by: aaron green at July 28, 2005 05:04 PM