For those attorneys out there...

[Mrs. MD, Esq.]

Seriously -- was the bar exam this bad the first time around??

Between moving, our wedding and our honeymoon - apparently I forgot that I would need to actually study for the bar exam...hence my current panic with 13 days left to go and very little bar exam knowledge going on...

I don't remember these concepts being all that difficult to master the first time around. Selective memory?? My brain has turned to sludge in the last two years?

Any other bar takers that want to commiserate with me?

(And yes, it has occurred to me that there may be a major procrastination issue happening...)

An added fun note, due to DH's schedule the week of the bar, he will leave Monday night for a night shift...will get home after I leave for the bar exam and will go back to work before I get back -- which means I will go without seeing DH from Monday at 5pm until Thursday at 9am without seeing him, even though we'll be sleeping and eating in the same apartment. Grrr!

Okay...

/end rant

[ladymoreta]

Good luck on it!

[GrayMatterWife]

Seriously -- was the bar exam this bad the first time around??

Yes.

I live, ate and breathed bar exam prep for two and a half freaking months. I hated hated hated hated it.

At lunch on the second day, I went out to my car and sobbed. I thought I had failed.

I am pushing DH HARD not to seriously consider a job in a state with no licensure reciprocity. I do not want to take another bar exam. Ever.

I am sorry you have to do this! good luck.

Yes, it is that bad. I generally love taking standardized tests, but I was a wreck when it came to the bar exam. It's frustrating in a specially hellish way. I think I cried at least once a day that July.

Good luck!

[Laker]

We graduated, married and then I was off to FL for bar exam prep. DW was doing intern year in MI. She visited a few times during June before she started working in July. But I focused entirely on the bar June and July during the Barbri course. I had to learn some FL law that I never learned in law school. Anyway, I passed, but it was nasty. A kid using his laptop puked on his computer and shorted out the computer. I did my test by hand, since I didn't want to run into technical problems. After typing everything for years and never writing, my arm almost fell off after the essay day of the exam. Good luck, you should be fine. I would do practice questions and read the explanations, as well as read as many essay and explanations as possible. Practice a few, but at this late time I would read explanations.

Good luck!

[MrsK]

Wow, I'm going to age myself. We weren't allowed to use computers for the FL bar when I took it. But I still recall hyperventillating in the ladies room and then giving my reflection a get a grip pep talk.

[Mrs. MD, Esq.]

I didn't use a computer during my first bar exam and I don't plan on using one now (too afraid something would go wrong...plus, if I were grading, I think I'd give hand-writers the benefit of the doubt...)

I guess it was this bad the first time around...selective memory. I don't seem to remember how bad it was before the exam (actually, I don't remember it much at all), but I remember crying and having panic attacks for about two weeks after for no reason...

Can't we just have a practical exam?? When am I ever going to use secured transactions? I mean, seriously...

[MrsK]

I use secured transactions. Don't have any use for civil proceedure though.

[Bittersweet]

BTDT and never want to do it again. The thought of studying secured transactions and commercial paper makes me shudder. I had to take a second bar exam when we moved for residency. I think it was worse the second time because I had a "why the eff do I have to this again" attitude. I was bitter, stressed and just a pleasure to be around.

Best of luck! You've passed once and can do it again!

[Mrs. MD, Esq.]

I use secured transactions. Don't have any use for civil proceedure though.

Now, see, I use civpro but never secured transactions...

[Mrs. MD, Esq.]

The thought of studying secured transactions and commercial paper makes me shudder. I had to take a second bar exam when we moved for residency. I think it was worse the second time because I had a "why the eff do I have to this again" attitude. I was bitter, stressed and just a pleasure to be around.

This. I think that's part of the problem...haha.

Thanks for the good wishes!

[Cinderella]

You can do it!

BTW congrats on the wedding. Your new avatar picture is lovely.

[Mrs. MD, Esq.]

BTW congrats on the wedding. Your new avatar picture is lovely.

Thank you!

[GrayMatterWife]

Wow, I'm going to age myself. We weren't allowed to use computers for the FL bar when I took it.

Another old timer here. Everyone took the exam on blue books--which you had to bring in yourself and then prove were completely blank.

[GrayMatterWife]

I didn't use a computer during my first bar exam and I don't plan on using one now (too afraid something would go wrong...plus, if I were grading, I think I'd give hand-writers the benefit of the doubt...)

I guess it was this bad the first time around...selective memory. I don't seem to remember how bad it was before the exam (actually, I don't remember it much at all), but I remember crying and having panic attacks for about two weeks after for no reason...

Can't we just have a practical exam?? When am I ever going to use secured transactions?

Oh, you'll be surprised at what you never thought you'd need to know

I thought our exam was actually pretty practical. We had oil and gas law (important in Texas--I was surprised in how many contexts that came up), civil procedure (my life...every day), bankruptcy law (ditto). Lots of criminal law--not something I now practice--but it seems reasonable to expect a generally licensed attorney to know the basics.

The only thing I thought was completely ridiculous was some of the wills & estates stuff. It was far beyond what any non-W&E lawyer would ever need to know. And no one practices W&E law as a "side" practice. It's a very particular area of subspecialization. I didn't even do my own wills!