Bar Exam Day 3

The test is finally over.

After the stress of the last two days, today felt easy. It was almost like they gave us softball questions. Overall, I don't think I did too badly. I had an answer for every question - even if I had to boldly assert my made up rule law on occasion :)

I won't offer any words of advice on the test itself - those will come after I find out if I passed! My tips to future Ohio bar takers are:

• take some kind of cushion - you'll spend 2 1/2 days sitting on a metal folding chair and by the middle of the second day your back will be screaming at you.
• make sure you can stand to use your ink pen for three hours at a stretch if you're handwriting.
  
• definitely dress in layers - the room has the potential to be freezing cold, especially if it's raining outside and you're wet.
  
• work on developing your bladder of steel - there are only three restrooms for 1200 people. The lines at the restroom right before the start of a testing session are extremely long.
  
• if you feel the need to socialize, arrange to stay at the same hotel as your friends
• make a pact with your friends not to discuss the test
• you're going to be too tired to study on Tuesday and Wednesday nights
• there is nothing to eat in the vicinity of the hotels so you're stuck with the hotel restaurant unless you bring snacks of your own.
  
• there's no point in rushing toward the doors after the test - if you're in the back of the room like I was there's going to be a bottleneck by the time you get to the exits and you're not going to get out of the parking lot anytime soon anyway.
  

That's it so far. I'm just glad to be home. Now I need to figure out what to do with myself now that I don't have to obsessively study.

Bar Exam Day 2

I've concluded that today was more a test of endurance than a test of legal knowledge. Today was the second full day of sitting on a hard, metal chair in a freezing room. Instead of aggravating my carpal tunnel syndrome by writing for six hours, I spent the six hours today filling in bubbles for a multiple choice test.

Supposedly, the morning and afternoon portions of the MBE are of the same difficulty. I wouldn't be surprised to find that there is a significant drop in score between the morning and afternoon sessions. By the time the afternoon rolled around I was too tired and in too much pain to really give thought to the questions. I found myself wanting to just pick an answer and get it over with. That wouldn't have done any good though because no one is allowed to leave before the end of the time for the exam and until the proctors have collected all the materials.

Tomorrow is the final portion - six more essays over three hours. Then begins the wait until the end of October for results.

Bar Exam Day 1

Is over!!!!!

I think the anticipation was the worst part. It's such a huge test that the mere thought of the test is almost worse than the test itself.

It was great to see all of the other Chase people at the Chase tent this morning and many thanks to the Chase alums for providing breakfast and lunch.

Many thanks also to St. Joseph of Cupertino since I was able to at least come up with an answer for each question, whether or not I actually knew anything about the topic.

The worst is over I think. Tomorrow is the MBE and I know most of the stuff for that and I'm good at multiple choice questions. Thursday is the final part of the essays and I'm somewhat able to narrow down the topics based on the questions we had today.