It was like greeting an old friend. I love bookstores. I love books. But I've found it difficult to go into a Borders in the time between last February and now. I walk in, look at the people huddled over their laptops and books in the cafe, and quickly avert my eyes. I think, " I do NOT want to be one of those people again!," but I feel a strange solidarity with them anyway...
Not to be mean, (don't people always say that JUST as they're about to be mean?) but I've found out that some pretty unremarkable people have passed the bar. People I've known for years, people I've conversed with, people I've gone to school with. I'm not saying I'm better than them, but I know that they're not especially smart or quick or hard workers. Are they just especially...lucky?
Perhaps.
Or maybe they're harder workers. This is definitely my greatest downfall. I've been able to skate by on minimal preparation and bullshit my way through school pretty much all my life. My lazy brain is now thoroughly trained in the art of the "zone out" and picks through data to extricate only the most pertinent information. It seriously refuses to learn more. This leaves me thinking I know the law, but then when I see it applied in a real life scenario (i.e. MBEs and the essays), I may get it confused because I haven't thought it through to really understand. Because you see, this is not just rote memorization. We have to know how it's applied in real life! Obviously, right?
So far, I'm liking the MM software. I have a tendency to glance through the problems and pick random answers without really thinking about it (again, the lazy brain syndrome combined with a truly horrible lack of patience = failing the bar exam) but I'm scoring around 60%. I haven't read over my outlines or anything, so I figure with that and actually paying attention to the qs will bring me up to around 70%. Which is ok...
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4 comments:
OMG!! Thank you for finally saying it! I didn't want to post an entire missive about questionable people that have passed!!! But seriously, I am just dumbfounded. I also give you a lot of credit for studying at Border's. I would be broke and would just sit there with coffee and People magazine all day!
Thank you for your kind comments on my blog ~ I really appreciate it...;-)
I'm studying at home for now, but will re-think that situation once the kids get out of school next week(both are in high school!)
I, too, would get distracted at Borders or Starbucks, but as long as you stick to the place where you can concentrate best, that's the main thing. For me, that is my home office. I like being able to have all these beautiful Barbri books around me, the big binder(like you) with all the outlines, flashcards, my laptop,etc. etc.
As for the remark about the "unremarkable" people, this whole bar passage thing at my school is really inconsistent. Students who did much better than me(i.e. graduated with honors) have failed once, twice. I have to say that the students who "keep at it" are more likely to pass on successive tries than the ones who skip one or two administrations, and then ultimately give up.
I believe we have a really good chance to pass because we are sticking with the ultimate goal. The attack plan from now until July 27th is key, along with a good measure of confidence going into July 24th!
Too funny. I have just said the same thing to three different people today, that people who passed the bar the first time have no idea how lucky they are. They have no idea how they actually did, they could have gotten lucky on one PT and the MBE, but bombed all their essays.
I had a friend call me up today to remind me of all the "unremarkable" people who have passed the bar and also to tell me about an attorney who has failed the CA bar 3 times after practicing law in IL for 10 years.
Even after thinking of all that, I still can't get away from feeling crappy.
BTW, I changed my name from calbar repeater(too negative sounding, I decided) to calbar blondie. I know I'm not the first blonde gal to use that "handle" but it's a variation on a recurring theme, it seems!
Check out www.schmancypurses.com on a study break(this is for the girls reading).
Anyways, I know of a licensed Michigan/D.C. atty who just failed CA Bar for the second time. He has been licensed for at least thirty years, and with reputable firms, too. This suggests that the mbe actually helps one to pass! That has been my albatross all along. Like Blawgin, I'm using Micromash as well.
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