my thoughts on the bar
well, day one is over. and there's not doubt in my mind that today is the worse of the two days. to some degree that's b/c today covered about 18 topics, most of which i'd never had in school, whereas tomorrow is just six, almost all of which we've covered in school (i never took any crim pro. i'm wishing i had.). and to some degree it's probably b/c i had barely managed to sit thru one essay question before today, let alone an entire series of 5 of them.
off the bat, i'd like to say that this summer wasn't at all what i thought it would be. mostly b/c it didn't suck anywhere near as much. well, it actually didn't suck at all. class 4 hours a day isn't so bad. and i got to be in cville with all of my friends for one last summer. but above all, it's b/c i didn't freak out like i thought i would. and when i say "i," i mean all of us. i mean, i rememeber us first year. and i was the worst of them. i was an emotional wreck during finals and i'd be up all the time and i'd cry spontaneously and ooooh, it was just bad. and of course, you barely remember what that's like by third year, when you're just like, "exams schmexams." but i know myself and i was really worried i was going to be like that again, stressed all summer for 3 solid months. crying at the drop of a hat. hating my life. only it wasn't. and i would like to say hurrah for that.
but that's not my point.
so you spend all summer studying for this. diligently going to bar-bri classes while they teach you the law and point out the highlights and tell you the things that are certain to show up. you look at the big books and realize it's impossible to learn everything and you just try to get down what you've got in the 140 page typed file you've saved as "condensed notes" on your computer, focusing on the things that are just sure to be on there.
in the week approaching the exam, you start to feel pretty good. i mean, you know this stuff! you could almost recite this binder!
you feverishly try to read every single bar-bri practice essay. well, you try to answer them, but it's always so disheartening b/c they expect you to know things like the duty of a corporation for snow removal in the state (i mean Commonwealth) of virginia. so you think thru each one and then read the model answers, figuring that maybe if you can read all of them and commit them to memory, maybe you'll learn everything they could possibly ask.
only it turns out that of course they're not going to ask those questions. as a matter of fact, despite the fact that you know hundreds of pages of typewritten notes, they're not going to ask you almost any of those things. they'll ask you questions that will leave you going thru a mental list of every topic you covered in class this summer, trying to figure out if this question fits in that topic. because you really can't figure out what this question is getting at. after all, it's the 9th of 9 questions and you've still got approximately 14 bar-bri topics you still haven't had a question on, and approximately 18 gazillion facts you DO know that they haven't given you any opportunity to tell them. your heart will leap when you start the question with "testator leaves a will," but then fall immediately when the question tells you it was duly executed and dashes all your hopes regarding spouting out the 15 pages of wills knowledge you possess.
so here's what i'm thinking. they tell you all along that law school doesn't prepare you for practicing the law. and then they you spend a summer trying to rote memorize every single aspect of the applicable law in virginia. it doesn't seem like this could possibly prepare you for practicing the law either.
but maybe that isn't what they're really doing. they're throwing out some totally obscure question that there's no way you will have actually learned the law on. but you're going to hopefully have the knowledge of everything else that might possibly lead you to that answer, and you're going to have to think on your feet and piece it all together and get your bearings til you've made up an answer that's going to pass muster. and that does kinda sound like what being a lawyer is. plus, you're wearing a suit and sneakers, and what's more lawyerly than that?
of course, some of you (ahem, me) will just sit there for approximately 2 hours and 49 minutes twirling your hair w/o typing a single thing while wondering why those bastards couldn't give you an f'in wills question.
off the bat, i'd like to say that this summer wasn't at all what i thought it would be. mostly b/c it didn't suck anywhere near as much. well, it actually didn't suck at all. class 4 hours a day isn't so bad. and i got to be in cville with all of my friends for one last summer. but above all, it's b/c i didn't freak out like i thought i would. and when i say "i," i mean all of us. i mean, i rememeber us first year. and i was the worst of them. i was an emotional wreck during finals and i'd be up all the time and i'd cry spontaneously and ooooh, it was just bad. and of course, you barely remember what that's like by third year, when you're just like, "exams schmexams." but i know myself and i was really worried i was going to be like that again, stressed all summer for 3 solid months. crying at the drop of a hat. hating my life. only it wasn't. and i would like to say hurrah for that.
but that's not my point.
so you spend all summer studying for this. diligently going to bar-bri classes while they teach you the law and point out the highlights and tell you the things that are certain to show up. you look at the big books and realize it's impossible to learn everything and you just try to get down what you've got in the 140 page typed file you've saved as "condensed notes" on your computer, focusing on the things that are just sure to be on there.
in the week approaching the exam, you start to feel pretty good. i mean, you know this stuff! you could almost recite this binder!
you feverishly try to read every single bar-bri practice essay. well, you try to answer them, but it's always so disheartening b/c they expect you to know things like the duty of a corporation for snow removal in the state (i mean Commonwealth) of virginia. so you think thru each one and then read the model answers, figuring that maybe if you can read all of them and commit them to memory, maybe you'll learn everything they could possibly ask.
only it turns out that of course they're not going to ask those questions. as a matter of fact, despite the fact that you know hundreds of pages of typewritten notes, they're not going to ask you almost any of those things. they'll ask you questions that will leave you going thru a mental list of every topic you covered in class this summer, trying to figure out if this question fits in that topic. because you really can't figure out what this question is getting at. after all, it's the 9th of 9 questions and you've still got approximately 14 bar-bri topics you still haven't had a question on, and approximately 18 gazillion facts you DO know that they haven't given you any opportunity to tell them. your heart will leap when you start the question with "testator leaves a will," but then fall immediately when the question tells you it was duly executed and dashes all your hopes regarding spouting out the 15 pages of wills knowledge you possess.
so here's what i'm thinking. they tell you all along that law school doesn't prepare you for practicing the law. and then they you spend a summer trying to rote memorize every single aspect of the applicable law in virginia. it doesn't seem like this could possibly prepare you for practicing the law either.
but maybe that isn't what they're really doing. they're throwing out some totally obscure question that there's no way you will have actually learned the law on. but you're going to hopefully have the knowledge of everything else that might possibly lead you to that answer, and you're going to have to think on your feet and piece it all together and get your bearings til you've made up an answer that's going to pass muster. and that does kinda sound like what being a lawyer is. plus, you're wearing a suit and sneakers, and what's more lawyerly than that?
of course, some of you (ahem, me) will just sit there for approximately 2 hours and 49 minutes twirling your hair w/o typing a single thing while wondering why those bastards couldn't give you an f'in wills question.
posted by laura at 10:34 PM
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