The Morning Of The Bar Exam: What To Do

Found this article from Vault about last minute bar exam dos and don'ts and it made me remember my own first disastrous attempt at taking the bar exam. (Yes, I had to take it twice.)

The first time I took it, I was exhausted from law school, and I should have waited until Feb. to take it. OK, I didn't, but that was my first mistake.

Then, because I was exhausted, I never could stoke the fire enough to study. I was reading and going through the motions, but the old study machine was not plugged in.

I thought about pulling my application, as a couple of my friends did, but I pushed forward, thinking I could pull it off. After all, I sometimes felt unprepared for tests in law school but passed just fine. That was another mistake. Note: the bar exam is not like tests in law school.

OK, so what happened the days of the test?  It is all kind of a blur at this point, but here goes. In our state, the bar exam is two days. The first day, I was frantic--didn't wake up early enough to relax some in the morning, and the worst part is I didn't have time to make coffee or stop somewhere and get it either. I don't eat breakfast usually, so that was no big deal, but I had to have coffee, except that I didn't get it. Another bad mistake.

Then at lunch, I did go get coffee, but it was almost too late then. Even worse, I repeated the pattern the next day for the essay portion of the bar exam. No coffee, but I even forgot to get it at lunch. The very worst part is I fell asleep for a little while during the essay test. Yes, asleep. I had my head resting in my hand facing the wall (I was the last one in the row, thank goodness) but I seriously fell asleep. That is how sleepy and unprepared I was for the test. I had written down everything I could for the essays, but I knew it was not enough. Needless to say, I did not pass.

The second attempt was a whole different ballgame. I signed up for the bar exam in February and had plenty of time to study and sleep before the big day came again.

I agree with everythng the Vault article says except for one thing: If you are used to cramming at the last minute, go ahead and do it then too. After all, if that is your pattern, don't stop. As is typical with me, I had a few lists of things not fully committed to memory yet, so even the mornings on both days (MBE and essay)I was memorizing lists. And I had coffee. And sleep. And good prep. And I passed. And so will you.