Fire and Brimstone
For any 3Ls who missed Dean Ortiz's bar talk on Tuesday, here's the grim recap:
- You should do both Barbri and PMBR.
- You should start practicing multiple choice tests 5 minutes ago. Start with five questions a day, every day (untimed at first). You can get copies of old MBE tests on the CalBar website. What are you waiting for? Get cracking!
- The bar exam is your life.
- Once you start studying after graduation, forget about ever doing things like laundry and dishes. (You all have butlers, right?)
- You can't possibly hold a job while you study.
- Forget things like dinners out and weekend trips.
- Classes are three hours a day. Studying is 8 additional hours a day. Do I hear 9 or 10?
- The bar exam is your life
- Self-study spells certain doom unless you have the discipline of a samurai.
- Wean yourself off caffeine now. You can't afford to be taking bathroom breaks during the test.
- If Barbri says "jump," you say "how high?"
- If Barbri says "Drop and give me twenty essays," you say "Thank you sir, may I have another?"
- The people who fail (and some of you WILL FAIL) are the people who take Barbri lightly.
- If you have kids, ship them off to summer camp. I am not making this up.
- Don't study with your friends. You will end up hating each other.
- The bar exam is your life.
My notes tapered off after that. I was too busy using my pen to slash unsuccessfully at my wrists.
Seriously, don't take my word for any of it. I recommend that everybody attend one of these talks, if you can handle the wake up call. The warm and fuzzy days of law school are soon to be a thing of the past. Time to start honing those survival skills.
- You should do both Barbri and PMBR.
- You should start practicing multiple choice tests 5 minutes ago. Start with five questions a day, every day (untimed at first). You can get copies of old MBE tests on the CalBar website. What are you waiting for? Get cracking!
- The bar exam is your life.
- Once you start studying after graduation, forget about ever doing things like laundry and dishes. (You all have butlers, right?)
- You can't possibly hold a job while you study.
- Forget things like dinners out and weekend trips.
- Classes are three hours a day. Studying is 8 additional hours a day. Do I hear 9 or 10?
- The bar exam is your life
- Self-study spells certain doom unless you have the discipline of a samurai.
- Wean yourself off caffeine now. You can't afford to be taking bathroom breaks during the test.
- If Barbri says "jump," you say "how high?"
- If Barbri says "Drop and give me twenty essays," you say "Thank you sir, may I have another?"
- The people who fail (and some of you WILL FAIL) are the people who take Barbri lightly.
- If you have kids, ship them off to summer camp. I am not making this up.
- Don't study with your friends. You will end up hating each other.
- The bar exam is your life.
My notes tapered off after that. I was too busy using my pen to slash unsuccessfully at my wrists.
Seriously, don't take my word for any of it. I recommend that everybody attend one of these talks, if you can handle the wake up call. The warm and fuzzy days of law school are soon to be a thing of the past. Time to start honing those survival skills.
posted by Mad.J.D. at 10:17 PM
12 Comments:
What is this Pepperdine or something?
Fuck, I should have asked her what "inside back cover" means.
Was anyone able to find the old MBE tests? I can't find them at the Cal Bar web site. Also, how are we supposed to be doing these practice questions without first studying the material? Or are we supposed to just do the questions concerning classes we've already taken?
Dean Ortiz is simply using scare tactics. I'm sorry, but the bar exam is NOT that hard to pass, at least not for you guys.
When I studied for the bar exam, I simply attended the Barbri courses in the morning, then did something else in the afternoon. I didn't even bother to do the practice exams, and I never cracked open half the books I got from Barbri.
I only started to study for real about 2 weeks before the exam. Basically, I just memorized the Conviser mini-review, and relied on my raw lawyering skills for everything else.
And I passed, of course.
There's a reason why the vast majority of Boalties pass the bar exam. It just isn't that hard.
Did she really say this stuff or is this post an exaggeration? The people on this blog are so warped I don't know what to believe most of the time.
She really said it. I embellished with the "Drop and give me 20" stuff, but the underlying point of each thing I said is something she stressed. She literally said no time for dishes and laundry, start practicing right away, quit coffee, etc.
How's that for warped?
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I'm sure you're bar studying efficiency can only increase as your apartment begins to smell like a land fill and your significant other begins putting strychnine in your water. (Oh and your children die / get abducted).
Most of the people who fail the bar fail not because they didn't try hard enough, but because they aren't smart enough. That's why the pass rate of retakers, even at Boalt, is so low.
"Most of the people who fail the bar fail not because they didn't try hard enough, but because they aren't smart enough. That's why the pass rate of retakers, even at Boalt, is so low."
Ouch! You're joking, right?
It sounds like Dean O. is a bit warped. Remember that she has a vested interest in making sure as few of us fail as possible. I suspect that may be driving her exaggerations.
umm, I too have a vested interest in making sure I don't fail. but, yeah, I don't care about the rest of y'all.
Y'all, take the bar very seriously but also relax. The bar is not intrinsically hard if you put in the work, which means that even if the concepts aren't so challenging, you need to study a lot over a sustained period. Despite what Vicky says, you will have time for evenings off or the occasional weekend-day off, and you will have time to do your laundry. The Barbri lectures are mostly excellent, so pay attention and follow along in the outlines they provide and you will be in good shape. PMBR is not essential unless you find you are not hitting the scores you need on the MBEs. I agree with her that the people who fail are those who don't take studying seriously - I have two close friends who failed, and this was why. Other than that, maintain a sense of humor. Figure out as you go along what your weak points are and what you need to emphasize. And don't panic.
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