And here we are again.
March 21, 2008
I’m starting to gear up for bar exam #2 – hopefully the last one ever. I’m working on putting together a study schedule – my plan all along has been to start studying April 15, but I’m not sure what that’s going to look like. I plan to continue working through the end of June then take the month of July off, so for now I will have to put together a study schedule to make the most of my evenings and weekends. I will probably do a lot of work in a cafe near my office after work – I think that if I drive home before starting to study I might wind down too much and lose my motivation.
It’s been really good to have this time off. Law school did such a number on me – it just made me feel like the stupidest person alive for three years – and I needed some time to get over that and get my feet back under me. It wasn’t good for me to take the bar exam while I was still in that state. Also, although I have been working full-time since December, I feel like my brain has gotten the rest it needs and has settled enough to allow me to start cramming bar law back into it. So I have three more weeks to plan, then I’ll get started with serious studying.
For a while, my explanation to myself for why I failed the bar exam was that I was just too busy last summer – I was working and I had to write that stupid paper over the summer in addition to studying for the bar exam – but I have revised that somewhat. Now I appreciate that, just as I did throughout all three years of law school, I spent too much time preparing to study for the bar exam and not enough time actually doing the work I needed to do in order to pass. Throughout law school I studied for each exam by preparing a beautiful, comprehensive outline of the course, then failed to leave myself enough time to absorb it and do practice questions. I think I did the same thing with the bar exam – I spent too much time preparing and reviewing my outlines and didn’t leave enough time to do practice questions. So this year I will be more focused on doing practice essays and MBEs.
That’s it for now!
March 21, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Hey. I’m in the same boat … right down to the overplanning! I need help with a study schedule too so I’ll be checking this frequently!
April 4, 2008 at 9:25 am
Wise, you are, Young Conbrio. Experience has taught you much!
That’s exactly right. Preparing to study feels so much better than actually studying. It’s an easy feel-good excuse for not doing the right thing, and the fact that you see it now means you’ve got a much better shot at passing this thing.
Congrats on that!