February 2007 Bar Exam.

Happy New Year. Here I am, like the other 51% or so of applicants that failed the July 2006 California Bar Exam, starting to study and prepare again for the worst bar exam in the country. What a fantastic way to start the year!

I decided not to take Barbri again. I got a lot out of it last summer, but it was mostly substantive knowledge, and I think I need to concentrate on other areas now. Like the damn MBE (which is why I failed). I am taking a different bar review course, designed for second time takers, that concentrates on a certain writing style that the bar examiners allegedly want to see. Does anyone really know this? I certainly hope my instructor does! That was part of my problem with Barbri and the whole crazy, frenetic Barbri/PMBR vibe, was that we got so many different opinions on what the bar wants to see, what they want to hear, how they want to see it that you have no idea if what you are doing is actually going to result in a passing score. Apparently, I had the wrong idea.

I will not lie. I am pissed. The way I studied last time totally ruined my life. I am sure my friends are tired of hearing this, but it really did. I listened to everything that all of those marginally funny Barbri professors said and busted my ass every day (good idea???????) I am lucky that my poor husband hasn't left me. (In that regard, my husband is the most perfect man to ever walk this earth.) But anyways, I studied all day, every day, with only two days off the whole time. I didn't see my friends, didn't work out, didn't go out with my husband, didn't see my family and I GAINED 20 POUNDS. I thought it all would have been worth it if I had passed. No. Not so much.

Seeing as how I am still fat from the last bar exam, I cannot and will not let this one ruin my life. Like I said, I am taking a different bar review course and we only meet as a group (about 40 of us) with the professor one day a week. And judging from my utter and complete inability to sit still for that one day, reinforces my decision not to take Barbri again...I cannot sit there all day every day again!! So I started again on January 2 (really the 3rd) and here I am. It is 7:55 am and I should be at the gym so I can get to the library at 10:00 am when they open. Hmmm...so, I will be posting my thoughts and processes throughout while trying to figure out what works.

Oh, and last time I acted like studying for the bar was like lent. I gave up alcohol. Big mistake. Huge.