Wednesday, June 22, 2011

One more thing

F*** barbri.  The lecturers teach the law as if it's in a vacuum.  As far as CMR goes, I can COPY a rule STRAIGHT FROM the book, and the "grader" on the essay will say my rule statement is missing elements.  THANKS CONVISER!

I'm so pissed off.

Barbri can go f itself.

Crap - Week 5

I now understand why there are not too many blogs of bar exam prep.  There is so little time!  Due to the time constraints -- today's blog is going to be short and sweet and likely nonsensical.  Here goes:

  • Of three essays submitted, I've only "passed" one.  Two 60s and a 65.  Awesome.
  • Scoring in the 50-60% range on multiple choice.  Not so hot.
  • I have fallen behind in preparation; there are two essays I have not written and one I never outlined.  There are also some essay analysis videos I did not watch.  I always print the essay approach and create an outline based on that format; I just don't always watch the video...
  • I created too many flashcards that are unnecessary - I am actually going to recreate some vital ones, and keep the multiple choice ones I made separate from these new sets.  Then I'm getting rid of the ones I made from the CMR book.
  • It will never, ever be funny to me for someone not studying for the bar to ask me, "Shouldn't you be studying?" when I am running an errand or eating dinner or taking one of the very few breaks I take.
  • It will always, always irritate me that my family thinks this test is cake.  This is not the freaking drivers permit test, people!  Ugh.  And yes, I DO need to be studying RIGHT NOW and NO, I CANNOT wait until the night before.
Well, I feel better.  On to the massive to-do list...

Sunday, June 12, 2011

This is not getting any easier

My scores have sunk back down -- now I'm in the 50% range on multiple choice.

I did a practice essay and tried hard to get all the issues -- it took me TWO HOURS. 

I need to get my act together!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Week 3's Mini-Breakthrough Moment

Today was a great day.  Extraordinary.  Brilliant.  What happened today was something I never thought would happen. 

I scored a 9/12 on a mini-MBE review with the Study Smart software on Barbri.com.  Yes, that's only a 75%.  But I have never scored so high on any combination of MBE questions.  And yes, there are other forces working in my favor; for instance, I chose the subjects and I chose only a handful of questions.  But spare me, self (I always find a way to bring myself down).  For one who consistently scores in the 40-50% range, this is huge. 

I scored a 9 out of 12.  That's fan-freakin-tastic.  I only wish it would have occurred sooner in the day - it's a bit late to be having such a magnificent moment.  But I digress.

My study schedule has not changed.  It's still study, class, lunch, study, work out, study, random internet tv, bed.  Week 3 is marching along, and the struggle to stay awake during the lectures is becoming more difficult to battle.  I have still done e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g Barbri told me to do, and I plan to keep this up.

As far as study methods, the one thing I do that others do not (or at least I have not seen anyone do this) is type of the lecture notes.  I fill in the blanks during the lecture, and then go home and type up the notes and explanations. 

I also started reading my flashcards.  I am not at the point where I can recite what the back of the flashcard says, but I'm a champ at reading it out loud.  This was not a totally pointless effort, either, as I refreshed my memory on a couple of topics.  Although I also realized that everything I learned way back when about present and future estates has been lost (and that was the topic of the damn property question I got wrong tonight on the MBE).

Today I started a list of the topics that I consistently mess up -- breach situations for contracts (I know, it's like the most basic part), present/future estates for property, etc.  I have not actually done anything to re-familiarize myself with these topics, but I plan on reading the larger Multistate and CA outlines on these topics to try and get a better grip.  

But anyhow.  9 out of 12.  I am happy about this. 

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Week 2

I'm tired.  The nerves of this entire situation have settled so that I can no longer wake up as early as I was last week to start studying, and I am actually beginning to get lazy after class.  I am forcing myself to study and get my work done, but it is not coming as easy nor am I as obsessed as I was last week.

The schedule these first two weeks has been class in the morning, quick lunch, then doing the Barbri homework for 3 hours or so (whatever it takes until it is done), gym, home for dinner, and then more studying in the evening.

I am definitely not picking up the concepts like I should be, still!  Everyone around me seems to be scoring consistently in the 70% or higher range on the multiple choice testing drills.  I'm still below 50%.  Pretty sad.  I have never been good at multiple choice tests, but it is not like a failed out of law school -- my GPA is not too shabby at all, and these Barbri drills are really making me feel incompetent.

I will get it down...I know I will.  I just hope I get it down by the end of July so that I can only ride this terrifying bar exam ride once.