Oh yeah, two days down and one more left - tomorrow's 12-essay day of Ye Olde Connecticut law. Considering my right hand is cramping (STILL!) from Tuesday, I'm not sure how tomorrow's gonna go, especially since they collect the essays every hour. I'm not too worried though I'm contemplating ice on my hand tonight.
Today's MBE wasn't all that bad in my opinion. I can't talk about any specific questions or answers 'cause otherwise the National Board of Law Examiners will hunt me down and crucify me. No seriously, it's in the instructions. What, you didn't see it mention crucifying blabbermouths? Okay, maybe you're right but it DID mention disbarment and that's essentially the same so...
I have to say, the 7-week BarBri course really shined today. A few times I recognized answers as coming straight from BarBri lectures. Plus there may have been a question or two of the type that instructors indicated with "this subject only shows up in the following one or two limited situations.." Spot on at times.
Personally my background in Evidence, as from my experience with the UConn Student Trial Lawyers Association and trial lawyer competitions I participated in, was incredibly helpful. I saw questions on Evidence that I instinctively knew the right answer to from my experience, not from my studying. Saved me quite a bit of time.
Also, general test-taking strategies really help too. Things like eliminating answers, pairing it down, guessing and moving on, etc. Often times I got the four choices down to two candidates. And I remembered what one of our BarBri lecturers had said to us:
We're asking you to do slightly better than trained monkeys.In other words, get it down to two answers and try to choose the right one more often than not (+50% of the time). With only 2 choices, a monkey stands to hit 50%. Our goal is 65% or so. Hence, if we can do slightly better than trained MONKEYS we'll be just fine. MONKEY MONKEY MONKEY!!!
Some of today made me wonder why our law school classes themselves don't better prepare us for the MBE. If the MBE only tests 6 subjects and is taken by almost every law student sitting for a bar, why not help prepare us for it? Especially in subjects such as Torts where the law, while individualized by state on particulars, is generally consistent and based on the same or similar predicates. I don't know. Guess I just wish law school helped prepare me for this thing when, for the vast majority, it did not. At all.
You may wonder about the time on this post seeing as the MBE is given from approximately 9-12 and 1:30-4:30. Well, I finished both sessions with over 30 minutes to spare, meaning I got to leave early and return home early. Pretty cool. Even as I type this, there are students still taking the MBE in Hartford. (SUCKAS! :P)
That's all I've got right now. I'm gonna relax a bit. Maybe catch some dinner later with friends though if I do, a contingent to my presence will be the explicit non-discussion of anything law or test related. I'm not done, I'm not talking about it. Talk would probably freak me out and I've been good thus far with the perceived pressure. twodownonetogo.. twodownonetogo.. TOMORROW'S THURSDAY! YIPPEE!!!
To those who still have one Hellish day left, GOOD LUCK AND HANG IN THERE!
(Half Door tomorrow night after the exam. Dinner, beer, monkeys, the usual - if we're still conscious and not passed out in a heap in a corner from exhaustion, which is a distinct possibility.)
ADDENDUM: I'm sitting for Connecticut at the CT Expo Center with 500-600 others. Not bad though a little warm. Big open room, lots of tables. I like the person who sits next to me. They never make a sound, never cause trouble, don't even breathe loudly. Of course I'm surmising all this since the person never actually showed up.
Also, apparently Porsche announced a 4-door. (CNN article.) *shrug* I need more details but I'm too lazy right now to coallate them. [4:39 PM]