So, I figure since I just turned the big 3-5 on Wednesday, it might be good to check and see how I did on the list...
Things to do before I turn 35 (next May 27)
#1. pass stupid bar exam
#2. have garage sale
#3. learn to cook fabulous ribs
#4. lose 30 pounds
#5. compete in a cooking contest
#6. learn to play guitar
#7. get a great haircut
#8. change someone's life
#9. bake bread from scratch
#10. master every sauce in James Peterson's Sauces
So, how did I did?
bar exam: check!
garage sale: check! (I made over $700!)
ribs: check! (yum, yum)
30 pounds: oh HELL no, but I also care way, way less than I did last summer. I would like to put that on the new list in the form of "get in good physical shape" rather than a weight loss goal, for turning 36.
cooking contest: check! (Two, actually.)
guitar: well, no... maybe this year...
haircut: check! (although now I need a good color)
someone's life:... um, check? One of my employees hated her former boss and was miserable, and now loves us and her new job, so does that qualify? I'm guessing yes.
bread: semi-check. I made croissants. Is that technically bread?
sauces: half,check. I got some, but not all. Definitely all the good basic ones: cream, red wine, au jus, etc.
So, I didn't get them all. I was sorely lacking on the creative front. I think is was simply a matter of no time for cooking and hobbies, what with starting a new law firm and all. Both me and my husband were working some 70-100 hours a week for a couple of months there in between the bar and the beginning of May. Phew!
But, I managed to snag one on my list for before I turn 40...
#10. have at least one employee
Actually, I have managed two employees... so, I figure I get some extra credit for that to compensate for the ones I lagged on for 35.
List for 36?
hmmm... let me think about it and get back to you. I'm tired from the 35 list still. ;)
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Recap of Studying...
So, someone was already asking for a recap of study plans... This is what I did...
First July... I graduated from law school tired and burnt out. Probably should have waited a few months and taken it in February, but I listened to every one's "advice" and plunged ahead. I started a new job in a law office and bar prep at the same time. Another mistake.
Then in February... I decided it might be time for some kind of help. I signed up for The Bar Code, which was an essay writing seminar taught by Whitney Roberts. I had used her book the previous July, but didn't adhere strictly to it while in the exam, so the areas where I veered from her approach, I got terrible scores.
I drove out to Sacramento every Saturday in January and sat there all day, going through each topic, and then during the week, I had practice essays to do that were due by a certain time. The feedback from the Bar Code was excellent. Each essay came back with tons of comments, a score that was around 50 initially, but by essay 10, climbed to 65's and 70's, and plenty of encouragement. They grade 13 or so essays. My last one, I got a 75.
Most importantly, I learned from Whitney's class how to figure out what I just wrote in terms of scoring myself. I also was advised to get my Barbri Conviser Mini Review out and make my own flashcards. They had to be done a specific way. It was exhausting and extremely time consuming. It was totally worth it. So, in January, I did essays, attended class on Saturdays, worked during the week and did flashcards, and then took two weeks in February off prior to the exam.
Those two weeks, per Whitney's advice, were for memorization and MBE prep. She was so, so right. I had my flashcards done by the first week of February, my essay writing was better, and all I had left was to focus on memorizing and getting some MBE practice in. I came up 11 points short.
When my scores came in the mail, I spoke with Whitney on the phone. She said she thought that if I had done the exact same prep and taken another bar exam other that exact configuration of essays and PTs, she thought I would have passed. I just needed "my" bar exam. So, I took some time off, and decided that all I really needed was to manage my anxiety for the next time around. So, for this February, I planned ahead to do less.
Yes, less. February 1, I started. I got a subscription to baressays.com. I already had my homemade flashcards. I already had a set of PMBR books. It was triage time. I got up every day and went to the gym, where I got on a machine and memorized for an hour. Then I went home, took a shower, and sat down at my desk. I went topic by topic, and took the highest scoring essay answer off baressays, downloaded the question, outlined it, and then took the printed -ff answer that scored well and re-typed it. Then, I went to the down the list of well-scoring past answers and did the same thing until I finished that topic. Some days this took me three hours. Some days it took four or five. It depended on how many past answers were there for that topic. For the occasionally tested topics, sometimes, I managed to start on a second topic in a day. Usually by the third or fourth essay in a topic, I was able to just start writing on my own, with only referencing the sample answer. I was also able to critique those answers where they were weak and did not follow the Bar Code "cheat sheet" approach. Some days I did a few essays and then a PT, since PTs were on there, too, and I knew I needed the exact same system for PTs to get my scores and confidence up on those. I never studied more than 6 hours a day. Never. Even if I was tempted. I left the house every single day at 3:00 p.m. to go pick up my kids from school and that was the end of studying for that day, whether I thought it had gone well or poorly.
With about 5-8 days left, I was done with all the essays and PTs. I then started with the blank sheet method of writing out my approaches/cheat sheets on a piece of paper.
I did it this way: the first time through, I used the book or my own cheat sheet that I created (see as an example the contracts ones I worked on for myself and posted back then). The by the third time writing it out, I had some of it committed to memory, but had to remind myself of some of it. I wrote it out so it looked the same on the blank page every time. Then, if I blanked on one rule, I knew exactly where my pocket of forgetfulness was in the mini-outline. For that last week, I wrote out my approaches in the morning, and did no less than 20 MBEs and no more than 40 MBEs each day.
When I arrived in Sacramento for the test, I was nervous, so that afternoon, I sat down in my hotel room and wrote out all my cheat sheets again. If they were flawless three times in a row, then I could move on to the next one. After three hours, by hand was tired, and I was only through about half of my 45-50 "cheat sheets" (some from The Bar Code book and some I made up myself modelled after Whitney's method). I then went and got dinner, and then sat in the hotel bar with a glass of wine and kept writing out approaches until they were all done and flawless. I tried to go to bed, but I was still nervous. So, I sat in bed with con law flashcards (my worst subject.) Since I hate con law, this made me tired and I was able to get to sleep by about 11:00. I did no more studying during the test at all, except Wednesday night when I realized I couldn't remember any of wills and trusts, so I went through my flashcards for that topic area to memorize.
And that's it. I am probably not a good example of how to study because I purposely did less. I went and had a nice dinner each night while I was there, with a glass of wine. I built some retail therapy into the trip and scooted over to Arden Fair Mall to distract myself and feel like I was able to have some fun, unlike the intense pressure and stress I felt the past two times. Overall, I made this February as much like a vacation as I could, and focused only on me, not on my kids or my husband or anything but my own self and my own mental health and well being. That was the right thing for me.
I went back to the way I studied in law school this time around. I was a good studier in law school. I carved out time to study, was focused and productive during that time, and then didn't worry about it most of the rest of the time. I did lots of past tests to get the gist of how each professor wrote their tests and what style they graded highly. That worked great for me in law school, where I graduated with honors, so going back to it was the best thing I ever did. I went into the test with confidence that I knew what a good PT answer was and I knew what a good essay answer was. And, I knew the law- I knew that last February, so all I had to do was refresh my memory and my MBEs would be about the same as they always had been.
For me, MBE scores did not go up the more I did practice questions. In fact, I did better on the MBE last February having done those flashcards and knowing the law really, really well than by trying to learn the law by doing lots and lots of MBEs. My MBE score, despite having done about 600 MBEs for last February, actually went up by 23 raw points. That's a huge testament to the importance of knowing the rules of law. So, that's what I did.
But don't do what I did. Do what works for you. Look at where your scores need improvement and focus there. One thing I can advise is that it is far easier to raise your overall score by focusing on the writing than by doing MBEs, so I am a proponent of focusing on getting good writing scores.
A tutor can only do so much. At some point, you have to "see" it. You have to be able to "see" what a good answer is. Someone can talk at you until they are blue in the face, but they can't do that for you. For me, re-typing other people's answers that got a good score did it in a way nothing else could. I honestly think tutors are a waste of money. Even having taken the exam three times, I think that. But, again, do what YOU need to do, not what someone else advises. Following advice despite your own inner voice is exactly what got me in the position of taking that damn exam three times.
Finally, you'll live. I did. It sucked, but I did it and got through it and the letter on Saturday that was all about admission to practice law rather than my numerical breakdown of how I didn't measure up this time was completely and totally worth it. It will be for you, too. :)
First July... I graduated from law school tired and burnt out. Probably should have waited a few months and taken it in February, but I listened to every one's "advice" and plunged ahead. I started a new job in a law office and bar prep at the same time. Another mistake.
Then in February... I decided it might be time for some kind of help. I signed up for The Bar Code, which was an essay writing seminar taught by Whitney Roberts. I had used her book the previous July, but didn't adhere strictly to it while in the exam, so the areas where I veered from her approach, I got terrible scores.
I drove out to Sacramento every Saturday in January and sat there all day, going through each topic, and then during the week, I had practice essays to do that were due by a certain time. The feedback from the Bar Code was excellent. Each essay came back with tons of comments, a score that was around 50 initially, but by essay 10, climbed to 65's and 70's, and plenty of encouragement. They grade 13 or so essays. My last one, I got a 75.
Most importantly, I learned from Whitney's class how to figure out what I just wrote in terms of scoring myself. I also was advised to get my Barbri Conviser Mini Review out and make my own flashcards. They had to be done a specific way. It was exhausting and extremely time consuming. It was totally worth it. So, in January, I did essays, attended class on Saturdays, worked during the week and did flashcards, and then took two weeks in February off prior to the exam.
Those two weeks, per Whitney's advice, were for memorization and MBE prep. She was so, so right. I had my flashcards done by the first week of February, my essay writing was better, and all I had left was to focus on memorizing and getting some MBE practice in. I came up 11 points short.
When my scores came in the mail, I spoke with Whitney on the phone. She said she thought that if I had done the exact same prep and taken another bar exam other that exact configuration of essays and PTs, she thought I would have passed. I just needed "my" bar exam. So, I took some time off, and decided that all I really needed was to manage my anxiety for the next time around. So, for this February, I planned ahead to do less.
Yes, less. February 1, I started. I got a subscription to baressays.com. I already had my homemade flashcards. I already had a set of PMBR books. It was triage time. I got up every day and went to the gym, where I got on a machine and memorized for an hour. Then I went home, took a shower, and sat down at my desk. I went topic by topic, and took the highest scoring essay answer off baressays, downloaded the question, outlined it, and then took the printed -ff answer that scored well and re-typed it. Then, I went to the down the list of well-scoring past answers and did the same thing until I finished that topic. Some days this took me three hours. Some days it took four or five. It depended on how many past answers were there for that topic. For the occasionally tested topics, sometimes, I managed to start on a second topic in a day. Usually by the third or fourth essay in a topic, I was able to just start writing on my own, with only referencing the sample answer. I was also able to critique those answers where they were weak and did not follow the Bar Code "cheat sheet" approach. Some days I did a few essays and then a PT, since PTs were on there, too, and I knew I needed the exact same system for PTs to get my scores and confidence up on those. I never studied more than 6 hours a day. Never. Even if I was tempted. I left the house every single day at 3:00 p.m. to go pick up my kids from school and that was the end of studying for that day, whether I thought it had gone well or poorly.
With about 5-8 days left, I was done with all the essays and PTs. I then started with the blank sheet method of writing out my approaches/cheat sheets on a piece of paper.
I did it this way: the first time through, I used the book or my own cheat sheet that I created (see as an example the contracts ones I worked on for myself and posted back then). The by the third time writing it out, I had some of it committed to memory, but had to remind myself of some of it. I wrote it out so it looked the same on the blank page every time. Then, if I blanked on one rule, I knew exactly where my pocket of forgetfulness was in the mini-outline. For that last week, I wrote out my approaches in the morning, and did no less than 20 MBEs and no more than 40 MBEs each day.
When I arrived in Sacramento for the test, I was nervous, so that afternoon, I sat down in my hotel room and wrote out all my cheat sheets again. If they were flawless three times in a row, then I could move on to the next one. After three hours, by hand was tired, and I was only through about half of my 45-50 "cheat sheets" (some from The Bar Code book and some I made up myself modelled after Whitney's method). I then went and got dinner, and then sat in the hotel bar with a glass of wine and kept writing out approaches until they were all done and flawless. I tried to go to bed, but I was still nervous. So, I sat in bed with con law flashcards (my worst subject.) Since I hate con law, this made me tired and I was able to get to sleep by about 11:00. I did no more studying during the test at all, except Wednesday night when I realized I couldn't remember any of wills and trusts, so I went through my flashcards for that topic area to memorize.
And that's it. I am probably not a good example of how to study because I purposely did less. I went and had a nice dinner each night while I was there, with a glass of wine. I built some retail therapy into the trip and scooted over to Arden Fair Mall to distract myself and feel like I was able to have some fun, unlike the intense pressure and stress I felt the past two times. Overall, I made this February as much like a vacation as I could, and focused only on me, not on my kids or my husband or anything but my own self and my own mental health and well being. That was the right thing for me.
I went back to the way I studied in law school this time around. I was a good studier in law school. I carved out time to study, was focused and productive during that time, and then didn't worry about it most of the rest of the time. I did lots of past tests to get the gist of how each professor wrote their tests and what style they graded highly. That worked great for me in law school, where I graduated with honors, so going back to it was the best thing I ever did. I went into the test with confidence that I knew what a good PT answer was and I knew what a good essay answer was. And, I knew the law- I knew that last February, so all I had to do was refresh my memory and my MBEs would be about the same as they always had been.
For me, MBE scores did not go up the more I did practice questions. In fact, I did better on the MBE last February having done those flashcards and knowing the law really, really well than by trying to learn the law by doing lots and lots of MBEs. My MBE score, despite having done about 600 MBEs for last February, actually went up by 23 raw points. That's a huge testament to the importance of knowing the rules of law. So, that's what I did.
But don't do what I did. Do what works for you. Look at where your scores need improvement and focus there. One thing I can advise is that it is far easier to raise your overall score by focusing on the writing than by doing MBEs, so I am a proponent of focusing on getting good writing scores.
A tutor can only do so much. At some point, you have to "see" it. You have to be able to "see" what a good answer is. Someone can talk at you until they are blue in the face, but they can't do that for you. For me, re-typing other people's answers that got a good score did it in a way nothing else could. I honestly think tutors are a waste of money. Even having taken the exam three times, I think that. But, again, do what YOU need to do, not what someone else advises. Following advice despite your own inner voice is exactly what got me in the position of taking that damn exam three times.
Finally, you'll live. I did. It sucked, but I did it and got through it and the letter on Saturday that was all about admission to practice law rather than my numerical breakdown of how I didn't measure up this time was completely and totally worth it. It will be for you, too. :)
Marketing...
A note to those shamelessly marketing themselves on the comment section. I am not your marketing vehicle. This is my personal blog- read, not for commercial profit. Market yourself somewhere else.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Final, FINAL Recap...
There is nothing like the relief of knowing I NEVER HAVE TO TAKE THAT TEST AGAIN.
My husband already presented me with my new business cards... I just have to get sworn in on Monday or thereafter and I'm all set.
Yay.
So, to answer the questions, yes I passed. (Yipee!)
My husband already presented me with my new business cards... I just have to get sworn in on Monday or thereafter and I'm all set.
Yay.
So, to answer the questions, yes I passed. (Yipee!)
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