This Is Why I Still Hate The Bar Exam
Back in the spring of 2000, I studied in France for a semester. There were a bunch of smart girls on my program; one in particular who had been in an awful car accident that took a year to recover from, but was still going to graduate with a 3.98 something. I was starting to look at grad school that semester, since I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life after graduating with a degree in Sorority Life and a minor in Oh God I Shouldn't Have Had That Tequila.
My friend suggested that I go to law school. (And she knows I blame her to this day for how that turned out, but that's a different story.) She said I was smart and that it made sense for smart women to become lawyers. She convinced me. We were going to be human rights lawyers and live in the South of France and make beauty products from lavendar in our spare time.
So I took the LSAT and went to law school. She chickened out at the last minute because she gets awful test anxiety, despite the ridiculously high GPA, so she ended up a year behind me.
She took her evil bar exam this year. The results came out from her state last week. I've checked multiple times, but unless she seriously changed her name without telling me, she is not on the list of people who passed.
It's just so ridiculous. I know on an intellectual level that smart people must fail the bar all the time, but what I forced myself to believe when I had to take it myself was that smart people didn't fail. I figured stupid people failed; people who didn't take studying seriously failed; people who were going through a messy divorce failed; people with a new baby at home failed; people who were in car accidents on the way to the testing site failed. There had to be something else going on for people to fail. But why should smart people who would make excellent lawyers fail? Why would we want to keep smart, great lawyers out of the profession? It doesn't make any sense. And god knows I had this concept beaten out of me in first semester Criminal Law, but it's not FAIR.
She already has a job, so she's going to have to work full time while she tries to study for February. She also failed her MPRE, so she's already got to study for that this fall, too. And her test anxiety is already bad, but I just know the pressure of feeling like she has to pass or else she'll get fired is going to affect her. Argh. Not fair at all.
My friend suggested that I go to law school. (And she knows I blame her to this day for how that turned out, but that's a different story.) She said I was smart and that it made sense for smart women to become lawyers. She convinced me. We were going to be human rights lawyers and live in the South of France and make beauty products from lavendar in our spare time.
So I took the LSAT and went to law school. She chickened out at the last minute because she gets awful test anxiety, despite the ridiculously high GPA, so she ended up a year behind me.
She took her evil bar exam this year. The results came out from her state last week. I've checked multiple times, but unless she seriously changed her name without telling me, she is not on the list of people who passed.
It's just so ridiculous. I know on an intellectual level that smart people must fail the bar all the time, but what I forced myself to believe when I had to take it myself was that smart people didn't fail. I figured stupid people failed; people who didn't take studying seriously failed; people who were going through a messy divorce failed; people with a new baby at home failed; people who were in car accidents on the way to the testing site failed. There had to be something else going on for people to fail. But why should smart people who would make excellent lawyers fail? Why would we want to keep smart, great lawyers out of the profession? It doesn't make any sense. And god knows I had this concept beaten out of me in first semester Criminal Law, but it's not FAIR.
She already has a job, so she's going to have to work full time while she tries to study for February. She also failed her MPRE, so she's already got to study for that this fall, too. And her test anxiety is already bad, but I just know the pressure of feeling like she has to pass or else she'll get fired is going to affect her. Argh. Not fair at all.
Labels: i hate the bar exam
posted by feithline @ 6:38 AM
5 Comments:
At 12:06 PM,
Anonymous said…
Yeah, bad test anxiety....will absolutely kill you for the bar. Before I took it i was advised that, aside from putting in the requisite 10-12 hour days for 2 months of study time, if you don't freeze up, you'll be fine. Luckily I didn't freeze up. Almost though, during the first few questions of hte MBE.
BUT how does one fail the mpre? Jesus, that test anxiety must be bad. My condolences.
At 6:52 PM,
Anonymous said…
This sounds like a serious problem. I'm not familiar with test anxiety, but I am very familiar with other types of anxiety, e.g. panic attacks, etc. I suggest that she get a prescription of Xanax or some other anti-anxiety medication immediately!!
At 11:16 PM,
Sarah said…
My heart goes out to her. She must be incredibly stressed. The bar exam is so evil like that.
At 12:29 AM,
Make Mine a Triple said…
I still hate the bar exam too. And I feel very bad for your friend. :(
But God, I got a laugh out of your undergrad majors. ;)
At 5:59 AM,
feithline said…
Yeah, sometimes it's embarassing when they ask about my majors in interviews, but all things considered, I'd say it was still worth it.
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