BAR EXAM EPILOGUE & PLEASANT SURPRISES PART II

Well, the bar exam is finally over. The studying really came to a frenzy at the end. I vaguely remember complaining that my mother was breathing too loudly – that’s how manic I became. Monday the A/C went in the house and I did my best to remain calm. Anyone who knows me knows how I am about being cool. I did my best not to freak out and THANK GAWD it was just a part that needed to be replaced and all was back to normal (well normal for the hottest day of the entire year) by Tuesday. I still barely slept Tuesday night, but at least I was not sweating to death.

Tuesday night was pleasant surprise #1. My mom baked my favorite, peach pie. Considering the heat I was doubly grateful she was willing to turn on the oven. Then I took a dip in the pool to relax. When I say “dip” I mean that the thought of going back upstairs to study after dinner had me so beyond burnt out that I took a flying leap into the deep end of the pool fully clothed! My brother (who was dislodged from his inner tube as a result) was the most shocked.

Wednesday went off pretty much as expected, well as expected as 200 multiple choice questions on fine points of law can go. I was exhausted from the night before. My brain would not calm down enough for me to sleep and I was too afraid of oversleeping to take Tylenol PM. True to his word, my father got up super early with me and drove me over an hour to the test site so I did not have to face the additional stress of sitting at the wheel in traffic silently loudly cursing. I have no idea how I did, and I think everyone who took it feels pretty much the same way. You can usually get it down to two choices, then it’s all guesswork.

I will say that I liked this testing location SO much better than where I was previously. It was at a hotel in a nice, carpeted, cool conference room. It was not hundreds of people sitting in an airplane hanger of a room with blowers going overhead and proctors wearing heels clicking all over a concrete floor as you sit in a metal chair. I was much more relaxed. Anyway, I found my chauffeur father waiting in the lobby for me afterwards. (No, he didn’t sit there all day. The guy did me an amazing favor, but he’s not insane. Well, most of the time …) I must have looked pretty beat because instead of taking me right to the car he took me to the hotel bar! (Pleasant surprise #2)

Thursday Dad wisked me back to said hotel and the essays were fine in the morning. SO glad I was able to type my essays. I am spoiled. I took all my exams in law school on laptop and I swear I can’t think straight or work efficiently on paper – oh and my handwriting is atrocious. The afternoon was another story. Three essays, three subjects I knew, but I couldn’t figure out what they wanted! I decided to write what I could and freak out later. After I got home I cried for quite awhile convinced that I failed. (Shut up, I AM a girl!) Then I went onto the JD Jive message board and found out that pretty much everyone thought the same thing I did about the afternoon essays. Now I am much calmer about the whole thing. Plus, it does me no good whatsoever to be paranoid for the next four months. (My dad clued me in to this – thanks dad.)

So anyway, that night I watched that new reality show The Law Firm (see previous post), which I will refrain from commenting on here (perhaps later in another post) except to say that it sucked worse than a five dollar hooker. (I know, I know, not like me to go to the misogynistic simile. Gloria Steinam would be appalled, but it had to be done, and now aren’t you all shocked.)

OK, everybody who needs to, go look up misogynistic at Webster.com. I’ll wait.

OK, you’re back? Anyway, the BEST pleasant surprise (#3 for those keeping track) was when I awoke Friday morning afternoon to find tickets to see Avril Lavigne on my desk. My mother knew I really wanted to go (like really, really, like a 15 year old in 1989 wanted to see New Kids on the Block really) and she knew I didn’t have the cash. Isn’t she awesome ?!

So now it is all behind me, at least until November. As a re-taker I know pretty much how it will go now. Everyone basks in the glow of post bar exam-ness of not having to study constantly. People try to get their adrenaline levels down to a somewhat acceptable level. Everyone you know will ask you how you did. When you answer that you don’t have a clue some will even push further. “Well, you must have some idea how it went!” Don’t feel guilty when you can’t give them a straight answer. They don’t know what else to say and they don’t understand it since they have never been through it. Try not to get annoyed. I say try because I try and it doesn’t work. All I can think of is “I have enough pressure from this exam without you badgering me about it!” Which is a total exaggeration, people are just trying to show concern. But I perhaps, might be, sometimes prone to overreaction so maybe others will have better luck at taking it all in stride and trying not to choke the interrogator. After all, they are just trying to be nice.

Sometime around mid October there will be much discussion about how unfair the whole waiting process is. Mumbles will circulate about how more graders should be hired because four months is just a ridiculous turn around time and how it only breeds tension. Once Halloween rolls around people are obsessively checking their respective BOLE websites (Board of Law Examiners for the non-lawyers) like CSI agents with a bad case of OCD hoping for some news on what date the results might be released. There might even be murmurings that the graders are guilty of intentional infliction of emotional distress . (Hey, they made us memorize all that stuff, might as well put it to good use.) Then finally a date will appear. I can only speak about NY and NJ here. They both announce a date when the results will become available online by candidate ID number. This is also the same day they mail the results. A few days later a list of successful candidates is posted and soon after eventually the written results come in the mail.

As for now, I am concentrating on finding a job and trying to relax and see all the wonderfully supportive and patient people I had less time for during this whole process. (I started that this weekend, more on that in another post.) JU one more week! JL when are we on for chili and a walk?!

BTW, for those who remember this post, I still have over 2 full bags of root beer barrels left!