The Bar Exam: If At First You Don’t Succeed…
Try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, and try again. And maybe the 14th time will be the charm!
For those of you freaking out over the bar exam next week, chillax. You will probably pass. If you don’t pass this time, surely you’ll pass the next time. Or the time after that.
You’ll be just fine — as long as your name isn’t “Paulina Bandy.” From the Orange County Register:
Paulina Bandy couldn’t fail the state bar exam again. Not after she failed 13 times before.
Some people complain that we’re elitist. So we apologize for asking: What the hell is UP with this woman?
(Is Paulina Bandy the child of a prominent politician? They seem to be jinxed when it comes to the bar exam.)
If you feel sorry for non-top-tier law school graduates who can’t land good jobs, just think — things could be worse. Much worse:
Paulina Bandy couldn’t fail the state bar exam again. Not after she had spent tens of thousands to attend law school. Not after she put her husband Jon Gomez through the ringer for so many years. Not after the debt she piled up forced her family to move into a 365-square-foot home.
Anywhere outside the island of Manhattan, that’s simply unacceptable.
More discussion, after the jump.
Let’s go back to the beginning:
Her journey began in 1994 at Western State University College of Law. She had been a marine biologist, teaching at Science Adventures in Huntington Beach and at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point.She and Gomez, who married in 1992 after an 11-year courtship, lived in a three-bedroom home with a garage and yard in a Fullerton cul-de-sac. The couple traveled and shared a passion for sports. They loved to entertain guests at their home.
Life was good … until the day Bandy decided to go into law.
Famous last words — which could even be applied to top-tier law school graduates….
(Also, what’s up with that eleven-year courtship?)
The learning curve was steep for Bandy, who powered through night classes. But she made it through the first year, when most students are weeded out of law schools.“Law school was so in-your-face smart,” she said. “It was very prestigious.”
“Very prestigious.” Not the first words we’d pick to refer to Western State University College of Law, but whatever.
She graduated in 1998 with a B average and a desire to teach business law. She didn’t want a high-pressure job, but an exciting internship with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office that summer stoked her interest.With about $80,000 in unpaid school loans and a degree, Bandy prepared herself for the state bar exam. She felt confident.
Bandy did what every bar exam taker would do. She took bar review courses, consulted with experts, bought study aids and studied for hours a day. She had more work to do than the Ivy League graduates who were more prepared and apt to pass the exam.
“There was a secret out there to passing, and I wasn’t in on it,” she said.
Uh, Bar/Bri? Or maybe PMBR? That’s some good s**t.
(But according to the article, she did take “bar review courses.” So we don’t know what other “secret” she might be referring to.)
Gomez kicked off a tradition of bringing flowers to his wife after she finished her exam in February 1999. But Bandy found out later that she failed. She was disheartened but vowed to do better the next year.Her father died that same year, but Bandy had to immediately hunker down and get ready for another exam.
Too depressing for a Monday. And it gets worse:
By 2003, five years after she took her first exam, Bandy hadn’t passed. On July 1 of that year, at age 39, Bandy gave birth to daughter Roxanne.By then, Bandy had taken the test seven times and was spiraling into more debt. Her law school debt ballooned into $128,000, and Bandy had to defer the loan. The couple spent at least $1,000 on registration fees and hotel rooms each time she took the test.
Did it ever occur to Bandy that maybe this just wasn’t meant to be? Like training to become, say, a world-class weightlifter?
The fight continued for years. She tried twice in 2004, the year the family left Fullerton to move into a 365-square-foot home in the back yard of Bandy’s mother’s house in Orange. They sold the majority of their possessions - furniture, sporting equipment, wedding champagne glasses - at garage sales and squeezed what they could into their one-bedroom home.One couch, a television set, a bed. No closet space, a tiny kitchen and a study area. No vacations, eating out or new clothes. Bandy took odd jobs to help pay for expenses such as Roxanne’s childcare and a $500 monthly rent.
We’re seeing some indie film potential in all of this pathos. The bar exam meets “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”? Or maybe “Little Miss Sunshine”?
The exam in February of this year was Bandy’s 14th. A few months before, her father-in-law yelled at her for being a “pretend lawyer” and ruining his son’s life. She also got into a bad accident in January and totaled her car.On May 25, the day the results of the exam were to be posted online, Bandy came home to a message on the answering machine.
“I screamed,” Bandy said. “I’ll never forget it. I was doubled over like being punched in the stomach. In a good way.”
She had passed the exam, said the voice in the message. She sobbed uncontrollably. Her mother and husband were in the front yard, shocked.
Can you blame them? We’d be shocked too.
Because of her own experiences, she has an urge to help other repeaters pass the exam. Passing her 14th test in February and being sworn into the bar association in December is proof to other repeaters that if Bandy can do it, so can they.She’s decided to devote her time to helping them full time. She launched a Web site, www.cabarexamrepeatersresource.com, and got a business license to help others find a formula to find pass the bar exam.
Because Paulina Bandy truly is an authority on taking the bar exam. Just not successfully.
Bar exam was the test of time [The Orange County Register]
CA Bar Exam Repeaters’ Resource [official website]
(145) Comments
Comments
There but for the grace of [insert whatever here] go I!
I give her an 'A' for persistence. However she probably shouldn't have gone to law school in the first place!
The problem is with all these unaccredited/provisionally accredited law schools/truck driving academies in California. They have low pass rates and appear more interested in taking money from students then creating lawyers. I mean, if it takes 14 times to pass the bar, it raises serious questions about the kind of legal education she received with that B average.
Comment removed by moderator.
So she passes the bar and then starts a company without the need to be admitted? Oh, the irony.
Comment removed by moderator.
wow - you gotta admire her perseverance. I don't know anyone that would take it more than 3 times if they failed the first one. i mean seriously 14 times? FOURTEEN TIMES? daaamn!
and by perseverance i mean persistence
I still do not think this is as embarassing as Emily Pataki failing the New York bar exam once after getting accepted to Columbia University Law School, and then being Hired by White and Case in NYC.
and by perseverance i mean persistence
Comment removed by moderator.
11:59 - seriously you think the pataki story is more embarassing? how so? she was hired before she sat for the bar exam and she had already started work by the time she was notified she didn't pass. not everyone at columbia passes the bar exam, but i'm pretty sure that in the history of CLS no one has taken the bar exam 14 times before passing. so keep it moving in debt - at least emily passed the second time
Should have gone into banking.
Comment removed by moderator.
The vast majority of CLS students pass the New York bar exam: in the last 5 years:93.9% 96.3% 93.2% 92.3% 93.9%.
So if you don't pass I would say you were not qualified to be there in the first place.....unless of course you have connections.
Comment removed by moderator.
Thank you for posting this one week before my bar exam.
God, kill self
Check out the original article in the OC Register, there's a bigger picture of her there (click on the thumbnail).
"To me, it's been such a big goal," Bandy said. "This is the journey. It's the end."
...er.....shoulddn't passing the bar be the start of the journey...rather than the end??!!
I'm surprised that the CLS bar passage rate isn't higher.
Don't the clowns at YLS, who learn no actual law during their three years, have a higher passage rate than that?
Paulina Bandy to 160k!!!!
Comment removed by moderator.
Comment removed by moderator.
I read this a few weeks ago in the register, she got the front page of the local section and I think even a link on the front page of the paper.
Her website suggests repeat takers try hypnosis or a hypnotherapy cd to help get through the exam.
http://www.cabarexamrepeatersresource.com/vicds.html
She also offers "free" exam performance advice -- with the purchase of anything from her website
http://www.cabarexamrepeatersresource.com/books.html
Some people here really need to do something about their hard-on for the former NY governor's daughter. No one who matters cares that she didn't pass the first time. Guess what -- no law school has a 100% NY bar passage rate. I know a number of people from T14 schools who did not pass the first time in NY or CA, and they're doing quite well at their jobs now.
As for this story -- this woman is just tragic.
This is SO what I didn't need to read a week before the bar exam. Then again, I probably should have been studying instead of reading this blog. Gotta go!
Comment removed by moderator.
in debt - why all the hate? as stated by 12:28, no school has a 100% NY bar passage rate, so connections or no connections some people are bound to fail...please stop all the hate it's really unnecessary.
Comment removed by moderator.
My bad - and Easley was on law faculties but is not now. Just saying.
Comment removed by moderator.
Have you FUCKING seen her website?
"I will do my best to help you find what you need to pass this difficult exam. I have made available, on this website, some valuable tools to passing.
"My Self-Hypnosis/Visualization CD helped me get the mind set of a successful candidate. After isolating myself in my studies, and reading "unsuccessful" result notices for 8 years, I needed a triumphal boost. When I could not find a Hypnotherapist that had been to the bar exam, nor fit in my study schedule, I researched and developed a Self-Hypnosis/Visualization CD to help myself. Unaware that it was working, I listened every night and slowly transformed. I took the Feb. 07 exam with a new found confidence, the confidence of an attorney. I credit this CD as the single most important change I made on my journey to passing."
Well, as an example of how dedicated she is (from her website):
I lived a disciplined life. I unrelentlessly gave 100% to each exam preparation.
Unrelentlessly! That is hardcore.
Comment removed by moderator.
"I researched and developed a Self-Hypnosis/Visualization CD to help myself." Yeah, let me do hypnosis to pass a race-horse exam.
I gave about 40% to exam prep...I repeatedly relented to the temptations of alcohol, tv, and organic herbs during bar study. Passed.
Maybe I'll start a website. "Drink your way to bar success!"
If by CLS you mean Cornell Law School, you're right that the bar passage rate is that high. Columbia's is significantly lower....
do law schools give refunds? 4th tiers should have a money back guarantee.
"Ex-repeater"?
Sorry, once a repeater, always a repeater.
Not to cast a doubtful eye at this wonderfully perseverant woman's story, but: 1) who the hell gets their bar exam results in a voicemail??? Was she friends with the proctors after all this time? and 2) how do you pass the Feb exam but get sworn in during December? Huh????
Comment removed by moderator.
Comment removed by moderator.
Comment removed by moderator.
Comment removed by moderator.
Comment removed by moderator.
Funny how she took the test in Feb, found out in May, and isn't even going to get licensed until December (I guess so she can avoid paying dues this year?). Kinda makes it all seem a little pointless.
Comment removed by moderator.
I find wisdom in the words of Homer: "Kids, you tried your best, and failed miserably. The lesson is: never try. "
I am so glad I am taking the Georgia Bar.
Comment removed by moderator.
Comment removed by moderator.
Comment removed by moderator.
Comment removed by moderator.
i spent (just) 2 weeks studying for the bar exam -- on my own and using old, borrowed bar-bri books.
the months of waiting for the exam results included a few sleepless nights, but i passed with plenty of room to spare.
Well, no wonder she failed! She was too busy self-hypnotizing to PAY ATTENTION TO THE F---ING BAR/BRI COURSE!!!
1:35 - BS. How do you know you passed with plenty of room to spare? Only people who fail the CA bar get to learn their scores.
Comment removed by moderator.
"in debt - why all the hate? as stated by 12:28, no school has a 100% NY bar passage rate, so connections or no connections some people are bound to fail...please stop all the hate it's really unnecessary." not a hater
I suspect "not a hater" failed the bar exam as well....although maybe not 14 times. Apologists for failing the bar are pathetic. I don't care what state it is. If you cannot pass the bar first time you either
1) are not smart enough to be a lawyer or
2) did not do enough work, thereby exhibiting terrible judgment and stupidity.
Most people that cannot pass the bar first time shouldn't have even been accepted to law school in the first place.
We're seeing some indie film potential in all of this pathos.
The main character in films like that is always *lovable*. No *lawyers* are *lovable*
1:35 - BS. How do you know you passed with plenty of room to spare? Only people who fail the CA bar get to learn their scores.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 16, 2007 01:37 PM
+++++++++++++
I based the "plenty of room to spare" estimate on my raw and scaled scores, which ny includes in its pass notice.
Believe what you will, but it's 100% true.
Who needs to pass with "plenty of room to spare"? It's a pass/fail test, people: you don't get any benefit from a higher score. I passed the multi-state by exactly one point, and I consider that to be the ideal: I did the absolute minimum amount of work necessary to pass the test, without doing any extra unnecessary work.
Comment removed by moderator.
Tracey is right, there is no need to overdo it. The Bar Exam is a minimum competency test. Although I think being overprepared can't hurt.
As for 1:40's comment, I think the point is that even with very little preparation, it is possible to pass the bar exam and end up doing even better than such little preparation might lead one to expect.
1:40 - You're talking NY, when she's talking CA. They're completely different. I've taken both and CA is much more difficult than the NY bar.
I agree..."Plenty of room to spare" means you studied too much. Some LS friends and I had an informal pool to see which of us could get the lowest passing score. Passing was 410, one guy got a 412.
The guy who got the 409 just misjudged how little he could get by with.
I passed with a lot of room to spare and lament all the wasted study time when I could have been golfing. Not to mention that I didn't win the $160 in the pool.
Comment removed by moderator.
>>Who needs to pass with "plenty of room to spare"? It's a highway people: you don't get any benefit from a few extra inches between you and an oncoming car. When I drive I put myself exactly 1/4 inch from oncoming traffic, and I consider that to be the ideal: I do the absolute minimum necessary to avoid death in a fiery crash, without doing any extra unnecessary work.
There are good reasons to have a margin of error in the bar exam and many other areas of life.
I don't recall seeing this story before on ATL. Maybe it was on another site.
Comment removed by moderator.
Comment removed by moderator.
Comment removed by moderator.
Comment removed by moderator.
From the OC Register article:
"She'll also be teaching night classes to adults at the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. She hopes to tell her story to others and help them through their own struggles."
Comment removed by moderator.
All of you haters are just annoyed/threatened that this woman is now one of us. STOP THE HATE! LOVE ALL THE REPEATERS!
This story, and 11:58's asinine comment, reminded me that you (Lat) probably should have run a story whenever it was that the most-recent bar results came out. If you're going to post about Emily Pataki failing, you should at least acknowledge that she passed the 2nd time around.
Comment removed by moderator.
kan i haz admitting to the bar pleez?
I find it interesting that there's no mention of what the husband was doing this whole time.
1) Is that a record? Because - records are cool!
2) Has she passed California's professional responsibility test?
3) Shouldn't we meausre houses less than 400 square feet in sqaure inches instead?
1) Is that a record? Because - records are cool!
2) Has she passed California's professional responsibility test?
3) Shouldn't we meausre houses less than 400 square feet in square inches instead?
Comment removed by moderator.
Oh, I forgot to mention. You also gotta love the quote (which puts you on notice of the kind intellect we're dealing with) -- "I was doubled over like being punched in the stomach. In a good way."
Then I lurched forward and fell on my face, as if I had been stabbed in the back. In a good way.
Didn't George Castanza (Jerry's pal)aspire to be a Marine Biologist?
Can't wait to see this moron on Oprah with her inspirational story.
3:05,
Sounds credible. I definitely remember architect. Art Vandeley. "Vandeley! Say Vandeley!"
Also, importer/exporter.
California first time Bar Exam (and probably every-where-else) takers take heart:
If you graduated from an ABA accredited school, and are taking the bar for the first time, you have a better than 70% chance of passing.
Based on this stat, I managed to keep my cool, except for the first hour and a half of the fist morning, when I wrote and tore up five successive answers to the first essay question. MY problem, initially refusing to accept that the Bar Exam could be that easy.
Your typical law school 3 hour blue book exam tests for first, second, and third level knowledge.
The Bar Exam is based on first level knowledge only—e.g., what are the elements of a contract [enumerate and UNDERLINE each issue/element—the grader is reading 40 exams over breakfast with screaming kids in the background; he has a checklist, so make it easy on him/her].
I believe that (assuming you are an accredited LS graduate, and have any business taking the exam to begin with) the primary barrier to passing is psychological.
You need to spend an equal amount of time studying for the bar and keeping your head on straight.
Only in the 10 days before the exam do you need to seriously memorize stuff. STAY LOOSE, and you will pass. Don’t let them mind f*** you into flunking!
Its all just a psychological barrier to entry that starts the day you start LS, and builds about May-June the year you graduate.
There is a guy in Anchorage Alaska who has taken the Alaska Bar Exam 32 times over the past 23 years...and still hasn't passed... Check out: http://www.tobermeyer.info/pdf/PressRelease22407.pdf
1:33--I imagine the reason she kept taking CA was that she went to an unaccredited law school and wasn't allowed to take it anywhere else.
Some numbers on Western State University School of Law from ILRG.com (http://www.ilrg.com/rankings/law/view.php/176):
2004:
Acceptance Rate: 47.3%
Median LSAT: 148 (146-149)
Median GPA: 2.98 (2.75 - 3.2)
2005:
Acceptance Rate: 0%
Median LSAT: 150 (148-151)
Median GPA: 3.08 (2.81-3.35)
Tuition: $25,920
2:31, there was an ATL story about Emily Pataki passing:
http://www.abovethelaw.com/2007/05/congratulations_to_emily_patak_1.php
Are there states that limit the number of times one can take the bar exam?
you guys are aware the dean of a school better than yours (yours, not mine) failed the cali bar in 2005, right?
Dear 4:39:
You refer to the dean of Stanford LS; she failed the multi-state bar exam offered to out of state attorneys.
The bigger irony is that I would much prefer to be a marine biologist (Paulina Bandy's prior career) than an attorney, but for law school debt. Woe is me.
The CA out of state attorney exam (if that is indeed what Kathleen Sullivan took), is easier than the CA bar exam (you get to skip those pesky multi-state multiple choice questions).
3:05, 3:07, and 3:08:
George Costanza only wanted to pretend to be an architect. George was forced to pretend to be a marine biologist on a date with an old college classmate after Jerry lied to the classmate to cover up George's decades of ineptitude. George never pretended to be Art Vandelay the importer/exporter who was initially a cover story for Jerry stalking a woman attorney at her office (Simon Bennet Robbins Oppenheim & Taft). Later, Art Vandelay was Elaine's fake boyfriend and cover for George's date with Marisa Tomei.
It is 1 week until the bar exam. please all enter more comments about how not-difficult it is to pass the NY Bar. It will be greatly appreciated!!!
Let's do the quick math on this:
128k in deferred loans in 2003 -- Assuming 4% interest, those loans are now 150k.
14 bar exams x 1k per exam in stated costs = 14k.
She hasn't worked since 1994 when she entered law school -- 13 years of lost wages = even for a dimwit like her, probably 500k+
All that for a teaching gig at a night school. Way to go Paulina Bandy!
Comment removed by moderator.
I note that Lat's other fave, Monica Goodling, passed the bar on her first attempt.
6:15 - George wanted to be an architect, and when giving out the estate's scholarship, he picked a kid with lousy grades and George-like mannerisms because that kid wanted to be an architect, but was livid at the end of the episode when the kid wanted to be a city planner, and everyone else laughed and agreed that architects were pretty stupid.
Comment removed by moderator.
I've heard a lot of braggarts running on in the bar-bri classes about how they don't study, just drink and tan blah blah...they all pretty much shut up after our first full-length mock bar exam.
That's just for Maryland...
I think this makes me a bad person, but if I were on the recruiting committee at any CA law firm, I'd contact her through her website and set up an interview with her. I'd *really* like to conduct that interview. Not that I'd be openly mean (outside of getting her hopes up, which is cruel enough). I'd just love to see her job-hunting skills in action. Mainly, I'd like to see if she has any self-consciousness whatsoever about how it's a bad thing, not a good thing, to have failed the bar 13 times in a row.
Prestigious WSU law professor: "And the purpose of diminished capacity is...? Ms. Bandy?"
Paulina Bandy: "To negate mes rea?"
Prestigious WSU law professor: "That's correct."
BAM! IN-YOUR-FACE SMART!
D'oh. Mens rea. I am not in-your-face smart :(
From her website, here is her synopsis (I think) of the one link in her "Lectures" tab. It's entitled "Step in the Shoes":
"This lecture contains as much information as I can squeeze into the allotted 3 hours. I will share my metamorphsis from a repeater to a passer. I will detail how I raised my Multi-states, my Essays, and Performance Exams to an above passing level.... Like no one else, I appreciate how valuable your time is and will not waste a minute of it."
Lovely.
7:11 P.M.:
NEVER take bar-bri mock exams.
They are designed to take you down a few pegs so you are not over-confident.
Read the long outlines for understanding and attend the lectures.
Duriing the 10 days before the exam, memorize the short outline.
Never forget the 70% percent accredited LS first time pass rate. And stay confident.
holy crap, she charges $100 to look at your exam and tell you why you failed. i would hope the only one paying her for that service is someone on their 15th attempt.
That is truly the funniest thing I have ever read. With no exceptions.
6:49: I heard about bright people who failed and half-wits who passed when I was studying for the NY bar exam. I found neither scenario consoling. Rest assured that if you've studied and conduct yourself in a sane fashion on the days of the exam, you'll pass. You may not feel like you did after the exam (I sure as hell didn't - and I spent the summer studying, not hanging out. I must be some kind of idiot, judging from the geniuses on this thread who managed to master commercial paper in ten minutes.), but how you feel after the exam really doesn't matter.
7:43's advice is excellent. I tried to remember my law school's passage rate and tell myself that the odds were in my favor. I also took Ambien both nights before the exam (had taken it several times already and, thus, had "practiced" being able to wake up with it) to ward off insomnia. Worked like a charm - passed on my first try.
Seriously, though, what was her husband doing all that time? Why couldn't he get a job to help save the house, etc.?
Good advice from 7:43 and 8:17 on NY. Relax. Don't be intimidated by the mass of humanity at the Javits Center. Don't frantically relive the questions in detail with other people during the breaks. Bring earplugs. Eat well.
And don't blow off the MPT, stupid as it is. I let myself use some of the allotted MPT time to finish an essay -- you can get away with a little of that but not too much. Even though it only requires one or two brain cells, the MPT does require a chunk of time.
Forgot to mention that even though I completely ran out of time on the MPT and had to resort to bullet points, I passed, 1st try. But I was worried.
4:37 - Texas limits the taker to five tries.
I have to say an amen to whoever above said not to revisit the questions on your lunch break. It'll only make you focus on the one point your friend got and you didn't.
Don't look at notecards during lunch during the MBE. You'll only notice issues you messed up -- and you're supposed to mess up some issues.
Don't get psyched out by the person next to you who finishes each section way before you -- it could be Paulina Bandy.
You might want to get to the testing site early and stake out where the restrooms are. Sometimes they are far away.
And pretty much everyone I know thought they failed at the end, including my smartest friends. Although a few "knew" they passed. In the end, virtually everyone I know passed. Not a single person I know who didn't pass -- and there were only a few -- surprised me. So if you weren't the class idiot, the odds are that you won't be the Bar idiot.
7:11--
The people who stop bragging after the first mock bar exam either start bragging again after they pass the real thing, or else wish they'd spent more of the summer sitting by the pool. Barbri's mock grading is awful.
(I say this as someone who passed "just Maryland" on the first try. I never did sit for the Barbri full-length mock bar exam because the short homework essay questions had been graded so shoddily. I figured I was better off just going through exam questions from the comfort of my couch. I was right.)
The bar shouldn't be blown off, but it's also not that hard to pass. Most of the people I know who failed did so because they were freaked out or else just had a really bad day (insomnia, illness, etc.).
She has her phone number on her website: 714-639-5980. You can reach her between 10AM and 6:30PM PST.
I for one am calling tomorrow to find out just how someone goes about giving 100% "unrelentlessly." I'm fairly sure the answer to this question will reveal something akin to the meaning of life.
Also, here email address is: paulinabandy@yahoo.com
If anyone corresponds or talks with this woman, please post your findings here.
Well, at least she looks well fed.
Just proves my point that any dumb@#s can become a lawyer.
10:22 - your right that takers shouldn't get freaked out by people who finish early, but those folks usually know what they are doing. I finished an hour early on my last section and everyone else that finished early that I knew passed too.
It's just a shame that she doesn't really seem to know why she failed or why she passed. Not a qualification for teaching others to pass.
Here's my advice for what its worth (having taken and passed NY and CT).
For one, I agree with most of the advice already posted here, but don't listen to the people telling you to spend the summer poolside. Its too late for that now anyway. You have to grind it out the last week.
In my opinion the Barbri practice tests are key (But not the PMBR. I found the PMBR questions to be much much harder than the actual exam). But don't waste your time grading yourself and trying to figure out whether you are getting better or worse scores. Just keep doing them over and over again and time yourself. And look up the ones you got wrong. Crank it out all this week into this weekend, but try to get to bed at a decent hour each night. The more you practice, the more confidence you'll have come test day.
On Sunday, quit at dinner time. Have a nice dinner, watch a movie or something (get laid if you can), and go to bed early. This may be your last chance to get a truly good night's sleep until after the bar. Sleep in as late as you can. On Monday, light studying at the most. Maybe peruse your outlines. Read them outloud and say, "I know that shit!" Don't do practice tests the day before because it will just aggravate you. You need to stay positive all day. Again, quit early, and try to relax at night. I didn't take Ambien, but one shot of scotch did the trick for me (don't be tempted to have a couple more though). If you are traveling on Monday, all the better. Travel will keep your mind occupied on other things. If you've used the previous week to practice hard, you won't need any practice the day before.
On exam day, just keep thinking ahead. Never linger on any question too long. And by all means, do not talk to people about the exam. It's best to not talk at all. And to echo what others have said, when its over, remember that everyone feels like they have failed.
I would just add to the post by 10:06 - do a few questions (20 or so) the day before - but make it questions that you KNOW the answers to (pick easy questions you've done before). Also do a few (5) the morning of the exam. It'll warm up your brain to thinking in terms of exam questions, but if you pick easy questions you know the answers to, it will do so without creating anxiety. And bring a really great book with you to the exam, that you can read during breaks. It'll do loads to calm you down and will remove the temptation to rehash questions with friends.
paulinabandy@yahoo.com
umm yes its disgusting that she chose not to become an attorney after all that crap - but seriously? who in their right mind would even CONSIDER retaining her? for those of us going to law school, those of us that actually CARE about the law (unlike this box of rocks), I think we should be thankful that she did not decide to become an attorney - attorneys have bad enough raps as it is...
If you can dodge a wrench, you can pass the bar.
Don't forget the heartwarming video--365 sq. ft. shack included....
http://media2.ocregister.com/slideshow/read070407/
I dont even know what the fuck a quail looks like and i passed the bar.
I bet her husband is blind and borderline retarded and possibly 800 lbs.
Damn why all the hate....the girl just PASSED, don't rain on her parade just yet bitches.
Something tells me the parade we are raining on is short a few floats
You people...my God. So many smarmy responses about how she should have just given up. Yeah, that's the trait I want in my zealous advocate. Although I do love the anonymous posters who describe the no-bar-study summers. Nothing like bragging about coasting through at the pool and ignoring preparation to inspire confidence in my attorney. Amazing how many crack legal minds read "abovethelaw.com: a Legal Tabloid." Get ahold of yourselves. Wonder why people hate us? Take a good look at most of these responses.
It's her school's fault 95%. Barbri only reinforces the what law school is supposed to do in the first place. If your law school sucks, Barbri ain't going to help much.
I worked with a graduate from Western State, and couldn't believe he was a JD. I was actually embarassed that he was so clueless about how to 'think like a lawyer'. He just took the Bar for the fourth time, and based on his severe lack of critical thinking when discussing the law, he'll be back in July for the fifth time.
It's her school's fault 95%. Barbri only reinforces the what law school is supposed to do in the first place. If your law school sucks, Barbri ain't going to help much.
I worked with a graduate from Western State, and couldn't believe he was a JD. I was actually embarassed that he was so clueless about how to 'think like a lawyer'. He just took the Bar for the fourth time, and based on his severe lack of critical thinking when discussing the law, he'll be back in July for the fifth time.
It's her school's fault 95%. Barbri only reinforces the what law school is supposed to do in the first place. If your law school sucks, Barbri ain't going to help much.
I worked with a graduate from Western State, and couldn't believe he was a JD. I was actually embarassed that he was so clueless about how to 'think like a lawyer'. He just took the Bar for the fourth time, and based on his severe lack of critical thinking when discussing the law, he'll be back in July for the fifth time.
I'm actually impressed. I would have died of embarrassment, but she's persistant, which is pretty crucial to staying alive. I wouldn't have had the strength.
And yet, Bandy doesn't actually hold the record for number of times someone's taken the CA bar (or possibly any bar). That has got to belong to Don Baumeister, JD, Western State, 1980, who failed CA 41 times and was profiled in the course of his 42nd attempt.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/02/23/bar-exam-the-movie/
Maxcy Filer (a former Compton city councilman) took the California bar 48 times before finally passing in 1991. His story was written up in the California Bar Journal in 2004.
Maxcy Filer (a former Compton city councilman) took the California bar 48 times before finally passing in 1991. His story was written up in the California Bar Journal in 2004.
Ah you guys are pretty mean ... but, she should not have put her family though it - only a single person without children should keep trying ..I don't know why she could not take the educatio adn put it to use in other ways .. I used my law school education to enhance my first career ... I never wanted to be an actual attorney ..but I am better at what I do now .. I don't know why everyone thinks you have to take the bar exam and pass just because you went to law school - there are plenty of ways to make a decent living without going to court ...
sorry for the typos in the above post - it's late here
Its the unaccredited law schools.....they spit out wanna be lawyers who cant pass the bar exam, but not without taking their money first. It seems like people think we have a "right" to be anything we want to be. Doctor or lawyer for example. The truth is this entitled attitude costs people money and brings down the quality of services. Not to mention that there are way too many lawyers already. The profession is not what it used to be.......