May 18 2010, Just 10 weeks left

Once again another week passes by and bar results have come out. Naturally I round up everybody's results that I know. And the people that I know who have taken it and the people who I know have passed seem to be 4 passers out of 8 total takers, so that's about 40/40 plus passers strictly from CA had a 60% chance of passing according to bar statistics.

So what's new? 5050 chance of passing, nothing new there, except that taking my husband's advice, you can't worry about what other people are doing.

That said, I've gotten a lot of feedback. I also had a personal setback last week due to childcare issues yet still managed to get it nearly 30 hours of study time. I turned in an essay to my tutor who admonished me from wasting time on this bar. Well what she doesn't know won't hurt her.

I am writing in this blog instead of bar studying. Last week I vowed to perform a new type of essay studying that I have perfected tonight.

So here's my regime 50 questions, writing out wrong rules (still need to review them this week) Still at 50 percent! Working on Evidence finished Crimes and Crim Pro from last week.

I would still like to briefly review the Strategies and Tactics book each week that I change topics.

Today I had some breakthroughs on hearsay. I focused on problem areas in the MBE. Also typed out the wrong rules and missing issues from the essay that I worked on. Still needed to write out one more essay but ran out of time.

By the end of the week I should have my tutor regime down:
Write one essay, outline one essay and 50 mbes, review memorize.

That's a tall order, but I think I will get to most of it and hope to add on to the memorization and review as time goes on.

Signing out and off to sleep.

11 weeks out

Hi there. Thanks to anyone who is out there ready to read this blogging journey of mine as I tackle the hardest challenge I've ever had in my life: The California Bar Exam, July 2010. I've been logging minimal study hours since January of 2010. I would say I've already done 1,000 multiple choice questions. I've outlined 6 major subjects and had an essay graded in each subject AND we are still 11 weeks out. I've been putting in 30 solid hours of productive study time since April 12, that's studying 7 days a week. I try not to take days off, but some days the hours are down as my focus dwindles.

Despite my detours, I'd say that I am ahead of the game at this point. However, everyone is different and I am my own worst enemy when it comes to studying. I'd like anyone to read this account of how I've overcome procrastination, disorganization and sheer chaos from raising a one and a two year old to take the hardest test in the nation. If I can do it, anyone can. I am determined to get this job done come hell or highwater. By the way, my first try was July 2008 when I was three months pregnant with my second child, Harrison Hughes.

I've attempted to study for the bar while working fulltime. That did not pan out so well. So we took a big leap and moved in with my husband's parents which has been going better than imagined thus far. This took the rent pressure off of us. So I've had much backstory on this journey. Much of my backstory my close friends and loved ones have shared with me.

I have been logging each of my hours and how I spend them. This is HUGE. It's so important to track productivity if nothing else. As far as concentration goes, I've had to build it up. I used to have to go through torture to get 20 minutes straight. Yes that's how bad I was. But now I can generally go 3 hours pretty focused. I will have to double that come July, hopefully by the end of May, I will be up to at least 4 to 5 hours of solid productivity.

How did I manage to improve? Setting small and big goals, never losing sight of the daily tasks and focusing every night on where I'm at and where I want to be. I've been trying to get a workout program going as well. I eat my emotions. I've exercised two to three times per week and must get it to at least 5 times per week.

Back to the breakdown for the bar studiers I outlined each subject for one week, outlined an essay every other day and did 30 mbe's:

Evidence

Property

Contracts

Torts (built up to 50 mbe's)

Con Law

Crimes

I had all of these except for Torts graded professionally. It was mostly to show that I can write for the bar. I did it with notes and reading the answer for guidance. By the end of the month, I plan to go without reading the answer for a guide and trying to recall laws by memory.

My friend Brandy suggested that I use only the headnotes in the answer, review the law as a guide first, then try to write the entire essay from memory. I think this is great. I will be working on that this week.

I am hoping that I did not miss the boat with essays here. I am aiming to write one essay per day. I have been beefing up on MBE's and reviewing the answers. So my goal is to focus just as hard on writing the essays in the final 11 weeks.

I was a terrible law student. I left studying up until the last minute. Sometimes I hardly showed up for class. Sometimes I hardly opened the book. But I am making up for all that now. When I very first found out that the bar exam was three days long I was extremely teary eyed. My professor at the time told me that maybe, just like some students, I will shine academically on the bar. I guess he was trying to say nicely, that I was not shining so brightly in law school.

But balancing my chemical l and biological needs to get married and have children, with paying for law school and trying to land a career at the same time was extremely challenging. So many women sacrifice so much of womanhood to focus on their law school careers. Hats off to them. I went into labor my last year of law school during one of my finals. It was an amazing year and I got my highest grades ever. I was changing diapers a plenty while trying to study Civ Pro. Many women have done it and many will continue to perform incredible goals no matter what.

To attempt the impossible is to achieve the incredible is my mantra. So until next week, cheers big ears and big brains open to everything that is productive and focused.

Many Cali Blessings,

SV

PS. So I hope this gives you a little background about me and this blog and my journey which I hope can help you, inspire you and if nothing else mildly entertain you.