After a full day of writing 9 essays, I don't feel like writing too much, but I did want to share my first day of the bar exam experience. I got up, showered, and left the house before 6 a.m. to get to Bellevue in time for the mandatory check-in and orientation. Just as I pulled into the parking garage, NPR reported that "wannabe" lawyers were taking the bar exam this week, blah blah blah. I wasn't nervous until I heard the radio report.
Once inside, the bar exam is run with the precision and formality of a military parade. Two test takers share a table and it turns out that my deskmate went to Syracuse Law School--I took this as a sign that I would be okay.
We are given questions in three at a time (three sets of three per day) and we write essays on each. The first two questions were really tough for me. The first appeared to ask for evidence rules but the facts were related to criminal procedure. Who knows, I may have answered incorrectly, but I was relieved to find another pure-evidence question after lunch (evidence is usually only tested once on the exam). The second question was a sales question, which I felt strong with before the exam but felt a little unsure after the first question.
Anyhoo, I feel bizarrely calm and haven't freaked out yet. Frankly, I care but I don't care. I don't NEED to pass the bar to get a job in policy, but it's a good tool to have if I need to work temporarily in a firm. Between you and me (and the worldwide web), if I fail, it's only my pride that is injured. That being said, I really have no gage for how to feel at the end of day one. I don't feel like I said enough but maybe I said more than I thought. I reached the character limit (strict limit where the exam program stops you from typing further) in nearly every question. I tried to be very concise and spot a ton of issues.
Oh well... on to day two! Bring it!!!
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