Twitter: Cherry Bomb in Book Two: The Fifteenth Year of the Third Millennium of the Common Era

My wife has this album, but that’s not why I place the song. I’ve not had alcohol for a week or two (may also explain the insomnia) but suddenly, out of nowhere, as I’ve been studying today… my nose and tongue keep sending signals to my brain that suggest I would like to drink some Jim Beam Red Stag Black Cherry Bourbon Whiskey. I only mention it as my wife thinks I’m bizarre that I rarely every get food cravings. I’m hardly ever sitting somewhere thinking “I would like to eat ____.” Typically, food is merely an energy source for me unless there are emotional attachments based on past experience. There’s never a moment where I’m simply “Yes. I desire to eat x. I shall eat x.” Meanwhile, my wife has those constantly.

But what I’m really writing about is a study issue that

As I’ve mentioned in various places… the essay portion of the bar is more upsetting to me than I can express. Oh, don’t worry. The multiple choice part is infuriating. There is no reason to test the law in multi-choice format. In fact, the National Bar Association didn’t even do Multi-Choice for a long time. Every professional attorney I’ve spoken with over the age of 40 (including the Attorney General of Iowa) said they never had to take the MBE… so, yeah the Multiple-choice Bar Exam is stupid. But the essay? The Multi-state Essay Exam? Essays are my jam. I can write essays no worries. The organizational aspect takes time. Because you don’t just make sure that ideas flow logically, you have to establish them in both a professional legal format and in a persuasive way. So… there is a lot there. Format, Persuasion, Factual Expression… and you have to read the prompt and collect the facts. This entire process, of course, is supposed to be limited to a 30 minute test environment. So… I do the practices, I try as hard as I can. Then I look at the Sample Outlines and Sample Essays. My outline? A one page scribble to make sure I have the players, events, and legal consequences laid out. My essay? Reads like a memo sent to a managing partner of a firm. I thought… pretty acceptable. The sample outline? Two full pages with Roman Outline Format. The sample essay? Two full pages with full legal analysis, professional formatting, and legal persuasion. GAH! I mean… I’m still interested to see what the graders say but… are you kidding me?! There is a belief (though it has never been stated to me by anyone with authority) that the bar essay examples are written without timelines. So, in other words… we have to bust our ass under pristine test conditions… but the way they are grading us is as though we were in a professional environment with no time limits and access to information? How… how is that even fair?! If I have to read through your bullshit Dickensian question prompt, format a professional writing, and submit my answer all within 30 minutes.... you grade under those conditions, you monsters.

As for my studying… I’m at a completed 18 Full Days & 90% or more of 7 days. I’m supposed to be on day 31. So… 90% or more finished on 25 days puts me at 81%. Not terrible, all things considered. AND… fingers crossed… as I have no plans for the Super Bowl and all evening tonight still free… perhaps I can get those numbers closer to 28 or 29!

Last updated January 04, 2016