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#barpreplife: Just Breathe

GUEST BLOG by Jennifer Varteressian,
Graduated from The University of Tulsa College of Law

Okay, let us all take a breather.

If you’re anything like me you’re freaking out at this juncture. We are five weeks out from the bar exam and the MBE is literally wiping the floor with me. I wanted to take the opportunity to use this blog to hopefully ease some of your anxieties. I have been really struggling over the past few days with the MBE. I feel like I am doing so poorly in every subject and am nowhere near where I need to be. Given that I am so type A, I did a little bit of investigating. I wanted to share my findings with you all in case others were despairing as well.

First of all, remember you merely need to pass the exam. This means you need to do better than 25% of test takers. When you think about it this way, it seems to be manageable. If you trust the program and put the time in you will get there. I spoke with my DLE this morning and she informed me that in 6 out of 9 schools in Texas with students that completed 75 % or more of the BARBRI program had a 100% pass rate. That’s right-only 75 %! I like those odds.

PSP
Also I wanted to share a little bit of information with you all about how to measure your progress in the PSP. As I’m sure you’re aware, there is a tab on the right hand side of the PSP that shows you your progress in the program so far. This progress measures your average against others for MBE questions. If you are wondering how you line up with everyone you can look here. Remember the MBE is graded on a curve so really all that matters is how you stack up to the competition. If you are not getting the scores you want check this PDF out – reading this definitely provided me with some peace of mind; especially the part at the end that says thousands of students pass with a lower score than average. Also in case you were all wondering, I asked what we should shoot for on our essays and was told we should be looking for a raw score of about 17/25.

I came home tonight from a long night of studying to find my parents throwing a dinner party (I know RUDE right?! No one is supposed to have a life if I can’t!) Anyways, my brother took me aside and said, “Jenny, do you know how many dumb ass lawyers there are in Texas?! You’re smart; you’re going to be fine”. It’s extremely easy for us to get fed up with ‘lay people’ and proclaim that they don’t understand, especially during this time. Let’s just all keep in mind that the people in our lives love us and want to see us do well, so when they say things like that try not to become infuriated! Happy studying!

Until Next Time,
J

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#barpreplife: Social Isolation

GUEST BLOG by Jennifer Varteressian,
Graduated from The University of Tulsa College of Law

Social Life? I’m confused; What is that?

It has been two weeks since I’ve really started hunkering down for the bar exam, and by God they have been the SLOWEST TWO WEEKS OF MY LIFE. I have a calendar that I place big “X’s” on after each day of bar prep and I feel like I’m climbing up a never ending mountain and have made it about two inches. I have decided that it is time for me to take a step back and make sure to carve out some time for myself.

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My parents have graciously allowed me to live with them as I prepare for the bar exam and get on my feet (a blessing and a curse I assure you). Although I am incredibly grateful for their hospitality I feel sorry for them because they are having to deal with the brunt of what the bar exam is turning me into. I am like an overly caffeinated ticking time bomb ready to detonate at any moment. There was one point this week when I realized that the only conversation that I participated in outside of “Hi, I would like an Americano” was with my parents, and consisted mainly of them asking how my day was and me delivering some form of grunt. I had a come to Jesus meeting with myself today and decided that I cannot go on like this. I will converse like a normal human, I will immerse myself in environments where real, live people are present. (At least once a week 🙂 )

bigstockphoto_girl_studying_350664I think it’s very easy to get bogged down in how much material we are held responsible for, and trust me I am not downplaying it. The task that is before us is no easy feat, however, I think that it is necessary for each of us to grasp that there is no possible way for us to master EVERY single iota of material that BARBRI supplies us with. Hello, that’s why the bar exam is pass/fail! BARBRI has spent quite a few decades ensuring that EVERY single aspect of EVERY single subject that could possibly be tested on is included in our materials. It would be impossible for any of us to retain all of this information. I know, this is incredibly hard for us type A personalities to wrap our minds around, but if we don’t submit we will drive ourselves crazy come mid February. Hell, at the rate I’m going I may not understand what social graces are come next week!

Anyway be sure to take some time out for yourself and remember that we can’t possibly do it all. Trust me, your friends and family will thank you.

Until Next Time,
J

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#The3Llife: Welcome Back Patient Zero Students

GUEST BLOG By Shaun Sanders,
3L at Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law

Today is my 879th day of being a law student.

83904bb600676e6b889613d24cf227163ad55c9929b2b3628ef3add64676aa65Like academic Pokémon, once my peers and I reach level 1,008 (sometime in late May), we will finally have the experience necessary to spar with the California Bar. For now, though, I find myself attempting to survive the week and a flu that has descended upon my law school… which brings me to this week’s complaint: patient-zero students.

I get it. My law school charges $46,300 per year for tuition, or, roughly, $1,900 per unit. At 15 weeks of instruction per semester, a 3-unit class will cost about $380 per day of class or, roughly, $5 per minute (or $303.60 per hour). So when a student wakes up feeling a little under the weather, whether or not they risk infecting everyone depends somewhat on their generosity. If not for frugality, another major influence on whether or not the Outbreak monkey decides to visit my campus is my school’s mandatory attendance policy. Here, students may not miss more than 3 to 5 classes (depending on units). Most save them for personal days, interviews, or post-party recovering, which further increases the probability of some sickly student basting the hallways in their fluids.

For now, I sail onward towards the white squall of crumpled tissues and Earl Grey tea bags. Further into the flemmy gusts of wind uninhibited by hands or manners. Forward towards that 1,008th day, where the skies may clear just long enough to feel the sun on my brow.

Time to max out on Vitamin-C.

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#The1Llife: Back to School

GUEST BLOG By Lauren Rose,
1L at the University of Detroit Mercy

A wise man once said…
“Back to school, back to school, to prove to dad that I’m not a fool.”

89c42d8f35e1e3cee88e106dc8b071d3Well, he may not have been very wise, but Billy Madison was a pretty rad guy. For all of the 1L’s this week (or if you are like me, last week) marks the first week back to law school. First off, congratulations! We did it! Not only did we survive our first semester of law school but we also survived (yeah… this is debatable) our first round of law school of exams.

Considering that we’ve survived thus far, now is the time to reflect on all of the things that you didn’t know going into your first semester that you know now.
  1. You’ve Learned How to Brief a Case
    When I started in the fall and someone said, “brief a case,” I literally had no clue what that meant. Literally, I had no idea. Now, all 1L’s know what a case brief is and exactly how to create one! By this point in time, you’ve figured out what you need to include in your briefs and what to exclude. Having this this skill is a major advantage over last semester because at least now you know what you are doing!
  2. You’ve Learned Something About Legal Writing
    During the first semester, it is likely that every 1L learned something about legal writing. You learned how to write an essay using IRAC, or TRAC, or CREAC, or whatever. It’s likely that you also learned how to write a memo, a complaint, or maybe even an answer. Learning how to write for the legal world is a skill. This is definitely something that we should all be proud of ourselves for learning because legal writing is kind of weird.
  3. You’ve learned Something About the Law
    imagesWhile this is kind of obvious, it is still something to be proud of. Ask me for the elements of negligence. I can name them in my sleep. Even though we’re only ⅙ of the way through law school, we have learned a tremendous amount of information in a very short amount of time.
  4. You’ve Learned How to Take Exam
    Law school exams are unlike any other exams. In undergrad, I started studying a few days before the exam and usually ended up with a decent grade. In law school, I started studying a month before the exam. Each student has their own method for preparing to take an exam. Hopefully you were able to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t work for you. At the very least, the first semester final exams provided a lesson in how much work is needed to prepare for a law school exam.
  5. You’ve Learned Your Way Around
    Even though my law school is pretty small, it still took me a while to learn my way around the school. Also, I’ve learned my way around downtown Detroit, which is pretty cool. It’s likely that you have also learned a thing or two about the city your school is located in. You’ve probably found a favorite place to go with other 1Ls!

While it is likely that you have learned a whole lot more than the things listed above, it is important to remember all that you have accomplished thus far. The second semester is a time for new beginnings and reflection. To all my 1Ls, we’ve made it this far and we can definitely make it to the end of our first year!

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#barpreplife: Lie To Get Through The Day

GUEST BLOG By Jennifer Varteressian,
Graduating from The University of Tulsa College of Law, December 2014

Okay.

So I am not normally someone who is going to preach, or provide a sermon on life problems, but I am a firm believer that there are times in life when we all need a little pep talk. As my mother always said, everything is good in moderation.

Having said that I wanted to share something I experienced this Monday. First I have to give a little back-story for context. When I was a 1L I had a professor that literally scared the crap out of me. He made Professor Charles Kingsfield look like an angel. The first day of class he called on me and screamed “you’re never going to be a lawyer if you don’t speak up! Why are you even in law school if you can’t speak loud enough for me to hear what you’re saying?!” Of course, after hearing this I was MORTIFIED. Going to his class everyday literally made me sick to my stomach. Regardless I continued to go, and thank god for that, because he ended up being one of the best professors I ever had.

One of the things I loved about this particular professor is that he would sometimes look at us and see us for what we really were: sleep deprived, beat down 1L’s. On days like this he would cease with the material we were covering and give testimonials about how to overcome adversity, and maintain your sanity when you are too stressed to go on. I called them his sermons. Throughout law school I made every effort to take as many classes as possible with this professor because I credited the maintenance of my sanity to him during my 1L year.

On more than one occasion I have felt that I have too many things to do to even begin. Sometimes I am immobilized by all my obligations. I am beginning to feel that way now with finals, graduation, and bar prep looming.

 I was feeling particularly immobilized this Monday on my way to insurance law.
University of Toronto in Winter

It was snowing, I was tired, and my responsibilities seemed to be overcoming me. Lucky for me, when I walked into class I evidently wasn’t the only student to appear this way. My professor took the liberty of providing us with another testimonial. The theme: Lie to get through the day.

His message was that getting into law school is not where we pass the buck, we have to continue to push ourselves, and when you feel like you can’t, lie to yourself until you can. He told us that everyone suffers from depression, life is going to rain on you; the important thing is how you handle that rain. When you feel overwhelmed its ok to take pity on yourself, as long as you don’t let that pity run your life, because life will run over you. Although some could have taken this message to be a bit heavy for 9 am, I could not have been more grateful. My professor is right, in the upcoming months we are going to feel overwhelmed, like life is raining on us, like we cannot study any more, but the reality is we can. We have come this far already, and that proves that we are resilient. Sometimes the best way to get through the day is that old saying fake it till you make it. The way I see it, all of our hard work is a mere few months away from coming to fruition. We can manage anything for a few months right!?

On another note next week is Thanksgiving so if you don’t hear from me, it’s because I’m in a food coma! Happy Thanksgiving, and remember, just keep swimming! We’re almost there and were all in this together!

Until Next Time,
J

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