Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Bar Exam: Day One

Well, I survived the first day of the Ohio. Today's essays covered Partnerships, Torts, Criminal Law, Wills, Contracts, and Secured Transactions. Whew! Some thoughts:

1) Today is by far the worst day - 6 essay questions in the morning and 2 Multistate Performance Tests (MPT) in the afternoon. I say it's the worst because anything could be tested. At least for tomorrow's Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) - 200 questions - you know what subjects are covered. And then for Thursday's six essay questions you can deduce what'll be tested from the remaining uncovered subjects.

2) Each MPT consists of a client file and "library" of resources. You then have to write a specific document - summary judgment motion, memo, client letter, etc. It's really easy because you don't have to know any law - it's all given to you. Mostly it's a test of time management (you get 1.5 hours per MPT). I ran out of time on the first one and had 30 minutes leftover on the second - BORING.

3) My handwriting really sucks. Ever see the movie Se7en? You know the serial killer's notebooks? Yeah, my MPT books looked like that.

4) One of the prominent hypothetical MPT statutes was the Medical Insurance Contracts Act - MICA, for short. That's right, hundreds of people were repeatedly reading my name (albeit misspelled). You Bobs, Eds, and Marys are saying "so what?" but to people like me with freakish names, it's a big deal. It's up there with finding a song that uses your name (BTW, there's only one Micah song - "Where's Micah?" by Christian ska band Five Iron Frenzy).

5) I really like when women do the "dress down" look. Sweats, baseball caps, glasses (naturally) - AW, YEAH! Seriously! Makes me wonder if any of the women in the room have a thing for chubby bearded guys.

6) I want to be a proctor when I grow up. They spend a total of maybe 15 minutes (at most) a day distributing and collecting materials and the rest just hanging out. The job combines my two passions: handing out things and reading magazines.

7) Last time I took this exam, I'd eat lunch with a group of friends. We'd talk about our answers and it ultimately undermined my confidence. This time I had lunch (pastrami sandwich, Pringles, cookies, Diet Dr. Pepper) alone in my car (2000 VW Jetta). I feel relatively better about the test than last year. Go, seclusion!

Okay, I'm going to enjoy some well-deserved "Simpsons" time.

4 comments:

spydrz said...

I've proctored before. You start wishing that they'd JUST FINISH!! the test because you want to get out of there...of course some of the students in my HIST 122 class were slow at exam-taking and probably not bar exam material.

Panthergirl said...

Better a proctor than a proctologist, I always say. Well, not always. Just now.

One down, two to go... good luck tomorrow!

Kate The Great said...

Good luck. The first day is always the worst b/c you have nerves and are tired/full of info/anxious for it to be over.

Props out for liking girls with glasses and sweatpants. If only you could catch me when walking in and out of the gym...

And a Jetta? Wow. Great minds think alike.

Micah said...

spydrz - I'm convinced proctoring is where it's at.

CB - Aw, thanks, you wine snob.

panthergirl - But proctologists get cool license plates that say "ASS MAN."

KtG - It's been my experience that women think they look awful when dressed down, but face it: a cute girl's a cute girl. Subconsciously (to me, at least), I think the appeal of the look is because they seem "more attainable." Glasses, though...love 'em!

And I love my car.