Yes, I Am. . .

signed up to take the July 2011 bar exam.

It took working as a legal secretary, a document reviewer, and a law & motion writer to save sufficient "pennies" to pay the admission fee.  Now, I am (I think) assisting an attorney to develop and market an extension of his practice in federal court, with dollars expected to roll in in a month or two, and just in time.

I have no health insurance and am deemed so poor as to qualify for medical assistance.  I was shocked when I went to a community clinic for the first time, to learn that I am officially "poor."

And, aside from losing my corporate job in summer 2008, with my income now at the lowest since my undergraduate years, I have wondered if I should stick to the law.  And, then I think that at what great financial and personal experience it took just to get through law school (which I loved) and how much experience I have gained in the law since then.  And, the faith my now dying mother has in me to pass this time.  (In fact, I wonder if she is weathering her health issues just to know if I did take the bar exam, but I don't think that she will live until results are meted out.)  And, how my mother's friends, and my "surrogate" father are still pushing me to pass this exam.  And, how my friends are, too.

So, a few weeks ago, I removed my bar exam books from my car (where they have occupied my back seat for a few months) and dusted them off.  A friend gave me the 2010 Bar Bri set of books, and I am ploughing through Volume 1 of the MBE's (unable to afford MBE software, for now).  I've listened to my PMBR CD's on Con Law, Crim Law, Crim Pro, Torts and Evidence, done a few hundred MBE's, and reviewed or written a few essays with many more to go.  (I am planning to write 48 essays, and outline another 52.)

And, for the first time, the MBE's (my bug-a-boo) are clicking for me.  Perhaps they are "clicking" because a friend advised me to do a question, look up the answer, and if I got the question wrong, to read the long BarBri outline pertaining to that specific area and read the outline to the end of that area.  (For example, Admissions in Evidence.)  She said, you'll find the nuances at the end of the outline, and this is what you'll be tested on in the MBE's.  Her advice was far better than the pat answers I have received, "You don't know the black letter law!"  Perhaps this was partially true.  They should have advised, "You don't know the nuances and the exceptions of the law well enough to apply them to the questions asked."  Now, I am enjoying the proverbial "Ah hah!" moment.

Moreover, I am not doing MBE's under timed conditions.  I am, instead, following the advice of BarNone Reviews MBE plan of attack.  This works well for me, for now.  By May 13th, I will have reviewed all the MBE subjects, and, at that time, I will begin to increase the number of MBE's per day and by end of month, to work the MBE's under timed conditions.

http://barexamguru.wordpress.com/category/mbe-study-tips/

For fellow repeaters, and new test takers, here's to our future success at the bar.