First Days of Bar Review

Tuesday, May 20

Many of my class mates started PMBR immediately after finishing up their law school exams. I feel lucky that I am not taking the 6 day PMBR class because I was able to take a few (much needed) days off between my last exam and the first day of Bar Bri.

I arrive for my first day of class about 20 minutes early and the room is already almost full. I don't know exactly how many other potential lawyers are in the room with me, but it looks like nearly 200. To think that this is only 1 session at 1 Bar Bri location. Across California, thousands of people must be getting ready for the Bar. Coming into the room and finding a seat reminds me of my first day of law school. Everyone seems to be sitting with a friend or two and I am alone and trying to find the 1 empty seat in the room. (Unfortunately, the friend I planned to study with found out just a few weeks ago that she was relocating to the East Coast, so I am currently without any study buddy). I feel slightly out of place.

The introductory lecture begins. "California is considered one of the most difficult Bar Exams in the country," the instructor informs us. "The bad news is that's true." He then proceeds to go through the suggested study schedule and an overview of the Bar Exam format. Looking at the suggested study calendar, I am overwhelmed to see that every single day (including weekends) is full of tiny type. In addition to attending a 4 hour lecture each day, we should review what we learned, do and review practice questions and then read ahead for the next day. On top of that, PMBR suggests that I do 50 of their practice multiple choice every day (Bar Bri assures me that would be overkill, but I should probably do at least a few PMBR questions each day on top of my Bar Bri work). If I follow the suggested schedule, I will spend at least 8 hours studying every weekday and another 4 or 5 hours each Saturday and Sunday.

The lecturer moves on to IRAC, the preferred method for answering Bar essays. I am again reminded of the first day of law school when our orientation included a lecture on how to brief cases using IRAC (issure, rule, analysis, conclusion). Although I never briefed a case in law school, I have IRACed my way through 3 years of exams, so I am glad that at least I am prepared on that front. As the lecture continues, I become accutely aware that I haven't had any coffee or tea this morning. My mind drifts to my new cappucino machine ... coffee.. coffee... cofee... a new speaker is now giving us an overview of how many questions about each topic we can expect to find on the multi-state. Who cares. Just tell me where I can find a coffee shop around here. (It turns out there is none, but the industrious folks at the sushi shop next door have filled the void and sell coffee on days when Bar Bri is in session.)

After the lecture, I drive home in record time, eat lunch and spend the next few hours reading the Evidence mini outline. I then try to do some PMBR questions on Evidence. Everything is vaguely familiar, but I can't remember any of the rules. I wind up getting half the questions wrong, but cheer myself up with the thought that if I can get half right now, I should be in great shape after tomorrow's Evidence lecture.