Bar Exam: The Aftermath
After a week, I’ve finally been able to put two words together without wondering if someone is trying to trick me. It’s finally time to talk about the bar exam.
First, it is an absolutely miserable experience. The morning of the exam, I likened the bar to a fraternity hazing ritual à la “Animal House”. Second, the exam does not require any depth of knowledge. As Brandon puts it, the bar exam is “a test of minimal competency”; incidentally, if you look up the phrase “minimal competency” in the dictionary, my picture is there.
Okay, to the exam itself:
Day 1: Written Examination
As we walked into the convention center, we were greeted by several representatives from the PTEX company, whose sole purpose is to prepare people to write for the bar exam. I suppose it was a little late to start thinking about some help now, but the postcards they passed out reminded me “to keep them in mind” after I fail the exam. Comforting.
It was amazing to see just how many people were studying outside the exam hall the morning of the exam. Talk about last minute cramming. I’m not sure exactly what they were hoping to accomplish, but all I can say is that there were a lot of very worried faces.
The exam room was setup with two examinees to a table. I’m very thankful that the woman sitting at my table was a normal, down-to-earth person. If the foot scraper across the isle from me had been at my table, I’m pretty sure there’d be a case about it soon.
The written exam was pretty much what I expected. The morning session consisted of 7 essays, covering a variety of topics. The afternoon comprised of 3 more Maryland essays and the MPT.
The MPT was not what I was expecting. The Multistate Performance Test, as it is known, tests the students ability to take a case file and commit malpractice by doing a weeks worth of work in 90 minutes. These aren’t too difficult, but they are time consuming. This one was surprisingly so.
After the exam, we went across the street, where I was reacquainted with an old friend, Guinness.
Day 2: The MBE
The multistate bar examination (MBE) is a 200 question multiple choice questions covering just six areas of law — criminal law and procedure, contracts and sales, torts, evidence, constitutional law, and real property. It is a nationally administered exam given to every potential lawyer in the US. The MBE is often the benchmark by which other states evaluate the validity of your bar admission and waive this torture in their state.
And, did I forget to mention, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done?
I’ve practiced the MBE. A lot. Of the hundreds of questions I’ve done, I had not seen questions like these before. After I got through the morning session of 100 questions, apathy really set in. The last three hours have such a minimal weight to the exam (1/6 of the points for 1/4 of the time) that I didn’t care so much. I went to lunch, had a mediocre beer and bad fish and chips, and when back to the grindstone.
The only comfort was when I came to the very last question. It was about a farmer who drowned in six feet of cow manure in his barn after being overcome by the vapors. I felt a lot like the farmer at that point, really.
The Results
Well, now I get to sit and dwell on the exam for the next two months. Results are published on 2 May at 4:30pm. About 1/3 of all law students never pass; I hope I’m not one of them.
I need to score a 135 (adjusted) on the MBE in order to waive into DC (assuming, of course, that I’m admitted into Maryland).
