the end of the beginning

So the rest of PMBR sucked. I don't mean sucked, as in, I wish I hadn't taken it. I mean it was just miserable. I guess it's not so terrible that I learned a lot about what I don't know. I'm sure that I'll remember a few of the things I learned, like elements of arson and the difference between larceny and robbery. But this whole thing is still just terrifying, despite the assurances the PMBR lecturers keep giving and despite the Bar-Bri survival guide, which seems to lay things out pretty clearly as far as a study plan. And it doesn't help to be told stuff like that mortgages make up the largest portion of the property section. Obviously I'm not complaining that I was told this; I'm glad I was told this, but just because I know it doesn't make me feel better about it...although obviously I know to study it now. But there are tons of things like that.

(By the way, I was surprised at how many people I know who weren't taking the six-day PMBR class...wouldn't you want to give yourself every advantage? I was talking to a couple of those people and it was funny how they were rationalizing not taking it...not that I'm saying I will score higher but I'd probably jump off a bridge if I failed just because I didn't take the extra six day class).

I still can't figure out why the bar exam is so different than law school. The exam and the studying process for it is almost the exact opposite of law school exams and the way you studied. It seems like you wouldn't need three years of law school to take the bar exam. Sure, some of the lingo might be unfamiliar, but that's going to be the case for a lot of people (like me) who never took subjects like family law and will have to learn them from scratch over the coming weeks. So what's the point?

I appreciated the comments I got from people the other day. I go back and forth minute-by-minute being confident that I'll get all this stuff down and then thinking it's just too overwhelming. I know enough not to listen to what most other people are doing, especially (sorry, if you're reading this, but I doubt you are) the people in my PMBR class who went to those fourth-tier law schools. Speaking of those people, I know that I still have to study my ass off and that I'm guaranteed nothing just because the passage rate from this school was 86 percent last year (and is consistently in the low 80s) whereas from those other schools it's in the 70s and 60s. But having said that, I thought it was funny how the PMBR lecturer yesterday made a comment about how 86 percent of people from here pass and all those non-UM students started muttering or laughing or whatever, knowing full well that because they went to that school, their passage rate is much lower. I'm not sure there is a point to this rambling aside - although, again, I don't think I'm naturally smarter than those people. But it just seems like in some ways, you're starting at a disadvantage if from day one you're told that only two out of three people who went to your school will pass. Maybe not. I don't know. Sorry this is rambling.