Done with the Bar

Yippee!!

Yesterday was the multiple guess day which is impossible to tell how you've done. Today was 3 more essays - a community property question which I feel good about, and then a wills and trusts and a corporations question which I have no idea how I did (I am not an expert in either subject). I feel that I knew a lot more substantive law this time in comparison to July, so I am hoping that I passed, I will feel very disappointed if I didn't, but at the same time I wouldn't be totally astonished if I failed either.

The test is just so hard. And long. And tiring. And it's hard to tell what the graders are looking for. But at this point, it's over, and it's not worth worrying about.

Tomorrow, I get to clean our house, and back to playing some poker. I'm hoping to get out and enjoy our weather too (it got up to like 70 today which would never have happened in Madison).

One day down two to go

So the bar exam started today. The 3 essay questions involved, torts, crim law, and professional responsibilities. I don't feel like I bombed any of them, but it's also really hard to know what the graders are looking for. The second half of the day was a performance test which was basically writing a brief. My only apprehension there was simply time management - I would have liked to write much more.

Tomorrow is the multiple guess session. If I do decent tomorrow I feel I should be in decent shape to pass. I will probably review some civil procedure and corporations for the essays on Thursday - if I feel the same about the essays as I did today, I will be surprised if I fail (but I don't want to jinx myself either).

6 days until the Bar...

And I've hit somewhat of a wall. I am feeling so-so about the 6 core areas but I still have a lot to review/learn in the other areas which could come up on the essays. But I'm also just bored of it right now. I tried getting through some wills and trusts this morning but just couldn't. My hope at this point is that my multiple guess score will be above average so that my essays can be just a little under average and I'll scrape by. I am so looking forward to this being over...

Sitemeter is funny

So I am taking a quick study break and figured I'd see if anyone actually reads this thing. It turns out the answer is basically no, but the rare few who do meander here always interest me. Yesterday someone from Portugal googled my poker screen name and came upon this blog. Which makes me think who in the hell do I know from Portugal - and why would anyone be googling me recently since I haven't been playing poker at all? I have no idea. But it is a nice diversion from studying.

On that note - studying is going ok. I think I will do much better on the multiple guess section this time. I am still not sure how well I will do on the essays, but I don't see how I could do worse. The 4 month wait will be the hardest part.

Eeeek - 2 weeks until the Bar Exam

Ay ay ay. 2 weeks to go. I am still not sure I will get everything pounded into my head. But I think I know more now than I did last time. It's funny - I wish I had more time to study, but I also am so sick of this already that I am glad I only have 2 more weeks to go.

Wheeeeeee

I took the day off from studying to play some poker and I'm glad I did.

I won a $150 tourney of FullTilt for almost $15k. That will be the last time I play until I finish taking the bar. But I now feel good knowing that I have a nice cushion to fall back on when I come back and play.

Feels good.

3 weeks to go

Ok down to three weeks to go and we have now gotten through the nitty gritty 6 core subjects (Real Property, Torts, Crim, Constitutional, Evidence, and Contracts) which make up the areas tested on the multiple guess portion and are also free game for the essays. We are now going through the add-on subjects which are also free game for the essays (Civ Pro, Prof. Responsibilities, Agency, Corporations, Wills, Trusts, Community Property, Remedies, and maybe other stuff I am forgetting). I freaked out last week when I got a worse score on the practice multiple guess test they gave us then I did when I actually failed the bar, but it turns out the test they gave is freakishly hard. My score was actually in the top 25% so I feel ok again.

There is still lots of stuff I haven't memorized, I still am awestruck at how anyone could write an answer as good as the sample answers for the essays in just one hour (that's all we get, is one hour per essay), and I am still nervous that I won't get it all done. But I also just hit a point each night where enough is enough and so I just stop. I am feeling good about spotting issues, now it is just a matter of regurgitating the rules rather than just knowing the correct conclusions.

Wish me luck.

p.s. I played a couple of tourneys on Sunday and made a final table in one. Unfortunately it was just for 6th place but it still feels good to know I can play good.

4 weeks to go

Still just grinding the studying out. The bar exam is a 3 day exam. The 1st and 3rd day are the same format - 3 essays in the morning and then a "performance test" in the afternoon (basically this consists of being given a file to read and then pretend you're an underling lawyer and write a memo, so this part doesn't freak me out as much). The 2nd day is pure multiple guess (yeah, yeah I know it is really supposed to be multiple choice). So yesterday the bar review course gave us a practice multiple guess test.... and I'm not sure if they are trying to freak us out or not but I did worse on this exam than I did when I took the real bar in July after hardly studying at all. From what I can tell from other students in the class, everyone did pretty bad, but it's still pretty dumb to give a practice test that is way harder than anything we'll ever take.

In general this whole process is like one of those graphs we had to do in calculus. Totally up and down (vacilating might be the "correct" term). Some days I feel like I will pass no problem since all I need to do is get one level higher on each essay than I did when I took it in July and I should be able to do that since I'm studying this time. Other days I feel like no matter what I do, I am not going to memorize all of these stupid rules and I'm just destined to keep getting about the same score (this is basically an IQ test after all, and IQs shouldn't change).

Meh - enough whining. Whatever happens, happens. Just 4 more weeks to grind.

I have good moral character

Or at least that's what the state bar of California thinks. To get bar privileges you need to basically tell the state where you've been and what you've been doing since birth, and then give references who will basically say that "yes, it's true, chardrian has never been convicted of a felony." I remember the Wisconsin one being worse than California's but California took longer to determine that I am in fact morally qualified to practice law here.

Now, whether or not I am legally qualified (by passing this stupid test) is a whole other question. At this point I am feeling very overwhelmed, which is a rare feeling for me (I am generally verrrrrrrrrrrry laid back). Mostly because there is just too much stuff and I haven't memorized it yet, but also because I keep turning in these damn practice essays to my Bar/Bri course and keep failing them. Not only did I never fail an exam in law school, but I was usually towards the top of my class and now I keep failing which is not very good positive reinforcement.

Mostly, it's because I need to dumb it down a bit. You are supposed to use a system called IRAC where you first spot the issue, then you state the rule of law that applies to that issue, then you apply the facts to the rule and issue, and finally you give a conclusion. I was taught to give a conclusion at the beginning and at the end because judges want to know up front what you are arguing so I need to stop doing that I guess. And I also will often join the rule with the facts because it makes it a lot quicker and I think easier to read. But my reader doesn't seem to like that either, so I guess I will try and break it down more.

The whole thing is still pretty dumb though I think. A huge part of the exam is simply memorizing rules and their exceptions (e.g. contracts for goods over $500 must be in writing to be enforceable pursuant to the Statutue of Frauds - and then there are a whole bunch of exceptions to the rule). But in real practice, you don't really need to have any of these rules memorized because you can always just look them up. So my law school training focused more on spotting issues and then learning how to apply facts to rules rather than memorizing rules (except for Evidence I can't think of a class where we were not allowed to use an outline). This exam, on the other hand, focuses more on memorizing the stupid rules and there are just kazillions of them to memorize.

Anyhoo, I am still hating studying. But if I pass the exam at least I am now qualified to practice here.

Still studying

Well 2 weeks down and I'm still overwhelmed but grinding through it. As homework, the program gives us lots of multiple choice practice as well as practice essays. The problem is I spend so much time doing the questions that I don't have time to memorize the black letter law. So I keep having to cheat on the essays and look up the black letter law and then apply the facts. I am hoping that by doing enough of these the law will start to just sink in. The dumbest part of this bar exam is that it is basically a memorization test and in real life, lawyers don't really need to have anything memorized because you can always look stuff up (the only exception is perhaps knowing evidence if you have to go to trial, since you can't make an objection the day after). I am fine with spotting issues and applying facts to law - but I am bad at memorizing the exact law because I've never had to (even in law school we got to use outlines). 6 more weeks and it will be done.

On another note one of my poker forum buddies directed me to this. I thought it was pretty insightful. At this point in my life I still believe that poker is my calling and I'm looking forward to getting back into it once I'm done with this studying. That doesn't mean that I am positive this will be my calling forever and ever, but for now it is something I am passionate about and I feel fortunate to have a shot to work at something that is my passion. Hopefully it will all work out...

Contracts and Torts

So the first week is over, and I'm still alive, but barely. The course consists of sitting in a law school room (like a big ampitheater) and watching professors ramble on about a whole subject in the matter of 8-12 hours (they usually try to throw some humor in there too). Whereas when I was actually in law school we got like 50-60 hours per subject. Anyhoo, it looks like they try and break most subjects into 2-3 lectures but yesterday we had to endure 8 straight hours of torts and get it all over in one day.

At this point Statute of Frauds, duress, warranties, consideration (that's all Contracts lingo), are still just as jumbled as battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and strict liability (torts) but hopefully it will all come together by the end of next month (if not, I might have to commit some sort of tort against myself). No matter what I'll keep forging ahead.

Let the classes begin

So today was my first day of my bar review classes. And the next two months are going to suck. Looks like 8-12 hours of studying/classes every day. Barf. Reminds me a little bit of my first semester of law school, where I just studied like a maniac because I had not been in school for a while and wanted to make sure I started off well. I know I'll get it done, but I'm not looking forward to it.

Weekly recap

So my mother-in-law came and visited for the weekend before Christmas and it was nice to have her. But it meant I didn't play until Christmas day (when my wife had to work the whole day). So I've played just 3 nights this week. The only notable night was Christmas when I got very deep in two tourneys and then just took 2 brutal beats in each one which kept me from the final table and really nice 4-5 figure scores.

Oh well - it happens.

Tomorrow my folks come to visit until New Years and then my classes start the day after New Years so from here on out it is going to be study first, and then only if there is some time left over, will I play poker. Otherwise I'll be back at it starting in March.

Wish me luck - I need to pass the stupid exam this time!!!

Happy Holidays

Just a quick message wishing you and yours a happy holiday season.

My wife's gift is a 36 hour work day, but we had a great time with her mom the last couple of days and she then gets 4 days this next weekend as well when my dad and family come visit us as well. Given everything that has gone well for us this year we can't complain too much (but I still think we can complain a little).

Oh, I also finally received my bar review books, so I can start studying as well. I am not looking forward to it, but I know I need to get it done. My Christmas wish is twofold: I want to pass the Bar and do well enough this year playing poker that I just keep those bar privileges in my back pocket and can continue to play fulltime.

wheeeeeeeeeee

Finally made a final table again tonight, and I even took it down. It was the $10 rebuy on FullTilt for just under $4k.

Feels good to have somewhat of a roll again, which means that I won't be totally decimated when I come back after 2 months of studying.

Break Time

So I put in a pretty good amount of hours this last week, playing pretty much every night. I haven't made any final tables in a while but I am confident my game is still fine - just losing lots of important hands.

My wife finally gets a weekend off, so I am going to take that time off too.

I keep wanting to get started on studying but I neither have the ganas (the desire) nor the books to do so. My classes start Jan. 2, so no matter what, if I haven't started studying by then, I will be putting in major hours in Jan and Feb. I am a very good procrastinator, so it's good that I signed up for the bar review course because that will force me out of the house and make me study... And when I put in the hours I tend to do pretty well on tests, so hopefully it will turn out this time.

Frustrating Week

I put in a pretty full schedule this week - 50 tourneys, made the money 9 times which is fine. But no final tables which is frustrating. I also really need to start studying next week, so from now until March I should be playing a much lighter schedule.

Mental Fortitude

I don't think there's a question that for me, the hardest part of playing poker is getting through the long dry spells. I had to return my Bar Review books from the summer (or forfeit my deposit) and am now waiting for the new materials to arrive (I am expecting they will be the very same books) so I have had time the last three nights to play a pretty full schedule which for me usually ends up being about 8 tourneys a night. I have been playing well but have not had any real good results. Of course I realize that this is expected - as a top player I am only going to make the money in a tourney between 15-25% of the time and am only going to make the final table somewhere around 3% of the time and the top 3 of the tourney (where the real big payouts happen) maybe 1-2% of the time. So a streak of 25 tourneys and no big cashes is going to happen repeatedly....

But that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. I don't know what it is about my mental make-up but I expect to win every hand I am in and when I don't, I get upset. When I lose over and over and over again, I get frustrated. And for me, making sure that that frustration does not make me play bad in other tourneys that I am still in and making sure that I don't try and chase my losses by playing in cash games (which I have proven I am a loser at) is the most important part of protecting my roll.

So here's to staying on top of my emotions and waiting for that next big score...

I'm an Uncle again

My sister just delivered her second child, a boy named Jack, this morning. He came out best end first just like me (butt-first) and no c-section needed.

Back Home

We had somewhat of a hellish time getting home. Our flight from Dallas to Santa Barbara was delayed for hours because of mechanical problems, then we faced traffic driving home the next day making what is normally a 6-7 hour drive into a 9-10 hour one. And to top it all off, I have caught my yearly cold, which makes the idea of studying even less appealing than it already was.

Meh.