My Bar Exam Experience

In addition to being exhausting and stressful, as expected, taking the bar exam was a very unique experience. Here's my recap:

The exam took place in a large Convention Center. From my vantage point in my assigned seat in the back left of the exam room, rows of tables, laptops, and aspiring lawyers merged into a sea of heads. Based off my best estimate, I guessed there were at least a thousand, possibly even two thousand examiners in the room, which was one of two rooms in the convention center. I later used the good ol' internet to get a more exact number and found out that there were FIVE THOUSAND people in that convention center. So, for the last three days, I took a test in the same room as 2,500 other people.

One announcer at the front of the room kept time and gave instructions and announcements. My least favorite announcement: "You have 30 seconds remaining." How is that helpful?! Every time he said it, I got so freaked out, I couldn't regroup for the first 10 seconds.

There were dozens of proctors engaging in a zone defense type system. The majority of proctors manned a small zone of test takers and other proctors had jobs such as checking our admission slips before we entered the room, guarding the tables holding a couple thousand tests, etc.

Each morning and afternoon, I had a three hour session. After each of them, I felt physically tired and like my brain was shutting down. But, amazingly, by the next session, whether it was after the lunch break or after a night of sleep, I always felt ready to go again.

Did I pass? I don't know. I won't know until mid-November. But, between you readers and me, I think I did, not based off of how it felt while I was taking it (because it's one of those exams were you frequently feel like you're failing), but based off of practice exams.

Fortunately, I was well cared for. Most of the examiners had to stay in hotels in the area. Since we live so close by, Michael dropped me off and picked me up on Tuesday and Wednesday and even came at noon to bring my lunch and eat with me. It was so nice to get that kind of princess treatment during the difficult three days. On Thursday, he had a lunch date with his mom, but the princess treatment didn't end. I joined two law school classmates for an amazing meal that was prepared and served in their small hotel room kitchen by their two Russian mamas.

When I got home last night, Michael took me out to my favorite Spanish restaurant and we split a bunch of super delicious tapas. The food was so good, it was almost all we talked about for the entire dinner. But, that's typical for us.

Now, I am going to hit "Publish" and put this test far behind me and get on with the last five weeks of my summer!