Taking the Pennsylvania (PA) bar exam (and passing) and waiving into the DC Bar (2004))
 

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General layout of the PA bar exam:

The Pennsylvania Bar Exam is a 2 day bar exam, 6 hours each day (two 3-hour sessions with a break for lunch).  Day 1: Six essay questions, plus one 90-minute Performance Test (PT). Day 2: Multistate Bar Exam (MBE), a 200-question multiple choice exam.

The bar exam format is subject to change effective July 2006.

The following was the format when I took the exam during the February 2003 administration and will be the format until and including February 2006.

Preparation process:

Comments on February 2003 PA bar exam preparation:

Starting February 2003, this was the first time the PA Board of Law Examiners has ever, in its 100 year history, offered laptop testing for the essay & PT portion of the PA bar exam.

Multistate bar exam preparation process:

- My first bar review course for the multistate was Reed's Multistate Bar Exam Preparation course.

  - I read through the Reed Multistate outlines, reviewed the videotape for each subject, and did practice questions for all of the MBE subjects.

- I then went ahead and did 1 practice exam from the Strategies and Tactics for the MBE text (as recommended by Reed's syllabus).  (I had a raw score of 150 out of 200, to my surprise -- scaled score of about 165.)

- But this process was not so smooth -- I was very sick for 2 weeks of November (fever of 104 degrees F a lot of those days)...and still had vestiges of sickness for 4 weeks thereafter.  Still, after "losing" 2 weeks in November, I had decided to force myself to start up again.

- I finished reviewing all of the substantive materials for the Reed Multistate course by late November.

- My second bar review course for the multistate was the Micromash Bar Exam Preparation course.

        - I selected the pass / fail option (if you don't pass, they refund you for the deposit you put down; or, you have the option of getting an update of the software).

        - I received the Micromash software / MBE review materials and PA essay review materials on October 30, 2002, but because of my sickness, I did not get to this until mid-November.

        - Under the pass / fail program, I had to complete all 2,200 MBE review questions, so I did about 50 MBE questions a day (that's all I did all day -- at a slow pace where I could absorb the material, make flashcards, etc.).

        - From late November (after I finished the Reed Multistate MBE course) to mid-December, I drilled myself with 2,200 Micromash questions (to meet the pass guarantee since I selected the pass / fail option).

- My third bar review course for the multistate was the PLI Multistate Bar Exam Preparation course.

    - I reviewed this the first 2 weeks of February 2003.  (Hugh Reed, of Reed Multistate, mentioned on one of his bar review videotapes that short term memory lasts for about 4 weeks, so I figured this would be good review for the actual exam).

PA Essay preparation:

- As far as the gap from mid-December to the end of January, I reviewed the Micromash PA essay materials.

        - I supplemented my bar review outlines that I made from reading the BarBRI outlines (mainly, from Conviser), listening to PMBR CDs, listening to Gilbert's / Sum & Substance tapes with the Micromash PA bar essay material.

        - Micromash actually more thoroughly covers things BarBRI does not (similarly, BarBRI covers things which I found the Micromash PA bar review course did not cover).  I was glad to have had the opportunity to have reviewed both.

- Some comments on Micromash's unique bar review preparation program for the PA essay portion:

        - Since I was on the pass / fail option, I had to submit 6 practice essay questions (which I wrote at home, under timed conditions) to my mentor (a PA attorney).  I had to achieve a score of 70% or greater for  each essay question I submitted.  My first essay questions I submitted were pretty horrible: 70% and an 80%.   The mentor, Ron Sharer, graded my exam using the PA bar examiner guidelines from the past PA bar exam I had worked (February 2001).

      - I got a real kick in the butt (a self-induced one -- my own anxieties as a result of the following comments) when my mentor told me: 1) I don't understand the law (I need to memorize it); 2) my writing style (IRAC) was non-existent (he explained to me what IRAC was -- which, for the first time, I understood (I had decent grades in law school, but my legal writing course was not very good, so I never understood something as simple as IRAC!): Issue, Rule of Law, Analysis (mixed statement of relevant fact and application of the fact to the law), and Conclusion (what result as a result of the analysis / rule application; what is the likelihood of success, etc.).

    - During my Micromash PA Essay preparation process (as I did for the MBE courses I took), I made outlines and flashcards.  However, I used virtual flashcards this time because writing out my flashcards took too long.  I used FlashCard Suite - Educator Edition -- which I highly recommend to create and publish my flashcards in HTML format.

    - I found that in the process of my making up these flashcards from my outlines (consisting of BarBRI, Micromash, Gilbert's, Sum & Substance material, I memorized the material.  After I did this process and followed actually a CIRAC process (the PA bar examiners, if you look at their examiner's analysis, use this too -- they have the conclusion in bold before the IRAC answer).  (Mary Campbell Gallagher, author of Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays recommends this also), I scored a 95% consistently on the rest of my PA bar exam essay questions.  (Much to my surprise, I also scored a 95%, according to my mentor, on the PT question as well.)  I pushed myself to complete all essay assignments by the 3rd week of January because I knew that I had to really really work on getting everything firm in my memory (especially for the PA essay portion) -- I felt that this had not happened yet (while writing the flashcards helped me immensely for short-term memory purposes, it didn't necessarily help me for establishing any long-term memory).

- One additional note: I also ordered 6 hypnosis CDs from Daniel Olson -- the subliminal / NLP learning series (relieving test anxiety, improved memory, accelerated learning, etc.) -- I received them mid-January.

- At first, these CD's helped me cover much more material (I was still plowing through the Micromash material).  But, then, I found they, for whatever reason, slowed down my progress.  So, initially, I listened to them 6 or 8 or more hours a day while studying.  Then in a few weeks, I listened to them 3 hours each day, and then I usually didn't listen to them.  On the other hand, they were great to "energize" my brain or help calm myself down (especially the final weeks of the exam during February), so I would listen to them before I would start studying for the day.  (Daniel Olson recommends 60 hours over 60 days of listening, but e-mailed me that I could listen to them several hours a day and these will be effective under this method too.)

- I also was trained by a local hypnotherapist (who has a Ph.D. in psychology from the U. of Illinois) on how to alleviate learning anxiety (which I do have).  I used this technique especially during the final month of February (and throughout January) so that I could have confidence in my ability to learn and retain (a really huge amount of material required for the bar exam).

- Also, especially during the final month of February and especially the 2nd week of February while I was reviewing the bar review outlines, I used my strobe light so that it would flash at an alpha frequency to help me absorb the material.  (I think it works.  I passed the patent bar exam on the first try, just going through the practice questions in Kayton's Volumes 7 & 8 from past PTO bar exams, not taking any practice tests, etc. (I didn't have time over the 3.5 weeks I studied for the patent bar).  Also, I remember one exam in college which I took (for an analytical chemistry class), where I used this technique and I scored 20 points higher than anyone else in the class.)  (I purchased the strobe light many years ago from Radio Shack and it still works.)  (It's also great to have really bright light flashing when you're starting to feel drained. It definitely forces, IMO, your eyes to pay attention to the material with the powerful flash of light several times a second.)

The One-Month Panic (the month of February -- February 25, and 26 2003 being the exam dates):

    - I reviewed, for the first two weeks of February, PLI lectures (made an outline of all of them), and went through all PLI workshops.

    - Also, during these first two weeks, I worked through 3 MPT questions as part of the PLI MPT program.  The PLI MPT program (unlike the MBE portion) did not help me.  For the first time, my MPTs were ripped apart by whoever graded them.  The grader told me that I did not understand even the exclusionary rule.  (I doubt that, based upon my MBE performance.)  He also told me that none of the MPT answers I had submitted were of passing quality (he didn't give me any numerical score at all).  He told me to practice another MPT and try to improve my score.  I literally had no time.  I really considered seriously not taking the PA bar exam.  (Fortunately, I did and passed!)

    - During the MBE review (refresher), I kept myself motivated and tried to ingrain in my mind certain things that were not sticking in my head.  E.g., certain concepts in constitutional law such as the Commerce Clause and Dormant Commerce Clause.  I switched up my learning mode by recording mini-lectures (sound bytes, I guess) of these concepts.  I used a Telex H-831, which I purchased for $10 from EBay ($5 shipping, I think).  This headset has a great feature with respect to noise cancellation such that any small background noises will not be recorded (e.g., hard drive spinning, etc.).  I used Total Recorder Standard v4.1 software (written by High Criteria) to record these mini-lectures (and to play them back).  Worked like a charm; plus, it only was $12.  I also learn a lot more material when I actually hear it, so this process helped me memorize the material.  I just did this for a few constitutional law concepts.  (I don't know if this had a role in my getting a 25 out of 33 on the February 2003 MBE exam, but I'm sure every little thing helped.)  So, when my mind wandered or I felt tired, I "forced" myself to get psyched up about it by doing a mini-lecture and playing it back (it got my adrenaline pumping and gave me new motivation).

    - I tried memorizing the second week of February (using the flashcards I had drawn up for the PA essay subjects), but I just could not memorize a thing (or so it seemed), no matter how many hours I tried.  (I had not rotely memorized anything since my humanities classes in college -- in the early 1990s.  In law school, I intuitively learned, never rotely memorizing anything , always getting an A or B as a result of making up outlines during the law school course and reading them once for the final exam (making notes in the columns to emphasize things).)  I was really anxious, but also my brain just could not adapt to the memorization task, for whatever reason.  I was extremely concerned and anxious because without having memorized anything, I probably would flunk the bar exam (not being able to write answers to essay questions, etc.).  (When writing an essay answer, you have to know the rule of law, including the elements that make up a certain civil action or a crime, etc.)  Anyway, I decided that I had no choice but to wait until I got to Philadelphia to memorize (because, at this juncture, my attempts at memorizing had been futile, so I was not going to waste anymore time -- I had enough to do just trying to get organized for the trip and other preparatory things.)

    - Third week of February, I printed out all of my PA bar exam essay outlines that I had written plus the PLI and Reed Multistate bar exam outlines (based on the lectures of course) to take with me to Philadelphia.  (I had to sit in Philadelphia, instead of Pittsburgh (where I live), for the bar exam because Philadelphia was the only place which offered CBT testing for the essay -- the essay test was using ExamSoft SofTest software.)  I reviewed all of my PA bar exam essay outlines, just like in law school, highlighting the important points, making notes in the margin, underlining things, etc., for that whole week  (There is a theory that with movement, you actually can absorb / learn better -- so maybe these motions helped aid my memorization process -- from Smart Moves, by Carla Hannaford, Ph.D.).  Alternatively, there is also another theory, as described in Erik Heels' book, How to Study for the Bar Exam in 3 Days, where he refers to a book called How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler, which states that if you write in the book and make the book your own using your own notes, marks, etc., you absorb the material much more (another way of looking at this is that you're engaging in active reading instead of passive reading).)  I also ordered a bunch of law charts from Permacharts -- I figured that these charts would be great for a quick review to solidify each area of law in my mind.  (I had a few Bar Charts, which I had purchased from the local law school bookstores, that I had used to help prepare for my civil procedure, criminal law, and family law final exams.)

  1 week before the exam: on to Philadelphia:

    - I had never been to Philadelphia.  I actually had previously thought I was scared of Philadelphia because of the high crime rate (then again, the other summer, I did live in Los Angeles, including one of the seedier sections of town -- I made it out o.k. obviously -- i.e., in one piece, so I reflected on my LA experience and realized that I could handle Philly).

    - 1 day before I was supposed to leave for Philadelphia, I packed all of my things, reviewed a bit more of my material from my outlines, but mainly packed and prepared for Philly.  All in all, I had 4 bags, including 1 bag with a lot of my bar exam material: all of my outlines (which comprised most of the weight), the PLI Multistate text, some other things from home (including my Creative Nomad Jukebox 6GB player containing bar review lectures from PMBR, Gilbert's, Sum & Substance, etc.).  I also decided to take along with me these statutory texts: 1) Title 23 Pa.C.S. (Family Law) (this was required reading material for my Family Law class); 2) Federal Rules of Evidence booklet published by Lexis (got this from the Lexis rep. when I was in law school); 3) the U.S. Constitution published by West (got this from EBay); This bag, the Amtrak employee told me at the baggage counter, weighed 70 pounds.

- The trip to Philadelphia was so long from Pittsburgh (also, the train departed 2 hours later than it should have because it went down the wrong track coming to Pittsburgh), so I am very glad that I decided finally go to Philadelphia 1 week earlier (instead of going there the week of the exam, arriving the night before -- I would have been totally exhausted from the train ride alone and I would not have pushed myself to study as hard as I did in Philadelphia) (what a friend of mine told me, I found, was very true -- the thing that works for people with the bar exam is staying in a hotel room the week before -- at first I couldn't understand that and thought it was a waste of money -- but, being in a hotel room, especially in a different city, forces you to do nothing but study).

    Hotel experience (1 week before the exam):

    - I stayed at 2 different hotels.  (I at first booked a room through Priceline.com where I would stay in Philly starting 1 night before the exam -- boy, am I glad I didn't -- see below.)  1 hotel for the week before the exam.  And, another hotel in the same King of Prussia area (where the exam would be held) for the week of the exam (i.e., Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).

- The first hotel (Holiday Inn, King of Prussia), the walls were very thin, there was a guy that was yelling (honest to God) about not getting the desired quality of crack cocaine, yelling a lot of racist things, etc., for about 30 minutes.  There was a girl that would yell up and down the halls at various times a day saying, "You are all stupid!" and other things, even at 3AM.  Obviously, she was incredibly stressed.  (Since the PA bar examiners recommended ear-plugs, I had bought several -- MaxLite Ear Plugs from PK Safety Supply.  I bought the non-corded type.  They are great for people with small ear canals like mine, but even those with larger ones can use them too.  (You roll the foam ear plugs anyway, so they adjust to any ear size since they'll expand inside your ear canal.)  So, I always put these in whenever I was studying or whenever I tried to get some sleep.  Anyway, the bad thing about that hotel is that there aren't any restaurants within walking distance (I don't consider a mall that is across a huge interstate highway with no real cross-walk to be crossable, esp. when the road divider is frozen over with a mounds of ice a foot high.)  So, I confined myself to room service and delivery (just so that I maximized my studying time -- I did study intensely like a robot (but I did make sure that I got a good night's sleep each night)).

- The second hotel (Homestead Suites, King of Prussia) was much better.  It was smaller and though there were stressed out examinees (i.e., one girl was yelling about failing the bar exam, etc.) and there were a bunch of rude people and little kids yelling (I actually didn't mind that -- after all, that's to be expected -- but the yelling adults were pretty annoying)).  Although I was stressed out because of the exam, I decided to take from these peoples' examples and not be as freaked out as that.  Also, this hotel had no restaurants within walking distance, but it did have a pantry from which you could purchase various foods you would find in a convenience store.  And, the Jewish Deli delivered.

Studying for the exam (including memorizing, memorizing, and more memorizing) (1 week before the exam):

I took the Amtrak train to Philly.  During that train ride, I used Jeff Adachi's Bar Cards to review the MBE material.  I managed to get through all of the Bar Cards for the MBE portion during that long train ride from Pittsburgh to Philly.

I took a practice PA essay exam under timed conditions and was disappointed by my score (I graded myself harshly, giving myself zeros instead of partial credit).  This definitely kicked me in the butt.  (I read a web page detailing a law school professor going through the same thing: she took a practice test and failed it one week before the bar exam, but her friend comforted her, and she pushed on that final week before the bar exam.  I really kept this in mind.  I thought: she passed, so could I.)

I reviewed my PA bar exam virtual flashcards and memorized them, point per point -- I did this for about 4 days.  The FlashCard Suite program which I use enables you to flip the flashcard, change the font size and color (I found this helped a lot, especially for prolonged sessions of staring at the computer screen; e.g., I would set the front of the card to blue, and 18-point font; and the back of the card to purple, and 18-point font; both front & back of the cards in San Serif font).  I kept a pace of memorizing 6 subjects usually (but sometimes 4 subjects).  Generally, about 300 flashcards a day.  (Because I wrote these flashcards myself from the outlines I created, I think I already had some partially formed memories of the material.)    I did this because my Micromash mentor had told me: I must memorize the law; I must list the elements, etc., for PA essay exam purposes.  I worked really hard to ensure I'd do my best (or even much much better than my best -- a 2000% effort).

I spent half of a day taking a past actual MBE exam.  I wasn't too thrilled with my score, but then I was anxious, etc.  My raw score was a 54 out of 100 questions I had tried from the MBE 1998 version released by the NCBE.  Still, after encouragement from my boyfriend that the actual exam would be much different (he was right, see below), I decided to push on.  I thought of maybe not taking the exam, but he urged me otherwise, as did my Micromash mentor (who said: I believe you can make it).

I took another practice PA essay exam test 2 days before the PA bar exam.  My scores were much higher this time.  I was very relieved and far less anxious about taking the actual PA bar exam essay.  I also spent the latter part of the evening reading through the last few years' worth of PA bar examiners analyses (I had done this awhile back, but I wanted to make sure my brain had time to process the analysis modes and writing styles of the PA bar examiners so that I could do my best to replicate this process).  (I read, somewhere, that the best way to write a bar essay answer is to replicate the examiners' point sheet / grading guidelines -- to essentially express in writing that I am thinking how they think.)

The final day before the PA bar exam, I spent much of the day moving my stuff to the second hotel (see above).  But, I also reviewed my handwritten flashcards.  I finally reviewed my Bar Charts and PermaCharts law summaries.  Additionally, I reviewed the Federal Rules of Evidence, skimmed through the U.S. Constitution, and read through Title 23 of the Pa.C.S. (Family Law) <inserted 5-17-03: reading through these statutes helped me gain some extra points, both on the PT and essay question #5 (what some bar tutors and some bar courses call "impressing the grader" (this wasn't exactly my mindset or intent; but, I wanted to "kill" the exam so that I would surely pass with flying colors (it would have been so embarrassing to work this hard and yet fail again!)>.  I stopped around 9PM to go to sleep.  I couldn't sleep well, but at least rested for 6 or 7 hours or so (about 5 hours of actual sleep) (there was a continuous high pitched sound / vibration that I heard at night at the Homestead Suites, King of Prussia, so I had a real hard time getting to sleep...got to actually sleep from 1AM onwards or something...in 1, 2, or 3 hour sessions at a time (in spite of the weird sleep schedule, my adrenaline was surging in the morning, so I did not feel sleep deprived at all at anytime during the day)).  My adrenaline was really pumping and I was determined to not be 'weak' while taking the PA bar exam and give it my all (because I did not want to repeat the exam -- knowing how grueling it was to learn that I didn't pass once and going through the psychological and mental turmoil involved -- disappointment of not passing and all of the preparation involved).

- February 25, 2003; Exam day #1 -- PT & essay day:

Here's a link to the PA Board of Law Examiners website where it shows you what the Philadelphia - Valley Forge Convention Center looks like.  This photograph was taken in 1999.  (I sat in a smaller room (for CBT testing), but it had the same checkered tiling.  And, the chairs were the same.)

- I had to report to the exam site (only a half mile away -- down the same road) at 7:55AM.  I started out at 7:30AM, thinking I could catch the bus to get down the street (I had a SEPTA day pass) or walk there.  But, the sidewalks were completely iced up (Philly got hit hard the week before with a foot of snow the previous Monday and Tuesday and things iced up since the temperatures warmed up, but not enough to melt all of the snow).  I was in a panic.  I went back to the hotel and asked if there was an alternative route.  The lady said there wasn't.  I also tried calling the cab company to pick me up, but they said it would be 15 or 20 minutes -- it was already 7:40AM, I knew I was screwed.  There was this guy standing there, near me, at the lobby, and he asked, "Is the cab company going to pick you up?" (expecting that they would), I said, "No.  And, I have to be at the bar exam site at 7:55AM."  He at first said that he'd give me a ride down there since he was headed in that direction, but said he was waiting for a friend.  ("Oh god." I thought to myself.)  And, then, he, for whatever reason, had a change of heart, and said, "I'll call my friend, drop you off at the hotel, come back and pick him up."  He gave me a ride, which I was very grateful for.  I thanked him (but you know, it meant so much to me that I got to the exam site on time, I felt that I couldn't express my gratitude enough).  However, this guy sympathized with my situation because his wife was (and is) an attorney in 2 states (CT and NH, if I remember correctly).  Nice fellow.  I am forever grateful -- I suppose that if I am ever in that same situation to help someone else out, I definitely would.  (Unfortunately, I don't know his name, so I can't write him a "thank you" letter or anything.  All that I do know is that he travels a lot on business and stays a lot at this one hotel -- the woman at the front desk recognized him and confirmed this, while I was standing there in the front lobby.)  I arrived at the Radisson Valley Forge hotel at 7:42AM.  I was glad I arrived early because the doors to the convention center (where the exam was held) were locked and we had to take a long route through the hotel to the convention center (in a roundabout way).  I arrived at the exam site on time, following the line of people in front of me (figuring they were going the same direction -- they were).  I checked in at the CBT registration table, got my sticker, put it on my sweater, and proceeded to the exam room to set up my computer.  (Incidentally, I think that this incident of being super scared of not being able to get to the exam on time actually was a good thing -- the same thing happened to me for the patent bar exam I took last October.  As a result, when I arrived at the exam site, I was very relaxed and relieved (and thankful) -- and was determined to really pass (and I did) -- same effect here.)

- I was really surprised to find that my assigned seat in the CBT room (it went by applicant number) was one where I had a table all to myself (people situated to the far left of the room had their own small tables to write on) (people in the middle had to sit with a bunch of other test takers).  Also, the person in front of me and the person in back of me were absent.  I looked around and I saw that these people were the only ones absent from the examination room (the bar examiners had placed an "ABSENT" sign where these two chairs were empty).  So, I felt a little more at peace and less pressured since I had more "room" around me, so to speak.  (Also, for the MBE day (the 2nd day), we sat in the same room and I had a table all to myself -- that was very nice for the MBE. (Although I did not do this for the essay day, I did wear earplugs for the MBE day -- and this really helped.))

- The test proctors (from the PA Board of Law Examiners) told us that paramedics were just outside the exam room, just in case someone needed emergency medical treatment.  (Though I felt my heart pounding and I was wondering whether I would have one all throughout the PA bar exam experience -- both testing days -- that didn't happen.  I think that youth is definitely why I didn't physically collapse or suffer any physical trauma!!)  This is the first time, ever, I can recall them saying that there would be paramedics outside.    (Maybe this is, in part, due to the infamous CA bar exam heart attack story -- one message thread on it here (no idea if it's true, possibly); another message thread is here).)

 

 

Essay & PT process (6 essay questions & 1 PT (equivalent of 2 essays):

The PT (90 minutes):

 To my great surprise and joy (really), the PT was a Family Law question.  I had taken family law in law school and had a great adjunct professor (Harry Gruener) who did teach us PA family law.  I even read one of the cases in law school (in the Family Law class) that was in the library: Gruber v. Gruber.  I remember the professor talking about the case and the squib for that case in his words.  I also remember his talking about the general issue -- where a noncustodial parent wants to resist a custodial parent moving outside the jurisdiction (since the noncustodial parent is concerned about his visitation rights with the kid).  Therefore, I believed that I wrote a firm, clear, and intelligent answer to the PT question because I knew the law and understood it.  I knew how to apply it, etc.  In other words, while the PT does give you everything you need to know to answer a question of law, if you already know the law that is being tested on the PT, this is even easier.  So, I think I did very well on the PT.  (I also bolstered my essay response with some statutory information I had in my head.  I knew that in Title 23 to the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, there are several provisions reflecting PA's public policy regarding the maintenance of a continued relationship between the child and the non-custodial parent (in the chapter dealing with custody).  (I read these provisions in preparation for the final exam (reading through them once) in the Fall of 2001 when I was taking Family Law at Pitt.)  (PLI recommends adding in your background knowledge to impress the grader.  Well, I did not add this in to impress the grader, but I decided to tell the grader everything I knew.  Perhaps this is in part due to why I did so well on the PT.)  I felt fortunate that Professor Gruener had given us a copy of 23 Pa C.S. in addition to the rest of our course materials (well, not really given (in the for free sense), but rather it was required as part of the Family Law course).

My approach:

For better or worse, I wrote out my PT the same way I had practiced them.  I was unaware that the students would be given scratch paper on which to write out by hand our outline, etc.  I had previously been writing my notes to PT questions on the same screen as my answer (I would type in my notes to the PT question and then have a divider (====) line above it and type in my actual PT answer.).  I absorb information a lot better if I type it instead of write it anyway.  So, this is what I did.

Anyway, first, I looked at the instructions on the first page (the partner's memo to you, or someone's memo to you).  Sometimes, on the second page, there is an office memorandum that gives you further instructions on how to write out your answer (therefore, be sure to follow this format).

Then, I went through the file and made notes on whatever seemed to look important.  (The first instruction sheet (memo from the partner) will tell you what the client generally is concerned about, so you at least have some clue.)

I then went through the library (the statutes and cases, etc.) and made notes, including the facts, rationale, and holding.

I then started writing out the letter to the client (what the PT question asked for).  I wrote the date and also "Dear Mr. / Ms. <insert client name here>."

The first question asked if my client would be guilty of violating any laws.  Well, the only statute we were given was a wiretapping law.  The first case in the library (I forgot the name, but it dealt with police officers in a police station and that at any time, any police officer could hit an intercom button in order to convey announcements to officers in another certain room (and he could hear what the officer on the other end had to say or were saying in that room).  It was well known that that button could be activated at any time and that conversations from that room could be overheard.  Therefore, no expectation of privacy in the conversations in that room.  As a result, no violation of the wiretapping law (i.e., the statute given in the library).  I then analogized this case to my client's case, stating that there was no violation of the wiretapping law because of a lack of expectation of privacy based on 2 things: 1) what the ex-husband heard (vital to my client's case) over the baby monitor (the ex-wife's statement to the baby) was not a confidential statement -- the ex-wife had always left the baby monitor, located on the first floor of the house, on so that she could hear what was happening in her baby's room when she was tending to other things on the first floor -- therefore, no expectation of privacy; 2) (This was not in the fact pattern, but I tried to picture this as a real situation and imagined that these were real people.  Perhaps this gave me a few extra points (I got a 90% on the PT) -- maybe a lot of others did not discuss this.)  I wrote that because the husband had entered the ex-wife's house while the ex-wife was with the kid in the upstairs room, it appears that he had a key to the ex-wife's house.  Therefore, having a key to the house, she would know that he could let himself into her house (esp. when he was dropping off the kid after his visit with the kid was over) and she would also know (or should reasonably know / should have known) that, esp. since the baby monitor always on, she would have no reasonable expectation of privacy in anything that was overheard over that monitor as to the ex-husband (my client).  Another thing which I added, which may have given me extra points on the PT, is that I realized that the first question that we were instructed to answer for this PT problem would be: is the client guilty of violating any laws (or liable of violating any laws)?  Well, the only piece of law we were given was the wiretapping law.  So, I limited my answer to the wiretapping law. I explicitly stated that, to the extent of the wiretapping law, the ex-husband would not be liable under this law, citing the case and citing the statute (after analyzing the statute / picking the relevant provision).

The second question dealt with whether the ex-wife could move to another jurisdiction (CA) or whether my client would be successful in opposing the move.  One of the things I learned in law school was that, when given a hypothetical in class, always make an argument for your client (no matter how weak it sounds).  I think that my argument for my client was fairly strong (but I had a few doubts anyway -- still, my professional responsibility professor always said that you don't have to always believe that your client will prevail personally, but you should always make an argument in good faith, if you believe that you could do so reasonably).  The second case dealt with the second question (dealing with the noncustodial parent opposing the move of the custodial parent).  The second case was Gruber v. Gruber.  Unlike the fact situation in Gruber, my client's ex-wife was not as socially isolated as the woman in Gruber -- i.e., there were not so many compelling reasons to justify the ex-wife moving to CA (she had found work in her field, after not having worked for a number of years, after raising her kid, but this was the only factor (that I could see) weighing in her favor -- she had depression, but I am not sure if this was the kind that could be alleviated by a change in circumstance (sometimes, chronic depression follows an afflicted individual regardless of their station in life or change in circumstances in their life)).  Also, in Gruber, the noncustodial parent did not have any problems at the time of the case with continuing to see the child (the custodial parent did not interfere with his visitation); plus, it was very feasible for the noncustodial parent to continue to see the child once the custodial parent moved.  Therefore, the Court in Gruber (Supreme Court of PA, I think, denied the noncustodial parent's petition to oppose the custodial parent's move with the child to another jurisdiction (also taking into account how the custodial parent's life would be so much better in the new jurisdiction -- since she would be financially supported by some relatives out there, would live in their house, would be surrounding by family & friends, etc. (here, she was isolated, I do not believe she had a job, etc. -- it was in the best interests of the child that the mother move with the child since happier mother means a happier kid (according to the Gruber v. Gruber case))).  But, in my client's case, the custodial mother had recently seemingly made up excuses as to why the father could not visit the kid (this could be viewed as interfering with the noncustodial parent's relationship with the child).  Also, there was some doubt as to whether the ex-wife would ever bring the kid back to PA to visit the father, as she told the kid (the statement overheard via the baby monitor) that they were never going to return because she hated the ex-husband's parents.  (Also, this was an important factor because the parents would take care of the child when the husband had to go to work -- he was a surgeon and oftentimes was on call, had an unpredictable schedule, etc.)   Furthermore, the feasibility of a reasonable visitation schedule was in doubt because the ex-husband's hours were very erratic and demanding (if the mother moved to CA).  Therefore, I wrote that the court should rule in favor of the ex-husband in opposing the move due to the strong public policy PA has in preserving the noncustodial parent-child relationship and that this is a very strong public policy because in Title 23 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes (I wrote this from my memory from my reading this statute in preparation for my Family Law final in law school) has this written in several of its provisions.

I then stopped writing because I thought that I was done.  Then, I saw that I had 5 minutes remaining.  After a bit of a pause, I realized that I should take the test as set out in Gruber (regarding when a noncustodial parent can oppose the custodial parent's move) and analyze this (plus or minus) with respect to my client's case.  I did just that and I ultimately wrote that the test in Gruber weighs in favor of my client.  I hastily did this, but I trusted my gut instinct that this needed to be put into my PT answer.  (Because of my haste, I didn't think that my PT would be a very good answer...my transition in and out of this point probably was not very smooth.)

I then finished up the letter with a closing (e.g., Sincerely, Applicant).

(In terms of an outline, I tacked on my notes at the bottom of my letter, as I always did when I practiced my PTs.  Maybe the examiners took off for this -- so this is why I didn't get a 95%.  Or, maybe they didn't care.  The examiners gave us scratch paper (which I never used).)

The 6 essay questions:

I followed a CIRAC method for all of my questions (with the exception of the last subpart of the final question of the afternoon exam, as I didn't have time to write CIRAC, but instead wrote the relevant facts, the law (with the contextual factual background), and application of the law.  And, I finished with 2 minutes to spare each essay session.  I strictly tried to stay within the time limits of 45 minutes each essay question.  I especially liked the way ExamSoft SofTest had a timer which told me how much time had passed (e.g., 45 minutes, 90 minutes, 135 minutes, 180 minutes).

Here was my approach to each and every essay question.  I first outlined what I wanted to say (I typed this into the Examsoft window instead of writing this out by hand -- following the same method as I had practiced during my preparation phase) (but, it probably was not too distracting because I just wrote briefly a few words before the answer).  I then wrote the following:

<Insert conclusion here. (heading)>

    The relevant issue is: <insert question here -- the question subpart which I am answering -- generally, I wrote this verbatim -- right from the examiners' mouth>.  <Inserted the rule of law here.  Sometimes, a series of rules of laws if there were a few rules of laws at play in answering the call of the question and they are related.>  As applied to these facts, <insert mixed statement of fact and rule of law -- i.e., rule of law as it applies to the facts; sometimes put in multiple analyses to correspond with the multiple rules of law as stated in the previous sentence.>  Therefore, <inserted the conclusion here>; <inserted the likelihood of success here (if asked)>.

I then went ahead and I copied my conclusion statement into my heading above my essay exam answer.

This is an example of a practice essay from the February 2001 bar exam, question #4, subpart #3 (this is a snippet of the long question #4).

After the shooting, Howard immediately left the Deli, quickly discarded the gun in a nearby dumpster, and attempted to blend into the crowd on Main Street.  Howard suddenly realized that he was wearing a distinctive shirt which could be easily recognized by police.  He saw a man (Mark) wearing a topcoat walking with a woman (Lauren) who was wearing a heavy sweater.  Howard approached the couple and, with his right hand in the pocket of his baggy pants simulating a gun, said, "Give me the topcoat or I'll shoot both of you."  As Mark removed his topcoat, Howard pulled it from his hands and fled.  The couple was unaware that Howard didn't actually have a gun in his possession.

3. Assume that you are an Assistant District Attorney.  You are contacted by the police officer who is solely investigating the incident involving the acquisition of the topcoat from Mark.  The officer tells you that she is preparing charges against Howard for theft, simple assault, and terroristic threats regarding this incident and asks you if there are any other crimes, which are more serious, which could be charged with regard to this incident.  What would you advise the officer?

Howard should be charged with two counts for the crime of robbery since he demanded Mark's topcoat with threat of force exerted on Mark and Lauren.

 

        The relevant issue is the following: The police officer investigating the incident asks what the most serious charge Howard could be charged with in regards to his altercation with Lauren and Mark.  The crime of robbery is committed when a person achieves a theft (i.e., taking something which does not belong to you) through the threat of force or actual force.  Putting an individual in fear of serious bodily injury or death is sufficient so as to constitute threat of force.  And, the person must have the apparent ability to have committed the robbery.  Here, Howard had threatened two people with serious bodily harm or death by stating that he would shoot both individuals (Mark and Lauren) if Mark did not hand over his topcoat to Howard.  This constitutes two distinct counts of robbery.  Therefore, Howard should be charged with two counts of robbery as to Mark and Lauren.

Practicing CIRAC or IRAC.  In addition to Gerald Spivack's very helpful explanation of IRAC and CIRAC and my mentor's explanation of what IRAC essentially was (see above), I found in one of the model answers released by the PA Board of Law Examiners the following:

HEADING (mirrors the conclusion)

The issue is:

The rule is:

The analysis is:

The conclusion is:

The solution to the essay exam question was in this format.  For whatever reason, this really appealed to me and I started practicing CIRAC in this manner.  But, it ate up some time to delete the "The issue is" and "The Rule is" statements from my essay answer.  (I wanted it to look nicely written, not like a rough outline, for lack of better words.)  Anyway, I practiced writing without this crutch and I found that I could still write CIRAC reasonably well.  With more practice, this became natural and I was able to ramp up my analytical thinking using this structural skeleton (CIRAC) and, of course, express it on paper.

What to do when you don't quite know the answer to a bar exam question; or, when you know the exam answer, but don't quite grasp the facts.

In terms of raw points, I think I knew the equivalent of 5 of the 6 essay questions involved.  I had memorized all of the elements involved to the rules of law.  But, for a few subparts of questions (amounting to point-wise 1 question), I made an educated guess based upon the tip that the PA bar exam coach, Gerald Spivack, gives on his web page: for students that have studied hard, the examiners will put hints as to elements of law, etc., in the essay question.  I did exactly this and made an educated guess relating the applicable points of law.  I figured I might get full or at least partial credit and that my answers were at least plausible.  I also knew the kinds of answers that the PA bar examiners were looking for through my reading through all of the past PA bar exam examiners' analyses from 1995 to 2002 and also by working through some of these essay questions myself.

Even though I was not quite sure what one question was asking with respect to an attorney wanting to defer reporting his income until the next year, I was fairly sure that this covered a cash and disbursements method of accounting Federal Income Tax question (where the delay of the receipt of income until the next year would mean that the taxpayer would have to report it in that subsequent year).  Also, even though I was not quite sure what to do with an ethical conflict of interest question, I just simply analyzed the question under Model Rule 1.7 and stated that there could be a potential conflict of interest since the competing interests were potentially adverse, but because of certain procedural safeguards put into place (stating what these were specifically in my exam answer), this potential conflict of interest is actually not a problem and the lawyer may represent the client.   My problem with these two questions (tax question; professional responsibility question) was that I could not quite grasp the facts -- I did not have a clear idea in my head what was going on.  Still, because I knew the frequently repeated rules of law based upon the past PA bar examiners' analyses to past essay questions from 1995 to 2002, I knew what the answer was that they were looking for.  My answers to these questions received passing grades (I think that these were  two subparts to essay question #1).

There was a subpart of question #2 (I think the 4th subpart) that asked about what would be the consequences of a guy refusing to take the stand in his divorce action (at a deposition hearing I think -- my memory is a bit fuzzy here).  I think that this was relating to the discovery process of the trial.  At any rate, I was unsure on what the answer was, but I wrote down the first thing that came to my mind: consequences of not complying with a motion to compel discovery matter (judge can strike things in your complaint if you're the plaintiff, strike defenses if you're a defendant, etc.) and possible contempt of court with respect to the guy not complying with an order granting a motion to compel discovery.  So, I weaved this into my answer.  I received a passing grade for this question.

Finally, there was the very last essay question (Question #6) which had (I think) 3 subparts and 2 of them I was a little unsure of.  One of them dealt with a corporations question.  It asked whether one of the directors of a corporation could sell property he owned to the corporation.  I really didn't quite know the answer to this one, but because a good faith attempt is required for each question, I had to answer it.  I wrote that the corporation should not simply be buying the land from the other director (and the board of directors should not therefore approve of the sale) because the guy is one of the members of the board.  I also wrote that the directors owe a fiduciary duty to the corporation and the shareholders not to self-deal or to otherwise take an action which would not be in the best interests of the corporation, but would be simply just based upon the board of directors choosing to accept this director's offer of sale of his land just because he is a director.  (The sale of land seemed to be important with respect to the company's financial outlook.)  I managed to write in an IRAC fashion for this question (even though my IRAC writing system usually falls apart when I'm really not sure of a certain topic of law (e.g., corporations, secured transactions, etc. -- never took these in law school and the bar review materials didn't help to give me a crystal clear understanding of the subjects).  Another question dealt with a secured transactions question.  (I did not take this in law school and this was definitely one of my weaker bar subjects.)  I remember the studying I did with the Micromash outlines for secured transactions.  There was a rule I recalled about a secured creditor acquiring security in certain items (or all items) presently held by the debtor plus all after-acquired inventory in those certain items (or all items)  and extending a line of credit in consideration.  This fact pattern was one where the debtor had the creditor secure all of the inventory and equipment in his business, both present at the time the line of credit was extended and all after-acquired property.  Then, the question asked about whether the debtor could sell certain items of inventory and equipment that were already secured collateral (by the creditor) and whether doing this would require the consent of the creditor.  I wrote that this would require the consent of the creditor before any sale occurred by the debtor because the creditor had based his extension of a line of credit to the debtor based upon presently held and after acquired inventory and equipment.  The fact pattern did not use the terms "inventory" and "equipment" but it was obvious to me that they were these categories of collateral, as stated in UCC Article 9 (secured transactions).  I did not use IRAC at all and instead wrote just an AC (weaving in the rule of law into the analysis -- but I did state the rule of law as well within the analysis).  I was running out of time and I wanted to complete the essay question on time.  I received a passing grade on this question too.

Make sure that you answer each and every PA essay question and subpart.

The instructions to the PA essay exam say that you must make a good faith attempt at answering the question.  My interpretation of this is that you must not leave anything blank on your exam and that you must at least come up with something plausible.  You can't just leave a question blank or just write down "I don't know."  Therefore, even if you got a perfect score on the MBE, you cannot pass the bar exam because of your lack of a good faith attempt.  I would also assume that even if you would other have gotten a passing grade on your essay section, when added up with your multistate scaled score (to equal the 272 combined score minimum), you probably would not pass the PA bar exam if you left a question blank or wrote down something like "I don't know."  I've heard of other exam takers say to other people taking the exam, "Just make up something even if you don't know it."  Well, I don't know what exactly a "good faith attempt" means in the eyes of PABLE, but I would not risk failing the bar by not answering a question.  This is all the more reason to prepare, prepare, prepare for the PA essay portion.

Patterns to answers on the PA essay portion of the PA bar exam.

I also noticed that on the past PA bar exams (based upon my review of the PA bar examiners' analyses from 1995 to 2002), the examiners sometimes put the same general answer (general principle of law upon which they are testing you on) back to back.  That is, for question #3 (for instance), they might ask you a certain question in subpart #1 and they may ask you another question in subpart #2, but your rule of law and analyses will be very similar (maybe they sometimes pick at random when they want to be uninventive and slack a little, who knows).  I really do believe that I saw one question like this on the essay examination (e.g., question #3, subparts #1 and #2 called for virtually the same rule of law and analyses, but focused on different fact patterns).  For whatever it's worth, I wrote down that the state's police power, where the state may regulate their citizens' welfare, health, morals, safety, operates in this instance; therefore, there would not be any constitutional violation of Person X's rights because of the police power exception.  E.g., It's one thing for a person to exercise his right to free speech; however, if he engages in free speech in a manner which may threaten the public's welfare (e.g., in a violent, aggressive, threatening manner), then he has no right to speak due to the state's police power to guard the citizen's welfare.  If he alleges that his right to free speech was violated, the result is that his constitutional rights were not in fact violated due to the police power caveat. (Very crudely put, but that's essentially how it operates.)

There are also certain favorite things which the examiners love to test in each subject area.  They end up being repeated year after year, or every other year, etc.  I have compiled a listing of these (based upon what I have read, from the 1995 examiner analyses to the present, 2002).  I used these as a last minute preparation before taking the PA bar exam this February.  This definitely helped me gain some extra points I would not have gotten.  (Hey, it worked for the patent bar exam that I took in October.  I think this strategy worked this time around for the February PA bar exam.)  I will be including these mini-strategy outlines with my other outlines, flashcards, etc., which I will be offering for sale fairly soon.  (See the tail end of this web page for more details on getting them.)

After the PA PT & essay exam:

- I felt so tired that I reviewed for a half hour some of the major points as listed in the PLI Multistate book, but I found that I knew that stuff already, and I needed rest anyway, so I slept (again, not so well) for 7 hours or so.  I received a call back from my Micromash mentor after my telling him how my essays went.  This definitely helped.  He also advised me about the multistate --that the answers will just jump out at me after I evaluate the 4 picks.  (He was right.  See below.)

- February 26, 2003; Day #2 -- multistate (MBE) day:

- I was so glad that I reviewed the multistate flashcards on Monday -- the day before the essay exam.  I was really surprised to find that the morning session was so easy.  There were about 10 or 15 questions I did not know.

My testing technique was such that I would first read the call of the question (i.e., the actual question itself -- in the paragraph above (if applicable -- especially for a long fact pattern) or in the text of the question itself), wrote beside the question who the dispute was concerning (e.g., Annie v. Bill, etc.), I wrote at the top of the question the party's name who the call of the question asked about (e.g., Annie or Bill or David, etc. to especially focus on the facts relating to that person), I would underline the facts in each question (at first, I did this with my highlighter, but found that this took longer than my underlining with my pencil -- so, thereafter, I used my highlighter only where I needed to emphasize certain facts which I felt weren't sticking to my head), drew diagrams (I found this really helpful because there were usually 4 or 5 names in the fact pattern, a lot of transactions, etc.) (I also found that my writing in my test booklet made me concentrate much more intensely than just passively reading the question (note what I said in the above about Heels' advice about making a page of text your own -- and therefore things getting into your memory easier).  I finally looked at the answer choices and crossed out the answer choices that I knew were incorrect (i.e., incorrect statement of fact, incorrect statement of law, this principle did not apply, dead letter of the law (e.g., Tenth Amendment), etc.).  And, I was able to do this for almost 80 or 85 questions out of the first 100 for the morning session.  The other questions, I made an educated guess (i.e., I reasoned it through -- didn't just blindly pick an answer and move on).  I think that 80 or 85 questions out of the first 100 were very obvious -- the answers jumped out at me, just as my mentor had said.  I had about 4 minutes left for this portion, so I checked the answers that I had selected in my test booklet and compared it with the circles I bubbled in on my answer sheet.  All of the answers matched.  (While going through the questions, I wrote above the question with a box around the answer choice, what my answer choice was.)

The afternoon session, I did the same as in the morning session.  Only, this time, I found myself running out of time -- I had 20 questions to go and a little more than a half hour (35 minutes) left to go.  I was really getting panicky, so I stopped writing so much in my test booklet and flew through the facts, trying to carefully but efficiently (as fast as I could) go through the question and pick an answer.  I was in hyper mode from questions 181 through 194.  Then, I looked up at the clock and I realized that 10 minutes were remaining, so I relaxed and I did questions 195 through 200 at ease and they were very easy questions anyway.  So, there were about 14 questions that I totally might have screwed up because I was going too fast, 3 of which I had to force myself to just pick an answer (trying to reason a little bit), but the fact pattern was too long for me to waste valuable time on them.  There were also about 15 questions that I wasn't quite sure of, but took an educated guess.  So, that leaves 70 out of 100 points -- 30 points of which I think were very obvious and I think I got them (I must point out that I noticed a pattern as far as incorrect "trick" answers from the morning session that was the same pattern in the afternoon -- i.e., a lot of incorrect answers would be conclusory or would say that Person X should prevail because it's the right thing (some legal buzzwords added in), and a few other patterns -- so, based upon what I knew was absolutely the correct answer based on the questions I was really sure of in the morning, I knocked out the trick answers and this helped satisfy me a little more that the correct answer was really the right one (for ones that I had a slight feeling of doubt over).  40 points of which I made an educated guess (and I think I got them mostly right -- I asked my Micromash mentor (after the afternoon session was over) about one question dealing with larceny that was a bit tricky, and he said I got it right -- I deduced the answer by listing the elements of larceny and realizing what the answer had to be based upon that).  I had 4 minutes to spare and I reviewed the answers I bubbled in and checked this against the answer choices I wrote in my test booklet above each question number (see the paragraph above for more detail).

- Special things I did before the PA bar exam:

- Re: Food -- the first week.  I had to burn a lot of cash this way, but I had room service deliver all of my meals because eating alone in public is a bit depressing and somber; also, I didn't want to waste any time waiting for my meal, etc.  I was really intensely preparing using every minute I had available.  I ate a lot of fish (not my favorite, but supposedly it helps you study better).  However, I ate a chicken salad for dinner a few days before the exam and started getting incredibly ill almost immediately thereafter (I didn't eat the chicken, only lettuce -- because my appetite was a bit off because of the stress -- but, I suppose someone didn't wash their hands while preparing the salad, so I got really sick almost immediately).  It was then I decided to not eat from that restaurant anymore for prepared food.  The next morning, I got 3 boxes of cereal and milk (delivered to me from room service) (no nearby grocery stores, I had no car, etc. -- I was reliant on them; also, I didn't have the cash since there was no nearby MAC machine that I could walk to because of the snow) and ate this for the whole day.  My stomach finally felt better in the evening but still I didn't feel very well.  For my dinner that day,  I also got food from a Jewish deli, including Matzoh Ball soup with chicken broth (I'm a huge fan of Matzoh) and a vegetarian sub.

- Re: Food -- the second week.  I decided to continue ordering from the Jewish deli, having finally gotten cash (the hotel I stayed in previously was across from a mall, but I had to spend 1.5 hours getting back, weaving in and out (on foot) of various building parking lots (since the sidewalk was totally iced up), clinging on for dear life to the icy snow trying to cross the street, etc. (I feared falling right into Interstate 76 -- that was a real possibility -- this was the street right in front of the mall -- not an easy task to simply 'cross the street' with the foot high snow and ice and lack of a true crosswalk) -- it was truly exhausting; I got the cash mainly because the cab that transported from from the 1st hotel to the 2nd only accepted cash).  Each day, I ate kosher meat and Matzoh Ball soup.  I remained healthy (some people at the exam site complained of feeling super sick after having eaten something -- I was wondering whether they got food poisoning, even from the same hotel I had first stayed at).

- Re: Nutrition: first and second week.  I took along with me the following vitamins and supplements: Viactiv (calcium chews), Vitamin B complex, Vitamin E, Cognitol (celastrus oil -- aids your concentration), Bacopa Vitality (Bacopa monniera - works in a synergistic fashion with celastrus oil), and a multivitamin.  I took all of them at least once a day.  I also took with me Piracetam (which I had been using the final month of February).  I took as many as 6 during the test day, taking 2 or 3 Piracetam pills plus 1 acetyl-l-carnitine pill before the morning session and 2 or 3 Piracetam pills plus 1 acetyl-l-carnitine pill before the afternoon session (during lunch).  I found that this really helped: my writing / thinking / typing speed was much faster, I could logically connect more points more efficiently and more complexly, etc.  I ordered my Piracetam from Quality Health.

        - Re: Things done before each essay and multistate exam session.  I tried brain gym exercises and variations of them, as described in Hannaford's book (described above) and also Sharon Promislow's book, Making the Brain Body Connection (5 to 10 minutes before the exam start, I would clasp my hands, the right wrist over the left, fingers interlocked and palms touching), and then the reverse (left wrist over the right).  Promislow's explanation is that this kind of movement (criss-crossed movement) helps the brain hemispheres communicate to each other (so you have a synergy of creativity plus logical deduction / analytical skills, etc.).  I also raised the balls of my feet and touched my right hand over my left knee and left hand over my right knee and held this posture for 2 minutes before exam start time (again to further the brain hemisphere communication process).  (Piracetam is supposed to actually aid the brain hemispheres in talking to each other as well.)  I also said a prayer, praying that I would pass.  I thought of my mother and how I really had to pass for her sake (as she has a chronic illness and she needs some assistance at home and maybe more advanced medical care, etc. -- in other words, things that cost a lot of money which I hope the lawyering profession would bring me), and I told myself that I had to really really push and not cop out (so I was at my fiercest, toughest mental state, I tightened my abs to feel aggressive and confident (body language influences the mind and vice versa).  I found myself pushing myself so hard, things so clear in my head, information flowing out of me, etc.  During the essay exam, my brain felt like it was on fire (it didn't hurt; it just felt as though I was processing bits of data at hyper speed).  During the multistate, like I said in the above, answer choices jumped out at me, my analytical / critical thinking was at its best.  (My boyfriend was right -- taking the actual test was very different from the practice test -- he later told me that the reason why probably was because I was wasting less time being anxious about taking the exam and worrying about it and instead I was under the gun -- I think this is a plausible theory.)

    - Re: Hearing other examinees' chatter.

I actually felt better after hearing other people discuss the essay and multistate portions.  For the essay portions, some people that took BarBRI said that they couldn't find in their outline certain questions (terroristic threats and theft by unlawful taking) asked by the PA bar examiners on the essay portion (these were in my Micromash outline plus in the old PA bar examiner analyses that I had reviewed from the old PA bar exams -- I had memorized the elements; I also saw some of these points asked on previous PA bar exams which I had in my possession).   I felt more confident after hearing this.  For the multistate portion, at least for the morning, one guy said how he was stuck between two answer choices and would waste time dwelling on the answer picks and how he felt it was really hard.  I thought that the questions were relatively obvious, either because I encountered them during my MBE review (Reed's Multistate, PLI, and Micromash) or reviewing the past actual MBE exams (released by the NCBE).  (I don't think that it was redundant to take several different MBE courses because different bar courses emphasize different things and bring up points that other courses do not.  With Reed's Multistate, because the PA essay portion had tested some MBE issues, there was one subpart of one question in particular (dealing with the Statute of Frauds and sureties) which I think helped me on the PA essay -- no other bar review course, I think, emphasized this rule (which he called the main purpose exception rule to the Statute of Frauds with respect to a surety).

- Where to eat during the bar exam days & related information:

There was an area where one could purchase food (for breakfast or lunch) (such as sandwiches, coffee, juice, etc.).  It was on the same level as the examination area.  (If the PA Board of Law Examiners arranged this for us, then it was really nice of them to set this up for us.)  Also, within the hotel (Radisson hotel at the Valley Forge Convention Center), there were a few restaurants.  For some reason, I didn't want to eat lunch by purchasing it from the concession area.  Instead, I walked to the main hotel restaurant and ordered some lunch (I think both days I had a cheese quesadilla (I didn't want to get food poisoning from bad meat or something like that -- I somehow thought that what I ordered was a safe choice)).  The hotel staff understood that a lot of us were in a rush with the bar exam going on.  So, everyone was able to get their food quickly.  I really restricted the amount of fluids I took in during lunch (just a little juice and coffee).  (I have always found a bit of coffee to be essential (for me anyway) to not feel really sluggish and tired during the afternoon session of the exam.)  I also made sure that I had 30 or 40 minutes before the exam was to start (from the time I ingested the fluids).  (I needed every minute I could get and I didn't want to 'waste time' by running to the bathroom during the middle of the exam.)  One of the harshest things is being dehydrated on exam days (not drinking for 3 hours).  After the exam, I would massively rehydrate.

- Bar Exam Horror Stories

I certainly had my share of very frightening, shocking, and disturbing incidents that happened to me while I was out in Philadelphia preparing to take the bar exam (or during the bar exam nights, trying to get some rest) (or, the commute to Philadelphia).

Finally:

You need a lot of support from family and friends.  The less amount of stress you are under with respect to your financial situation is better too (get a loan or use your savings, etc.).  I had severe doubts about my even taking the bar exam and I kept on telling my boyfriend that I didn't want to take the exam again and what a disaster the exam would be (i.e., that I'd know nothing).  But, through a lot of people's support, and especially his, I made it through (the experience of actually going through the bar exam).  (Actually, I felt like really backing out of taking the PA bar exam all throughout my preparation, even while I was in Philadelphia trying to prepare for the bar exam in the final week.  I told my boyfriend that I wanted to go back home (to Pittsburgh) just 2 days before the PA bar exam and he urged me to take the exam and ignore my practice test scores, saying that the real exam would be much easier.  He was right. (The rationale, I think, being that you are a lot more focused and don't have time to worry about things when you're doing the real thing vs. you're probably very tense and feeling the stress when you're taking a practice exam.  That's what happened with me anyway.))

Conclusion:

So, it's February 28, 2003 as I write this and I wait on my exam results, which I presume will be above the 272 mark for passing.  We shall see, however.

November 15, 2002

I receive an acknowledgment to my filing my PA bar exam application to sit for the February 2003 PA bar exam, including my CBT application for the essays.  The date on the letter is November 13, 2002.  I filed my application to sit for the February 2003 bar exam, around late October or the first week of November.

Click to enlarge.

Early February 2003

I received my admission ticket to take with me to the Valley Forge Convention Center in Philadelphia, the test site I selected and was assigned to for the February 2003 PA bar exam.

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I also received directions to the Valley Forge Convention Center in Philadelphia with the admission ticket.

From the day I received this ticket, I studied harder than I had previously (e.g., 15-hour days were no problem at all - I was focused).

February 27, 2003

I spent the day trying to get back home (8-hour train ride from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh).  (Amtrak, for the second time, was running behind schedule (just like when I went out to Philly via Amtrak).)  My boyfriend called and my friend from LA called on my cell phone and so there was a bit of levity.  But, I was really really glad it was over.

February 28, 2003 to March 2, 2003

It took me 3 days to recover, physically.  I felt certain organs (I think) unnaturally swollen.  Things I never felt before.  I was still recovering from being dehydrated for 3 days and the exhaustion.

February 28, 2003 to April 9, 2003

I was plagued with anxiety dreams about the test (or about law school) -- e.g., not getting to the test (or law school class) on time (missing it by half of a day, etc.).  I could not sleep very well.  My thoughts were almost constantly thinking about how I did on the exam.  Even though I felt that I did well, I kept on second guessing myself.  (A really bad thing because it put me under a lot of stress.)  I've heard of the hype that you have to feel that you really failed in order to pass or do well on the bar exam.  (At least for me, I'm a good predictor of how I do on exams, usually.  So, I don't think that this was true.  At least, I know when I ace an exam or it goes very well.

March 19, 2003 (approximately)

Even though I was plagued with anxiety dreams about the bar exam (and law school), I had only one positive dream about the bar exam.  It was a very peculiar one.  In front of a room full of people (a lot of people my age, bar examinees), there was a PA examiner standing at a podium.  He was announcing the names of people that passed the PA bar exam.  There were 6 names he rattled off.  As he was, I felt really nervous and concerned.  My name was the very last name he rattled off.  Then, I felt a huge sense of relief.  But, anyway, I was very surprised that out of that many people standing in that room, only a handful of us passed.  (And, in actuality, the pass rate for the February 2003 PA bar exam was only about 50%.)

Amazingly, I was not plagued with any anxiety dreams about the bar exam (nor did I have any difficulty sleeping) prior to the bar exam, even the night before the bar exam or the night following the PA essay session (right before the MBE).

And, even though it was torture trying to prepare for the PA bar exam (again), I also had another very peculiar dream in January about my taking the PA essay portion of the exam and writing very well, feeling that the exam was very easy, kind of smiling on the inside, thinking of how relieved I was to have prepared using BarBRI and Micromash for the PA essays.  I felt very well prepared.  (And, this turned out to be actually true as well.)

March 5 - April 9, 2003

I started counting down the weeks until the results came out.  I was very stressed and concerned, but not overly so until the last week of March and the start of April.  Then, I became really nervous and incredibly anxious.  (Before this time period hit, I kept on thinking that the exam results were so far away, what do I care.)  I wondered if I would be able to physically survive until the release of exam results.  (Again, I felt incredibly anxious and my heart felt like it was racing.)  I felt the worst sort of doom (and gloom).  But, I managed to keep it together and still function normally, in spite of my anxieties.  I never found that I could just relax and do something fun.  I just could not let go the intensity of having worked so hard.  Maybe I had the irrational belief that if I "let go" (and did not suffer), I would be setting myself up for some bad luck with respect to bar exam results, who knows.  But, anyway, I felt driven.

April 7, 2003 to April 9, 2003

Way too stressed out. I could not study, so I tried to do some leisurely things (in addition to taking care of certain other matters).   Expected exam results to be out next week (week of the 15th) (mid-April, like the examiners said at the test site).

April 9, 2003

I saw a post on www.jdjive.com which said that the PA bar exam results would be April 10, 2003.  I was shocked.  All this time, I was trying to mentally prepare myself for PA bar exam results coming out the next week, not this week.  I kept on telling myself that I would not go to the PABLE website to look up my results.  (I was petrified, to say the least. (At least for me, I put myself through much mental abuse in preparing for the PA bar exam and the amount of effort I put into taking the exam.  I pushed myself 10,000%))  I told myself that I would wait for the results packet to arrive.  That way, I could have a few more days to take my mind off of things.  But, this was not so in actuality.  I realized, later on that evening, that I absolutely had to find out whether I passed or not from the www.pabarexam.org website where they post the names of people that passed.  So, I spent the last few hours before I went to bed trying to calm myself and trying to think that I have to be mentally prepared for whatever happens.  And, if I have to take it again, so be it.

April 10, 2003

I went to the PABLE website (www.pabarexam.org) at 9AM and was very surprised to see that the exam results were already posted.  I looked for my name (they list your name by last name, first name if you passed) and, yes, I was on the February 0203 PA bar exam pass list.

As a result of my passing the PA bar exam, I will have to pay another $100.00 to the USPTO (I am sure they like that) to have my status changed from patent agent to patent attorney.  (I assume that everything will go well with my character and fitness review.)  I finally will be a full-fledged patent attorney!

PABLE sent me a letter also dated April 10, 2003 (which I received on Saturday, April 12, 2003) which contained the following: (click on the thumbnail to get the full sized image -- it's 1.2 MB in length).

Click on the image to enlarge.

Re: Post-exam stress -- if you feel great after taking the bar exam and your track record for predicting exam success was good in law school, stick with your instinct!

I hear from so many people in law school, law school graduates, and attorneys that with law school grades and the bar exam, you have to feel that you failed in order to have aced the class (or did reasonably well with a B grade).

Well, I was deeply concerned because I felt very confident while taking the PA bar exam this time and afterwards.  I saw a lot of posts on the bar exam discussion boards <http://www.jdjive.com and http://www.discussbar.com> that they felt that the February 2003 MBE was very difficult.  I thought that 160 out of the 200 questions were easy.  About 120 of those questions I was pretty sure I got, as the questions were really easy or I just had to use a bit of figuring out to get the right answer.  But, I thought that the additional 40 questions I pretty much had.  Who knows, though.  I have yet to receive my results.  (PA publicly posts the names of people passing the bar exam and mails out the bar exam results (along with the scores) the same day, so I won't be getting them for another few days.  I live in Pittsburgh.  The PA Board of Law Examiners are in Mechanicsburg.)

Anyway, as a result of my concern regarding my lack of anxiety, I started to feel really anxious.  I could not see how I could have prepared for the PA bar exam, this time around, any better, etc.  I honestly hit the bar exam, this time, incredibly hard.

People that I talked to about relieving my post-exam stress told me: just forget about it; do something fun.  I didn't exactly take this route.  I couldn't get it off of my mind.  I pushed so hard, I guess it was equally as hard for me to let go.

The nice thing I learned about preparing really early (this time, 4.5 months in advance) was that you can take some time off or study only at 50% effort some days and things will turn out ok in the end anyway (at least, judging from my passing the February 2003 PA bar exam).

Are there advantages to taking the February bar exam instead of the July bar exam in PA?

I posed this question to a former PA bar exam grader, Gerald Spivack.

He told me that it is easier to pass the February bar exam than the July bar exam.  The examiners are more sympathetic when grading the essays because they know that a lot of students are repeaters.  While there is a lower pass rate in February compared to July, he told me that, essentially, this should not be of concern.

I have read elsewhere (and it seems plausible) that students who take the February bar exam have poor study skills (the ones repeating the exam) and that those taking the February bar exam sometimes are distracted by working full-time, etc.  Therefore, the pass rate is a lot lower in February than in July (the pass rate for the PA bar exam from 1995 to 2003 has consistently been about 50% passing in February and 70% passing in July).

One extra benefit to taking the February bar exam (instead of July): you only have a 1.5 month wait for results!

Re: Statistics - February 25th & 26th 2003 PA bar exam

Complete statistics can be pulled from the PA Board of Law Examiners website. (requires Adobe Acrobat reader (free).)

List of people passing the February 2003 PA bar exam (posted here until the July 2003 results are out)

The pass rate for the PA February 2003 PA bar exam:

51.35% (combined scaled PT / essay and MBE scores -- 272 or greater).

666 applicants tested.

MBE statistics:

Mean MBE scaled score for applicants testing in PA: 135.4

Mean national MBE scaled score: Not yet available

The scaled scores for the MBE in PA ranged from a score of 91 to a 180.

The range of national scaled scores for the MBE ranged from: Not Yet Available.

Minimum successful MBE scaled score in PA: 121

Maximum successful MBE scaled score in PA: 180

Minimum unsuccessful MBE scaled score in PA: 91

Maximum unsuccessful MBE scaled score in PA: 151

Essay / Performance Test statistics:

Mean Essay / Performance Test score: 135.53

Minimum successful essay / performance test score: 122

Maximum successful essay / performance test score: 179

Minimum unsuccessful essay / performance test score: 88

Maximum unsuccessful essay / performance test score: 149

Passing Rates for Specific Attempts:

1st Attempt: 65.78%

2nd Attempt: 47.04%

3rd Attempt: 40.38%

4+ Attempts: 29.59%

Overall pass rate: 51.35%

Pass rate for Pittsburgh law schools:

Duquesne University: 32.20% (out of 59 test takers)

University of Pittsburgh: 54.24% (out of 59 test takers)

Pass rate for Specific Attempts for Pittsburgh law schools:

Duquesne University: 1st Attempt: 10%; 2nd Attempt: 43.33%; 3rd Attempt: 28.57%; 4th or More Attempt: 25.00%

University of Pittsburgh: 1st Attempt: 71.43%; 2nd Attempt: 60.00%; 3rd Attempt: 33.33%; 4th or More Attempt: 25.00%

 

The PA Board of Law Examiners told us that approximately 500 people were testing in Philadelphia (myself included) and 100 people were testing in Pittsburgh.  It was amusing that the laypeople that were passing by going to some other activities within the Radisson Hotel, Valley Forge were gawking at all of us.  They somehow found out that the little fluorescent sticker that all of us had on our shirts was an emblem that we were sharks to be.  And, I remember one person remarking, "How about that.  A sea of lawyers."  It was true.  Standing amongst 500 other people, waiting for an exam, was quite an experience.  Philadelphia was the only place you could test at if you wanted to take the CBT.  Between CBT and writing applicants, the writing applicants greatly outnumbered the CBT applicants, by far.

PA Bar Exam Results - February 2003