plus, one peppercorn.
I’m assuming that jtgain is currently nursing a throbbing hangover. That’s the only thing that could keep him from coming back here to report, surely?
Good luck. My daughter got a post doc in LA, faster than she ever expected, so my son-in-law who practices in NJ is busy taking the California bar exam, which is supposed to suck, without nearly enough time to study California Law. I hope his experience is going to help.
Heh. I am reminded of my experience taking the NY Bar (which, unfortunately, I may get to relive during the Ohio Bar). The MBE is, IMO, fairly cut and dried. It has to be, because it’s a multiple choice exam. There is a right answer, there are three wrong answers. You know the rule or you don’t; you pick your answer and you move the fuck on. Now, I knew my shit going in to the bar exam. So when it came to MBE day… I finished session 1 in something like 1.5 hours out of the 3 allotted. So I got to sit around for a few hours, because we couldn’t leave early. Session 2: Again, I finish in 1.5 hours, but this time you can leave early. And I was sitting in a desk way up near the front of the Javits Center. And so I got to feel all of those eyes on me as I walked back to the exit… 
So how’d it go? My schoolmates are peppering Facebook with profanity and complaints about people puking in the corners. Golly gee, I can’t wait! 
Do we know what state he was taking, and how many days the exam lasts? If his experience was anything like mine, once the thing is finished he’s probably either asleep, drunk, or staring mutely at the TV–possibly all three–for a day or two to recover. Bar exams are brutal.
Haven’t you taken the Bar yet? Are you a rising 3L?
This. I vaguely remember the drive home from Roanoke, and sensing just how dangerous it was for me to be driving on 81 in such a fugue.
Florida. One day of state law, plus the one day of multistate.
No, I still have a year to go. I work full time so I’m in a four year program.
I think he meant jtgain, who is, as I recall, taking the West Virginia exam.
I did mean jtgain. He’s from WV but I’m pretty sure he was taking the FL exam. He went to school here.
Apparently the bar exam ate jtgain. 
(I just finished filling out my “Application to Register as a Candidate for the Bar Exam” here in Ohio. Jeezy Chreezy, what a pain in the ass! I’ve discovered the first thing I really miss about New York. :P)
Yes, as I recall he was going to law school in FTL, but all of his questions seemed to focus on W. Va. law for his bar exam.
It’d be interesting to know, because while Fla. has many more job opportunities, the lawyer labor market is probably more overstaturated there than in W. Va. I wonder how he resolved the dilemma.
Another painful experience, to be sure. I did not do that in Ohio, but I expect most states are similar. I found the process of applying for bar admission considerably more intrusive than applying for a fairly high level security clearance in the military.
As for the “what state did he take” issue, it is tough to go to school in one state and take the bar in another. I did it, and found myself well behind in bar preparation as a result. Fortunately, I bought an excellent bar review course and caught up in time to pass on my first attempt.
The other problem I ran into was not having any contacts in the state where I’m licensed, which made finding a job very difficult. Finally got my first job six months or so after being admitted–doing child support for the welfare department.
I think I finally recovered. 
Yes, It was the WV Bar Exam. Thanks to everyone for the good wishes. We will see in about six weeks how I did.
Don’t misplace your password. 
I have a similar story but for completely different reasons. On the second day we had the essay portion of our exam. I was convinced I was screwed so at one point I just said fuck it and when out for a smoke. As I got up to leave people looked at me like had just transformed into Cthulhu.
When I finally found out I’d passed I was sure they’d made a mistake and for years after fully expected them to catch up with me. 
Why is this so? Here in Canada, I took my law degrees in two different provinces from the one I ended up practising in, but didn’t notice any major difference from the ones who had done their degree in this province. Certainly didn’t think I was at a disadvantage.
The bar exam I took had a multi-state section, based on general principles and majority rule applications, and a state-specific section peculiar to this state, which has some fairly odd quirks–including maintaining the division between law and equity, certain procedural rules that differ remarkably between law and equity, etc. I was well versed in the multi-state stuff, but the state-specific stuff was all new to me.
Separate law and equity?!? :eek:
How quaint. 
(Seriously, I can see how that would be quite difficult to wrap one’s head around if you haven’t had three years of law school. Ouch.)
It’s even worse if you take the exam in Louisiana, of course. My schoolmates have been checking in on Facebook after finishing their post-exam sleeps. One of them was sitting in the corner of the hall (the Florida one is at the Tampa Convention Center and all ~3000 takers sit in the same convention hall) and could hear people puking in the bathroom every 20-odd minutes.