The Bar Exam: If At First You Don't Succeed...
Try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, and try again. And maybe the 14th time will be the charm!
For those of you freaking out over the bar exam next week, chillax. You will probably pass. If you don't pass this time, surely you'll pass the next time. Or the time after that.
You'll be just fine -- as long as your name isn't "Paulina Bandy." From the Orange County Register:
Paulina Bandy couldn't fail the state bar exam again. Not after she failed 13 times before.
Some people complain that we're elitist. So we apologize for asking: What the hell is UP with this woman?
(Is Paulina Bandy the child of a prominent politician? They seem to be jinxed when it comes to the bar exam.)
If you feel sorry for non-top-tier law school graduates who can't land good jobs, just think -- things could be worse. Much worse:
Paulina Bandy couldn't fail the state bar exam again. Not after she had spent tens of thousands to attend law school. Not after she put her husband Jon Gomez through the ringer for so many years. Not after the debt she piled up forced her family to move into a 365-square-foot home.
Anywhere outside the island of Manhattan, that's simply unacceptable.
More discussion, after the jump.
Let's go back to the beginning:
Her journey began in 1994 at Western State University College of Law. She had been a marine biologist, teaching at Science Adventures in Huntington Beach and at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point.She and Gomez, who married in 1992 after an 11-year courtship, lived in a three-bedroom home with a garage and yard in a Fullerton cul-de-sac. The couple traveled and shared a passion for sports. They loved to entertain guests at their home.
Life was good ... until the day Bandy decided to go into law.
Famous last words -- which could even be applied to top-tier law school graduates....
(Also, what's up with that eleven-year courtship?)
The learning curve was steep for Bandy, who powered through night classes. But she made it through the first year, when most students are weeded out of law schools."Law school was so in-your-face smart," she said. "It was very prestigious."
"Very prestigious." Not the first words we'd pick to refer to Western State University College of Law, but whatever.
She graduated in 1998 with a B average and a desire to teach business law. She didn't want a high-pressure job, but an exciting internship with the Orange County District Attorney's Office that summer stoked her interest.With about $80,000 in unpaid school loans and a degree, Bandy prepared herself for the state bar exam. She felt confident.
Bandy did what every bar exam taker would do. She took bar review courses, consulted with experts, bought study aids and studied for hours a day. She had more work to do than the Ivy League graduates who were more prepared and apt to pass the exam.
"There was a secret out there to passing, and I wasn't in on it," she said.
Uh, Bar/Bri? Or maybe PMBR? That's some good s**t.
(But according to the article, she did take "bar review courses." So we don't know what other "secret" she might be referring to.)
Gomez kicked off a tradition of bringing flowers to his wife after she finished her exam in February 1999. But Bandy found out later that she failed. She was disheartened but vowed to do better the next year.Her father died that same year, but Bandy had to immediately hunker down and get ready for another exam.
Too depressing for a Monday. And it gets worse:
By 2003, five years after she took her first exam, Bandy hadn't passed. On July 1 of that year, at age 39, Bandy gave birth to daughter Roxanne.By then, Bandy had taken the test seven times and was spiraling into more debt. Her law school debt ballooned into $128,000, and Bandy had to defer the loan. The couple spent at least $1,000 on registration fees and hotel rooms each time she took the test.
Did it ever occur to Bandy that maybe this just wasn't meant to be? Like training to become, say, a world-class weightlifter?
The fight continued for years. She tried twice in 2004, the year the family left Fullerton to move into a 365-square-foot home in the back yard of Bandy's mother's house in Orange. They sold the majority of their possessions - furniture, sporting equipment, wedding champagne glasses - at garage sales and squeezed what they could into their one-bedroom home.One couch, a television set, a bed. No closet space, a tiny kitchen and a study area. No vacations, eating out or new clothes. Bandy took odd jobs to help pay for expenses such as Roxanne's childcare and a $500 monthly rent.
We're seeing some indie film potential in all of this pathos. The bar exam meets "The 40-Year-Old Virgin"? Or maybe "Little Miss Sunshine"?
The exam in February of this year was Bandy's 14th. A few months before, her father-in-law yelled at her for being a "pretend lawyer" and ruining his son's life. She also got into a bad accident in January and totaled her car.On May 25, the day the results of the exam were to be posted online, Bandy came home to a message on the answering machine.
"I screamed," Bandy said. "I'll never forget it. I was doubled over like being punched in the stomach. In a good way."
She had passed the exam, said the voice in the message. She sobbed uncontrollably. Her mother and husband were in the front yard, shocked.
Can you blame them? We'd be shocked too.
Because of her own experiences, she has an urge to help other repeaters pass the exam. Passing her 14th test in February and being sworn into the bar association in December is proof to other repeaters that if Bandy can do it, so can they.She's decided to devote her time to helping them full time. She launched a Web site, www.cabarexamrepeatersresource.com, and got a business license to help others find a formula to find pass the bar exam.
Because Paulina Bandy truly is an authority on taking the bar exam. Just not successfully.
Bar exam was the test of time [The Orange County Register]
CA Bar Exam Repeaters' Resource [official website]
(142) Comments
There but for the grace of [insert whatever here] go I!
I give her an 'A' for persistence. However she probably shouldn't have gone to law school in the first place!
The problem is with all these unaccredited/provisionally accredited law schools/truck driving academies in California. They have low pass rates and appear more interested in taking money from students then creating lawyers. I mean, if it takes 14 times to pass the bar, it raises serious questions about the kind of legal education she received with that B average.
Not to put to fine a point on it, but what the hell is the point? Like any school will let her teach anything? Or is she hoping to make her money off of banner ad sales from her website? I don't really know how this is going to help her pay off that $130k she's saddled her family with.
So she passes the bar and then starts a company without the need to be admitted? Oh, the irony.
Rough. Will she be able to get a job? Maybe as a Barbri instructor?
wow - you gotta admire her perseverance. I don't know anyone that would take it more than 3 times if they failed the first one. i mean seriously 14 times? FOURTEEN TIMES? daaamn!
and by perseverance i mean persistence
I still do not think this is as embarassing as Emily Pataki failing the New York bar exam once after getting accepted to Columbia University Law School, and then being Hired by White and Case in NYC.
and by perseverance i mean persistence
There's perseverance and then there's galactic stupidity. She pretty much ruined her daughter's life and probably, her husband's life, too. Sheesh. Note to those who can only get into fourth tier law schools: don't do it. If you can't get into a decent (and I'm being generous here) Tier 1, Tier 2 or even Tier 3 school, don't do it. There are exceptions, but the odds are heavily against you.
11:59 - seriously you think the pataki story is more embarassing? how so? she was hired before she sat for the bar exam and she had already started work by the time she was notified she didn't pass. not everyone at columbia passes the bar exam, but i'm pretty sure that in the history of CLS no one has taken the bar exam 14 times before passing. so keep it moving in debt - at least emily passed the second time
Should have gone into banking.
no way is that seriously what she looks like?
The vast majority of CLS students pass the New York bar exam: in the last 5 years:93.9% 96.3% 93.2% 92.3% 93.9%.
So if you don't pass I would say you were not qualified to be there in the first place.....unless of course you have connections.
This shows a complete lack of judgment. I feel for her family.
Thank you for posting this one week before my bar exam.
God, kill self
Check out the original article in the OC Register, there's a bigger picture of her there (click on the thumbnail).
"To me, it's been such a big goal," Bandy said. "This is the journey. It's the end."
...er.....shoulddn't passing the bar be the start of the journey...rather than the end??!!
I'm surprised that the CLS bar passage rate isn't higher.
Don't the clowns at YLS, who learn no actual law during their three years, have a higher passage rate than that?
Paulina Bandy to 160k!!!!
I think she has the brain for BIGLAW document review monkey work.
Sadly, 160K is probably what her debt amounts to right now.
I read this a few weeks ago in the register, she got the front page of the local section and I think even a link on the front page of the paper.
Her website suggests repeat takers try hypnosis or a hypnotherapy cd to help get through the exam.
http://www.cabarexamrepeatersresource.com/vicds.html
She also offers "free" exam performance advice -- with the purchase of anything from her website
http://www.cabarexamrepeatersresource.com/books.html
Some people here really need to do something about their hard-on for the former NY governor's daughter. No one who matters cares that she didn't pass the first time. Guess what -- no law school has a 100% NY bar passage rate. I know a number of people from T14 schools who did not pass the first time in NY or CA, and they're doing quite well at their jobs now.
As for this story -- this woman is just tragic.
This is SO what I didn't need to read a week before the bar exam. Then again, I probably should have been studying instead of reading this blog. Gotta go!
Lat you magnificient bastard. This was a great entry.
in debt - why all the hate? as stated by 12:28, no school has a 100% NY bar passage rate, so connections or no connections some people are bound to fail...please stop all the hate it's really unnecessary.
11:56 - "Rough. Will she be able to get a job? Maybe as a Barbri instructor?"
Considering that every Bar-Bri lecturer in California is a professor (except for Rick Duffy, who went to GULC) I'd say the odds are just about the same as her getting into academia. Maybe she could answer phones at Bar/Bri.
My bad - and Easley was on law faculties but is not now. Just saying.
this is the saddest story ever. paulina bandy is surely mentally ill. i feel bad for how hard i laughed at this story.
Have you FUCKING seen her website?
"I will do my best to help you find what you need to pass this difficult exam. I have made available, on this website, some valuable tools to passing.
"My Self-Hypnosis/Visualization CD helped me get the mind set of a successful candidate. After isolating myself in my studies, and reading "unsuccessful" result notices for 8 years, I needed a triumphal boost. When I could not find a Hypnotherapist that had been to the bar exam, nor fit in my study schedule, I researched and developed a Self-Hypnosis/Visualization CD to help myself. Unaware that it was working, I listened every night and slowly transformed. I took the Feb. 07 exam with a new found confidence, the confidence of an attorney. I credit this CD as the single most important change I made on my journey to passing."
Well, as an example of how dedicated she is (from her website):
I lived a disciplined life. I unrelentlessly gave 100% to each exam preparation.
Unrelentlessly! That is hardcore.
Her husband should have gotten a divorce attorney (who passed the bar) long ago.
"I researched and developed a Self-Hypnosis/Visualization CD to help myself." Yeah, let me do hypnosis to pass a race-horse exam.
I gave about 40% to exam prep...I repeatedly relented to the temptations of alcohol, tv, and organic herbs during bar study. Passed.
Maybe I'll start a website. "Drink your way to bar success!"
If by CLS you mean Cornell Law School, you're right that the bar passage rate is that high. Columbia's is significantly lower....
do law schools give refunds? 4th tiers should have a money back guarantee.
"Ex-repeater"?
Sorry, once a repeater, always a repeater.
Not to cast a doubtful eye at this wonderfully perseverant woman's story, but: 1) who the hell gets their bar exam results in a voicemail??? Was she friends with the proctors after all this time? and 2) how do you pass the Feb exam but get sworn in during December? Huh????
Congratulations Ms. Bandy. Here are the forms you will need to complete to collect unemployment benefits. Oh wait- you have fucking worked in 14 years so you are inneliigible for benefits. At least you'll have the self-satisfaction that comes from reaching a goal.
This is a great example of the pain that can be caused by all-too-common platitudes such as "You can do anything!", "Quitters never win!". You know what? Not everyone can do anything and if EVER there were a great example of why quitting if PERFECT, this is it. Just fucking know your place, people.
Congratulations Ms. Bandy. Here are the forms you will need to complete to collect unemployment benefits. Oh wait- you have'nt fucking worked in 14 years so you are inneliigible for benefits. At least you'll have the self-satisfaction that comes from reaching a goal.
She looks like white trash.
Lat:
Thank you. This post was so funny. I love you again. It was boring for a while but this redeemed.
Funny how she took the test in Feb, found out in May, and isn't even going to get licensed until December (I guess so she can avoid paying dues this year?). Kinda makes it all seem a little pointless.
I passed the NY bar by merely attending BarBri classes and paying attention to them. If you can't pass the bar, something's wrong with your brain, man. But then again, maintaining a "B" average at a toilet tier school could have been a flashing neon sign for what's to come.
Also, I would say after the 3rd time, I would resign myself to my fate of NOT being a lawyer. Ironically, I now wish I hadn't passed the bar so I could bypass this whole unfortunate "lawyer phase" of my career.
I find wisdom in the words of Homer: "Kids, you tried your best, and failed miserably. The lesson is: never try. "
I am so glad I am taking the Georgia Bar.
I played tennis and watched TV and entire summer before the bar. Sure I showed up for Barbri, but as soon as that was over...OFF TO THE POOL! I passed the bar the first time around with flying colors. My point? This woman should be working at Starbucks screwing up the most basic drink...
Seriously, Starbucks...what part of "Venti Skim Mocha" sound like "Grande Whole Milk Mocha with Whipped Cream." Do you think I would be getting a SKIM coffee if I wanted to put whipped cream on it, asshole?
And scene.
She's just like a typical NYU student: not quite good enough for anything, but tries to pretend anyway
Not to be a downer, but didn't Lat post a link to this story like 3 weeks ago?
My question is, why keep re-taking California (arguably the toughest bar in the nation)?
After failing California twice (three times at most), I would've opted to practice law in a state with easier entry requirements. "Passachusetts" comes to mind. Also, some bars only test the multi-state subjects on the essay portions, and very little state-specific law.
Either way, this woman definitely was never cut out to be a lawyer. A borderline retarded chimpanzee with a bad case of ADD could probably pass a skills exam if given 14 shots at it...at least with some coaching.
She probably should've figured that out that a career in the law was not her calling the minute she got rejected from every respectable (or even accredited) law school. I truly feel for her family, and the hell she must've put them through.
The sad irony of going public with her tale of woe and persistence, and getting her 15 minutes of fame, is that in doing so she's openly announced to the entire legal community that she's not only incompetent, but a poor decision-maker to boot.
i spent (just) 2 weeks studying for the bar exam -- on my own and using old, borrowed bar-bri books.
the months of waiting for the exam results included a few sleepless nights, but i passed with plenty of room to spare.
Well, no wonder she failed! She was too busy self-hypnotizing to PAY ATTENTION TO THE F---ING BAR/BRI COURSE!!!
1:35 - BS. How do you know you passed with plenty of room to spare? Only people who fail the CA bar get to learn their scores.
Also, let's mention the fact that this SELFISH idiot ruined her own families life over her insane "dream" (read: our nightmare). I mean, making them move into a 365-sq foot home is borderline abuse. Not to mention, these don't seem to be the type of people who can afford shelling out over $1,000 fourteen times (I mean, I'm not even the type of person who can do that, and Im an licensed lawyer). You know, when facing these dire times, it's best to not get pregnant and bring a child into your mess...DOH!
Stupidity all around, folks!
"in debt - why all the hate? as stated by 12:28, no school has a 100% NY bar passage rate, so connections or no connections some people are bound to fail...please stop all the hate it's really unnecessary." not a hater
I suspect "not a hater" failed the bar exam as well....although maybe not 14 times. Apologists for failing the bar are pathetic. I don't care what state it is. If you cannot pass the bar first time you either
1) are not smart enough to be a lawyer or
2) did not do enough work, thereby exhibiting terrible judgment and stupidity.
Most people that cannot pass the bar first time shouldn't have even been accepted to law school in the first place.
We're seeing some indie film potential in all of this pathos.
The main character in films like that is always *lovable*. No *lawyers* are *lovable*
1:35 - BS. How do you know you passed with plenty of room to spare? Only people who fail the CA bar get to learn their scores.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 16, 2007 01:37 PM
+++++++++++++
I based the "plenty of room to spare" estimate on my raw and scaled scores, which ny includes in its pass notice.
Believe what you will, but it's 100% true.
Who needs to pass with "plenty of room to spare"? It's a pass/fail test, people: you don't get any benefit from a higher score. I passed the multi-state by exactly one point, and I consider that to be the ideal: I did the absolute minimum amount of work necessary to pass the test, without doing any extra unnecessary work.
Ivy league grads have the secret to pass the bar exam, huh?
I'm such a grad, but don't know which secret it is. Is it the secret skull-and-bones handshake? The location where Hoffa is buried? Who really killed JFK? Please tell me which secret it is, I'd like to sell it on my own web site.
PS. I think the secret may be having an IQ over room temperature.
Tracey is right, there is no need to overdo it. The Bar Exam is a minimum competency test. Although I think being overprepared can't hurt.
As for 1:40's comment, I think the point is that even with very little preparation, it is possible to pass the bar exam and end up doing even better than such little preparation might lead one to expect.
1:40 - You're talking NY, when she's talking CA. They're completely different. I've taken both and CA is much more difficult than the NY bar.
I agree..."Plenty of room to spare" means you studied too much. Some LS friends and I had an informal pool to see which of us could get the lowest passing score. Passing was 410, one guy got a 412.
The guy who got the 409 just misjudged how little he could get by with.
I passed with a lot of room to spare and lament all the wasted study time when I could have been golfing. Not to mention that I didn't win the $160 in the pool.
She must be an imbecile. Sure the bar is stresfull and causes anxiety at times but does anyone honestly believe it was a difficult test particularly after 3 years of schooling? We all had more difficult tests in college. This woman is a dolt and should be confined to representting the Guantanamo Bay Detainees. As an aside, who the hell is looking ot this woman for advice on passing the bar exam? What a fucking joke!
>>Who needs to pass with "plenty of room to spare"? It's a highway people: you don't get any benefit from a few extra inches between you and an oncoming car. When I drive I put myself exactly 1/4 inch from oncoming traffic, and I consider that to be the ideal: I do the absolute minimum necessary to avoid death in a fiery crash, without doing any extra unnecessary work.
There are good reasons to have a margin of error in the bar exam and many other areas of life.
I don't recall seeing this story before on ATL. Maybe it was on another site.
Is it just me, or does she look a little like Ann Althouse?
This woman is a complete moron.
Watch now as her husband gets transferred at work, has to move to a different state, and her Cali Bar Admittance is useless...
My dog slept on my Bar-Bri books one night and passed the CA bar a week later.
This broad don't know fuck about shit.
From the OC Register article:
"She'll also be teaching night classes to adults at the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. She hopes to tell her story to others and help them through their own struggles."
Wow. This is a veritable festival of bad judgment. I just can't decide which one, of all these stupendously stupid moves, takes first place. Is it taking the test 14 times, which itself shows a pathological inability to come to terms with her own short-comings? Is it financially bankrupting her family? Is it sacrificing everything that she and her spouse built in life in order to chase a title, a license and an uncertain future? Is it starting a company that requires no law license after all of this heartache or the misguided belief that anyone looking to pass the bar might actually consult her(!) for any sort of advice? All of these are worthy contenders, but to me, these idiocies pale in comparison to the incredibly poor judgment she shows by publicizing this fiasco.
All of you haters are just annoyed/threatened that this woman is now one of us. STOP THE HATE! LOVE ALL THE REPEATERS!
This story, and 11:58's asinine comment, reminded me that you (Lat) probably should have run a story whenever it was that the most-recent bar results came out. If you're going to post about Emily Pataki failing, you should at least acknowledge that she passed the 2nd time around.
"There was a secret out there to passing, and I wasn't in on it," she said.
A dirty little secret about the profession- you must have the ability to read and comprehend on an eight grade level.
kan i haz admitting to the bar pleez?
I find it interesting that there's no mention of what the husband was doing this whole time.
1) Is that a record? Because - records are cool!
2) Has she passed California's professional responsibility test?
3) Shouldn't we meausre houses less than 400 square feet in sqaure inches instead?
1) Is that a record? Because - records are cool!
2) Has she passed California's professional responsibility test?
3) Shouldn't we meausre houses less than 400 square feet in square inches instead?
I don't know whether to laugh or cry after reading this story. Their misery has only just begun. Only a a monumental half-wit would buy anything she is selling. And she's essentially the poster-girl for the idiot lawyer in her community. How does she expect to make a living?
Her first and biggest mistake was changing careers in the first place. She was a friggin' marine biologist with two teaching positions. Now I'm sure marine biologists don't make a ton of dough, but that's a pretty cool job, and it sounds like they had a pretty good standard of living at that time. Admittedly, I don't really know what marine biologists do, but I envision they tool around in boats, pull fish and shit out of the water, and tag animals so they can "track" them or whatever they do. Some of the crazier ones go in the water in shark tanks. Sounds much cooler than doc review or writing bitchy discovery letters threating to file a motion to compel.
Oh, I forgot to mention. You also gotta love the quote (which puts you on notice of the kind intellect we're dealing with) -- "I was doubled over like being punched in the stomach. In a good way."
Then I lurched forward and fell on my face, as if I had been stabbed in the back. In a good way.
Didn't George Castanza (Jerry's pal)aspire to be a Marine Biologist?
Can't wait to see this moron on Oprah with her inspirational story.
3:05,
Sounds credible. I definitely remember architect. Art Vandeley. "Vandeley! Say Vandeley!"
Also, importer/exporter.
California first time Bar Exam (and probably every-where-else) takers take heart:
If you graduated from an ABA accredited school, and are taking the bar for the first time, you have a better than 70% chance of passing.
Based on this stat, I managed to keep my cool, except for the first hour and a half of the fist morning, when I wrote and tore up five successive answers to the first essay question. MY problem, initially refusing to accept that the Bar Exam could be that easy.
Your typical law school 3 hour blue book exam tests for first, second, and third level knowledge.
The Bar Exam is based on first level knowledge only—e.g., what are the elements of a contract [enumerate and UNDERLINE each issue/element—the grader is reading 40 exams over breakfast with screaming kids in the background; he has a checklist, so make it easy on him/her].
I believe that (assuming you are an accredited LS graduate, and have any business taking the exam to begin with) the primary barrier to passing is psychological.
You need to spend an equal amount of time studying for the bar and keeping your head on straight.
Only in the 10 days before the exam do you need to seriously memorize stuff. STAY LOOSE, and you will pass. Don’t let them mind f*** you into flunking!
Its all just a psychological barrier to entry that starts the day you start LS, and builds about May-June the year you graduate.
There is a guy in Anchorage Alaska who has taken the Alaska Bar Exam 32 times over the past 23 years...and still hasn't passed... Check out: http://www.tobermeyer.info/pdf/PressRelease22407.pdf
1:33--I imagine the reason she kept taking CA was that she went to an unaccredited law school and wasn't allowed to take it anywhere else.
Some numbers on Western State University School of Law from ILRG.com (http://www.ilrg.com/rankings/law/view.php/176):
2004:
Acceptance Rate: 47.3%
Median LSAT: 148 (146-149)
Median GPA: 2.98 (2.75 - 3.2)
2005:
Acceptance Rate: 0%
Median LSAT: 150 (148-151)
Median GPA: 3.08 (2.81-3.35)
Tuition: $25,920
2:31, there was an ATL story about Emily Pataki passing:
http://www.abovethelaw.com/2007/05/congratulations_to_emily_patak_1.php
Are there states that limit the number of times one can take the bar exam?
you guys are aware the dean of a school better than yours (yours, not mine) failed the cali bar in 2005, right?
Dear 4:39:
You refer to the dean of Stanford LS; she failed the multi-state bar exam offered to out of state attorneys.
The bigger irony is that I would much prefer to be a marine biologist (Paulina Bandy's prior career) than an attorney, but for law school debt. Woe is me.
The CA out of state attorney exam (if that is indeed what Kathleen Sullivan took), is easier than the CA bar exam (you get to skip those pesky multi-state multiple choice questions).
3:05, 3:07, and 3:08:
George Costanza only wanted to pretend to be an architect. George was forced to pretend to be a marine biologist on a date with an old college classmate after Jerry lied to the classmate to cover up George's decades of ineptitude. George never pretended to be Art Vandelay the importer/exporter who was initially a cover story for Jerry stalking a woman attorney at her office (Simon Bennet Robbins Oppenheim & Taft). Later, Art Vandelay was Elaine's fake boyfriend and cover for George's date with Marisa Tomei.
It is 1 week until the bar exam. please all enter more comments about how not-difficult it is to pass the NY Bar. It will be greatly appreciated!!!
Let's do the quick math on this:
128k in deferred loans in 2003 -- Assuming 4% interest, those loans are now 150k.
14 bar exams x 1k per exam in stated costs = 14k.
She hasn't worked since 1994 when she entered law school -- 13 years of lost wages = even for a dimwit like her, probably 500k+
All that for a teaching gig at a night school. Way to go Paulina Bandy!
The learning curve was steep for Bandy, who powered through night classes. But she made it through the first year, when most students are weeded out of law schools.
"Law school was so in-your-face smart," she said. "It was very prestigious."
Alert xoxo.
My top 10 was not in-your-face smart. I can imagine western school of mines and law is just rottenly dumb.
In the movie version of this story, there is a happy ending. She is the victim of a drive-by and her family collects on an insurance policy; no lengthy medical bils or I'd write a painful bout of vaginal cancer into the script.
I note that Lat's other fave, Monica Goodling, passed the bar on her first attempt.
6:15 - George wanted to be an architect, and when giving out the estate's scholarship, he picked a kid with lousy grades and George-like mannerisms because that kid wanted to be an architect, but was livid at the end of the episode when the kid wanted to be a city planner, and everyone else laughed and agreed that architects were pretty stupid.
Too dumb to do the world a favor and eat a bullet?
I've heard a lot of braggarts running on in the bar-bri classes about how they don't study, just drink and tan blah blah...they all pretty much shut up after our first full-length mock bar exam.
That's just for Maryland...
I think this makes me a bad person, but if I were on the recruiting committee at any CA law firm, I'd contact her through her website and set up an interview with her. I'd *really* like to conduct that interview. Not that I'd be openly mean (outside of getting her hopes up, which is cruel enough). I'd just love to see her job-hunting skills in action. Mainly, I'd like to see if she has any self-consciousness whatsoever about how it's a bad thing, not a good thing, to have failed the bar 13 times in a row.
Prestigious WSU law professor: "And the purpose of diminished capacity is...? Ms. Bandy?"
Paulina Bandy: "To negate mes rea?"
Prestigious WSU law professor: "That's correct."
BAM! IN-YOUR-FACE SMART!
D'oh. Mens rea. I am not in-your-face smart :(
From her website, here is her synopsis (I think) of the one link in her "Lectures" tab. It's entitled "Step in the Shoes":
"This lecture contains as much information as I can squeeze into the allotted 3 hours. I will share my metamorphsis from a repeater to a passer. I will detail how I raised my Multi-states, my Essays, and Performance Exams to an above passing level.... Like no one else, I appreciate how valuable your time is and will not waste a minute of it."
Lovely.
7:11 P.M.:
NEVER take bar-bri mock exams.
They are designed to take you down a few pegs so you are not over-confident.
Read the long outlines for understanding and attend the lectures.
Duriing the 10 days before the exam, memorize the short outline.
Never forget the 70% percent accredited LS first time pass rate. And stay confident.
holy crap, she charges $100 to look at your exam and tell you why you failed. i would hope the only one paying her for that service is someone on their 15th attempt.
That is truly the funniest thing I have ever read. With no exceptions.
6:49: I heard about bright people who failed and half-wits who passed when I was studying for the NY bar exam. I found neither scenario consoling. Rest assured that if you've studied and conduct yourself in a sane fashion on the days of the exam, you'll pass. You may not feel like you did after the exam (I sure as hell didn't - and I spent the summer studying, not hanging out. I must be some kind of idiot, judging from the geniuses on this thread who managed to master commercial paper in ten minutes.), but how you feel after the exam really doesn't matter.
7:43's advice is excellent. I tried to remember my law school's passage rate and tell myself that the odds were in my favor. I also took Ambien both nights before the exam (had taken it several times already and, thus, had "practiced" being able to wake up with it) to ward off insomnia. Worked like a charm - passed on my first try.
Seriously, though, what was her husband doing all that time? Why couldn't he get a job to help save the house, etc.?
Good advice from 7:43 and 8:17 on NY. Relax. Don't be intimidated by the mass of humanity at the Javits Center. Don't frantically relive the questions in detail with other people during the breaks. Bring earplugs. Eat well.
And don't blow off the MPT, stupid as it is. I let myself use some of the allotted MPT time to finish an essay -- you can get away with a little of that but not too much. Even though it only requires one or two brain cells, the MPT does require a chunk of time.
Forgot to mention that even though I completely ran out of time on the MPT and had to resort to bullet points, I passed, 1st try. But I was worried.
4:37 - Texas limits the taker to five tries.
I have to say an amen to whoever above said not to revisit the questions on your lunch break. It'll only make you focus on the one point your friend got and you didn't.
Don't look at notecards during lunch during the MBE. You'll only notice issues you messed up -- and you're supposed to mess up some issues.
Don't get psyched out by the person next to you who finishes each section way before you -- it could be Paulina Bandy.
You might want to get to the testing site early and stake out where the restrooms are. Sometimes they are far away.
And pretty much everyone I know thought they failed at the end, including my smartest friends. Although a few "knew" they passed. In the end, virtually everyone I know passed. Not a single person I know who didn't pass -- and there were only a few -- surprised me. So if you weren't the class idiot, the odds are that you won't be the Bar idiot.
7:11--
The people who stop bragging after the first mock bar exam either start bragging again after they pass the real thing, or else wish they'd spent more of the summer sitting by the pool. Barbri's mock grading is awful.
(I say this as someone who passed "just Maryland" on the first try. I never did sit for the Barbri full-length mock bar exam because the short homework essay questions had been graded so shoddily. I figured I was better off just going through exam questions from the comfort of my couch. I was right.)
The bar shouldn't be blown off, but it's also not that hard to pass. Most of the people I know who failed did so because they were freaked out or else just had a really bad day (insomnia, illness, etc.).
She has her phone number on her website: 714-639-5980. You can reach her between 10AM and 6:30PM PST.
I for one am calling tomorrow to find out just how someone goes about giving 100% "unrelentlessly." I'm fairly sure the answer to this question will reveal something akin to the meaning of life.
Also, here email address is: paulinabandy@yahoo.com
If anyone corresponds or talks with this woman, please post your findings here.