Bride: Waltzing Matilda

As I’ve mentioned previously, FI and I are taking dance lessons. We’re doing an introductory package where you spend one week on a style of dance, and we’ve now learned the (very) basics of Cha Cha, Fox Trot, Nightclub 2-step, and Waltz. I love dancing, and FI seems to be getting much better and more confident. The past two times we haven’t switched partners, and I think that’s helping. The first time we went, we switched, and an old lady yelled at FI b/c he wasn’t doing very well. Poor thing, that made him not ever want to come back. I correct him too, but I do it nicely.

Our first dance song is Wonderful World, which is a Fox Trot. Since I think the introductory package ends next week, we’re going to have to get private lessons for the actual choreography. The first dance is really important to me, and FI has said we can take private lessons in September to get ready. The song is only about two minutes long, so I think we’ll be fine. But I’m really liking the classes—I don’t want to stop! I wonder if I’ll be able to convince FI we should make it a regular thing….

Bar: Good Work, ExamSoft

At about 4:18AM, approximately sixteen hours after I registered and downloaded ExamSoft, the emails arrived. So if you're planning on waiting until the last minute, I'd subtract twenty or so hours just so you know you'll get the confirming emails while you'd still have time to fix things. Especially if you use gmail.

Bar: ExamSoft--Hellooooo?

After my delightful trip to the ExamSoft website and subsequent downloading, I awaited the six (yes, six!) emails from ExamSoft telling me that everything had gone as planned. What would those six separate emails do?
Why they would:

• confirm my ExamSoft download
• confirm my download of Exam Docs 1-4 (that would be four emails)
  
• confirm my download of the MockExam

Where could these emails be? Stuck in my spam folder? No....not there! So I called ExamSoft's help line, and after navigating the "press 2 for ..." "press 3 for..." menus and being on hold for ten minutes, I got to speak to a Real Person. Real Person said that ExamSoft's emails reach gmail accounts vvveeerrryyy slowly, but that everything had gone as planned. He gave me the instructions for taking and uploading the Mock Exam, which I completed. A seventh email would arrive to confirm that the Mock Exam had been uploaded successfully.

Four hours later--still none of the seven (seven!!) emails have arrived.
This is annoying, but at least I'm fairly confident that everything is fine. Even if it didn't, I still have over a week to get in touch with ExamSoft and the State Bar people to fix things if it didn't proceed smoothly. Note to others who have been ignoring those frantic letters from the Bar about downloading ExamSoft--don't freak out if you don't get the confirming emails, especially if you use Gmail.

I'll post when (hopefully not if!!) my emails arrive. Did anyone else have this issue??

Bar: ExamSoft

I hate ExamSoft. I don't think that's a unique sentiment. We had to use ExamSoft for our in-class exams during my first three semesters of law school (after that we thankfully switched to just being able to type in Word). I never had a problem with it, but I certainly saw enough people who did. It causes major instability on lots of operating systems, it's incompatible with Macs entirely, and it's generally just a big pain in the ass. I think it was Honigsberg who shared with us that it was invented by someone from Hastings. ::sigh::

The State Bar has been sending weekly letters begging me to register my laptop for ExamSoft. The letters were getting pretty desperate--the deadline isn't until July 2, geez. But today, I just took a break to register FI's laptop for ExamSoft. FI's laptop is also a Dell Latitude, but his has been used a lot less than mine. Plus, my power cord also works on his (but his doesn't work on mine, for some reason), so now I have two working power cords. The rules say we can't register two laptops/have a back-up laptop, but I can't see that they'd prohibit bringing two power cords.

It was kind of scary seeing those files download--PT-A, PT-B, Questions 1-3, Questions 4-6. Those are the files, baby!

Now to protect FI's laptop from getting breathed on too heavily....

Bar: Barbri Lies

Okay, one more example of the ???? I'm experiencing as I read the explanations to the (too many) questions I got wrong from yesterday's simulated MBE:

#149: the ROFR specifically limits it to "any proposed sale or transfer of ownership by me." "Me" meaning Howard or Marty. The facts state that it is Charlene the daughter who is transferring the property. Charlene is not Howard or Marty, so the ROFR isn't supposed to apply to her, right? Even the explanation says "the right would not exist if a transfer were proposed by the heirs or successors of the grantor." Charlene is an heir or successor--how does it then follow that Howard wins when he has no rights against Charlene.

I hate this. But yes, it is the experience, and I can successfully sit and do 100 questions in a row without dying, so that's good to know.

Bar: Grrrrr

Okay, I hate the Barbri question writers.

For example:
#28; Ken and his 1957 Chevy. The facts state that Ken made an offer to George, and then Ken revoked it. The question asks what "best describes the agreement b/w Ken and George?" Well, there WAS an offer, but then it was REVOKED, so there is NO agreement whatsoever, now is there? And what is the answer? An offer for a unilateral contract. 'Fraid not--the facts state that that offer was revoked. Or is the question asking us to magically go back in time?

Bar: Ouch

Today was Simulated MBE day...ouch. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty, but I didn't know it was going to be THIS un-pretty. I have a lot of ground to makeup. Everyone says Barbri uses the hardest questions to freak people out during the simulated test to motivate them into studying harder, and I guess it's going to work in my case.

I do really wish that they had used real released questions though...I don't want to get so used to the Barbri style that the real MBEs look completely different.

Bride: Bridesmaid Dresses Shipped!

Yay! I received the emails with the shipping confirmation and UPS tracking numbers from Netbride today. I had placed the order the last week of March, and our guarantee date was July 9. My BMs and I are now happily tracking the progress as the dresses make their way all over the country. I am so sad that I'm not going to be able to see any of the dresses in person until August. Three of my BMs are on the East Coast (none in the same state, of course) and one is in the Midwest. I have begged them to take pictures of themselves in the dresses as soon as the dress arrives. I need some sort of visual satisfaction!
Each of my BMs has a different dress--we picked two styles and two colors, so that yields four permutations (or is it combination? I can never keep those two straight.).
We chose Bill Levkoff 301 and 271 (301 is on the left).
The colors are European Taupe and European Sable. The taupe is the color of the dress in 301 (the sash is called European Champagne). The sable is a darker chocolate color.
I've asked them to get the dresses hemmed to just below the knee/top of the rounding of the calf. I think true tea-length tends to make people look stumpy, which is just not the look we're going for, if you can imagine.

I know somewhere there's a fabulous picture of a group of bridesmaids in brown and taupe and champagne dresses, but for the life of me I can't find it right now--google image search and The Knot messageboards have failed me for the first time in recent memory. :(
The quotes for the dresses from various bridal salons ranged from $180-$210. Netbride: $124 for 301; $103 for 271. Even with the $20 shipping per address...quite the deal!
Now it's up to UPS....

Bride: Chiavari Chairs

I feel like I have finally succumbed to one of the most ubiquitous (possibly ridiculous?) bridal trends--the Chiavari Chair. As a comment on this story notes, the only people who know what a Chiavari chair is are event planners and brides. The chairs at my venue are fine--they're pretty comfortable and they're definitely not stained or hideous. But they're a maroon that clashes horribly with the maroon of the table cloths or napkins or whatever that I want. Plus, they're just not that exciting.



This is from a google image search for "maroon chair"--not exactly the same, but pretty close.













Which brought us to chair covers. I hate chair covers. I think they make a room look like it's unused or about to be painted. Especially if the tablecloths are a matching color. These aren't bad, and if this is from your wedding I'm very sorry to be insulting you. I just don't like them. Plus, my linens lady only has ivory in the tie-back silk kind, and while these would probably look much better once there were people wearing multi-colored outfits sitting in them to break up all the white, the tie-back kind always fit funny over rounded-top chairs.

Plus chair covers slip around and get askew and just...no. No chair covers.

So behold:
(Photo: google image search.) Doesn't it just shine with wedding happiness? (My Bar readers, all two of you, are quickly retreating. That's okay.)

(Photo: google image search.) Our reception site isn't super swanky, and I think the Chiavari chairs will help it look amazing. Plus the gold chair, the ivory cushion, a dark maroon or chocolate tablecloth...the colorization coordination thrills me to the point that I'm making up words ("colorization" anyone?).
Chiavari chairs are pricey. I think my linen lady quoted us $3.50-$4.00 for the chair covers and $1.00 for the sashes. I'm thinking the rented chairs will easily cost double. But I waaant these. And I'm willing to splurge on them. So there.
Oh yeah--they aren't very comfortable either.
But I can do this now:Photo credit: Firestonebride. There's no way anyone can convince me that chair covers or plain chairs look that pretty. (Reminder to talk to florist about putting swags on back of chairs--the Martha Stewart "perfect" and "pair" words hanging from the chairs is a bit crafty-country for me.)

Bar: Moles and Mr. Case

Today was our Barbri Agency and Partnership lecture with Prof. Kaufman from Loyola Chicago. He was, in a word, crazy. In a totally awesome way. He made funny sounds, waved his arms like he was trying to fly away, and used weird inflections. Totally crazy, and totally memorable. Oh, how I wish he had taught Evidence!

This got me to thinking about another teacher I had who used weird sounds as a teaching technique. My tenth grade chemistry teacher always said BEEP before saying how many atoms are in a mole. I can still hear him: "BEEP 6.02 x 10 to the 23." Every single time. "BEEP!" And there you see it--I still remember how many atoms are in a mole. Chemistry was...wow, ten years ago, and it's still as sharp in my memory as ever.

Hopefully in five weeks--wow, five weeks--disGORGEment will be as clear!

Bar: Fail Fail, Fail Fail

I sincerely believe that Barbri is just trying to freak everyone out. There is no way everyone I know (and of course I only know brilliant people, duh) could possibly get a fail on every essay and performance test handed in. Don't believe me? My lovely right-handed seatmate's latest comments clearly show four "P"s crossed out and replaced with "F"s. Now unless her darling Barbri grader had her letters mixed up, my guess is that the grader had given too many "Pass" grades for Barbri's quota, so she had to go back and fail a bunch more people, including my lovely seatmate. Now come on.
On my own delightful comments, I see lots of "Good job!" "Good use of law!" and "Good organization!" and then at the end: I = Fail, R = Fail, A = Fail, C = Fail. Okay then--what am I supposed to improve, exactly? So far I've learned that I need to have a space in between my headings and my paragraphs and I should put the rule and the application in different paragraphs. Is really all that's standing between a FFFF and a PPPP a couple of hard returns?
I hand in Evidence tomorrow--there are lots of hard returns. We shall see.

p.s. I heart Sakai. I would like to bring him home and have him sit by my bookshelf and say paternal and motivating things. He could switch out with Honigsberg. That would be a GOOD IDEA!!!!

Bride: Closing the Pocketfolds

This has been my latest obsession/fixation. I finally decided that Zots clear adhesive dots were sufficient (both in ease-of-use and in gripping strength) for holding the backing and invite to the pocketfold. But now how to close the flap itself?
FI and I received an invite to a wedding earlier this year that was a pocketfold with a bellyband. It looked really pretty--but it was a pain in the neck to take it off and then to put it back on. I have a feeling most guests didn't bother putting it back on--and then the outside looks naked and sad.
My parents received a pocketfold invite two years ago that had the bride and groom's names on a piece of cardstock attached to the outside. Somehow, the weight of that tiny card kept the flap shut and the invite flat.
I however, had no such luck.

I have no idea how she got it to stay flat. Moving on!
Lots of brides have pictures in their Knot bios of tying the pocketfold shut with ribbon (glue the ribbon to the outside; tie; voila):

Looks lovely, no? Well, my mom saw an invite that a friend had received, and the lazy friend hadn't bothered to retie the ribbon:


That's pretty sad looking. (Yes, anytime ribbon appears, fluffy creatures purr.)
My next idea was to use repositionable glue. Zig makes a product called "2 Way Glue" that is supposed to yield a permanent bond if you apply it when the glue is blue, but if you let it dry to clear it is supposed to give you a repositionable bond. Umm....not so much.
Finally, finally, I think we have a winner: good old-fashioned double stick Scotch tape. Put a little on the monogram cardstock, apply to outside of pocket:


Guests should be able to open the invite at least three-four times and close it again before the tape gets tired. Whew.
p.s. I have no idea why the pocketfolds look so strawberry-red-pink. They're a deep maroon--maybe it's the metallic reflecting with the flash?


And yes, zots--my favorite and most dependable product thus far.
6 Zots = Invite backing ready to be attached to pocketfold.


Attached to the pocketfold.


What it will look like once I get the invites printed and attached (more Zots!)

Bride: Week Three Update

I love my progress chart. I love making check marks when I've accomplished something. I'm keeping up with it very well, so far--and I earned my awesome floral carabiner key chain. If I'm good this week, my reward is trying out false eyelashes. I've read a lot about brides who have had a lot of success with false eyelashes, and I'd like to try them. I have pretty long eyelashes, but they aren't particularly thick. We'll see--if I don't feel comfortable with them for the wedding, maybe they'd still be fun for other occasions.
My progress chart has greater benefits than just my fabulous rewards--I have noticed some physical differences. My friends have also made positive comments. That is amazingly motivating!
So tomorrow morning I will be waking up with Denise and hopefully I'll spend some time with my weights tonight. I graduated from the 5 pound weights to the 7.5 pound....ooh--contain the excitement!

Bar: Dear Right-Handed People in my Barbri Class,

I didn't want to have to write to you again, but I feel I must.

We've had four weeks of class so far. It's pretty well established where people sit and with whom people sit. However, some of you persist in moving around. Fine, fine, but if you haven't noticed, there are only about 15 chairs that are fitted with desks on the left side. Those desks are designed for left-handed people. We are a minority that is not subject to more than rational basis, true, but if you're right-handed, could you consider sitting at one of the gazillions of chairs designed for YOU? Isn't it enough that you already have everything else personally designed--do you have to take the one thing that actually works for us? If you keep insisting on taking my seat and sitting in a left-handed seat when you aren't even left-handed, I hope you always get stuck with a pair of left-handed scissors for the rest of your lives.

Love,
Bar/Bride

Bar: Weekly Recap

Since I was so neglectful this week...in sum:

I hate Contracts. I hate it. I did well in that class 1L year, so that just goes to show how little grades correlate to knowledge. My biggest problem is assignment, delegation, and third parties. I can never get when the 3P can sue. It's so pathetic I've gone back to the Beginner Questions--the ones Barbri doesn't even assign--to try to learn something. At least I'm getting some of them right now!

Dude, Conviser is not doing himself any favors by doing the lectures himself. Remedies was terrible. So terrible. So boring and repetitive. And he kept saying, "you MUST do it this way to pass!" That's scary.
BUT
Conviser was a dream compared to the Evidence guy. I have never actively tried to fall asleep during a lecture before, but I did yesterday just to make the time go by faster. It was a nightmare! There's no air-conditioning, and it was probably the hottest day so far this year. Not good for paying attention. Thank God I just had Evidence this spring or else I don't think I could ever learn this stuff. I feel really bad for people who hadn't ever taken an Evidence class--no way would those lectures have taught me anything!

Progress-wise, I'm not doing too badly. I'm trying to do both MBEs and an Essay (outline only, duh) each day. I'm trying to vary up the MBEs--both b/c I'm (way) behind on the Paced Program, but also so I don't just get focused on one subject. I met up with some people from my firm on Thursday night, and they all assured me to take it easy in June so I'm not burned out come July. Advice I'm happy to take!

Bride: Shoes!

I love shoes. I truly lurve them. I have way too many pairs and FI always complains that my shoes wander onto his side of the closet. Searching for shoes for my wedding was tough. FI's mom, who is 5' 10", was freaking out that if I wore heels I would be uncomfortable being on my feet all day. She tends to fixate on things, and she chose to fixate on my shoes. It's quite ridiculous. I thought I had found a pair with 2" heels that I liked--she wouldn't hassle me and they were pretty. But then, the J. Crew Hadley shoes that I had adored but couldn't afford, came back. I snapped up a pair and I can't wait to wear them!
I really wanted a D'Orsay style, and they'll match my dress perfectly. I think I want to do the rhinestone initials on the bottom and also have my bridesmaids sign the bottoms on the morning of the wedding. Love good luck traditions.
Great to have something else knocked off the list!

Bride: Progress

Well, things have been moving along! I did contact my florist as promised, and she responded with lots of helpful ideas and suggestions. I love email savvy vendors, especially since I'm long-distance.

I went to my fabulous local printing place, and the very nice man who owns the shop used the superfancy digital cutting machine to take off .125 inch from the horizontal and vertical sides of my invite cards so they'll look better on the invite mats. I have no idea why I waited so long to do that. I also tried out the spray adhesive I had bought....not impressed, Krylon spray adhesive, not impressed at all! I'm going to try glue dots and double sided tape next. ::sigh::

And...I got started on embossing our return address on the invitation envelopes. This is going more slowly than I expected because I only can do 4-5 at a time before my hand hurts from pressing so hard. FI actually did a couple and was helpful, but I know if I leave it up to him it won't get done.

Speaking of which, I delegated tasks to him and told him I would not be checking up on him. He has to: 1. make our hotel reservation for the wedding night, 2. ship some wine to my parents, and 3. order my wedding ring. He doesn't like my choice, but tough--I'm going to be the one wearing it!

Projects for this week: I need to get on ordering his ring, call my reception coordinator, finish embossing the envelopes, address the RSVP envelopes, and find some adhesive that will WORK for the invitations. Oh yeah, and do some work for something that rhymes with "arrrrrh."

Bar: PT: US History AP DBQ, Anyone

If there aren't enough acronyms in this title, I'll be a bit clearer. The performance tests take me back to my tenth grade U.S. History Advanced Placement class when we had to do Document Based Questions. I can still see Mrs. Shulman (or Mrs. Sharkey? or Mrs. Sharkazy? or Mrs. Schindler? I have no idea. I thought I would never forget things like that!) explaining the DBQ. I enjoyed the DBQ very much. You didn't actually have to know anything! It was all right there for you! Just use the documents and answer the question.

The PTs seem very similar. Just follow the directions. Follow the directions. That was the mantra of Honigsberg, the fab PT lecturer. He encouraged us to write "sheep" answers that would be very boring but very standard. I think I can do standard. I was never one of the "I don't like that question; I'll write my own" kind of people on essays. But I worry that I second guess myself way too much--I like to be "right" so even when there are no right answers, I like to think I found "the one" that is "right," and if I can't decide I get frustrated and waste time.

What's the answer? Practice! Practice! Stop blogging and go practice! We hand in one for grading on Monday, so I'll see how far I have to go. Speaking of which, we should get the results from the Con Law essays we handed in last Monday soon....

Bar: Dear People in my Barbri Class Part 2

Dear People in my Barbri Class,
I think we're making progress. Apparently all the smokers have decided to huddle together near a back exit, the faster to light up at the next break. Fine--the creative ventilation does not drag your fumes toward me.
However, we have a new problem. If you're sick, may I suggest not coming to class for a day or two? The last thing any of us need right now is a cold, and you, with your hacking and sniffling, are a veritable germ extravaganza. There is this really nice video class in the evenings where you could make up the classes you missed, or you can get the lectures on CD. There is no reason for you to make yourself miserable when you're sick, and even less to infect everyone else.
That is all.
Love, The Bar Bride

Bride: Four Months

I'm getting married in four months. I'm getting married in four months. Yay! and also, Oh my God!

Scary.

The major goal for the moment is to finish the invitation design, print the invitations, assemble the invitations, and mail the invitations. That will take a while. Interspersed are goals to make the menus, design the programs, figure out the guestbook, and ask friends to help with the guestbook, greeting, etc.

I'm getting married in four months!

Bar: Good Karma

Last night on the bus, I was reading the CMR. As a guy got off the bus, he said, "Good luck on the Bar!" to me. I didn't recognize him, but I think he might be in the night class that I've been in to make up Property. I asked him if he was taking it too, and he said yes, so I wished him luck as well. That was a nice feeling. Thanks, fellow Bar taker!

Bar: Dear People in my Barbri Class

Dear People Sitting Near Me in Barbri,
In case you haven't noticed, there are more than 200 people in our class. That means that we all have to sit very close to one another. There are not enough seats for people to leave gaps in the rows. Because of that, if you have a personal aroma, it will be very evident to anyone forced to sit anywhere near you. These people will also not be able to sit in different seats because--as explained above, there are no different seats to switch to. Perhaps you should think about not having a highly unpleasant personal aroma and then subjecting all your neighbors to smelling it. In other words, if you're going to smoke during the break, don't fucking sit near me.
Love,
Me

Bride: Vendor Happiness

I just love it when vendors respond to requests or communications. Why is simple competence so wonderful? Because it's so rare. I haven't had any vendor problems yet and I *really* hope I never do, but I do always feel a little sense of "yay!" whenever one of them gets back to me. I think I just am battle-worn from dealing with customer service in other situations. You just expect that people won't get back to you or won't be helpful. It's wonderful when that's not true, although I don't want to take anything for granted!

So basically, thanks Netbride and my florist! Maybe you will restore my faith!

Bar: Double the Fun

Today began my three days of double BarBri lectures. I need to make up the Real Property ones with the video class at night in addition to keeping up with my regular class in the morning.
So far, I would not describe it as being double the fun.

I read something about the Doublemint Twins once--apparently they got fired when one of them got married or pregnant (I refuse to apply Con Law to this fact pattern), and the head of Wrigley's refused to give them gum. They said that they had to buy lots and lots of gum to carry around with them because whenever they'd go anywhere, people on the street would stop and ask them for gum. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a Doublemint commercial in awhile. Lately the gum commercial world seems to only show that one where the woman says, "Dirty mouth? Clean it up!" for Orbitz (I refuse to apply IP to the Orbitz gum/travel website fact pattern). I hate that commercial.

I think I'm going to start trying to win an eBay auction for the PMBR workbooks. I just want an alternative to the fake BarBri questions. I now know that Kaplan does not own BarBri, but I can still tell the fake questions and I don't like it. I also love how you can tell that different people wrote the questions b/c there is a wide range of difficulty even within a section, and a very wide range in the amount of explanation for the answer. Some of the explanations will go on for a page, and others are three lines long and basically say, "A, B, and C are wrong because they are irrelevant and stupid. D is right because it is the best choice." Thanks, that was helpful.

Today we had to hand in our first essay to be graded by the BarBri attorneys. Apparently the graders are typically 25-35 year old associates. Yeah, I definitely would want to do that after billing 10 hours--go home and read bar essays. I hope I did okay--I don't think there's any way anyone could have covered all the issues in the detail given in the sample answer--that's why it's a sample answer, right? We find out in 5-7 business days. Like waiting for shipping!

Bar: Invest in 3M

Or whatever other company makes index cards. After quickly exhausting the two packs I had bought, I bought four more. I don't even think that is going to be enough.

Oh, andwhat does studying for the bar look like?
Keep in mind that two gigantic books (the in-class workbook and the essay practice book) are missing from this picture, as are the 29 PMBR CDs. Plus a whole lot of coffee.

Bride: Progress Update

Woo hoo! So I successfully accomplished my goals for last week, entitling me to a fab pedicure. The goals for this week are the same, and my reward is this really cool caribeener keychain that I spotted while birthday shopping for a friend. It's a floral printed caribeener that has keychain hooks on it. I really liked it, but I was a good person and bought it for my friend. I decided to make it my reward for my second week of good, healthful behavior.

Speaking of which, here is the chart I made for my week by week progress. I need visual re-enforcement, and I love colored markers. A lot.

Any suggestions for other rewards? Clearly, the week of July 23 needs no reward. ;)

Bride: Distraction City, Cha Cha Cha

FI is a bad dancer. Really, really bad. No redeeming features, whatsoever. Plus, he knows he's bad, so he's really self-conscious, which re-enforces it.

FI also knows that one of my dreams is to have a fabulously amazing first dance at our wedding. I could not have been happier than when he gave me dance lessons for the two of us for Valentine's Day. Based on our schedules, we picked a class at a local dance studio that is on Friday nights in June. The studio also offers a "wedding workshop" class that we could do in September too. When I was researching studios, FI was not into the idea of private lessons or the packages that include private lessons.

Well, there might be a switch on that. Tonight we spent 1/2 hour on the cha cha and 1/2 hour on the Foxtrot. A consequence of learning to cha cha is that you hear "cha cha cha" after every sentence. Cha cha cha. I loved it, and I'm really really pleased that FI seemed to have fun too. But oh boy, we are not good. I love to dance and I can feel rhythm, but this is very new, and I don't follow well b/c I'm so used to having to "pull" FI into leading me. FI....well, he's trying. He gets his feet mixed up a lot, and he can't count beats, and he seems to want to add odd hip swivels at various moments. But it was a hell of a lot more fun than bar studying, and I think it'll be good for us to learn something together where we both start out at basically the same level.

However, the private instruction/choreography....looking better and better. Next week we do the cha cha again and start something else. Hopefully my bar review and dancing will improve at the same pace! That would be awesome. Cha cha cha.

Bar: This is Depressing

Yesterday and today were Torts Days. I felt really good about Torts going in, and the lecturer (who was absolutely hysterical) was only reassuring. I wasn't confused and I had read the Conviser. All is well. And then. Dude, I am getting like 1/3 of the questions right. So much for the "This is all you need to know!" bluffing from the lecturer--such BS.

I would also like to note that the Bar/Bri questions are often really, really badly written. I used to teach LSAT prep for Kaplan (also owned by Bar/Bri, ha), and I could always tell "fake" questions from real, actual LSAT questions. I can tell from a mile away that these are fake questions. While standardized tests are not known for their clarity, there is no way the real MBE questions can be this bad. Just no way. I refuse to believe it. There's contradictory messages and facts assumed in some places that are not to be assumed in others, with no apparent distinction.

All this adds up to me quickly losing faith with Bar/Bri--the lectures are barely helpful and only seem to give me false confidence. And I don't trust the questions. I know it's not Bar/Bri's fault if the MBE hasn't released enough questions, but I wish we were only practicing with real questions.