I'm going to feel like a moron if I fail this thing...

Despite California's depressingly low bar passage rate (lowest in the nation), I'm going to feel like a complete idiot if I fail the bar this summer. Why? Because Professor Honigsberg told us ten different stories about how all sorts of bad things have happened to people he has known and they've all passed the bar. From having surgery just a week before the bar, to major depression, to being loaded on sleeping pills . . . it's apparently still possible to pass the bar exam. Then, you have the Wills and Trusts guy, Professor Ira Shafiroff basically saying the exact same thing. He told us about how he blew a contract essay and a torts essay on the first day, missing huge issues and making up the law. (BTW, he is now the fourth bar/bri professor who gave us the advice: "If you don't know the correct rule to apply, just make up something that sounds reasonable.") He also broke out into hives during lunch on the first day which continued throughout the bar exam. And he still passed. So moral of these stories as far as I can tell? Only morons fail the California bar exam.

I don't buy that for a second, though. Every year, about a quarter of the students from my law school fail the bar exam. I look at the students I went to school with for the past three years, the ones who are here in California prepping for July 29, 30 and 31 and I know that they are studying hard, working on essays and MBE questions, staying up late to outline. But 1 in 4 of them will not pass. I really couldn't even hazard a guess as to which of us will pass and which of us will fail.

I'm terrified that I'm going to be one of the ones who does not pass. My MBE score sucks (I'm generally terrible at multiple choice exams) and I'm just barely hanging in there with the essays. Forget about the damn performance test . . . after practicing a couple, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get creamed on that thing. Especially if I have to draft an affidavit or an opening statement or something.

And writing this post is giving me an anxiety attack.

Back to practicing more essays . . .