Bar Exam Diaries - Arizona Edition - Day 2

I decided to take the light rail this morning, so instead of walking five blocks, I walked a block and a half. My blistered feet appreciated it. I also folded down the back of my loafers to make my shoes backless for the day. I ended up bruising the bottom of my heel due to stepping on the back of my shoes, but that hurt way less than rubbing the blisters would have. (I'm totally wearing my flip-flops tomorrow. I would rather stand barefoot on the airport floor in all its unsanitary glory during security screening than wear those loafers for another nanosecond.)

We were told to arrive at 7 this morning, and I arrived at 7:05. I went through security and headed to my seat to engage in another hour and a half of staring at the walls, finding patterns in the ceiling tiles, daydreaming, calculating that I've spent 11 days of my life taking the bar exam (I was too demoralized by that to even think about calculating how much time I've spent studying for it), daydreaming some more, and wondering if there's a time-warp in the exam room that makes time move more slowly while waiting for the exam to start but more quickly once the exam is in session.

At 8:30, instructions began. The head proctor delivering the instructions looked and sounded just like my criminal procedure professor. Sadly, he didn't hand out candy to the examinees like my prof would have.

The test began at 9. Today was fill in the bubble day. My mind wandered a bit halfway through because I got bored. I quickly got back on track and finished with time to spare. Then I got some lunch. I found a cafe nearby that serves soup, so I had a real lunch today.

After I ate, I wandered back to the convention center. I ran into some of the other test takers, and we talked for a bit. Then we went back inside for the afternoon session.

The afternoon session was less boring than the morning session, and I finished about an hour early. I turned in my test and left. I took the light rail back to my hotel, stopped at a taqueria to pick up some dinner, and then ate.

I'm glad it's over. The end of the exam was a little bit anticlimactic. In California, the last day of the exam is a performance test, and since it's administered on a laptop, everyone has to stay until the bitter end. So everyone leaves as a group and there's this cheer because we're all celebrating together. But since Arizona's last day is multiple choice, I got to leave when I finished. I walked out alone with nobody to celebrate with. I did run into another test taker while waiting for the light rail, and we chatted a bit, but it's not the same.

I'm flying home tomorrow. I'll find out my results in May. I'm glad it's over.

And if the Arizona bar wants to use this helpful marketing slogan I've devised, they're welcome to. "Only 67% as miserable as the California bar!"

Bar Exam Diaries - Arizona Edition - Day 1

I set my alarm for 5:25 in the morning, and when it went off, I was annoyed. Now I understand why toddlers scream and throw temper tantrums when they're tired. As I was up and moving around in my exhaustion, it was actually physically painful. My body insisted that it wasn't quite 4:30 in the morning, and it wanted to be asleep.

When I booked my hotel, the website said that it was 5 blocks from the convention center. Well, just in case you ever need to know, 5 blocks is way longer in Phoenix than it is in any city in the Bay Area. Where I come from, a 5 block walk will take 3-5 minutes, maybe as long as 7 if all of the lights are red. Yeah...my hotel is a 20 minute walk from the convention center. Oops.

Bar Exam Diaries - Arizona Edition - Day 0

I feel like I've been stuck in the movie Groundhog Day, but instead of reliving February 2 repeatedly, I'm living the bar exam over and over. Tomorrow is the first day of the exam, so here I go again. May this time be my last.

I spent the night at my parents' house, and my mom took me to the airport this morning. I flew out of San Jose. They've really fixed it up, and it's a nice airport now. It had been 10 years since I had flown out of it; it used to be the old rundown airport in the area. I got through security in 5 minutes, and I wasn't subject to the usual indignities.

The flight to Phoenix was uneventful and took about an hour and 15 minutes. After landing, I took the airport shuttle to the light rail station, and then I took the train downtown. It was a quick two block walk to my hotel.

I got settled in and ordered a pizza for dinner. Then I watched some TV. I'm going to bed early tonight because I have to be at the convention center at 6:15 tomorrow morning. (For those of you keeping score at home, that's 5:15 California time. Why couldn't the test be two weeks later, when CA and AZ are in the same time zone?)

I'm feeling pretty good about it this time. Here goes!