Lessons from the simulated MBE

Or, what not to do for the actual bar exam:

1. Go to bed at midnight the night before. Wake up every hour and a half until being forced out of bed for good at 5:30 a.m.
2. Lose your watch.
3. Arrive at the exam five minutes after it starts...
4. ... without any #2 pencils.
5. Leave half an hour early during both sessions to enjoy the beautiful weather.

I still haven't found my watch. Anyway, I've been meaning to buy a cheap digital one for the bar. I will remember to pack some pencils, and JW agreed to drop off K at daycare on the exam days. So that should take care of #2-4. I have to check my hedonistic impulses for #5, which will probably be the hardest. As for #1, at least now I know that even if I'm sleep-deprived during the real thing, I won't just pass out like I do sometimes during my practice sessions.

I haven't actually graded the thing yet. I'm confident that I kicked ass, and I can keep thinking that until I grade it, so I have little incentive to find out the truth.

On the way out, a friend said she was relieved to be done with the grueling day. "It wasn't so bad," I replied. "We had a long break at lunchtime, and now it's 4:30 and we're done!" "That's because you're working," she pointed out. "You're used to doing stuff all day." So I guess there is an advantage to working full-time while studying. You get in the habit of sitting in a room concentrating for hours on end.

I took a long walk through the city to the T station, got home at 5:15, and hung out on the deck with my boys. JW grilled and I helped K do "gardening" (sweeping pine needles off the deck with a paintbrush, which is much less messy and more suitable as a pre-dinner activity than actual gardening). We were completely done with the bedtime routine by 7:30, half an hour earlier than usual, and curled up in bed with "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go" for a nice long read. Now I'm sort of looking forward to the bar.