Yup! More than a month has passed and I hadn't written on this thing. I think I'd kind of forgotten I'd started it! Not that hard to forget, really... holidays, studying and the very fact that I got NO replies kinda helps! LMAO!
No worries, I didn't start this to get replies. (Maybe if I keep telling myself that I'll believe it!)
Anyways... Christmas, New Years and Three Kings Day were awesome. I saw my fam, visited with friends and got some pretty cool presents. Too bad I can't really use them right now.
On with the Bar.
It still sucks. Studying this material AGAIN sucks more than it sucked previously. But I must admit, I didn't study before as I am studying now. I am reading things as slowly as I can (being a speed reader that itself is an achievement), I am highlighting things I want to remember (I look back at the stuff I've highlighted and I can't believe it was me who marked those things) and I am practicing old Bar exams. Yup, I am doing it all. Sort of.
If you are paying attention, and I hope you are, you can probably tell that I am not a very disciplined person. And you are absolutely correct in your assumption. I love reading and I love writing. But reading for STUDYING, reading just for the sake of memorizing a bunch of stuff and then vomiting it all on a test is not my cup of tea. I have never been the type to study for hours and make tons of practice sheets. My memory was usually enough to get me A's and B's and I never really strived to be top of my class because I don't really care about those types of achievements.
I want more. I want so much more than just be remembered for being Magna Cum Laude at a Graduation. I want to write the next great book. I want to change the world one person at the time. I want to be able to make a difference... I want to make money and be famous because I know that those two things will give me a voice and once I have that voice I can reach people. And when I reach those people I want to tell them how important it is to care for one another. I want to tell them how amazing life can be if we all saw each other as one part of ONE WHOLE WORLD... yes we are different but our differences don't make us enemies, they make us depend on one another. One heart one world.
I want all of that. And when I sit down and study for this wretched exam I wonder if this is going to help me achieve these goals. When I read the news and see what our legal system is becoming I seriously doubt.... do I want to be a part of this? Obviously I do to some degree... maybe I should start living my dream by trying to be a better lawyer. By trying to make people change their views about todays lawyers and hopefully make them stop seeing us as snakes and see us as professionals who only want to help.
If only.
I will continue to study for this test because it is personal. I want to pass this. If not for working as a lawyer at least to prove to myself that I can be that girl: I can be the girl who sits for hours studying and passes that test solely on the strenght of her studies and not just relying on the memory of four years of night Law School. But I will be that girl only once...
After this I have a whole world out there waiting for me to conquer it.
Watch me do it.
Mariel
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Getting Started
The Bar... or as we call it in Puerto Rico: LA REVALIDA de LEYES.
I can't even begin to express how much all of the Law Students dread this exam. Our professors keep telling us that if we take our three/four years of Law School seriously we shouldn't fear this thing but we all know better: this particular test is designed to take every ounce of your sanity and throw it out the window BEFORE you actually take it. It makes you wonder why exactly did you study law...
And trust me that is a question most of us ask ourself during our years in Law School. Not because studying law is particularly hard, if you enjoy reading it should be a breeze, but because of how many times you are told that whatever your reason for studying law is, its bullshit.
I am not kidding.
Surely you've heard that famous speech; all law students or prospective law students have heard it: "look to your right, look to your left. Chances are the person you just looked at will be gone by the end of the semester". What a way to start your law career! It just kills me to admit that they WERE right... both people sitting by my side were gone by the end of the semester. One transfered to another Law School and later quit law altogether. The other one left in the middle of the semester (leaving me stuck with a writing assignment, still not over that!).
Another thing we hear a lot in Law School: "if your reason for studying law is to change the world, or try to make it a more just, fair place to live then you should pick up your bags and go right now." Once again, I am not kidding. I was told this and it took all of my will not to tell that person to go suck on an egg or something. Really... I can't change the world. I know that. But I can at least try to make a difference, right? Right?
Anyone?
Well, as if all of this wasn't enough you have to study like an idiot for each exam and if your political or moral views are different from the professors and you were not smart to figure that out in time, it is very likely you will fail the class. Whoever tells you that is not true is LYING or did manage to figure out the professor's quirks in time, aced the classes and doesn't want you to do the same. Which brings me to another fact: most law students are cool with helping one another but there are some... no... I should leave that for another post. Remind me to talk about this if you care to know.
Anyways, back to LA REVALIDA. I've taken this stupid test twice. And I must admit, the first time I didn't study so obviously I wasn't going to pass. The second time I studied more, but I know I didn't study half as much as other people did. And the September REVALIDA as you may have heard really is tougher than the March one so I didn't pass, though not by a lot of points so there.
Now I am back for more. Yes, time number 3 is coming up this March. I am ready, I am angry and I am going to tackle this thing and bring it home. This is personal and this time, I am going to bring it all.
Do you want to join me in my preparation? I can already tell you that there will be plenty of angry, frustrated blogs but it will probably give you some insight as to what it takes to prepare for this test. If you are planning on studying law, or if you are living the same process I am, or if you are just about to graduate Law School and will be taking this test in September, join me!
Take it or leave it. I'll be here for the next three and a half months. Just not every day because, you know, I have to study.
I'm a star in my own mind,
Mariel
I can't even begin to express how much all of the Law Students dread this exam. Our professors keep telling us that if we take our three/four years of Law School seriously we shouldn't fear this thing but we all know better: this particular test is designed to take every ounce of your sanity and throw it out the window BEFORE you actually take it. It makes you wonder why exactly did you study law...
And trust me that is a question most of us ask ourself during our years in Law School. Not because studying law is particularly hard, if you enjoy reading it should be a breeze, but because of how many times you are told that whatever your reason for studying law is, its bullshit.
I am not kidding.
Surely you've heard that famous speech; all law students or prospective law students have heard it: "look to your right, look to your left. Chances are the person you just looked at will be gone by the end of the semester". What a way to start your law career! It just kills me to admit that they WERE right... both people sitting by my side were gone by the end of the semester. One transfered to another Law School and later quit law altogether. The other one left in the middle of the semester (leaving me stuck with a writing assignment, still not over that!).
Another thing we hear a lot in Law School: "if your reason for studying law is to change the world, or try to make it a more just, fair place to live then you should pick up your bags and go right now." Once again, I am not kidding. I was told this and it took all of my will not to tell that person to go suck on an egg or something. Really... I can't change the world. I know that. But I can at least try to make a difference, right? Right?
Anyone?
Well, as if all of this wasn't enough you have to study like an idiot for each exam and if your political or moral views are different from the professors and you were not smart to figure that out in time, it is very likely you will fail the class. Whoever tells you that is not true is LYING or did manage to figure out the professor's quirks in time, aced the classes and doesn't want you to do the same. Which brings me to another fact: most law students are cool with helping one another but there are some... no... I should leave that for another post. Remind me to talk about this if you care to know.
Anyways, back to LA REVALIDA. I've taken this stupid test twice. And I must admit, the first time I didn't study so obviously I wasn't going to pass. The second time I studied more, but I know I didn't study half as much as other people did. And the September REVALIDA as you may have heard really is tougher than the March one so I didn't pass, though not by a lot of points so there.
Now I am back for more. Yes, time number 3 is coming up this March. I am ready, I am angry and I am going to tackle this thing and bring it home. This is personal and this time, I am going to bring it all.
Do you want to join me in my preparation? I can already tell you that there will be plenty of angry, frustrated blogs but it will probably give you some insight as to what it takes to prepare for this test. If you are planning on studying law, or if you are living the same process I am, or if you are just about to graduate Law School and will be taking this test in September, join me!
Take it or leave it. I'll be here for the next three and a half months. Just not every day because, you know, I have to study.
I'm a star in my own mind,
Mariel
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