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tl;dr
Dear New Jersey: You suck.
Of course, in comparison, Pennsylvania was a trip to the spa. I'm talking accommodations here, not the actual exams, that part was just cheerfully indiscriminate hell.
PA was at the Valley Forge Convention Center. It was nicely lit, big enough in both the testing area and the waiting area, and only mildly traffic-congested. Also, there were lots of bathrooms. Bathrooms with huge open bins of brand-name tampons and pads, courtesy of the PA Bar Examiners. I didn't need them, but it was just one example of how well they took care of us, all things considered.
There were about six times as many proctors as the NJ site, meaning the annoying period between when you've finished a section of the exam and when you're sprung for lunch or the night was mercifully brief. The proctors wore these pocketed smocks which held tissues, cough drops, ear plugs, pencils, pretty much everything we might need. Again, I didn't need any of that, but that it was all there? So comforting.
NJ, at the Garden State Expo Center, was a hell hole. It took twenty five minutes to get from one end of the street into the parking lot of the site because (unlike PA!) no provisions had been made for the fact that hundreds of people were trying to make a left-turn on a busy street during rush hour. (PA hired traffic cops to aid the process. Oh, PA!)
The testing room in NJ was air conditioned, but the waiting area, where we were relegated during lunch since the testing room had to be "secured," was not, and it was also far too small to hold everyone. You could wait outside, but it was almost 90 and humid, so not actually an improvement.
And, best for last - the whole place had EIGHT BATHROOM STALLS TOTAL for the women.
EIGHT.
You can go during the exam, but who wants to give up precious minutes? Very few people. So pre- and post-session, you can just picture the lines. And all the desperate foot-shifting.
So, in conclusion: if you find yourself hankering to take a bar exam, Pennsylvania's the way to go. New Jersey can bite me.
----
Reaction to exam itself:
Tuesday AM, performance test and two essays: am able to write fairly coherent and substantive answers. am lulled into false sense of security.
Tuesday PM, four essays: get through first two essays thinking might just have a chance in hell of passing after all; have no idea if answers are RIGHT, but they sure SOUND okay. hopes then utterly dashed by complete and total hilarity that were my answers to the last two questions.
Wednesday AM, 100 multiple choice MBE questions: HA HA HA HA HA!
Wednesday lunch: call mother and ask for pep talk, and reassurances that she will still love me once I've failed the bar exam.
Wednesday PM, next 100 MBE questions: seem slightly less evil, but suspect this is merely a byproduct of my rapidly slipping grasp on sanity.
Wednesday post-bar: drive to NJ, check into hotel, discover centipede on ceiling, kill it after recovering from mini-coronary, contemplate killing the shrieking children playing tag in the hallway and cursing loudly in the room next door until midnight, and stare vacantly at four reruns of L&O SVU.
Thursday AM, four essays, and Thursday PM, three essays: am so utterly exhausted & fried will be surprised if answers sound like I've ever even cracked a case book.
Thursday PM: DONE! find no longer care about how very much it all sucked & certainty of failure. b/c DONE! get briefly lost, then quickly unlost. drive home. experience random waves of terrifying euphoria. make plans to buy large greasy pizza and large bottle of wine for dinner. contemplate several days of total sloth & self-indulgence. write this first.
Of course, in comparison, Pennsylvania was a trip to the spa. I'm talking accommodations here, not the actual exams, that part was just cheerfully indiscriminate hell.
PA was at the Valley Forge Convention Center. It was nicely lit, big enough in both the testing area and the waiting area, and only mildly traffic-congested. Also, there were lots of bathrooms. Bathrooms with huge open bins of brand-name tampons and pads, courtesy of the PA Bar Examiners. I didn't need them, but it was just one example of how well they took care of us, all things considered.
There were about six times as many proctors as the NJ site, meaning the annoying period between when you've finished a section of the exam and when you're sprung for lunch or the night was mercifully brief. The proctors wore these pocketed smocks which held tissues, cough drops, ear plugs, pencils, pretty much everything we might need. Again, I didn't need any of that, but that it was all there? So comforting.
NJ, at the Garden State Expo Center, was a hell hole. It took twenty five minutes to get from one end of the street into the parking lot of the site because (unlike PA!) no provisions had been made for the fact that hundreds of people were trying to make a left-turn on a busy street during rush hour. (PA hired traffic cops to aid the process. Oh, PA!)
The testing room in NJ was air conditioned, but the waiting area, where we were relegated during lunch since the testing room had to be "secured," was not, and it was also far too small to hold everyone. You could wait outside, but it was almost 90 and humid, so not actually an improvement.
And, best for last - the whole place had EIGHT BATHROOM STALLS TOTAL for the women.
EIGHT.
You can go during the exam, but who wants to give up precious minutes? Very few people. So pre- and post-session, you can just picture the lines. And all the desperate foot-shifting.
So, in conclusion: if you find yourself hankering to take a bar exam, Pennsylvania's the way to go. New Jersey can bite me.
----
Reaction to exam itself:
Tuesday AM, performance test and two essays: am able to write fairly coherent and substantive answers. am lulled into false sense of security.
Tuesday PM, four essays: get through first two essays thinking might just have a chance in hell of passing after all; have no idea if answers are RIGHT, but they sure SOUND okay. hopes then utterly dashed by complete and total hilarity that were my answers to the last two questions.
Wednesday AM, 100 multiple choice MBE questions: HA HA HA HA HA!
Wednesday lunch: call mother and ask for pep talk, and reassurances that she will still love me once I've failed the bar exam.
Wednesday PM, next 100 MBE questions: seem slightly less evil, but suspect this is merely a byproduct of my rapidly slipping grasp on sanity.
Wednesday post-bar: drive to NJ, check into hotel, discover centipede on ceiling, kill it after recovering from mini-coronary, contemplate killing the shrieking children playing tag in the hallway and cursing loudly in the room next door until midnight, and stare vacantly at four reruns of L&O SVU.
Thursday AM, four essays, and Thursday PM, three essays: am so utterly exhausted & fried will be surprised if answers sound like I've ever even cracked a case book.
Thursday PM: DONE! find no longer care about how very much it all sucked & certainty of failure. b/c DONE! get briefly lost, then quickly unlost. drive home. experience random waves of terrifying euphoria. make plans to buy large greasy pizza and large bottle of wine for dinner. contemplate several days of total sloth & self-indulgence. write this first.
no subject
yay!
now let's watch tv and go shopping!
:-P
no subject