Singing Loudly

Today was the second day of my PMBR class, which is one of two review classes I'm enrolled in this summer. The two classes are PMBR and Barbri to prepare for the big test conducted the last week of July. The reason for two is that the PMBR helps mainly with the multi-state portion of the bar exam. The barbri course focuses more on the individual state essays and performance aspect of the bar exam. PMBR is not necessary but it is beneficial. I think that either Barbri or some other study course is essential for most people to be able to pass the bar.

One of the biggest things that helps with the review course is that they give you a focused schedule of what to do each day until the exam. I've heard a lot of advice about how much to study or how little to study and still pass. I've heard enough varying degrees of advice to realize that it's all about what you personally need. The only way to determine that is to work with the material and see where you are at.

Today the PMBR instructor gave us her proposed schedule which will probably be my summer. The day is divided into morning, afternoon, and night. From about 9 until 12 we will have the Barbri lectures where we listen to an instructor and write our mini-outline fill in the blank answers. Then I will take about 1:30 hours for lunch and errands. This will be a good time to spend with friends. After that I will spend a 3 hour block of time taking 50 Multi-state examination practice questions and reading over the answers. Then it will be time for another break of 2 hours which will put me right around 7pm. For another 3 to 4 hours I will study the outlines for the following day. On the weekends, when there isn't Barbri class, I will work on the performance and essay writing aspects of the bar.

I know that with time I will be able to figure out where to squeeze a few hours for friends, a couple hours for exercise, etc. But I'm going to have to be disciplined and take this seriously. Luckily, the amazing race, survivor, Lost, Desperate Housewives, and whatever other shows suck me into their allure are soon to be off the air for the summer. This will make it far easier to focus. The focus is where I'll be able to start to squeeze more free time into my schedule.

I don't intend to spend 8 hours a day studying, however, I don't intend to spend my summer playing golf during the day with the other people who pretend they just don't care.