I got through the bar exam. All twelve hours of it. All 200 multiple choice questions and ten essay questions. Answered all of them, and didn’t throw myself out the window or even cry at any point. But that’s pretty much the best I can say about my performance. The bar was tough. But the thing I keep telling myself is this: it was equally tough for everybody. Plus, it’s not like I have to get an A or a B on it. I just have to avoid being in the bottom ten or fifteen percent.

I have a lot to say about the bar, so I’m going to spread it out over three blog entries.

ILLINOIS BAR EXAM, PART ONE: SHEEP COUNTING EDITION

Let’s start with the night before. I got three hours and fifteen minutes of sleep. And know a lot of people like to claim that they get less sleep than they actually get, and it’s important that you know that I’m not one of those people. I actually got three hours and fifteen minutes of sleep before the bar. Wish I could tell you that I was studying, but I wasn’t.

I took two Tylenol PMs and drank two glasses of wine at 10:30. But I guess they didn’t do the trick. I got into bed at 11:30, but at 12:30, my heart was still racing. I tried everything I could think of to get it down, but nothing worked. Breathing exercises. Holding my breath. Reading a boring book. Sitting up. Stretching. Listening to southing music. Counting sheep. (Yes, I actually tried this. Stopped at seventeen when I could no longer conceptualize it.) Nothing.

At 2:30 AM, I called my mom. (3:30 AM Michigan time).

“I can’t sleep.”

“Of course you can’t.”

“I’m going to fail.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“Thanks, but that’s speculation.”

“See? Listen to you. ‘Speculation.’ You’ll be fine.”

My alarm clock read 3:30 before I finally got to bed. And then I woke up at 6:45. I wasn’t tired so much as I was in a trance. My eyes were bloodshot too. The mile walk to the testing center (at Northwestern’s downtown campus) woke me up a bit. And when I got to the building, I threw a few handfuls of cold water on my face.

I made it to the testing room fifteen minutes early and contemplated taking a ten-minute snooze. I wisely decided against it.

Stay tuned for more.

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