For almost two years now, I've been writing two blogs simultaneously, each with its own set of rules.
My first blog is my public blog -- that blog is the one with my real name and my real information on it. However, the problem with that blog is that my friends and family know about it, so I have to be very careful what I write on it.
My second blog is this blog -- Frumpter. This is my anonymous blog, where for the past few years I have enjoyed the liberties of having a free exchange of thought, where I can write whatever is happening in my life -- the uncensored version -- without fear that my close friends and family (and prospective employers and others with snooping eyes who might do a Google.com search on my real name) will find out what is on my mind, or what I think of them or the situations I go through when the situations may be politically, religiously, or socially charged.
I found this solution of having two blogs to be the ideal. I post pictures on one blog, and on the other, I write what I think or the private things that I need to sort out. The benefit of this is that I have you -- the readers -- who have been so helpful in giving unbiased advice which has benefited my life in ways I cannot express, and I am grateful for the feedback you have given me over the years.
Occasionally, I have some people from my private life stumble onto this anonymous site, and since the events written about on this blog are so unmistakably those of my life (coupled with my writing style), my identity is immediately exposed and the person who stumbles onto this site, smiles and thinks, "I know EXACTLY who you are."
So to those valued friends who have decided to start reading from THIS blog instead of from the blog I have made public to you, I say "welcome aboard, enjoy the juicy details of my private life, and shhhh.... please keep this site to yourself."
[The toughest thing a blogger has to do -- especially when he or she has developed a solid readership and people start telling other people who the author of the blog it and the anonymity is diminished -- is to make the blog disappear (e.g. "oops, computer failure wiped out the blog") and to sadly start anew from scratch with a new blog name and web address leaving all his or her old blog readers behind.]
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Which company's questions to use during bar exam study
For those of you taking the bar exam, I received an e-mail from a friend today asking which questions he should study from to prepare for the bar exam -- Barbri questions? Pieper questions? PMBR questions? Adaptibar.com questions?
My answer was a resounding "YES."
I heard one of the bar exam speakers discussing it after a class. He said that one company legally doesn't have any leg up on any other company -- they all have access to the same questions. Of course, you've heard about the rumor of PMBR getting caught sneaking questions out from the bar exam, but know that it could have been PMBR that has circulated that rumor.
My experience is that all the questions are identical. The "Strategies & Tactics" book questions are easier to teach you how to take exam questions. The PMBR questions are your primary source for questions just because there are SO MANY of them. Barbri and Pieper's questions are about on par, each saying theirs are better. Adaptibar.com (my favorite because I used to spend countless hours on the computer in law school) 1) because their information is ONLINE, 2) because your progress is TRACKABLE (so you can see how you are doing on various topics and you can figure out which topics need work and which don't, 3) you have an online running of how everyone else did a) in your area, and b) nationally, and how many questions the average person answered -- that way you can keep up to par with everyone else taking adaptibar.com, and 4) their questions were totally simplistic, but they would REPEAT questions OVER AND OVER, which was annoying for me until I realized that each time they ask a question, THEY VARY THE FACT PATTERN SLIGHTLY to come to a different answer -- this seriously helped me to come to the realization that IT IS NOT ONLY KNOWING HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS that will give you points on the MBE, but that THERE ARE ONLY A CERTAIN LIMITED NUMBER OF WAYS that a question on any topic can be asked, and this will follow a certain pattern. This is what I learned from Adaptibar.com.
So in short, your source of questions is hands down PMBR, and you will do the most good if you review the answers right after you do a group (say 20-50) of questions -- this way, you'll learn the distinctions. Your BarBri/Pieper question book is invaluable for state law because that is not covered in the PMBR book. Adaptibar is good only if 1) you will use it a lot, and 2) if you take advantage of their tracking features.
I hope this helps.
Zoe
My answer was a resounding "YES."
I heard one of the bar exam speakers discussing it after a class. He said that one company legally doesn't have any leg up on any other company -- they all have access to the same questions. Of course, you've heard about the rumor of PMBR getting caught sneaking questions out from the bar exam, but know that it could have been PMBR that has circulated that rumor.
My experience is that all the questions are identical. The "Strategies & Tactics" book questions are easier to teach you how to take exam questions. The PMBR questions are your primary source for questions just because there are SO MANY of them. Barbri and Pieper's questions are about on par, each saying theirs are better. Adaptibar.com (my favorite because I used to spend countless hours on the computer in law school) 1) because their information is ONLINE, 2) because your progress is TRACKABLE (so you can see how you are doing on various topics and you can figure out which topics need work and which don't, 3) you have an online running of how everyone else did a) in your area, and b) nationally, and how many questions the average person answered -- that way you can keep up to par with everyone else taking adaptibar.com, and 4) their questions were totally simplistic, but they would REPEAT questions OVER AND OVER, which was annoying for me until I realized that each time they ask a question, THEY VARY THE FACT PATTERN SLIGHTLY to come to a different answer -- this seriously helped me to come to the realization that IT IS NOT ONLY KNOWING HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS that will give you points on the MBE, but that THERE ARE ONLY A CERTAIN LIMITED NUMBER OF WAYS that a question on any topic can be asked, and this will follow a certain pattern. This is what I learned from Adaptibar.com.
So in short, your source of questions is hands down PMBR, and you will do the most good if you review the answers right after you do a group (say 20-50) of questions -- this way, you'll learn the distinctions. Your BarBri/Pieper question book is invaluable for state law because that is not covered in the PMBR book. Adaptibar is good only if 1) you will use it a lot, and 2) if you take advantage of their tracking features.
I hope this helps.
Zoe
Sunday, June 03, 2007
No Science Degree... Argh.
It's very nice when everything is going your way, but when reality crashes down around you, things begin to seem a bit more dark.
I have been thinking strongly about the feedback I have been receiving over and over from law firms. They say I have no science degree, and they are right.
In college, I was a philosophy major. I am not quite sure why I did that -- perhaps I just wanted to graduate, and I didn't think that it mattered what I majored in, as long as I had the desire to succeed. I did take a science concentration, but that was to fulfill the pre-med requirements. Law school and patent law were the furthest thing from my mind -- I didn't even know they existed when I was in college.
Anyway, I've been kicking myself all day for not having the foresight to realize that a chemistry degree would have been the wise thing to do. I can't stop thinking about all those semesters I wasted on what?!? Descartes? Plato? Kant? I remember why I did the philosophy degree -- I wanted to be well rounded.
So the result? I'm having the hardest time getting employed as a patent attorney. I actually want to cry about this. This is really bothering me to the point that I spent all morning researching whether I should go back to school for a summer and a year to get my undergraduate chemistry degree. My wife and friends though say it is not feasible because I have responsibilities to attend to. I agree with them.
I'm going to write a letter to the Lubavicher Rebbe. I need help and a blessing.
I have been thinking strongly about the feedback I have been receiving over and over from law firms. They say I have no science degree, and they are right.
In college, I was a philosophy major. I am not quite sure why I did that -- perhaps I just wanted to graduate, and I didn't think that it mattered what I majored in, as long as I had the desire to succeed. I did take a science concentration, but that was to fulfill the pre-med requirements. Law school and patent law were the furthest thing from my mind -- I didn't even know they existed when I was in college.
Anyway, I've been kicking myself all day for not having the foresight to realize that a chemistry degree would have been the wise thing to do. I can't stop thinking about all those semesters I wasted on what?!? Descartes? Plato? Kant? I remember why I did the philosophy degree -- I wanted to be well rounded.
So the result? I'm having the hardest time getting employed as a patent attorney. I actually want to cry about this. This is really bothering me to the point that I spent all morning researching whether I should go back to school for a summer and a year to get my undergraduate chemistry degree. My wife and friends though say it is not feasible because I have responsibilities to attend to. I agree with them.
I'm going to write a letter to the Lubavicher Rebbe. I need help and a blessing.
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