Dear Ladies Studying for the Bar at the Barnes & Noble Cafe,
Hey, Girls! It was great chatting with you yesterday. I felt so badly for you, sitting there surrounded by heaps of BarBri books, as I nonchalantly added Splenda to my no-whip, skinny latte.
Then, after wishing you “good luck”, you let me in on the fact that the study aids were a mere illusion, as your major accomplishments of the day to that point had been parousing (free-o-charge, natch) the better women’s magazines carried at B&N, sipping Frappucinos, and scarfing down scones (why yes, they are yummy, aren’t they?!). Moreover, you admitted to taking part in this same ritual (get to B&N at 9; read until 11; do about 25 MBE questions and then “study” until 5) daily since BarBri ended a week ago. Ah, yes, we laughed, studying for the bar is a bitch, isn’t it!?
After our encounter, I thought, “And people wonder why they fail the bar?!” Seriously. I am not saying that you need to be chained-up in a library 24/7 for the last two weeks of July, but you at least need to treat bar prep more like a job and less like the “reading days” before undergraduate exams. I am all for your taking some down time, but trust me on this, there will not be a MBE question predicated on why or why not empire-waist dresses will be hot this fall.
When I mentioned that I, too, had taken some “down time by seeing a movie or two, myself”, you chuckled that the only movie you should be watching right now would be one about the bar exam. Well, perhaps. But, I wonder, why aren’t you motivating? You both are going to (good) jobs, and surely, they will care greatly come November if your names aren’t on the pass list, so really, are you just in a slump, or do y’all need a kick in the arse?
Then, it came to me. Maybe the solution would be for a camera crew to follow you both around documentary-style for the next two weeks. Then, instead of finding out if you passed by refreshing the BBO page like, a zillion times, in the comfort of your own home, you would find out in front of the country on the Maury show. That’s right, the “who's-your-baby’s-daddy-Maury” show. Wouldn’t that do the trick? Would it NOT also be an entertaining ‘lesson’ for scads of unmotivated bar preppers?
Oh, yes, yes, I think so.
Anywho, gals, best of luck. I am sure that you’ll do great.
Love,
C
