It doesn't seem possible, but I'm a few weeks into bar studying now. (46 days to go) I thought I would give my thoughts on the iPod so far.
I'll start with the first thing people say when I tell them that I am studying at home: how will you concentrate/motivate?!?
The Bar is a big, scary thing that people talk about and prepare you for starting in your first year of law school. Most people know that they will probably pass, but God, they don't want to be that person who doesn't. And I have several friends from all kinds of law schools that did fail the first time. It sucked. As much as you remind yourself that it's a stupid test not indicative of intelligence or future success, it would be horrible to not pass when everyone else you know is getting sworn in. Not to mention the cost to apply and study for the damn thing again would be awful.
So basically what I'm saying is: You will find the motivation to study and you will force yourself to concentrate. I really don't think that listening to lectures on an iPod instead of in a warehouse lecture hall affects that at all.
What I like about the iPod:
* I don't have to drive somewhere everyday
* I don't have to be around a ton of other stressed out people everyday
* I can fit studying in where it fits, rather than planning my life around classes
* Sometimes I can multi-task - the other night I was listening to Con Law lectures while I did my laundry. Now that I have handouts to fill out, I can't just listen while I drive or take walks anymore, but it's still nice to be able to walk around the house or sit in my bed.
* It feels like I'm more in charge, even if I'm not. I sort of loved final exam weeks because I could make up a pretty, color-coded study schedule and adjust it when I needed to and, most importantly, draw a big X through each day as I finished it. Studying on my own is like that, I'm in control for the most part.
What I thought would be great, but isn't:
* I thought having the iPod would be so important for giving me a flexible schedule this summer, important because I have Timmy. Well, it is and it isn't. The paced schedule still has more than enough stuff to do in any given day. Even if I'm not listening to lectures at a certain time of the day, I still need to study pretty much all day.
A typical day for me now: Wake up and feed Timmy between 6 and 7am. Eat breakfast/shower/etc... while he naps around 8:30. My nanny gets here at 10am, but I still need to feed him around 10:30, 1:30 and 4:30. She leaves at 6pm, at which point I bathe and feed Timmy, putting him to bed at 7pm. I eat dinner with PJO, wash dishes and study for maybe another hour before going to bed. Basically, I barely have 8 hours a day to study, even though I study at every chance I get.
I still like the fact that I'm flexible and able to be home so that I can feed Timmy (especially since he won't take a bottle anymore), and so that I could really transition with the nanny. But on a daily basis, I don't really feel like I have a flexible schedule.
* I thought that doing the self-study option would totally remove me from my peers taking the bar and the attendant stress. But really, this hasn't been true. I still hear from my friends all the time about the Bar, and exactly what they're doing is posted all over Facebook at any given minute. I could choose not to look at that, but really, I've never been very good at avoiding Facebook.
Basically, unless there is a good reason to do the iPod instead of attending class, I don't really think it's worth it unless someone else is paying for all of the cost. If you would have to drive more than 30 minutes each way to class, or if you work, or if you can't leave the house during the day, it's great.
I am still glad I did it for my particular situation, but if I had to do it over again, I might have tried to get a nanny to start earlier so I could transition her before the class started.
So there are my thoughts so far. They might change in a month when we get closer to the test.
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing! I've heard/read of people doing the iPod version of Barzam studying, but nobody really ever said whether it was worth it or not!
I'm putting down my 2nd BarBri deposit this fall and just came across the invoice from last fall.
Dang, even just *trying* to become a lawyer here is so expensive! I refuse to think about the stats for the CA Bar, because it makes me nervous and who needs 2 years of nerves?!
Good luck with the rest of your studying! You'll do fabulously!
I loved the iPod option. Loved, loved, loved. Well, to the extent anyone can love something associated with barbri.
Now, nearly a year out from the exam, what I appreciate most was the isolation. I did not study as much as I could for the Bar (for example, the Paced Program? is insane and unnecessary) but I was never that worked up about it. I did what I knew I needed to do and let it rest at that. I think if I'd been going to those classes with a hundred other insanely stressed out people I would have become stressed with them. Whereas now I can look back on my summer and remember all the time I spent at the pool and unpacking and laughing with Landon and not panicking in the study with a stack of notecards. Don't get me wrong, I still studied a lot, I was just able to control how freaked out I was better than if I'd been surrounded by other test takers on a daily basis. This is also why you shouldn't get to the actual exam too early and why you should run out the door at the end- I think hearing people talk about it would have sent me straight into a panic attack.
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