Distractions … but better January 27, 2007
Posted by j in Distractions.add a comment
I managed to go through a whole lot of stuff this week. Finally. Yesterday I bludged a bit but I know, me bad. I found And now the bar blog while looking up some barbri lecturer – I think this is the first NY bar exam blog that I found that I can relate to, hard to explain but it’s not like um.. whingy and realistic.
Meanwhile, I watched all these Frontline docos online, it keeps me chained to the desk, it prevents me from surfing other sites (because the buffering would stuff up on the streaming) … All the ones about criminal justice is very interesting!
It took quite a while to work through all the examples in Estates – I swear, it took more than 3 hours … maybe I’m doing it wrong? but I did the question at the back of the lecture and I am rather pleased that it wasn’t completely go over my head.
It’s almost February, it’s 1 month to the bar exam… time to turn it on. I almost had a brain explode the other day doing a question even though I knew the areas & the elements. After that I thought, I gotta turn off the brain for a bit or I’m going to burn out.
Real Property lecture notes January 25, 2007
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My hand is killing me and I’ve taken a bit of a break today from writing (& less mouse scrolling and typing as well)! So much stuff!
I did just scan all my RP lecture notes in though, and they are somewhere on this posting, just because it was such a labour of love.
I can’t get these files working and i am too tired to figure out the issue. I read the FAQ, it sucked so let’s just do it this way. Leave me a comment with your email address (which I will have to ‘approve’ and it won’t appear on here) and I will send you a copy.
If your iPod nano freezes… January 24, 2007
Posted by j in General.5 comments
Oh it’s some rule it’s gotta happen once in your life. It only happened once to my own iPod, years ago, I almost forgot about the freezing of iPods! I was a bit freaked out (the thought of having to deal with Barbri over a non-functioning iPod at a time when the technicians were away was too painful) but then, thankfully, I have How to reset iPod bookmarked..
1. Toggle the Hold switch on and off. (Slide it to Hold, then turn it off again.)
2. Press and hold the Menu and Center (Select) buttons simultaneously until the Apple logo appears, about 6 to 10 seconds. You may need to repeat this step.
I am also now charging this iPod nano via my firewire cable – because these are 1st gen, they only charge through the firewire and not via a usb, so no fear of ‘accidentally transferring iPod nano contents’ to my harddrive & therefore erasing my self-learning iPod. (I even rang Apple to confirm, since I couldn’t take the silicone case off… the guy was quite amused.. he was like, ‘what do you mean it’s not yours and how come you cant’ take it off?!’, yeah they should all fire up .. it’s just that the 2nd gen ones have a different dock charger)
I would actually be interested in seeing what type of DRM they have installed! I mean, it’s only $150 to reformat the iPod right? There are lots of different ways that you can transfer music off your iPod (see iLounge tutorials. The pain of waiting for Barbri to send another iPod could be painful though. That would be cool to have the lectures on my computer, so I could fast forward adequately.
Still a bit behind… January 24, 2007
Posted by j in Burnout, Distractions, Gripes, Reflections.1 comment so far
My brain is tired and I can’t seem to keep up with all the assignments. Sometimes I stare at ebay listings, out the window, watch TV, cook… mindless things not requiring the mind to think TOO much but things that I can do which achieve something other than stress and confusion (fixing my network/ computer aside).
Today I did the first contracts question where I confidently knew some stuff. Cool. I’m slowly catching up on the questions I misse. I looked at the Bar Exam Survival Kit and Jeff recommends that when you first do the essays, you do it open book. I did that, it was good to have a safety blanket but I was only using it to refer to one or 2 points. So maybe I did learn something.
Meanwhile, since Barbri didn’t bother to give us self-study schedule a lovely Paced Program (yeah considering that we paid so much more for the ipod, you’d think we’d get a personalised paced program for us as well), we had to swap around everything ourselves and the assignments are out of wack. So maybe it’s a blessing I am slightly behind. I emailed them with the timetable as altered literally and the STILL haven’t gotten back to me 
Back to the RP lecture I go.
Real property nightmares January 24, 2007
Posted by j in Lectures.add a comment
I couldn’t sleep very well last night, i kept thinking ‘why would someone convey such defective title’ … hmm it must be because where I am from, we are very lucky to have the [give away terminology] title. Anyway, so I decided to do lectures 2 and 3 in one go, then digest.
The lecture, Paula Franzese, talks fast and sings… and also there is a lot to write down in the lecture hand out so if you’re not paying attention for a split second you would have lost it. I can’t even type the lecturer, it’s easier to fill it out and sort it later.
If you’re in NY, or out of state you may be lucky (if you read this blog) – I may just scan up the lecture and put it online. I need to scan the lot as my backup anyway. This way, you could save yourself from any handcramps.
I did it again…. January 21, 2007
Posted by j in Reflections.add a comment
I can hear one of our partners’ critism in my head… again.. I just got my essay back, the one I did in a rush in an attempt to try and not use my notes and just work off what I learnt.. also tried not to look at the back of the book at the answer. So I didn’t do really well.. just short of a pass which is bad. But I think I understand why I got the mark I got – I need to jump through all the hoops and support it with the facts in the question!
I can just hear the partner, and some law lecturer’s voices/ feedback… I sometimes just rush through to the answer and forget to go back to all the steps, to help the reader get there too. According to an experienced lawyer mate of mine, it’s partially because I used to work in -house and there we never really care too much about ALL the steps, because the business side just wants the answer. And clients are always getting back to us asking us for the answer, not the 20 million essays that went behind it. And partially it’s my permanent impatience. Oh well. So now I know!
Bar Exam Survival Kit January 21, 2007
Posted by j in Lectures.add a comment
I saw someone mention this Bar Exam Survival Kit on another blog (forgot which one) and I decided to buy it. It is actually very good. I really dig all the exam writing tips and the law charts.
Jeff Adachi is based in California but given the MBE is also tested there I thought it would be a good idea to get the book. I’ve really found it useful and is a good supplement to the Barbri Conviser Mini Review.
The website that you buy it from is also quick with the response and shipping is pretty cheap. It got to me in a week (thanks, USPS).
Bah…. very behind January 18, 2007
Posted by j in Lectures, Reflections.1 comment so far
I finally worked out how to effectively make Finepoints work for me. Notes from each subject actually amounts to 30 pages of typed notes…. which was daunting. It took me ages to do up NY Practice, but basically, I’ve been using the Main Headings in Fine Points as the big heading of a table, then each subject gets a column… so, what I effectively have is a ‘What’/ Elements & Rules/ [NY Distinction]/ Commentary
NY Practice took ages, because I LOATHE civil procedure. There is a good reason why I am not a litigation lawyer!!!
btw, is there anyone out there who isn’t a litigation lawyer/ judicial clerk who is blogging?!
Because I’ve had computer issues and stressing about it I’ve been a bit behind on the study. I’m working frantically to get the tables/ Finepoints summary AND keeping up the lectures. So I have lagged behind on the work. It’s a bit stressful… oh and of course this post is pure procrastination. 
My study room January 12, 2007
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I didn’t want to link to flickr link it so as to give away my location, but I am studying here. These were the best pics I could find.
Phew.. another week over! January 12, 2007
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Well lectures that is.
Contracts and Fed Con surprisingly ok. When they mentioned Hadley & Baxendale I had to laugh. … Is this the one case that every transactional lawyer harps on about?! [Indeed I have many a time, written pages of opinion on H & B...]
In the contracts lecture they were saying that you should just go back, review and learn so you are comfortable with it and move on, and spend the last 2 weeks cramming and memorising. Hmm I havne’ tbeen doing that. I’ve been revisiting each of the lectures in my spare time, so apart form some lyricless music that I am listening to, I am just listening to barbri lectures. Never in my life have I been so tied to a portable music player (yes, not even my beloved walkmans..) I’ve also been going back to my notes regularly, just skimming over the little details over and over again. It has taken me ages to come up with a super condensed set of notes for Criminal Law but I now get finepoints. I’ve got it up as a table and chart now, rather than little dot points.
