Monday, September 8, 2008

You've got mail....

Sitting in my email box at this very moment is an email that can change my life. It is not a get rci qucik scheme or a message for a contest I never entered but won nevertheless. No, this email is far more ominous. The subject line reads "your mpre score is ready."

For those who do not know, there are two exams a potential lawyer has to take in order to be accepted as a member of the bar. The first is the "bar exam", the traditional two or three day test which consisted of essay questions and the most difficult muliple choice exam you can imagine. This is the test that most people talk about when they say they survived the bar.

In most states, there is a second test which you have to take which is called the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam or MPRE. It is another multiple choice exam but focuses exclusively on the ethical dilemmas of the profession. Now why a test on ethics is a multiple choice exam instead of an essay is debateable but the important thing is that in Illinois, you have to score an 80 in order to be allowed to practice.

I took it a year ago and I got a 72. I am terrified of this email because if I do not score an 80, it does not matter how well I did the "real" bar. I will have to take it again and that means I have to wait until May to get sworn in. it also may mean I will lose my current job. My stomach is a mess and my nerves are a mess.

You would think that I would be confident as I took a special course and took a ton of practice tests yet there is still a little voice that whispers, "it is not enough"........

No comments: