My Journey to the New York Bar - The Lesson

When it finally sunk in that I had not passed the most rigorous, intense and stressful exam ever, I thought to myself, I have two options; feel sorry for myself and give up or analyse where I went wrong and start preparing to resit the exam in February 2017. I chose the latter, bearing in mind I was due to fly to New York in just under 4 days time to sit the MPRE so not pursuing things further would really be a waste of my time and money.

I had the task of telling my parents, siblings and a few other people that I had not passed the bar exam. They had been waiting for my exam results too so I thought it was only right to let them know. My brother was surprised that I didn't pass and so was my mum. A friend of mine (though I know it was with good intention) commented that I should see if this is what God wants me to do. I knew deep down this was what I was meant to do and just because I did not pass first time, did not mean it was not for me.

 In life, we don't receive everything in the way we expect. There are things we will fail at multiple times until we reach where we want to be but through the process, we are forming resilience and maturing. Our character is being shaped and we are learning something (that's if we allow the experience to teach us).

 Sometimes we are not ready to receive what we want but through the process of waiting and working towards it, we are becoming the person we need to be. And when I look back, I see that's why I didn't pass.

 No way would I have been ready to achieve that level of success if I had passed first time. I probably would have become big headed boasting that I passed the New York Bar exam first time while living and working in the UK and only having 4 months to prepare for it.

 Although I was only 25 marks short of what I needed to pass the exams, I saw that my work and study ethic was quite lazy to be honest. I didn't take in all the tips and advice that were given to me throughout the course and leading up to the exam. Though I did make sacrifices, looking back there were things I didn't do because either I couldn't be bothered to do them or because it was too uncomfortable for me, such as waking up early in the morning to study before going to work and opting only to study in the evenings and weekends. 

There are different reasons why other people didn't pass but for me, I saw the reasons mentioned above were why I didn't pass. I only realised this when I did some soul searching, a self analysis and reflection of my journey so far.

 I knew that in order for me to be fully prepared to sit the exam again, I would need to up my game. I would need to have a completely different mindset, basically be the version of myself that I needed to be, to become a lawyer and not just a person with the potential to become a lawyer.

My Journey to the New York Bar - The Exam Results

A few months after sitting the bar exams in July, the anticipated day arrived… the exam results.

I had moments where I felt really anxious and fearful at the possibility of failing. To me, failure was not an option because I had invested too much time and money into this.  I had never experienced this level of anxiety over exam results. Not at school, college, university or waiting for my postgraduate exam results! Then again, the bar exam was a whole different ball game!

A week or so before the main bar exam results came out, I received my exam results for the New York Law Exam (NYLE) and failed by one mark! I couldn't believe it, just one mark away from passing. When I reflected on my attitude and the time I actually put into preparing for the NYLE, I honestly thought it would be a walk in the park and therefore I didn't dedicate as much study time to it as I should have. Even though it was an open book exam, I didn't really use my notes to double check my answers before submitting them. So this was definitely a knock back for my confidence especially as I was still waiting for the other exam results.

I had reached a point where I had to put the anxiety in God's hands and say to myself, ‘if I pass, then great, if not, it's not the end of the world!’ From the moment I did this, I had peace inside of me and I was no longer worried about my results. I started planning for the next one.

The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) was coming up in November 2016 and I decided to book my place and flight ticket to sit the exam in New York. This was the third exam needed to qualify as an attorney in New York. All together there are three exams applicants to the New York Bar have to pass which are; 1) the two-day multistate bar exams 2) the New York Law exam 3) the MPRE.

By mid October I had my place confirmed and started studying for the MPRE. Bar Bri International sent me the booklet that contained all the materials needed for the exam. This one didn't look as difficult as the others and the recommendation given was to spend around 25 hours studying, which would be enough to pass. As I started to study for it, I developed a tooth abscess which was so painful I couldn't concentrate properly. My face started to swell up and the dentist prescribed me with antibiotics.

October 28, 2016, I was in bed feeling unwell. When I woke up around 8am, I checked my phone and saw a lot of WhatsApp notifications. They were from the Bar Bri Crew group chat created for those who were enrolled onto the home study programme for the bar exam. The exam results had been released!!! I quickly went to check my emails.

I opened the PDF document and starting reading though the opening sentence which read.. “You are hereby notified that you did not pass the New York State Bar Exam..” I became somewhat numb. I just sat on my bed staring at the document, then put my phone aside and lay flat on my back. I don't know if it was because I was feeling unwell at that time, but I had no reaction whatsoever at that moment. My heart didn't sink as I expected it to. I just laid there…

My Journey To the New York Bar - A week before the exams

July 20, 2016. The day I flew out to New York.

I flew out 6 days before day one of the exams so that I could have enough time to get over jet lag and put in some last minute revision.  The weeks leading up to the flight were pretty intense but the time had finally come.

I stayed in a predominantly Jewish area in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It's only  in Brooklyn where I've personally encountered and communicated with orthodox Jews. You don't see them around where I live in the UK, but there's a Jewish community in London. I was quite intrigued to be honest and I personally found the Jewish people to be pleasantly polite. They are a close knit community and keep themselves to themselves.

During my one week stay in Crown Heights, I didn't feel unsafe at all. It's a quiet area with a consistent police presence. There was always police cars patrolling the area and at night time I saw why; the potential for others from neighboring communities to sell and deal drugs.

 I came across a family (behind me in the picture at the top) outside the apartment block I was staying in, selling water to cars sat in traffic. Even the children, one as young as 6 years old,  outside  hustling with their parents.

 There was a library less than 10 minutes walk. Brooklyn Public Library literally became my second home. I spent a lot of my time revising there. The library was always busy and full of different cultures and backgrounds.

I mostly spent my time in the African American library study room because it was also a quiet room. During one of my revision sessions, I noticed a number of kids doing different kinds of work in groups (see picture below). I spoke to one of the ladies who was tutoring the kids; a lovely retired teacher originally from the Caribbean who had studied in the UK before falling in love and moving to the US. She told me that she set up the study group a few years ago and runs these sessions in the evening during the week and at the weekends to help kids from disadvantaged backgrounds remain interested in education and improve their grades,  so that they can graduate from school. A high proportion of young males,  particularly in the black community drop out of high school.

 I found it pretty awesome that on such a hot day like it was (it was around 30 degrees celsius)  when those kids could have been spending the whole day playing outside, they took some hours of their day to attend the study session.

When I wasn't studying, I was going to the church services in Brooklyn, walking along Central Park or doing a bit and I mean - just a bit, of sight seeing.

 I was very fortunate, in fact blessed, to have a fellow Bar Bri International student, Samantha,  also staying in the Crown Heights area at the time of the exams.  In fact I became close to Samantha as we were preparing for the bar exams. She had just moved to London from South Africa after getting married and started studying for the Bar the same time as I did.

Thanks to Facebook and WhatsApp we kept in touch and helped each other out whenever we had a question or was confused about something. Sometimes we were confused together LOL. It was also nice to see a friendly and familiar face before and after both days of the exams. After the exams, we kept in touch and our paths would also cross again in New York later :)