I flew to New York on Wednesday 2 November 2016 to sit the The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) on Saturday 5 November. This exam relates to the professional conduct of lawyers and must be passed, along side the Multistate bar exam and the New York Law Exam, in order to be admitted as an attorney in New York.
I had barely studied for this exam because I was still nursing a tooth abscess that had turned into an infection and now had also affected my body so much, that my joints were in pain. I was constantly feeling feverish and unable to concentrate or sleep properly. I was still on antibiotics and taking pain relief, when it was time to fly to New York, but I had just got my mind back on focus and determined to see this journey through until the end.
I did a bit of studying during the 7 hour flight. In between studying, I watched the film Selma and cried so much LOL. I don't usually cry when watching films but this film touched me so much. I couldn't hold back the tears!!
When I arrived in New York, I used the three days I had left to study as hard as I could. I spent most of my time in the library and only went out for fresh air and to eat. When exam day came, I felt relatively well and ready for the exam. Whilst waiting in line outside of the exam venue, I started speaking to a young lady. She was telling me that one of her friends had recently qualified as a licensed attorney after failing the bar exam more than five times!
After I told the young lady about my recent experience of finding out that I didn't pass the bar exam, she told me that despite not passing, I did well to get passed the 200 mark because apparently, a lot of US law students have previously struggled to reach over 200 and get the marks needed to pass first time. The fact that I wasn't so far off from passing the exams, having only spend three and half months studying for the bar exam while working, I didn't do too bad! I had not thought of it in that way and speaking to her actually helped me to see the positive side of the results and having confidence to re-sit the exam in February 2017
I also did my own research, I think as a way to console myself, and discovered that Michelle Obama, President Franklin Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton and John F. Kennedy did not pass the bar exam first time. Benjamin Cardozo who has a law school named after him in New York, failed first time! Reading these stories definitely helped to remind myself that I was not a failure nor did this have a reflection on my intellectual ability, but simply that I needed a better study strategy and to work harder.
Anyway, back to the MPRE exam. I received the exam results about five weeks after sitting the exam and was happy to learn that I had passed the exam and scored a high mark too! This was definitely a confidence boost in preparing to re-sit the Bar Exam.
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