CA Bar Exam – Day 1: Earthquake! July 29, 2008
Posted by atharkhan in : CA Bar Prep, Personal , trackbackYes, we had an earthquake during the bar but fortunately no one was hurt or injured. It happened some time during the third hour. I was running behind on the essay when it started. At first I thought I was just feeling stressed — I was surprised and remember thinking to myself “Am I about to get sick?? I don’t ever get that stressed. This is new.” Then the ceiling lights started shaking and the whole conventional hall started creaking and shaking. I looked up and saw that a large beam and an air conditioning duct were rattling together. It still didn’t really sink in because it was so unreal and I had never been in an earthquake until today. Then I saw a lot of people in front of me dive under the tables. That’s when it finally sunk in — “oh… this is an earthquake!” I dove under that table so fast that I was giggling about it under the table. The guy next to me under the table was not amused.
I don’t remember how long we were under there — probably no longer than 20 seconds. Some people just kept on typing. When we came up, and sat back in our seats, it finally sunk in — we had just been in an earthquake. I hate to admit it but I was pretty rattled by the experience and took quite a bit of time for me to ease up. A proctor announced that we would get an extra couple of minutes and everyone applauded. I don’t really know if we ended up getting extra time but I am fairly sure we did. I considered writing something in my exam (e.g. “Pardon my incoherence henceforth because we just had an earthquake”) but then thought that it would serve no purpose other than calling more attention to any flaws in my exam. Besides, if I were reading something like that in an exam, I would think of it as complaining and not accepting responsibility for a hastily written answer. So, I decided not to. I will say however, that although I am not someone who expects any special treatment, just this once if the State Bar decided to be slightly forgiving of whatever I wrote in the last few minutes, I wouldn’t exactly demand that they grade me without any kind of handicap.
Overall, the exam was “okay.” The essay portion was “okay” — I don’t think I did horribly bad but I certainly don’t feel as if I am in the clear passing zone. I guess I will take “okay” over doing “horribly bad.” The performance exam was barely okay. I always walk away from those things thinking if I had 10 more minutes I could have done better. So, I can’t estimate how I did.
In any case, I am glad that it’s 1/3rd over. And, if we experience an aftershock tomorrow, I am taking the MBE booklet with me under the table! 
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