AP EXAMS 2010

[TinCow]

And that's why the question was legendary. An entire generation year of children denied their dreams just because we were off by one year.

Sounds a lot like the Summer 2003 Virginia State Bar Exam.

After graduating law school, all law students must pass the Bar to be able to practice law. The difficulty varies by state, but generally there are two parts: a standard federal multiple-choice portion which is the same in every state (except Louisiana) and a state-specific essay portion (some states also have a third 'practicum' portion). Each portion takes a full day. The test is only offered twice per year (Summer and Winter), and without it you cannot work as an attorney... so passing is extremely important. Fail, and you have to wait another 6 months before you can even make another attempt... and good luck with employment until then. There are an extremely large number of 'types' of law, such as Family Law, Patent Law, Property Law, etc. Some are relatively obscure, and some are extremely common. Nearly all law students take Bar Prep classes, particularly BarBri. BarBri actually holds about an 80 to 90% market share on Bar Prep courses, and since about 85% of all law students take Bar Prep courses, what BarBri teaches becomes gospel.

The three most common areas of law on Bar Exams are Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and Civil Procedure. Major questions on those appear every single year, often multiple questions. The Virginia Bar Exam has only 9 essay questions, and typically those three topics account for about 2.5 of the questions, sometimes more, so BarBri devotes a lot of time (weeks) to teaching those topics. By contrast, at the time I graduated law school, Commercial Paper and Secured Transactions had each only appeared on the Bar one time in the past 20 years. So, BarBri devoted almost no time (maybe 1 day) to teaching them and actually told people that they could skip over them if they were short on time.

The Summer 2003 Virginia State Bar Exam destroyed people. There were NO questions on Criminal Law or Criminal Procedure, and only half a question on Civil Procedure. At the same time, there was one full question on Commercial Paper and half a question on Secured Transactions (or vice versa, I can't remember exactly anymore). So, the stuff everyone had studied wasn't even asked, and the stuff no one had studied accounted for nearly 20% of the essay score. There was much anguish, and the failure rate jumped by a good 10 to 15%. It was a bad year for a lot of people. Fortunately, three days before the exam, Scienter and I decided that, even though we had been advised not to bother with Commercial Paper and Secured Transactions, we would study them anyway 'just in case.' So, we passed without any problems.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Sheesh. I'm sure the makeup of that test made somebody a lot of money (assuming you have to pay every time you take the exam).

[TinCow]

Sheesh. I'm sure the makeup of that test made somebody a lot of money (assuming you have to pay every time you take the exam).

Yup, cost about $800 to register and the BarBri course was about $4-5k. I guess if you had already taken it and still had the written materials, you might be able to do it the second time without taking the course again... but I wouldn't.

[Crazed Rabbit]

The Summer 2003 Virginia State Bar Exam destroyed people. There were NO questions on Criminal Law or Criminal Procedure, and only half a question on Civil Procedure. At the same time, there was one full question on Commercial Paper and half a question on Secured Transactions (or vice versa, I can't remember exactly anymore). So, the stuff everyone had studied wasn't even asked, and the stuff no one had studied accounted for nearly 20% of the essay score. There was much anguish, and the failure rate jumped by a good 10 to 15%. It was a bad year for a lot of people. Fortunately, three days before the exam, Scienter and I decided that, even though we had been advised not to bother with Commercial Paper and Secured Transactions, we would study them anyway 'just in case.' So, we passed without any problems.

Sounds like a silly way to test.

CR

[Ice]

Sounds like a silly way to test.

CR

The CPA Exam does the same thing unforunately.

I really don't miss AP Testing at all. I took chemistry, calculus, and biology when I was in 11 & 12th grade. Got a 5 on chemistry, 5 in calculus, and 4 in biology.

[Reenk Roink]

I remember when they said that AP exams were gonna be like the things you took in college. I took the AP Stats exam and it was hard but I was prepared and got a 4. Then I went to college confident and got my butt kicked HARD with the exams there... **** you AP.

[Ice]

I remember when they said that AP exams were gonna be like the things you took in college. I took the AP Stats exam and it was hard but I was prepared and got a 4. Then I went to college confident and got my butt kicked HARD with the exams there... **** you AP.

It was same with calculus for me. When I was at Michigan for my first semester, I took calc and had to work my ass off. I ended up with a B when I scored a 5 pretty easily on the AP test and had an A in 12th grade calc.

[A Nerd]

I got a 4 on an AP History exam when I was a senior in HS. Didn't use the accomplishment in college though, for I majored in History. I graduated college, but with mediocre marks. I found the professors uninspiring...perhaps that was because I wasn't paying them much attention...

[a completely inoffensive name]

Took AP US Gov. Going to take AP Physics B and AP Economics next week. Don't worry CR, I know my stuff (I think).

[Scienter]

The Summer 2003 Virginia State Bar Exam destroyed people. There were NO questions on Criminal Law or Criminal Procedure, and only half a question on Civil Procedure. At the same time, there was one full question on Commercial Paper and half a question on Secured Transactions (or vice versa, I can't remember exactly anymore). So, the stuff everyone had studied wasn't even asked, and the stuff no one had studied accounted for nearly 20% of the essay score. There was much anguish, and the failure rate jumped by a good 10 to 15%. It was a bad year for a lot of people. Fortunately, three days before the exam, Scienter and I decided that, even though we had been advised not to bother with Commercial Paper and Secured Transactions, we would study them anyway 'just in case.' So, we passed without any problems.

The people in my row were probably a little annoyed at my short happy dance when I saw the commercial paper question. One of the people at my table didn't even come back for the second day of the test. So glad I never have to do that again!

Sounds like a silly way to test.

Yup. It also has absolutely nothing with one's ability to practice law. It's simply an exercise to show how well you can memorize a ton of information and regurgitate it.

Even more ridiculous: in Virginia, there is a dress code for the Bar exam. We had to wear suits because we're supposed to dress as if we were going to argue in court. But, women were prohibited from wearing high heels because they're too noisy, so most the women were wearing suits and sneakers. Women weren't allowed to wear pantsuits to take the Bar until the end of the 1990s! Also, no one could bring bags in with them unless they were clear zip lock bags. So everyone could see people's medications, tampons/pads, and other private items that are normally concealed in a purse or backpack.