To recap, my last article was about how not to prepare for the bar exam. The chaos paid off, because I passed the Bar exam!
Passing the bar exam on the first go feels like winning the Olympic gold of law school. Not just in theory, either. It is the one moment everyone says is worth the sleep deprivation, the caffeine abuse, and the mental breakdowns over “what does this even mean” sections of the Penal Code. And as it turns out, they are right.
The thing is, I almost missed the whole announcement. That morning I woke up groggy, mostly useless, half-hungover from absolutely nothing. We had not expected the results to drop that day, so I did what any modern human does upon waking, checked my phone while still horizontal. And there it was. A notification. The results were out.
Heart palpitations, shallow breathing, and the immediate spiritual bargaining. I whispered a half-coherent prayer, something along the lines of “God, niokolee leo, fr fr fr. Please.”
The results were not being emailed. No, that would have been too easy. They were tucked away on each student’s online portal. I tried logging in. Nothing. Tried again. Still nothing. The same digital nonsense I had faced when registering for the damn exams in the first place [read that article here]. So naturally, I had to ring up the Council of Legal Education and explain, once again, that the portal had ghosted me.
Meanwhile, in the group chats, people were buzzing. Some were already popping virtual champagne, throwing around celebratory memes, tallying their nine “P”s like trophies. Others, not so much. Legal Writing and Drafting seemed to have taken more than a few victims (as predicted because what was even that?!). Memes were not the only things flying around. So were frustrations.
I, on the other hand, was just stuck. Waiting. Refreshing. Calling. Waiting some more. Eventually, someone forwarded the master list, and there it was, my name. I started counting the “P”s like a mad person. One, two, three… and finally, NINE. Nine beautiful, ordinary-looking capital letter Ps. Never have I loved a consonant more in my life.
The first call went to Mum. I like to think her prayers had a hand in the whole thing. Then I rang my siblings and my dad. Only after that did I let the world know, social media style. Same way my friends did. Celebrations were in full swing now, and I was not about to miss out.
Later, once my portal was back from the digital dead, I combed through each unit to see how I did. Most were solid. Some were better than expected. And then there was Conveyancing, I was 4 point pass the cut off. Just enough to stay in the “P” zone. But hey, a pass is a pass. Criminal though, aaah! My paper must have been the marking scheme because I cleared that!
Of course, not everyone got to celebrate. Some friends quietly sent their congratulations, clearly gutted. It stings. No way around it. But one bad exam does not cancel out everything else. People retake, regroup, and return. That’s the game. Eventually, everyone finds their nine “P”s. Some just take the scenic route.
Law School Diary Reads.