A tale of two bar exams

This year has been a crazy year for me not only because of Covid-19 but also because of the bar exams which I have to give. I gave two bar exams in a single month (October). First was the Connecticut State Bar exam, the first-ever online CT Bar exam, and the second one was the Patent Bar exam, the one which applicants have to pass to practice before the USPTO (the United States Patent and Trademark Office). Both exams are considered extremely complicated and tough. Normally they recommend 500-600 hours of study for the state bar exams and 150-200 hours of study for the Patent Bar, that too with very expensive bar prep courses. The point is they are not easy, and the applicant's professional career depends on passing those exams. 

The Patent Bar exam is a multiple-choice exam with 100 questions and the applicant needs to get 70 of them right to pass the exam. The exam is given at designated exam centers. The applicant has to book an appointment in advance within the USPTO's provided deadline (90 days from the day the application is accepted). Due to the pandemic, the USPTO was kind enough to make the deadline flexible as many exam centers were closed, and it was not known when they would open. When the centers finally opened, applicants were required to wear masks for the entire duration of the exam (6 hrs, two sessions of 3 hr each). The only issue some applicants face is the speed of a computer and the quality of MPEP (it's an open book exam, MPEP is the book on which the exam is based). When we are giving a high-pressure exam where time is critical, a delay of even a few seconds adds to the pressure. At some exam centers, the resolution of the pdf file of MPEP is not that great. Apart from this the exam is well designed and tests your ability to remember things from MPEP and search MPEP for required information quickly and accurately.

It was an altogether different story for the state bar exam. Normally, the state bar exams are conducted in person, and they are conducted over two days. However, this year due to the pandemic the state bar examination committees of various states including the Connecticut Bar Examining Committee decided to conduct a remote bar exam, the first remote bar exam in the history of the bar exam. By any standards, it was not an easy endeavor to take. In some states, thousands of applicants take the bar exam, and conducting a proctored exam using artificial intelligence proctoring was not an easy task. Plus there were other concerns like the security of question papers, internet connectivity, AI's bias in proctoring, computer availability with proper specifications to give the exam, and many more. There were multiple townhouse-type meetings conducted by the CT Bar Examining Committee members to listen to student grievances and to their credit they tried to answer each and every concern raised by the students. First, they eliminated the requirement of an internet connection during the exam, this was a big relief for applicants like me. My apartment does not have uninterrupted wireless connectivity and I am sure there are many who have the same problem as me. I was worried that if my internet connection gets interrupted I might be disqualified from the exam for no fault of mine. It was a big relief for me to know that an internet connection was not required during the exam. Applicants could download the exam up to 3 days before the exam and have time to submit their exam up to 3 days after the exam. They also waived the computer registration fee which is collected even during the in-person exam and also offered to pay for the hotel room accommodation for applicants who did not have a private space to take the exam. According to me, this was a great gesture by the Examining Committee as this was a genuine problem for many applicants as many live in apartments or houses where there is no secluded spot where they can take a lengthy exam without any interruption. The exam happened without many issues, it was a tremendous effort on many levels. Definitely, it was not easy for applicants as well as the examining committees to go through this process, but all of us did. I applaud the efforts of all candidates who passed and also those who didn't, they all put in their best efforts, some it worked, and for some, it will work next time, but we all were witnesses to a historical event.

This experience was unique. The preparation process even with the help of prep courses was very rigorous and demanding. It required a lot of commitment and discipline from my side. I could not have done this without the support of my family, friends, my law firm, and my mentors. They all played a crucial role in motivating me and encouraging me to take up this challenge. Of course, our age, stage of life, familial, and situations create their own challenges, these challenges are different for different people, and that's why our struggles, as well as our achievements, are unique. I am glad to be done with these exams and I hope anyone reading this will derive some inspiration that will help them to go through this rigorous and challenging process. 

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic. 

Get rid of your mask

Do you feel pressure to fit into society?
Are you living your life to fulfill the expectations of others around you?
Do you feel obliged to fit into a stereotyped definition of a man or a woman?
Are you doing things that don't interest you at all only because they make you look successful and accomplished in the eyes of others?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes or maybe, then you are living with a mask to project what people around you want to see in you, not what you want. Actually, among all the conditioning that has happened to us since childhood and all the chaos around us, it is not easy to decide what we really want to do. We are guided and misguided so much since our childhood that it becomes extremely hard for many of us to decide what we really want to do in our personal and professional lives. We are told to chase our dreams, but many times situations don't allow us to do that and for many of us it's not easy to decide which dream to chase as we have too many of them, or worse, some of us don't have a dream that we want to chase.

In this confused or conditioned state of mind, knowingly or unknowingly we all start wearing a mask. We don't even realize that we are wearing a mask. We start doing the stuff that others tell us is good for us. We start dreaming about a life that others say is good and happy and choose a career that others say is safe and rewarding. We want to be successful in the eyes of our parents, other relatives, and society. Nowadays, to make sure that everyone knows about our success story we start doing these things and post about them on social media so that people think that we are successful and happy. That mask forces us to choose only certain types of careers because those are only guaranteed to make us rich and happy. We hate our job but still do it as we need those big bucks which we believe will bring a lot of happiness. But the problem is, this mask makes us forget what we really want, in which things our happiness really lies, and what we would like to choose as a profession if we don't have burdens of expectations from others. That mask eventually becomes our face and we get stuck with it, rather we start believing that it's our real face.

I am not saying that getting advice from others is bad or we should not follow anyone's guidance. Many of us need some help to navigate the path of our lives and we should seek such help. But in the end, the choice should be ours, it should not be forced on us. To make such a choice and to live such independent life we need to get rid of our mask first. We need to break free from inhibitions that stop us from exploring new paths and testing our capabilities. Any career is not a bad choice if you are really good at it, but please remember that only being passionate is not good enough, one needs to acquire the required skills and expertise also to be successful in any field. If you are happy while working hard to acquire such skills and expertise this journey becomes more rewarding and fulfilling. So, get rid of your mask, look at the world with a fresh outlook, and see what difference it makes. Live life on your terms, this doesn't mean being irrational, erratic, and without any bounds, it means being rational, sensible, and practical. 

Michelangelo said, "I saw the angel in the marble and I chiseled until I set it free." We should not wait for someone else to see that angel in us, we need to find that hidden angel that resides inside all of us and make all the efforts to set it free. Getting rid of the mask that we wear to make people around us happy is one of those important steps in that direction. 

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.