Tuesday, December 21, 2010

A Glimpse of the Good Life

One thing I learned this fall is that lawyers kind of deserve their reputation as overcompensated societal parasites. I have lived in Little Rock for twelve years, but I had to enroll in law school to get a glimpse of the insides of the chichi Little Rock Club, the Little Rock Country Club, and the Arkansas Governor's Mansion. I visited all three last semester, and each had more old-money elegance than the last. I don't know what I'll do when I lose my privileged student status and am expected to pay to attend all these luncheons and galas. Now that I've seen the good life, can I go back to being a regular schmoe?

Monday, December 13, 2010

Decedents' Estates Exam

The lid is on my fall semester. The grand finale--the Decedents' Estates exam--was a horrible nightmare, but that doesn't mean much. I've taken three of this professor's exams, and they've all been horrible nightmares. It would be folly for me to try to predict my grade.

I will say this: I was very unnerved by the fact that I had to use a calculator to answer one of the questions. Lawyers, law students, and law professors hate math as a rule, so exam questions are usually formulated for minimum arithmetic. The fact that my answer did not come out in round, easy numbers is strong evidence that I did something wrong. I figure I lost some points there.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Federal Income Tax Exam

The Federal Income Tax exam is over and done with. It was comprehensive to be sure, but I think I had at least a plausible answer for every question. I won't flunk. Federal Income Tax was a bit like Business Associations for me: based on the course description, I assumed the worst, but the material turned out to be very interesting. I even registered for Tax Policy in the spring.

Also, it was a dirty trick for the administration to schedule an exam during the biggest basketball game of UALR's season. Shame!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Studying Without Outlines

This is the first semester that I haven't bothered to write outlines for any of my classes. I'm putting in lots of study time for finals, but I kind of miss the feeling of accomplishment and preparedness that comes from having one crisp document that lists all the things I learned in a semester. I guess I'm relying more than usual on luck this time around. It's a symptom of senioritis.