Nachas,
I am sorry that you got academically dismissed and my heart goes out to you. I wanted to know if you took any practice exams prior to the actual test. You mention that you didnt test well.
I searched for practice exams, but all profs test differently and none of them have old exams available.
We mostly used law in a flash, E&E, and Q&A books for test review, along with emmanuels, and I did really well - often explaining why I answered the way I did to my study buddies who got the questions wrong and didn't understand the material.
I took an old practice exam for Contracts and scored 90%, but it wasn't at school, wasn't under the stress of a room full of law school students, and I didn't take the test thinking that it was representative of my entire grade in class. I just took the test under a 2 and a half hour time contraint.
The LD hit hard the day of the exams, my friends were all freaking out, and I was very nervous (and thought about my grandfather nonstop during the tests).
Note to pickle:
I'm still not buying the correlation between first semester grades and Bar exam scores either. I know dozens of lawyers, some who passed the bar first time, and some who passed it second go around. Some straight A law students passed first time and some had to retake, which is the same for people who barely squeaked by.
Then there's the old adage:
The A students become professors, the B students become judges and the C students make all the money
:-)
doods, do watcha like.
I don't think you will be admitted, graduate, pass the bar. But hey, use me as inspiration. Good luck Nachas! I mean it.
I usually hate it when people revive old threads, but it appears that I have a rare opportunity to prove that most of the people with their insane theories and nasty attitudes were and will continue to be dead wrong.
I was readmitted after one year. During that year, I clerked/paralegal-ed at a medium sized firm, got with my doc, got on meds, and started working on coping mechanisms.
Now that I am halfway through school, I am proud to report (mostly to the a-holes who said it couldn't be done, that ADHD doesn't exist, and that I am, in general, a failure who should seek another career) that I am on the dean's list - top 25%.
It turns out, ADHD is so real that the school hired a disability coordinator to assist students (like me) who have LD's that hurt their performance. I've studied hard, worked hard, and dedicated myself and proved every idiot on this board who said it was impossible wrong. I didn't do it to prove you wrong. I didn't do it to prove me right. I did it because I love the law and want to be a lawyer.
So, to those of you hiding in the shadows, afraid that having ADHD will prevent you from accomplishing your dreams, learn to ignore the ignorant and spiteful jerks who never miss an opportunity to kick someone when they are down.
To those of you who made fun of me for being affected by the loss of my grandfather, I feel sorry for you. If you don't get affected by a massive loss like that, the loss of your hero, a holocaust survivor who came to this country and was told daily that he would fail, a man who learned english, started a business, and retired not just a millionaire, but a community leader, you are dead inside. Good lawyers can't afford to be dead inside. If you suffer a personal loss, my advice is to speak to your professors and the school administration about it. You might be surprised at how far they will go to make it easier on you.
As I look forward to finishing the remainder of law school (the second half) and preparing for the bar, I take with me the great personal satisfaction of knowing that my struggle, while painful and embarrassing to go through, simply made me better.
To those of you who use these boards to ridicule people, make them feel worse, and pick on people who need help - don't worry, you will one day be judged for your behavior. And you will, of course, lose many cases to people just like me - people who struggled and fought on when you would quit. See, it says more about who you are than who I am when the best advice you could come up with was to quit, to give up, to find something else. People like me persevere. People like you quit when the going gets tough.
A few points I wanted to clear up:
JMLS does have a mandatory cut. They are required to academically dismiss between 10 and 15% of the yearly entering class. The numbers don't lie and are too consistent to believe that they don't. Every year, 10-15% are academically dismissed.
Bar exam statistics at my school show that the highest pass rate doesn't come from the students who, after the first year, got all A's or B's. Statistically speaking, people who had a B-/C+ average passed at the highest rate. Furthermore, if it wasn't for the mandatory curve, designed to eliminate 10-15% of students, there would be no reason for me to have been academically dismissed. I've met with the prof's who gave me the D's since coming back. Every one of them told me that I got screwed by the system, that they wished they could change it, and that they've lobbied for change but have been shut down. For the record, the classes I got D's in? I got B+'s in all of them.
ADHD is a real disorder. It affects millions of people. It has seen incredible breakthroughs in the last few years in terms of recognition, cognitive development, and medical treatment. I went for a full evaluation with a doctor who specializes in LD's and he told me, unequivocally, that I was a fairly typical case. He told me that many people come to him, having done well in their careers and well in undergrad, who find they have trouble in law school, med school, and grad school.
Sure, the bar is tough. I'm not afraid of it anymore though because I've been learning so much better now.
When people take shots at others who do poorly, go through difficulties that hurt their performance, and run into trouble, they expose more about themselves than they do about the person they took shots at. I am not stupid. I am not lazy. I am not an underachiever. I suffer from a medical condition recognized by the medical profession, the federal government, state government, and every educational system in the country. Making fun of someone with ADHD is exactly like making fun of someone with diabetes, MS, or any other medical condition they have no control over. Like a diabetic, I can control my condition with medication. The result isn't that I have an advantage over you, but rather that I am equalized to you. Furthermore, research has now determined that in certain circumstances, people with ADHD often have a distinct advantage over people without it.
Don't be embarrassed. Don't be afraid. And never give up on something you care about. If you care enough, you can and will overcome any obstacle.
Remember, people who never fail never really win.
"“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” - Colin Powell
"“Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.” - Zig Ziglar
“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” - C.S. Lewis
“Failure is the tuition you pay for success.” - Walter Brunell
“Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up.” - Chinese proverb
"Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. " - Michael Jordan
Here is a short list of successful people with ADHD:
Albert Einstein
Thomas Edison
Nelson Rockefeller
Galileo
Louis Pasteur
Alexander Graham Bell
John F. Kennedy
Woodrow Wilson
Here's an ABA article about lawyers with ADHD, printed well before this discussion began (oddly contradicting every moron who claimed it didn't exist and that people with ADHD can't be good lawyers):
http://www.abanet.org/genpractice/magazine/2006/oct-nov/adhd.htmlCranks, a-holes, trolls, and jerks love to sit behind their computers telling other people they've never met how stupid they are. These same people wouldn't dare say the same things to actual people standing in front of them. That's why they do it - they have no fear that what they say has repercussions. I'd love for even one of you to say it to my face, but you wouldn't because you are weak and afraid.
If you have suffered with academic difficulties and suspect you may have ADHD, don't self-diagnose. Go see a professional.
If you have been academically dismissed, of course reevaluate and think about whether the law is for you. If you decide it is, go for it. The idiots who tell you not to or guarantee you will fail? They don't know anything. They only think they do. They said I wouldn't be readmitted, yet I was. They said I would just fail out again, yet I didn't. They said I couldn't be successful, yet I am. Many of them will fail the bar exam their first go around. It's okay. They'll either follow their own advice and quit or they will realize that they need to try harder. Personally, I hope they stick to it and try again. Weak people quit when things get hard. Strong people struggle then get back up and try again.
I wish you all success (even the jerks with no sensitivity, compassion, or actual knowledge).
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