“It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over”
As some of you know, I follow Ohio State University college football. I was hoping for an OSU-Tennessee match-up in the upcoming College Football Playoffs, but those hopes were dashed when OSU lost to Michigan last week and Tennessee lost its second game of the season to South Carolina earlier in November.
In the current CFP rankings, OSU sits at No. 5 and UT at No. 7. The top four teams when the final rankings are released this Sunday make it to the playoffs.
While both teams technically have a chance to make it to the playoffs, the Buckeyes have a much easier road to make it into the Top Four than the Volunteers. But both teams need significant help from other schools since their season is over. And even then, it's ultimately up to the playoff selection committee.
Last night, No. 4 USC played No. 11 Utah in the Pac-12 championship game. The Buckeyes were hoping for a USC loss, as that scenario would likely bump the Trojans down in the rankings and allow the Buckeyes to move up to the fourth slot.
USC looked dominant early on, quickly jumping to a 14-point lead just minutes into the second quarter. At the same time, Utah’s offense looked sluggish while its defense didn’t appear to be able to contain USC’s quarterback.
I called it a night and went to bed. At that point, USC had an 83.5% chance to beat Utah, according to ESPN Analytics’ Win Probability chart.
This morning, I woke up to news that Utah beat USC by a score of 47 to 24! The Utes scored 24 straight at one point and went on to win their second straight Pac-12 title and likely keep USC out of the fourth playoff spot.
All this even though Utah had only a 16.5% chance to win the game at one point.
Like Yogi Berra and Lenny Kravitz have said: “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
I should've remembered that quote before going to bed, but it was already past my 9 o'clock bedtime. But you should remember that quote as you’re preparing for the bar exam.
Your undergraduate grade point average or LSAT score doesn’t define you. Nor does your law school GPA. And they shouldn’t. After all, those numbers are already set in stone, but your future isn't.
I sometimes refer to the bar exam as the “great equalizer.” It doesn’t matter what law school you attended, how you did on the LSAT, or what you earned as far as grades go. The bar exam brings graduates from law schools around the country together to take the same test at the same time. And regardless of backgrounds and previous performances, everyone is judged equally by the same licensing exam.
With almost three months until the bar exam, that’s plenty of time to prepare for the bar exam if you appropriately plan and study for the exam. And it’s important to know that, for the most part, you have complete control over how much work you put into your bar preparation.
One of my favorite quotes is not from Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, or Henry David Thoreau. It’s from Dwayne Johnson. Yep, as The Rock said: “Success at anything will always come down to this: focus and effort. And we control both.”
“Success at anything will always come down to this: focus and effort. And we control both.” - Dwayne Johnson
I love that quote!
You will hear me talk a lot over the next several weeks about completing BARBRI's Personal Study Plan. It’s so important to complete the PSP—or whatever study plan of your bar review course of choice—and complete it in the way that it is intended to be completed. The assignments are scheduled and spaced out in a way to take advantage of best practices and principles based on learning science.
Remember, for every 10% of the PSP you don’t actively complete, that equals about 40 hours of work missed. So, if you think you’re doing well by actively completing 80% of the PSP by the time the bar exam rolls around, know that there are likely other applicants who might have more than 80 hours of additional study time under their belts.
