Taking Advantage of Bathroom Breaks
Yesterday at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, No. 1 men’s tennis player, Novak Djokovic, lost the first two sets during his Wimbledon quarterfinal match against 10th-seeded Jannik Sinner of Italy.
Djokovic took a bathroom break before the start of the third set. He then rallied from his two-sets-to-none deficit to earn his 11th semifinal berth at Wimbledon with his 26th consecutive victory at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament, winning the best-of-five-set match 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 after 4 hours and 12 minutes.
Djokovic credited his turnaround specifically to this bathroom break, during which he said he gave himself a “mirror pep talk.”
During his post-match interview in front of the Centre Court crowd, Djokovic said the “bathroom break was the turning point.”
“Sometimes in these kind of circumstances where not much is happening positively for you on the court in terms of tennis and the other guy on the court is dominating the play, sometimes these things are necessary. A little break, a little pep talk, and try to recuperate and re-gather the thoughts and reassemble everything that you have and [counter] your opponent with the best possible game.”
And that’s why Djokovic is one of the best men’s tennis player in the history of the game, both technically, physically, and mentally.
Some tennis pundits credit Djokovic’s childhood—growing up in the 1990s in Serbia and enduring war, crisis, and sanctions—as giving him the mental strength and never-give-up attitude to help him push through matches when all seems lost, like it did against Sinner yesterday.
But Djokovic seemed to fully understand that, in a best-of-five-set match, losing the first two sets doesn’t mean that you’ve lost the match.
So, he took a break. He gave himself a pep talk. He regathered his thoughts. And he started the third set as if it were the beginning of a new match.
Djokovic’s mid-match strategy is instructive for bar examinees.
During the two days of the Uniform Bar Exam, you’ll be taking four three-hour segments of testing. On Tuesday morning, you’ll be completing two 90-minute Multistate Performance Test questions. On Tuesday afternoon, you’ll be completing six 30-minute Multistate Essay Exam questions. The next day, on Wednesday morning, you’ll be completing 100 multiple-choice questions in three hours, and you’ll repeat the process after lunch, for a total of 200 questions.
Three hours is a long time to sit and concentrate on answering questions. You may find your mind wandering during the middle of one of the testing sessions. Or you may find yourself being frustrated at not being able to recall the law for an essay question or a few multiple-choice questions.
If this happens, do what Djokovic did—take a bathroom break. Do your business. Look in the mirror. Give yourself a pep talk. Regather your thoughts. And return to the task at hand. (Oh, and, remember to wash your hands, too!)
A bathroom break during the examination can serve as a good way to break your negative thoughts, to help you recall information that you might not be remembering at the testing table, and to allow you to refocus during the long blocks of testing.
Make sure you review your testing jurisdiction’s policies and procedures for bathroom breaks:
For Tennessee, the rules can be found on Page 4 of the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners’ General Instruction Manual under “B.3. Leaving Your Assigned Seat During the Exam”:
If you need to leave your seat for a restroom break during testing, follow this procedure:
Flags will be used to indicate when you may leave your seat for a restroom break, as explained by the Chief Proctor.
Take your printed test materials (all question books, answer books or sheets, laptop instructions), to the table designated by the Chief Proctor during instructions for restroom sign-out. Your Applicant ID Number and Seat Number must be on your materials.
Place your test materials face down on the proctor table and sign out as instructed by the Proctor.
When you return, show your badge to the proctor, who will confirm your Applicant ID number and return your test materials to you.
You may not leave the Secure Area for any reason during the examination. Leaving the secure area will disqualify you from the exam, nullify your scores, and subject you to review by the Board.
Failure to bring your printed materials to the designated restroom table or to sign out/in is a violation of the Code of Conduct and will disqualify you from the exam, nullify your scores, and subject you to review by the Board.
Page 7 of the General Instruction Manual (C.1. Secure Area) describes the “Secure Area” as including “the registration tables, restrooms, and any hallway area to, from or around the registration tables, or restrooms, as well as the exam room.”
