Once upon a time I blogged about the patent bar--or at least how I was thinking about taking it if I could get through the hoops of the application process.
Here's a little update. I think I have all of the appropriate documentation to complete my application to sit for the patent bar. But I'm not ready to apply yet, because there are a couple other hoops. Once the USPTO (US patent and trademark office) approves my application, I have only 90 days to take the exam. The exam is the kind of exam that you really need some kind of prep course in order to have a hope of passing.
Last summer my boss purchased the prep material of my choosing for me. My initial hope was to take the exam before Christmas. That didn't happen. My new goal is to take it by the end of the summer. And I'm happy to say that I am fitting some real study time into my life.
But here's where I have a bit of a dilemma...The exam is open book, of a sort. I'll plan on taking the exam on computer, and I will have at my disposal a pdf of the manual from which the questions of the exam are based--the 1200 page manual in legalese. The version of the pdf reader that I'll get to use on the exam has a search function, but it only searches within a selected chapter, not the entire 1200 page document; so I'll still need to know which chapters to search to find the answers. My test prep software allows me to search the entire document, and so far I've discovered that I'm incredibly terrible at constructing effective searches to find the answers that I want--either I get no results or 1000+ results.
So, do I focus my study time on actually trying to know most of the material so I don't have to worry about looking up answers? (I've read estimates suggesting that you'll only reasonably be able to look up 25% of the questions if you want to finish the exam in the allotted time.) Or do I focus my time getting as good as I can possibly get at using the electronic manual and the search function? (I talked with someone who took the patent bar in November and his advice was just practice with the software that I have, adding that he was able to look up the answer to every single question).
1 comment:
I'd say have some superficial knowledge of it all, and get the chapters down. Obviously they don't expect you to know it all, so at least know where to find the answers. That's what I vote.
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