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Bar Exam Preparation

Dominating the Essays: Organize Issues and Prioritize Rules to Know on the Bar Exam

Ever wonder how you’re supposed to juggle everything in your head? How do you prioritize the rules to know for the bar exam?

How are you supposed to learn all this when time is tight? How do you tackle the massive body of rules to know?

How do you know you’ve completed the essay in full? Did you even talk about the correct issues? Are the graders going to give you the points? Are they even going to read your prose?!

You’d love to start practicing essays but feel like you just haven’t learned enough law yet. It’s overwhelming to even begin.

At least the answer is right there in MBE questions… If you’re a bar taker struggling with coming up with what to write, essays are the bane of your existence. Your rambling paragraphs start to blur.

Let’s breathe. We can simplify the essays and make them less scary…

Key takeaways:

• Issues: Learn not just the rules but also how to present and organize the issues (with examples below)
• Rules: Highest-priority issues and rules are those that have appeared in the past (there are two other priorities)
• There are efficient and effective ways to hit both of the above at once

Know not just the rules but also the issues

Put yourself in the essay grader’s shoes for a moment…, so now, as the applicant, what can you do to get the most points on the essays, 1) don’t write like a lawyer. write like a bar taker., 2) organize the issues., prioritize memorizing the rules and issues in this order…, 1) issues and rules that have appeared in past exams, including main issues, sub-issues, defenses, 2) issues and rules deemed important, 3) other fringe issues and rules that might come up (rule against perpetuities, anyone), take your practicing and memorizing to the next level.

Before getting into how to prioritize the rules for the bar exam, I need to emphasize something else first.

After working with readers and coaching clients over the years, there are two things that have become apparent:

• Writing essays on the bar exam is NOT about writing like a lawyer
• Issues are king (I talk about this more in this video )

That’s why gaining experience and intuition through writing bar essays is so helpful. You won’t be too surprised or lost on what to write about during the exam.

Meanwhile, some bar takers think they have to write a beautiful treatise so that bar graders can put on a monocle, do a deep literary analysis of the romance between P and D, and press it against their chest while looking out the window because your prose tugged at their heart.

The graders couldn’t care less about that LOL

If it helps, think about the time you watched someone slowly lose interest in you while being unable to do anything about it. And how futile texting them your thoughtful walls of text was.

You sigh at the pile of essay answers that waits for you every day.

You have thousands of the same shitty ass essays to sift through. You have to try to be consistent and fair across all those essays. You try your best at your thankless job, and all they do is complain about your “subjectivity.”

You also want to get through these essays as quickly as possible since you’re already getting underpaid. You’re already reading these answers while at the red light or sitting on the toilet. Your life is blurring together.

Perhaps it’s time to cut corners. Maybe just look for the headings and scan for keywords in the analysis…

This becomes a fairly mechanical process once you get through several similar issue patterns. Like fact patterns , there are corresponding issue patterns .

Prior law experience or creative writing will detract from answering the way graders want you to.

Practicing attorneys tend to not do as well on bar essays because this is a SEPARATE skill from real practice.

How do you write the way the graders want to see? Write like a bar taker instead:

Make the issues loud and clear. Punch the grader in the eyes by creating clear headings. Break out the sub-issues and elements into their own “street signs” for the grader.

Here’s an example of a major issue ( Contract Formation ) and an element (Offer) clearly called out, and their corresponding principles (rule statements):

In fact, being able to identify (or “spot”) and organize the issues is at least as important as knowing the rules. ( Here’s how to make issue identification a systematic process. )

It’s not about long-winded analyses or writing beautiful rule statements (neither got me to pass the first time).

Issues are where everything starts. An IRAC can’t sprout (and you get no points) from a seed that’s never planted.

Identifying the relevant issues is a signal to the grader that you understand what’s being tested. Rules and applications will naturally cascade down from the issues like a waterfall. Yes, you still want the meat of your answer written well.

Think of it as submitting a resume (or texting a girl). Hit the main points that the reader will care about. You’re but one out of a pile. Just a number. A hassle to go through. Better make the most out of the 10-15 seconds of the recruiter’s attention.

There is a certain logic and order to how you approach each issue.

Example of how to organize a call of the question in an Evidence essay:

You can even start to notice common issues that clump together (that you should discuss to get as many points as possible):

Here’s one for a Civil Procedure essay. Just plug and play the rules:

This is like 75% of the essay, so don’t freak out if it looks like a lot. But it’s a lot more structured than trying to start by typing a mess of words, right?

The best part: These issues clumps repeat! There are issue patterns like I said above. So if you see another SMJ or PJ question, just plug and play the same thing as here.

Outlining the issues and filling in the blanks should become a routine process because you will have seen the patterns so many times. Success is boring, not sexy.

If you have issues outlined like this, you’re pretty much home free. Do this for every essay, and you’ll know how to solve similar essays that appear on the bar exam.

OK, so that was about issues. Now about prioritizing rules…

Of course, you still need to know the law corresponding to the issues you identify. But if you need to prioritize, narrow the field of issues and rules in this order:

Issues and rules that have been tested a lot tend to be tested again. The more they’ve been tested, the more important they are.

Learn the important issues and rules by solving problems from the past and studying the answers.

• Find a collection of past essays and PTs here (for the California and Uniform Bar Exams).
• Find real MBE questions from sources such as Emanuel’s Strategies & Tactics for the MBE or AdaptiBar .
• Here are the biggest (highly tested) areas on the MBE.

You don’t need to have “learned enough law yet” before you dive into the pool! Trying to ensure that is exactly how I failed the California Bar Exam my first time.

Knowledge removed from the facts is nothing. It’s all artificial if you don’t know how to use it.

Seeing real problems will be productive because it will reveal what you know and don’t know. It’s like getting on the scale to measure yourself. THEN you can review and fill in the gaps.

The essay and MBE questions you go through now will become familiar fact patterns you might see again on the exam. Practicing and self-critiquing your work help you accomplish everything you seek:

• Getting better at identifying issues
• Memorizing and remembering rules through active recall
• Knowing how to apply the rules you memorized
• Picking the right answer on the MBE more often
• Gaining confidence

In other words, practicing will help solidify everything, including understanding and retaining the important concepts likely to be tested. Exciting!

You may not get through all the past essays, but you may have a feeling that there are issues and rules that would be good to know.

Maybe you’ve seen them around somewhere, maybe in law school or mentioned in a bar prep lecture. Typically, they’re listed in outlines .

You’ll still need to rote memorize these things, unfortunately. MBE questions especially may test you on specific obscure rules.

Note that I continue to mention issues and not just rules. That’s because memorization isn’t just about memorizing rules .

Better to at least get familiar in case they ask you about it.

When I retook the bar exam, there were essay questions I wasn’t sure how to answer because I didn’t know about zoning (issues I didn’t know about) and criminal prosecutor ethical duties (rules I didn’t know).

Even though my life flashed before my eyes thanks to these gaps in knowledge, I still passed the exam by focusing more on the first two priorities during bar prep than absolutely everything at once .

Now you know where to focus if you’re short on time. If you feel tempted to skip over subjects based on predictions , try this approach instead.

It’s still a lot to learn, though.

If you want to make the material more manageable and less overwhelming, check out Magicsheets and Approsheets.

Magicsheets condensed outlines contain all three of the above categories of priority—covering 95% of the testable issues and rules in 5% of the space of your bar prep course content.

Approsheets issue checklists and flowcharts help you hit all the relevant issues on an essay so you can stop having that “blank screen syndrome.”

It’s a no-brainer if you want to invest in your dreams:

• AdaptiBar vs. UWorld MBE QBank: Which one should you get?

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Top 17 Bar Exam Essay Writing Tips | MEE

Bar Exam Basics | MBE Tips | MEE Tips | MPT Tips  | MPRE Tips

The MEE is normally the first part of the first day of the bar exam (some states reverse the order and have you do the MPT first). You have three hours to write six essays. That makes for about 30 minutes per essay. The six essays account for 30% of your total UBE score. Twelve topics are fair game, and you won’t know which will actually pop up—almost any combo is possible.

Some use CRAC; others use IRAC. But why use something that sounds like an illegal drug or a torture apparatus when you could just remember UROC?

Mee tips & tricks, tip #1 – study all the mee subjects.

Trying to streamline your studies by guessing which subjects you’ll actually have to write about is a risky recipe for ulcers.

• What are the MEE subjects? All seven of the MBE subjects plus five MEE-specific subjects. Again, the seven MBE subjects are Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts. The five MEE-specific subjects are Business Associations (which covers agencies, partnerships, corporations, and LLCs), Conflict of Laws, Family Law, Trusts and Estates, and Secured Transactions. Typically, each essay only hits one subject area, but some combine multiple, like Family Law and Conflicts, Criminal Procedure and Evidence, Agency and Torts, and so on.

Tip #2 – Competence before practice

You want to practice writing good essays, not bad ones. Good ones require knowing the right rules.

• Remember the tips we gave you for memorizing the MBE rules; use the same techniques in tackling the MEE rules—target the right content within each subject based on the NCBE’s—the company that writes the UBE’s—own outlines, and use accurate prep materials, mnemonics, flashcards, audio outlines, chunking, and so on.

Tip #3 – Use the real stuff

Use real practice questions and point sheets.

• The NCBE publishes old MEE questions and their point sheets—the sheets actually used to grade those old MEEs. Like past MBE questions, you can buy past MEE questions directly from the NCBE or through Crushendo.

Tip #4 – Time yourself

Practice writing each essay under timed conditions.

• As with the MBE, your pace and productivity are half the battle. Though strenuous, push yourself to complete each practice essay within 30 minutes.

Tip #5 – Time some full MEEs

Practice writing some full MEEs under timed conditions.

• It won’t be enough to rock one essay in 30 minutes, you’ll need to do be ready to do six back-to-back. Don’t let exam day be the first time you attempt that grind.

Tip #6 – Tackle the most familiar subjects first

• You can do the essays in any order. Do the less intimidating ones first. This does not mean you should read all the questions and fact patterns top-to-bottom before diving into your first question. It should only take a minute to glance at all six questions and get a decent feel for familiarity.

Tip #7 – UROC

UROC . I mean it. Some use CRAC;  others use IRAC .

But why use something that sounds like an illegal drug (or a way to smuggle it into a prison) or a torture apparatus when you could just remember UROC ?

UROC is your basic structure for addressing each issue in each essay. Each essay will have multiple UROC structures. Bar essays are not creative works; organization should be formulaic and predictable.

• U pgraded issue
• O perate on the facts
• C onclusion

Tip #8 – Upgrade the issues

• Each question will hand you the basic issues. Write those down; you must address each. But don’t settle for how they’re framed; upgrade them. Issue statements in point sheets are normally more detailed and helpful than the issue statements in the questions. Your issue statements should be similar in caliber and quantity to those in the point sheets. Study point sheets carefully.
• Example . Don’t just say: “Is Jane liable for Bob’s injuries?” even if the question puts it in such basic terms. Instead, say something like, “Can Bob recover damages from Jane under a negligence claim when they crashed after Jane ran a red light while Bob was speeding?”
• Upgraded issue statements not only give graders a good first impression, but they offer a basic outline for each UROC structure.

Tip #9 – Avoid fluff

Avoid lengthy intros and summaries. Your upgraded issue statements should suffice.

Tip #10 – Keep it simple

Keep rule statements simple. Lay out the basic elements or factors and mention any relevant defenses.

• Example . Negligence requires duty, breach, actual cause, proximate cause, and damages. A common negligence defense is comparative negligence.

Tip #11 – Outline issues first

Write all your upgraded issue statements and general rules before operating on the facts under each. This will give you a solid outline to follow for your entire essay.

Tip #12 – Operate on the facts

Four things to remember about operating:

• Like the MBE, one thing that will help you isolate helpful facts is reading the actual questions before the accompanying fact patterns.
• Second, operate in order. Work through the facts in the order of the elements, factors, and relevant defenses laid out by your basic rules.
• Example . You could begin your paragraph addressing proximate cause with “Proximate cause means the type of harm was reasonably foreseeable.” And then immediately apply the specific facts to that specific law by saying, “Serious broken bones are a reasonably foreseeable type of harm for blowing a red light and causing a high-velocity car accident. Thus, Jane’s actions were likely the proximate cause of Bob’s broken back.”
• Fourth, like any good surgeon, don’t leave behind foreign objects. Don’t invent or assume facts. Stick with what you’re given.

Tip #13 – Conclude quickly

Conclude quickly, highlighting the scale-tipping facts.

• Remember: Graders don’t normally care much about what you conclude, but instead, how you got there. Stress less about whether you got your conclusion “right” and more about whether you supported your conclusion.

Tip #14 – Embrace active voice

• Jane hit Bob.
• Not: Bob was hit by Jane.

Tip #15 – Don’t use citations

Don’t waste time on specific citations.

• With the exception of key constitutional amendments, you normally should not spend study time memorizing the specific sources of law, or exam time citing them.
• That said, it does not hurt to name other basic sources that you happen to know, if name-dropping does not slow you down or interrupt flow.

Tip #16 – Double-check

Spend a couple minutes at the end of each essay double-checking that you hit all the issues, major rules, and key facts.

Tip #17 – Type fast

Type faster than 50 words per minute. If you cannot comfortably type at least 50 words per minute, consider taking a typing course. Some good free ones are available online.

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What Is On the Bar Exam?

By Laura Temme, Esq. | Legally reviewed by Steven J. Ellison, Esq. | Last reviewed December 01, 2022

Legally Reviewed

This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by  FindLaw’s team of legal writers and attorneys  and in accordance with  our editorial standards .

Fact-Checked

The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our  contributing authors . We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please  contact an attorney in your area .

Studying for the bar exam is one of the toughest challenges aspiring lawyers face. While the multi-day test itself will go by in a flash, the weeks leading up to this brutal exam can feel like an eternity. Although study guides and bar outlines can assist you in navigating this journey, practice bar exam questions will arm you with the skills and experience you'll need to succeed on test day.

Generally, bar exams are divided into essays, performance tests, and multiple-choice questions. The bar taker's answers in all three areas are combined and weighted to calculate their score.

By learning the ins and outs of each type of test, you can better understand the test as a whole and develop strategies to attack it.

What Is the Uniform Bar Exam?

Created by the  National Conference of Bar Examiners , the  Uniform Bar Exam  (UBE) is a multistate exam composed of three different types of tests:

• Multistate Essay Examination  (MEE)
• Multistate Bar Examination  (MBE)
• Multistate Performance Test  (MPT)

The benefit of taking the bar exam in a UBE state is that it provides you with a “portable score." Your UBE score can be transferred to other UBE jurisdictions, allowing you to practice law in a different state without having to take the bar exam again. Thirty-six states have adopted the UBE as of 2022. For more information about different state bar exams, see the chart below.

Keep in mind - the states that have adopted the UBE can set their own minimum passing score for bar admission. So let's say you score a 265 on your UBE. In  Minnesota , that's a passing score. In  Texas , it's not.

Most states use at least one part of the UBE for their bar exam. And even if they don't, you can expect a similar format. For example, a state may choose not to administer the MPT, but you'll likely have to complete a state-specific performance test instead. 

Learn more about the components of the bar exam below.

Bar Exam Essays

Essays are the most common type of written test used by state bar examiners. They usually consist of a 2-3 paragraph fact pattern followed by a call of the question. The topics of the essays depend on the jurisdiction where you'll be taking the test. Each essay can consist of either one area of law or multiple areas of law, often called "crossovers."

While the topics tend to vary by state, the  Multistate Essay Examination  (MEE) and most states focus on these areas of law:

• Business associations
• Conflict of laws
• Constitutional law
• Criminal law and procedure
• Federal civil procedure
• Real property
• Secured transactions
• Trusts and estates
• Uniform Commercial Code

The particular areas covered vary from exam to exam. While the Multistate Essay Exam consists of six 30-minute essay questions covering up to 12 areas of substantive law, state-drafted essays can vary in length. All essays are graded exclusively by the jurisdiction administering your test.

The National Conference of Bar Examiners provides an  MEE Subject Matter Outline  to help students focus their bar exam prep. However, not all topics listed appear on every exam. Some services release predictions of MEE test subjects about a month before the exam, but you'll likely have to pay for it. These predictions are based on what appeared on recent MEEs and can help narrow down the topics, but keep in mind that an educated guess is still a guess. There's always a chance you'll spend a lot of time studying secured transactions only to find there are zero questions about it on your exam.

Multistate Bar Examination

The  Multistate Bar Exam  (MBE) questions consist of a brief fact pattern, a question, and four multiple-choice answers. Test takers must answer 200 MBE questions over a span of six hours. The test is broken up into two sections, a morning and afternoon session with 100 questions each.

Only 175 MBE questions are scored. The other 25 are experimental questions for future exams. However, you won't know which questions are which during the exam.

The MBE includes 25 questions from each of the following subjects:

• Civil Procedure

All but one state, Louisiana, utilizes the MBE. So, if you're taking the bar somewhere in the United States, there is a high probability that the MBE is in your future.

Unfortunately, the NCBE does not release MBE questions that it considers still in the rotation. However,  bar review courses  often provide sample questions that mimic the ones you'd see on the MBE.

Performance Tests

The performance test, or "PT," is intended to simulate a real-life legal task that future lawyers may face. This is your chance to show off those lawyering skills.

Writing a legal memorandum, drafting an affidavit, or drafting a settlement offer to opposing counsel are common tasks included in PTs. Typically, all of the law and other materials that you'll need to complete these tasks are included in the exam. While the  Multistate Performance Test  (MPT) consists of two 90-minute tasks designed to test fundamental skills needed to be a lawyer, state-drafted PTs vary in time and length.

Keep in mind the performance test does not test substantive knowledge of the law. So if there's a rule you can't quite remember but it's not included in your question materials, make it up! What matters most is  applying  the rules - and completing the task in your allotted time.

Bar Exam Information By State

Below, you'll find a table listing each state and the elements that make up the state's bar exam, along with links to sample bar exam questions and answers.

Taking on the bar exam can feel like an enormous task. But figuring out what is going to be tested on the bar you are taking and reading past bar exam questions can go a very long way in helping you succeed on this difficult test.  Visit your state bar's homepage to check the exact subjects and test types administrated. Learn more about what to expect from law school and the bar exam through  FindLaw for law students .

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Online Resources

Research guides, study aids for law students.

• Aspen Learning Library - Formerly the Wolters Kluwer Online Study Aids Library
• AudioCaseFiles
• LexisNexis Digital Library
• Themis Law School Essentials
• Bar Exam Sample Essays
• Sample Exams
• Black Letter Outlines
• Emanuel CrunchTime
• Emanuel Law Outlines
• Examples and Explanations
• Gilbert Law Summaries
• Glannon Guides

Many state bar associations post former bar exam essay questions and sample answers on their websites. These model answers are useful for studying for the bar and final exams.

Search online for state bar exam questions and answers, or use the list provided at the bottom of this page. Access is free.

• Try writing a response to a practice question, then comparing your response to the model answer.
• Some bar exam questions require the application of state law (e.g., California civil procedure), and may not be helpful if you are studying federal law. Read the question carefully. 
• Subject coverage will vary by exam and by state.

1L Subjects:

• Civil Procedure (federal and state questions)
• Constitutional Law
• Contract Law
• Criminal Law

2L/3L Subjects:

• Business Organizations
• Conflict of Laws
• Criminal Procedure
• Family Law/Community Property
• Professional Responsibility/Ethics
• Secured Transactions (Uniform Commercial Code 2)
• Wills & Trusts

Sample Exam Questions & Answers By State

• Mississippi
• Pennsylvania
• UBE  (Many of the states on this list administer the UBE, but the states offer more recent model essay answers than the UBE)
• << Previous: Themis Law School Essentials
• Next: Sample Exams >>
• Last Updated: Jan 27, 2022 9:12 AM
• URL: https://guides.law.byu.edu/studyaids

How to Tackle Essay Writing on the Bar Exam

One skill that is expected to be cultivated and refined during law school is the ability to write well. This makes sense, since good writing will be essential for many legal careers. You will likely need to write memos, client letters, motions, petitions, briefs and other legal documents— so good writing is important! Consequently, the bar exam takes note of this and makes writing an essential component of it. 

Whether you’re taking the Multistate Essay Exam or a state-specific bar exam , you will be writing lots of essays during the bar exam and in your preparation for it. So here’s what you need to know about essay writing on the bar exam and strategies you can implement to improve your score.

Check out the most important bar exam essay writing tips below!

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Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) Jurisdictions

Most states use the Multistate Essay Exam. If you’ll be testing in one of these states, here are the basics you need to know:

There are 6 essay questions in total . This part of the test is 3 hours, so you have 30 minutes per question. Also, the subjects for this portion of the test cover:

• Partnerships
• Corporations and limited liability companies
• Civil procedure
• Conflict of laws
• Constitutional law
• Criminal law and procedure
• Real property
• Secured transactions
• Trusts and future interests
• Wills and estates

While any of these topics are fair game, these particular topics make up the majority of the MEE:

• Corporations and LLCs
• Family law and trusts
• Future interests

Consequently, you may want to spend extra time preparing for these areas of the law while also studying for the other subjects. 

The good news is that there are guides you can use to determine the most highly tested essay rules. These bar exam study resources will identify these rules and teach you additional rules of law. 

Here’s another important tip: focus your time on these major rules instead of wasting too much energy on nuanced rules that are less likely to be tested. 

Keep reading for more important study tips to help you pass the MEE:

Bar Essays Studying Tips 

The first part of learning how to tackle the essay writing portion of the bar exam is to develop a solid study plan . Your plan should incorporate the following: 

Learn More About the IRAC Method and Format

You may have used a variety of writing styles in law school, such as IRAC, CRAC or CREAC. However, the IRAC structure is the most commonly used one on the bar exam, and is what bar examiners will expect. Hence, you need to be familiar with this writing system:

• I – Issue
• R – Rule
• A – Analysis
• C – Conclusion

This system ensures that you write concisely and only include the necessary information. It’s not flowery and won’t contain a lot of excess content— which is a good thing, since you’re on such a constrained time limit!

As you practice, read through your answers and label each sentence with an I,R,A, or C . if a sentence cannot be labeled under one of these letters, it probably does not belong.

Practice Essay Writing Each Week

When you spend so much time studying for the bar exam , it may feel tempting to skip practicing the lengthy essay portion of the test. However, this is one of the biggest mistakes made by most test takers. 

Bar essays are an essential component of the test; they can often help leverage a higher score if you don’t do as well on some of the other test portions. Furthermore, while reviewing the rules of law is important, writing about them can show you understand them and know how they apply. 

Basically, don’t leave practicing these essays until the end of your preparation. Instead, make practicing essays part of your weekly study plan!

Practice Under Timed Conditions

When you first begin practicing the essay portion of the bar exam, you may not want to time yourself so that you can be sure you are spotting all the issues and honing your writing style . However, toward the middle of your study time, you will want to start practicing under timed conditions. 

It is not enough to know how to write a good essay. You need to know how to write a good essay quickly . You need to be able to quickly discuss the most important issues and know when not to elaborate on others.

The best way to study for these questions is to find previous MEE questions and practice them under timed conditions. Then, review the analysis to determine how you did.

Review Rules the Last Two Weeks of Your Study

Focus on memorizing as many rules of law as possible during your last two weeks of studying. You’ll need to be able to recall these basic rules as part of your essay writing without hesitation, so be sure that you can recite rules of law without even thinking about them.

Learn More About The BAR Exam

• Take These Steps To Pass The Bar Exam!
• How To Crush The Essay Portion Of The Bar Exam
• How To Study For The BAR While Working Full Time!
• How To Pass The BAR After Failing The First Time
• How To Become A Lawyer

Tips for the Day of the Bar Exam 

Okay, so now it’s the day of the bar exam— you need to know how to truly tackle these questions in the moment of truth. Here’s what you need to do:

Plan The Time You Have for Writing Essays 

Before beginning this portion of the test, you should have a plan on how you will manage your time, such as:

• First 10 minutes: Read the essay prompt. Maybe read it multiple times. Don’t rush this part; your ability to recall this information will be essential to answering the question. Also, outline your answer as you read through the prompt.
• Next 15 – 17 minutes: Write your answer.
• Last 3 to 5 minutes: Review your answer to check for competition and to make necessary edits.

Stick to this timeline for every question. If you start going over 5 minutes on every question, you won’t have enough time to tackle the last question. Ultimately, it’s far better to get out an analysis of all the questions than to answer one question perfectly and not even address another.

Make an Outline

Making an outline can help you organize your thoughts and create a plan on what you will be writing about. Mark up the prompt as you go— you may want to highlight or underline certain information to help your recall later. 

Try to make this outline clear, such as making a bullet list of items related to the prompt. If you run low on time, you can always copy and paste this information to provide a semi-answer to the prompt. Write your rule statement and list the relevant facts that will support your analysis. Also, consider how much time you will need to discuss each subpart of the answer. 

Apply the IRAC Structure

Now it’s time for you to apply what you’ve learned. Use IRAC to fully answer the question. 

Briefly state the issue in a bolded heading. Issues are usually clearly stated on bar exam essay questions rather than hidden in a fact pattern, so this should be an easy way to pick up points. Restate the issue and move onto the next part of your answer. 

State the rules that apply to the case. This is where rote memorization comes into play, since you need to be able to state the proper rule that applies to the question. Bold key terms to show that you know what rules and terms apply. This will get you the points you need on this section.

The summary of rules should be clear and concise and should demonstrate that you understand what is involved. Only address those rules that actually apply to this case and address the specific question. 

Show how the rule applies, given the particular fact pattern. This will be the longest portion of your answer. However, your analysis should still be shorter than your analysis in your legal writing class. You can pick up (or lose) a lot of points in this portion of the answer! You need to demonstrate that you know how to apply the law to the facts. Generally speaking, the more facts you’re able to explain, the higher your score will be.

Most of the facts in the fact pattern will be there for a reason— and you need to explain why these facts matter in your analysis. Provide a step-by-step analysis of how the facts support your conclusion. You may be able to score extra points by identifying counter-arguments or a majority and minority view. 

Conclusion 

End with a brief conclusion. One sentence is fine here. Perhaps unlike law school exams, there is usually a “right” conclusion. Some writing structures will use a conclusion first and then end with a conclusion, but this is not recommended on the bar exam. If you start with the wrong conclusion, the grader will look for ways to prove why you are wrong while grading your answer; therefore, save your conclusion for the end!

Organize Your Content 

Make your essay simple to read by taking advantage of all the tools at your disposal. Use paragraph breaks to organize your content, creating a clear I, R, A , and C section. Additionally, bold and underline key words and principles of law. Many essay graders will be scanning your work, so make it easy to identify that you understood the legal issues involved by drawing their attention to these key terms.

Also, use transitional words to qualify certain statements and to explain where you are going with your answer. This makes it easier for the grader to follow your analysis, as well as helps you to stay on track.

Answer the Question

Seems obvious, right? Listen:

While it seems simple to just answer the question you are asked, many bar exam essay questions include numerous fact patterns, potential rules of law that apply, and even some red herrings. Be sure that you only answer the question that is asked; don’t go off on a tangent that will not score you any extra points! 

Read over the instructions to the question and follow these instructions, even if that means ignoring something or assuming certain facts are true. Any time you devote to issues that are not relevant to the instructions takes away from time that can score you more points.

Manage Your Time 

Now that you’re in the middle of your answers, keep a close eye on time. It can be tempting to take just a few more minutes to feel you completed a question, but this can come back to haunt you by taking away necessary time from another question. Set alarms if you need to — and are permitted to — so that you know when time is up for each section. Also, you may want to set a reminder a few minutes before your allotted time so that you can quickly wrap up the question before moving on to the next one. 

With that being said, avoid writing a partial essay and then moving onto another one. It can take several minutes to regain your bearings and remember what the essay was about when you switch back and forth. Instead, finish each question in the allotted time and then move onto the next.

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Quick tips for essay writing.

Here’s a quick round-up of tips to keep you on track when preparing your bar exam essays:

• Read the facts more than once. Don’t rush this part!
• Don’t write a lengthy, historical background of the law. Instead, make it concise.
• Don’t write a long analysis regarding policy if the question does not ask for it.
• Present counter-arguments but spend less time on them than arguments
• Provide a clear and decisive conclusion.
• Pace yourself. The two-day bar exam is a marathon, not a sprint. Approach each question with patience and don’t try to rush it.
• Don’t talk to anyone about your answers. This will undoubtedly make you doubt yourself; you don’t need a hit to your self-confidence at this time!
• Have a fun plan for what to do after the bar exam to have something to look forward to.

So, there you have it— a plan to help you tackle the essay portion of the bar exam. Use these strategies to help boost your score and you will soon be a licensed attorney!

Thanks for reading and good luck on your exam!

Frequently Asked Questions About Bar Essays

How do you write an essay for the bar exam.

There’s a specific structure that bar examiners expect when you write answers to essay questions. This structure is called IRAC, which is short for “Issue, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion.” When writing a bar essay, try and structure all of your sentences around these four subjects in a way that makes sense.

How many essays are on the bar exam?

The essay portion of the bar exam is called the Multistate Essay Exam, or MEE for short. It is made up of six different essay questions that you must write answers to over the course of three hours. The subjects can vary depending on what test you take, but all are related to the legal field and will require excellent logical reasoning and critical thinking to earn a high score.

How long should bar exam essays be?

Although there may not be a set word limit for your bar exam essay, a good rule of thumb is to write at least 1,000 words for each answer. However, you should avoid padding out your article’s word count with excessively detailed descriptions of legal concepts; stick to the IRAC format and ensure each word in each sentence has a purpose.

Is it better to write or type the bar exam?

There’s no universal answer to this question, since some students will prefer to write by hand and others will prefer typing. However, there are significant benefits to typing your bar exam essay questions over using a pen and paper, such as easy erasing and the ability to copy and paste. However, power issues on rare occasions have forced essay writers to resort to pen and paper, and it makes it impossible to lose progress due to a software error.

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Valerie Keene is an experienced lawyer and legal writer. Valerie’s litigation successes have included wins for cases involving contract disputes, real property disputes, and consumer issues. She has also assisted countless families with estate planning, guardianship issues, divorce and other family law matters. She provides clients with solid legal advice and representation.

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13 Best Practices for Grading Essays and Performance Tests

This article originally appeared in The Bar Examiner print edition, Winter 2019-2020 (Vol. 88, No. 4), pp 8–14. By Sonja Olson

When grading essays and performance tests for the bar examination, fairness, consistency, and focus are the cornerstones of good grading. In this article, NCBE’s MEE/MPT Program Director shares best practices for grading these written components to ensure that they serve as reliable and valid indicators of competence to practice law.

Opinions may vary about what should be tested on the bar exam, but if there is one point of agreement, it is that lawyers need to be skilled at communicating in writing. And communicating in writing means much more than using proper syntax, grammar, and vocabulary. Lawyers must be able to adjust their writing to a variety of audiences, such as clients, courts, opposing counsel, and legislators. Essay questions and performance tests are therefore integral to evaluating whether an individual should receive a license to practice law.

The Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) and the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) would not perform as reliable testing components without the dedication and care exercised by the graders in every jurisdiction that uses those exam components. In this article I share some insights and best practices that I’ve learned over the years from our Grading Workshop facilitators, from our MEE and MPT Drafting Committees, and without a doubt, from the graders (veterans and newcomers) who participate in NCBE’s Grading Workshop after every February and July bar exam administration. 1 Following these grading best practices ensures that the MEE and MPT serve as valid and reliable measures of basic competence to practice law.

1. Know the question (and the answer).

Every MEE question comes to the graders with the Drafting Committee’s analysis of the issues raised by the question and a discussion of the applicable law. In addition, we provide grading guidelines at the Grading Workshop. These guidelines, generally one to two pages, distill the issues discussed in the MEE analyses but also offer suggestions for distinguishing answers and may identify common areas where examinees struggle. This information is based on the workshop facilitator’s review of at least 30 actual MEE answers, which are sent to NCBE by jurisdictions after the bar exam. For the MPT, the drafters’ point sheet identifies the issues raised in the MPT and the intended analysis.

Familiarity with the grading materials not only allows a grader to give credit where it is due but also ensures that a grader can readily identify answers containing extraneous discussion that may be accurate (such as memorized portions of bar review outlines) but is not pertinent to a discussion of the issues raised by the problem.

Particularly with performance tests, which provide the relevant law, examinees may reiterate sentences or more from the statutes, regulations, or cases in the test booklet. MPTs also present a more expansive collection of facts for examinees to master, and thus there is the temptation to recite extended portions of the facts in an answer. Familiarity with the text of these questions, from the beginning of grading, will make it much easier to identify examinees who are merely regurgitating material as opposed to synthesizing the relevant facts and law and producing a cogent analysis.

2. Know the applicable law.

Graders of the MPT have the luxury of having all examinees working from the same legal authorities, as the MPT is a closed-universe exam—that is, all the relevant law is provided as part of the MPT. So an MPT grader should have no worries that an examinee is referencing an alternative, but valid, legal doctrine—if it’s not in the Library portion of the test booklet, it’s probably not analysis that should receive credit.

New MEE graders, however, often ask whether it is expected that answers to MEE questions will contain the same level of analysis and legal citations as provided in the Drafting Committee’s analyses. The short answer is no—the MEE analyses are very detailed because the MEE Drafting Committee recognizes that graders may be assigned to grade questions in subject areas that are not frequently encountered in their law practices. The MEE analyses contain the legal authorities relevant to the problem and often some background material to help orient the grader. Graders of MEE questions may want to review the authorities cited in the analyses or other treatises and casebooks if grading a subject outside of their regular practice area.

3. Know the grading scale that your jurisdiction uses.

At the Grading Workshop, NCBE uses a six-point scale when discussing the grading of essays and MPTs. Some jurisdictions use another scale, such as 1 through 7 or 1 through 10. What matters is that the score scale is manageable enough that graders can make consistent and meaningful distinctions among answers without getting frustrated by trying to determine where an answer fits on an overly granular scale. 2 All graders in a jurisdiction should be using the same scale and be in agreement on when an answer is so deficient as to warrant a zero ( see best practice #13 ).

Graders should also know whether their jurisdiction requires that the grades conform to a particular distribution, such as a curve or equal percentages in each grading category. Note that one method isn’t preferred over another—the point is that all graders should be on the same page. 3

4. Focus on rank-ordering.

No grader should bear the weight and added stress of believing that the grade they assign to an essay or performance test is what will tip the scale for that examinee and determine whether he or she passes the bar exam. The emphasis should be on rank-­ordering the papers, not on whether an individual paper receives a passing or a failing grade. The score given to an essay by a grader is essentially a “raw” score because those essay grades will be scaled to the jurisdiction’s Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) scores. 4 Only then will the “real” grade for that specific essay be determined, which will then be added to that examinee’s MBE score, other essay grades, and grades on any other bar exam components to produce the final score.

That being said, a grader should be able to articulate why a paper ends up at a different point on the grading scale vis-à-vis those papers receiving a higher or lower grade. At times, most papers may drop easily into particular “piles” on the grading scale based on simple criteria—for instance, that they cover the first two issues well but then do not reach a correct conclusion on the third issue.

Graders should turn off their inner editor and focus on how well the paper has answered the call and demonstrates the examinee’s ability to reason and analyze compared to the other papers in the pile.

5. Achieve calibration to ensure consistency in rank-ordering.

Fairness to all examinees means that it shouldn’t matter when their papers are graded or by whom. Calibration is the means by which graders develop coherent grading judgments so that rank-ordering is consistent by a single grader as well as across multiple graders. The recommended practice is that a grader review at least 30 papers before grading “for real” to see what the range of answers is. Note that for both multiple graders and single graders, answers for each point on the grading scale should be identified before the “real” grading begins. This could require reviewing more than 30 papers.

For multiple graders: Reviewing at least 30 papers works well when there are two or more graders for a question. As graders read the same papers in the calibration packet, they should pause after every five or so answers and discuss what grades they have assigned. If they have graded the same papers differently, they should discuss those papers and come to an agreement for each paper. This process of grading, discussing, and resolving differences should continue through the whole calibration packet or until graders are confident that they are using the same criteria to differentiate papers.

For a single grader: For a single grader, it is just as important to review a calibration packet of 30 or more papers. The papers can be sorted into piles for each point on the grading scale. After reviewing the first 10 or 15 papers, the grader should revisit the grades given to the first papers to see if the initial grade still holds or if the paper in fact belongs in a different pile. Each pile should then be reviewed to verify that the papers in it are of a consistent quality. One approach that some graders have found helpful is to first separate answers into three piles (poor, medium/average, and good) and then review the papers in each pile, separating them into the 1s and 2s, the 3s and 4s, and the 5s and 6s.

6. Combat “grader drift.”

Graders can “drift,” or begin grading papers inconsistently, for a variety of reasons. Fatigue is a common reason, as is hitting a string of very poor (or very good) papers so that the next one seems very good (or very bad) when it is merely average. To ward against “grader drift,” all graders should have some answers from the calibration packet embedded into the papers they grade, with the score from the calibration session hidden. After grading the embedded paper (which may be on colored paper or otherwise marked as a part of the calibration set), the grader can compare the just-­assigned grade with that from the calibration session and determine whether drift is occurring. For multiple graders, embedding the same answer from the calibration packet at the same point in each grader’s pile provides an opportunity to check that the graders are internally consistent and still applying the same standards.

7. Spread out grades over the entire score scale.

Rank-order grading only works as an effective assessment tool if graders take care to use the entire score scale. This does not mean that the final grades fit a particular curve. Rather, even a grader in a smaller jurisdiction who has fewer than 100 papers to grade should have no problem finding papers that slot into each point on the scale. There will be fewer 1s and 6s (in the case of a 6-point scale) and likely more 3s and 4s, with the number of 2s and 5s probably falling somewhere in between—but there will be papers that a grader, with confidence and justification, may reasonably place at each given point on the scale. While there are times when a question may be easier and most examinees appear to do well, a grader will still be able to find valid points of distinction among answers that will allow the grader to spread out the scores. 5 Some graders may find it helpful to initially use pluses and minuses when grading and then to review those 4- and 4+ answers, for example, to see if they really belong in the 3 or 5 piles.

The table below illustrates the importance of spreading out grades. If there are two graders, each grading answers for different questions, and Grader A decides to use the whole score scale of 1 through 6 but Grader B thinks that all examinees performed about the same and gives out only 3s and 4s, the resulting combination of the scores from Grader A and Grader B demonstrates that it is really Grader A who, by taking care to use the entire range of possible scores, is determining how well, or how poorly, each examinee does overall.

Lack of calibration between graders of the same question is unfair to examinees because their scores will be affected not by the quality of their answers but by whether they got the “easy” or the “hard” grader. On a similar note, if graders of different questions fail to spread out their grades, the questions whose grades are “bunched up” will ultimately have less impact on examinees’ overall scores.

8. Approach each paper as an “empty bucket”—that is, look for reasons to give credit.

Just as we encourage graders at the Grading Workshop to avoid thinking that the pass/fail line is whether a paper receives a 3 as opposed to a 4 on a 6-point scale, we encourage graders to approach each paper as an “empty bucket” and to view their task as searching for points to add to the bucket. It is much more likely that a grader can be consistent across papers in what he or she will give credit for, instead of attempting to be fair and consistent in all the ways a paper could be penalized.

9. Grade in a compressed time period.

Some jurisdictions, where the number of examinees means that grading cannot be completed over the course of a long weekend, may set targets for the number of papers that a grader can reasonably grade in a day. Certainly, grading is not something that should be rushed. But it is much easier to maintain calibration if the grader doesn’t have to get reacquainted with the details of the legal analysis and the quality of the answers because of a start-and-stop grading process spread out over several weeks. To the extent possible, grading should be done over a shorter time period.

10. Know the additional factors to consider when assigning grades.

Know what factors are legitimate grounds for assigning different grades to papers. Obviously, the content and substance of the answer is the first indication—what parts of the question did the examinee answer correctly? But other qualities are valid reasons for distinguishing papers.

Response to the call of the question

For both MEEs and MPTs, the answer should respond to the call of the question asked—and not the question that the examinee may have preferred to answer. For example, the examinee may launch into a discussion of whether a contract was validly entered into when the call of the question specifically asks for an assessment of the amount of damages the plaintiff is likely to recover. If that examinee then goes on to provide discussion that does respond to the specific call, the examinee will receive credit for the good content and at that point, the grader can generally ignore the extraneous material. Examinees who inflate their answers with a lot of extraneous material effectively penalize themselves: including the irrelevant material leaves the examinee less time to devote to the legal issues that are raised by the call. If two papers have approximately equal good content, but one is cluttered by unnecessary material, the one that adheres to the relevant issues is the better answer, although depending on the overall group of answers, those two papers could end up in the same pile.

Additional factors to consider, especially with MPTs, are the answer’s format, structure, and tone, and whether the examinee followed directions (e.g., if the task is to draft a letter to opposing counsel, which should be a persuasive piece, and instead the examinee writes an objective memorandum, this should be taken into account in determining the examinee’s grade). Finally, the analysis should state the applicable legal standard, marshal the relevant facts, and apply the law to those facts in the problem.

Accuracy in stating facts

In a similar vein, examinees may get a fact or two wrong when writing their answers. Even with MEE questions, which are generally just one page long, in the rush to produce an answer in 30 minutes, it is not unusual for an examinee to misread or misstate facts. The mistake may be very minor (e.g., getting a character’s name wrong). If it is clear from the context whom the examinee is discussing, such an error can probably be ignored. But if an examinee misstates a fact and then hinges part of the analysis on that incorrect statement, that should likely be considered when grading. After all, an important lawyering skill is paying attention to the facts that matter and getting them right when presenting a legal argument or analysis.

Written communication skills

For jurisdictions that have adopted the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), the UBE Conditions of Use mandate that graders take into account written communication skills when grading, although no discrete weight is provided for that component. Each jurisdiction may have specific guidelines for how its graders should handle papers that are riddled with typos, exhibit poor grammar, or contain irrelevant information (legal or factual), among other things. Obviously, there will be a point where a paper’s typos and poor grammar will make it impossible to discern whether the examinee does comprehend the relevant legal principles, and in such cases, a lower grade is warranted. But typos and occasional poor grammar, in themselves, should generally not factor into the grading decisions for most papers. NCBE suggests ignoring typos for the most part because it is unreasonable to expect perfection in typing skills given the time pressure of the exam.

When assessing the quality of the writing, the focus should generally be on characteristics such as logical and effective organization, appropriate word choice and level of detail, and the presence or absence of a clear conclusion. The quality of the writing does matter, and while it remains important in MEE answers (and its absence is more obvious, if only because MEE answers are fairly brief), it comes to the forefront when grading MPTs. For one thing, while essay prompts ask the examinee to provide solid, reasoned legal analysis, the MPT instructs the examinee to consider both the audience of the work product and what tone is called for, objective or persuasive, to properly complete the task.

11. Know when to assign partial credit.

Essay exams are more forgiving than multiple-choice questions. If an examinee taking the MBE knows the relevant legal rule and is able to narrow the answer down to two options, one of which is the correct answer, but still selects the wrong answer, the examinee receives no credit for that question. The Scantron machine doesn’t care how close the examinee came to the right answer. But essay questions give examinees a chance to earn partial credit—they have an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to identify relevant facts and employ legal reasoning to reach a conclusion. Even if the ultimate conclusion is incorrect, an examinee who has stated the correct legal rule and then produced a cogent analysis of how the law would apply should get substantial credit. Graders should spend enough time on each paper to see where the examinee has shown some knowledge of the law and how it would apply to the given situation, even if the examinee does not reach the “correct” conclusion.

Similarly, just because an examinee hasn’t remembered the correct name of a legal doctrine, that doesn’t exclude that paper from receiving at least some credit. Depending on the range of quality of answers, an examinee should receive some amount of credit, even substantial credit, for describing the applicable rule or doctrine. The grader should ask whether the examinee’s discussion indicates that he or she is applying the same criteria covered by the relevant doctrine.

12. Acknowledge when a paper is incomplete.

With incomplete papers, those where the examinee clearly ran out of time (sometimes as obvious as a final sentence that cuts off, or a missing final issue, or analysis that starts strong but gets more superficial and conclusory toward the end), the grader can’t provide the answer that the examinee didn’t get to, no matter how promising the first paragraphs are. Fairness to all examinees requires that a grader award credit only for what is on the page, as other examinees were able to complete the essay or performance test in the time allowed by appropriately managing their time.

13. Know when to assign a zero.

All graders in a jurisdiction should be in agreement about when a paper should receive no credit, that is, a zero. A score of zero should be reserved for a blank page or an answer that is completely nonresponsive to the call of the question. This is important because essay answers that receive a zero are excluded from the reference group that is used to determine the formula for scaling essay scores to the MBE. Earning a 1 instead of a 0 should require that the examinee has made an honest attempt to answer the question.

Fairness, consistency, and focus are the cornerstones of good grading. Following these practices in grading bar exam essays and performance tests will not lessen the workload, but it will help ensure that bar exam essays and performance tests serve as reliable and valid indicators of an examinee’s competence to practice law, that scores are fair to examinees and are the result of meaningful differences in the quality of the answers, and that the quality of the writing—an important skill for all lawyers, regardless of practice area—is considered as a grading criterion.

• NCBE’s MEE/MPT Grading Workshop is held in Madison, Wisconsin, the Saturday after each administration of the bar exam. The purpose of the workshop is to identify trends that graders will likely see when grading the MEE and the MPT in their jurisdictions as well as to discuss any questions graders have about the applicable law or the grading materials. While the workshop gives graders an orientation for grading, it is not intended to be a calibration session; that is best accomplished using a calibration packet comprising papers solely from the grader’s jurisdiction. (Calibration is the means by which graders develop coherent grading judgments so that rank-ordering is consistent by a single grader as well as across multiple graders.) (Go back)
• See Mark A. Albanese, PhD, “ The Testing Column: Essay and MPT Grading: Does Spread Really Matter? ” 85(4) The Bar Examiner (December 2016) 29–35, at 30: “For the purposes of illustrating how spread in grades affects the [standard deviation—that is, the average deviation of scores from the mean—] a six-point scale works fairly well. There are enough different grade points that spread can be easily seen, yet not so many that one gets lost in the details of computation.” See also Susan Case, PhD, “ The Testing Column: Bar Examining and Reliability ,” 72(1) The Bar Examiner (February 2003) 23–26, at 24: “All else being equal, more score gradations work better than fewer score gradations. The key is to make sure that the scale reflects the level of judgments the grader can make…. A six-point grading scale tends to work better than a four-point grading scale. Something much broader, like a 20-point grading scale, would work better than a six-point scale, but only if the grader could make reasonable, consistent, meaningful decisions along that scale.” (Go back)
• See Mark A. Albanese, PhD, supra note 2, at 32: “From a practical standpoint, we want to spread scores out as much as possible, but it is not necessary for the number of essays to be evenly distributed in each grade category; there are a range of distributions that achieve reasonably spread-out grades, but they tend to involve having some percentage of examinees in each grade category and not “bunching up” examinees too much into a small number of grade categories. In other words, uniform and bell-shaped distributions of grades are reasonable ways of “bucketing” examinees to ensure good spread in grades.” (Go back)
• Scaling is a procedure that statistically adjusts raw scores for the written components of the bar exam (the MEE and the MPT) so that collectively they have the same mean and standard deviation (average distance of scores from the mean) as the jurisdiction’s scaled MBE scores. See Susan Case, PhD, “ The Testing Column: Frequently Asked Questions about Scaling Written Test Scores to the MBE ,” 75(4) The Bar Examiner (November 2006) 42–44 at 42: “In the bar examination setting, scaling is a statistical procedure that puts essay or performance test scores on the same score scale as the Multistate Bar Examination. Despite the change in scale, the rank ordering of individuals remains the same as it was on the original scale.” (Go back)
• Scaling ( see supra note 4) takes advantage of the equated MBE scores and therefore accounts for variance in difficulty of the essay questions from one administration to the next. See Mark A. Albanese, PhD, “ The Testing Column: Scaling: It’s Not Just for Fish or Mountains ,” 83(4) The Bar Examiner (December 2014) 50–56, at 55: “Scaling essay scores to the MBE will … stabilize passing rates even though the intrinsic difficulty of essay questions may vary.” (Go back)

Sonja Olson is the MEE/MPT Program Director for the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

Contact us to request a pdf file of the original article as it appeared in the print edition.

In This Issue

Summer 2024 (Vol. 93, No. 2)

• Foreign Legal Consultants and Programs for Public Service Licensure and Law School Faculty: A Look at Three Jurisdictions’ Registration Paths
• Responding to Foreign Regulator Requests for Law Firm Certificates of Good Standing: Global Regulatory Differences and Their Implications
• Background Information for Foreign Regulators About the US System for Regulating Legal Services and Law Firms
• Six Things I Wish Applicants Knew About Admission by Transferred UBE Score
• Evaluation and Development of Pathways to Legal Licensure
• Letter from the Chair
• President’s Page
• Facts & Figures
• Illinois’s Adoption of the NextGen Bar Exam: Stakeholder Engagement During the Decision-Making Process
• Embracing the NextGen Bar Exam: Texas Law’s Strategic Participation
• Quarterly Update: Drafting Committee Growth, Subject Matter Updates, and Continued Testing Research
• The Testing Column: NextGen Research
• FAQs About Bar Admissions: Answering Questions About: NCBE Account Access
• News & Events
• In Memoriam: Alan Kay

Bar Exam Fundamentals

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Online Bar Admission Guide

Comprehensive information on bar admission requirements in all US jurisdictions.

NextGen Bar Exam of the Future

Visit the NextGen Bar Exam website for the latest news about the bar exam of the future.

BarNow Study Aids

NCBE offers high-quality, affordable study aids in a mobile-friendly eLearning platform.

2023 Year in Review

NCBE’s annual publication highlights the work of volunteers and staff in fulfilling its mission.

2023 Statistics

Bar examination and admission statistics by jurisdiction, and national data for the MBE and MPRE.

Demystifying the Bar: What Exactly Is On the Bar Exam?

By Celeste Boles Mehran Ebadolahi -->

After years of education and hard work, you are finally ready to clear the last hurdle to your legal career: the Bar Exam! Before you dive into bar study, make sure you have a clear understanding of the schedule and format of the bar exam, and the subjects tested . After all, your entire study plan should be crafted to help you pass the test as efficiently as painlessly as possible – a task that’s hard to focus on without understanding the exam itself.

Bar Exam Schedule and Components

Generally, the bar exam is a two-day exam offered twice a year: the end of February and the end of July. There are some exceptions. For example, Louisiana and Nevada employ a 3-day test format. And, in many jurisdictions, students who receive testing accommodations may be permitted to spread their exam over additional days of testing. (For advice on securing accommodations, check out our blog post and free video on that topic!)

TUESDAY: Writing Essays and Performance Tests

The first day of the bar exam consists of essay questions and Performance Tests. Currently, paper materials containing the questions are provided to the examinees, who then type their answers into test-taking software on personal laptops which they bring to this day of the exam. (There is also a handwriting option, but we do not recommend handwriting unless you have a disability that makes using a computer unfeasible for you.)

Essays: If you took any closed-book “issue-spotter” essay type questions in law school, the essay component of the bar exam may look somewhat familiar! Bar Exam questions test your knowledge of the law and your skills in legal analysis: recognizing applicable legal issues, stating the rules that apply, applying those rules to the facts, considering counterarguments, and reaching well-reasoned conclusions. Incorporating plenty of real bar exam essay questions into your study will enable you to master the essay-testing skills specific to your bar exam and will bolster your understanding of bar-tested law.

Performance Tests: Performance Tests may be less familiar to most examinees. According to the NCBE, Performance Tests are meant “to test an examinee’s ability to use fundamental lawyering skills in a realistic situation and to complete a task that a beginning lawyer should be able to accomplish.” This part of the bar exam does not test substantive knowledge, so, while a background understanding of how the legal system works is fundamental, there is no specific law to memorize.

However, that does not necessarily mean that the Performance Test is easy! The Performance Test requires examinees to read and analyze a large amount of material: a Task Memo setting forth the assignment; a Library of statutes, cases, and other sources of law; and a File consisting of notes, documents, and transcripts containing the relevant facts of the case. But reading is just the start – you’ll also need to prepare a complete and coherent legal document, with a reasoned legal analysis that considers all of the provided law and precedents. That can be daunting in 90 minutes! For this reason, timed practice is crucial , so that you can master Performance Test writing skills and become comfortable with a method of organizing the information and a pacing strategy that works for you.

What Does The Day Look Like In Your State?

UBE: The first day of the Uniform Bar Exam (administered all of the US jurisdictions listed here) consists of 6 Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) essay questions of 30 minutes each , followed by two Multistate Performance Tests (MPT) of 90 minutes each. Some states switch the order: Performance Tests in the morning, essays in the afternoon. Check with your jurisdiction to be sure! Both the MEE and MPT are drafted by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) and are identical in all UBE states.

California: The first day of the California Bar Exam consists of 5 essays questions of one hour each , followed by one California Performance Test. There is a break for lunch between the third and fourth essay questions.

Other States:

• Hawaii’s bar exam is identical to the UBE, with the addition of 15 multiple choice questions constituting the Hawaii Legal Ethics Exam.
• South Dakota uses 5 essays from the MEE and one essay on Federal Indian Law, plus two Performance Tests.
• Wisconsin can administer any combination of MEE, MPT, and locally drafted questions.
• The writing portion of the Georgia and Delaware exams use the MPT alongside state-specific bar exam essay material.
• Nevada administers the Nevada Performance Test, which is identical in format to the MPT and the California Performance Test but locally drafted, together with Nevada state-specific bar exam essays.
• Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, and Virginia use only state-specific materials for the written part of the bar exam; Florida also includes a state-specific multiple-choice component.

Multiple Choice Questions

MBE – The multiple-choice portion of the bar exam tests the following subjects:

UBE/MEE – The MEE can test any of the subjects listed below. Not every subject appears in every exam administration, and some essay questions test more than one subject. For example, one fact pattern could raise issues in both Evidence (such as hearsay) and Criminal Procedure (such as the Confrontation Clause). Conflicts of Law is never tested alone as its own subject but can appear as an issue in questions on Civil Procedure, Family Law, or other subjects.

California – The California bar can test any of the subjects listed here. Professional Responsibility appears every time; otherwise, any subject may show up in any administration. As with the MEE, some essays may test more than one subject.

Other States – Other states test a variety of subjects, including state-specific subjects like state civil procedure. The best way to learn about those bar exams is by consulting the jurisdiction! Many states have extensive materials, including past essay questions and answers, on their state bar websites.

When State Distinctions Matter

Students taking the UBE should answer in accordance with generally-accepted legal principles and do not need to know their state’s distinctions.

Even in California , many of the subjects do not test state-specific law. Specifically: Contracts, Criminal Law, Torts, and Real Property test the same generally-applicable principles of law that you learned during your first year of law school. The law of Trusts is also generally applicable across all states. Similarly, Criminal Procedure and Constitutional Law rely on the U.S. Constitution. This means you do NOT need to know any special California law to do well in any of those subjects! Is addition, Evidence and Civil Procedure problems set in federal court require you to apply the Federal Rules of Evidence and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

However, you will need to know California law for some essays! Answer Community Property, Wills, and Business Associations questions using California law. For Evidence and Civil Procedure problems set in state courts, explain any California distinctions that apply. Similarly, in Professional Responsibility questions, where the ABA Model Rules and the California Rules of Professional Conduct differ, you should demonstrate that you know both rules , and that you recognize any potential difference in application to the facts at hand. Other states may require distinctions, to varying degrees. In ANY jurisdiction, your best bet is to practice from real past bar exam questions to make sure that the work you are doing now is preparing you for the specific bar exam you will be taking down the line!

Read, Set, Go!

Now that you have a clearer idea what the bar exam itself holds in store for you, it’s time to prepare yourself for you bar study. Whether you are on the cusp of graduating from law school or returning to the law after many years away, consider meeting with a BarMax success advisor who can help you craft a plan that’s right for you. Bar prep may feel like a marathon , but you will be ready for the victory that awaits you at the finish line!

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8 Steps to Writing Passing Bar Exam Essays

Follow these 8 steps for each essay on the bar exam. If you practice them now, you will know exactly what to do so that you can be on “auto-pilot” the days of the exam.

1. Set your timer in ExamSoft – (or record the times on scrap paper if you are handwriting).

This is crucial, but don’t panic if on exam day you forget (like I did on my first essay!). As soon as you realize that you forgot, approximate your time already spent and set the timer with the remaining time for that essay. I guarantee you won’t forget on the next question.

Set the timer in two intervals. First, set it for 15 minutes which is the amount of time needed for outlining. Then when the alarm goes off, even if you have already started to write (some essays you may not need the entire 15 minutes to outline, but some you may need a bit more), then set the timer for the second interval of 45 minutes.

Watch the clock constantly and NEVER go over on any essay. Try to leave yourself 2 minutes at the end to do a spell-check (unfortunately, ExamSoft does not spell check as you go along like MS Word does, but it will show you which words are wrong when you click on the spellcheck icon).

2. Read the call to determine the subject.

This may seem obvious but some law students have been known to anxiously start outlining only to find out halfway through writing that the essay is a crossover of two subjects!

Combining more than one subject in an essay is becoming more common on the bar exam and you are likely to have at least one of these on the bar exam. According to our BarIssues.com statistics, the average number of crossover essay questions on the California Bar Exam from July 2001 to February 2014 were 1.7. Learn to spot the clues in the call of the question so that you are not left guessing.

3. Read the hypo question slowly, marking it up as you go along.

Some bar exam instructors tell you to read the question once quickly first and then again more slowly. I prefer to just get right into it. I like to circle names when they first appear, as well as circling any dates and numbers. (If a date or dollar amount is in the fact pattern then it is likely of some significance). Underline any facts that raise an issue and note the issue in the margin with an arrow to the underlined fact.

4. Read the hypo again to see if there are any issues that you missed.

This is another crucial step. Better to take the time to do this now before you begin writing. Next thing you know, you got carried away with your analysis and missed spotting some issues. A bar instructor once gave out a very valuable tip: If you don’t understand the hypo, read it again, and if you still don’t understand it, read it again. You get the point!

5. Create a diagram or time-line if needed.

There are some subjects like Wills, Trusts and Property where the characters and facts need to be diagrammed.  This can help you immensely in keeping things straight.

I usually create a mini diagram for each of these types of questions, especially when there are parents, children, step-children, friends, etc, just to keep the names straight. Then as I write the essay I glance at this diagram frequently to refresh my memory of who I am writing about!

You may even find yourself writing your own name as Angela did when she took the Feb. 2014 bar exam for Remedies question number 6, “Angela hired Mark…”. And if your name is Don, Dan, Vic, Wanda, Wendy, Harry, or Hank – watch out, your chances of writing about yourself increase dramatically!

6. Set up your headings on the computer screen. (If you are handwriting, then do this on your scrap paper).

Use the exact same formatting of numbers and letters as written in the call of the question. For example, if there are 4 calls numbered 1(a), 1(b), 2(a), 2(b) then write out your headings with the same numbering. Anything you can do to make the grader’s task easier will be worth it.

For example, here is a call taken from Constitutional Law essay number 2, February 2011:

Call of the question is: Charles wishes to raise a defense against the refusal to deploy charge based solely on (1) the Free Exercise Clause and (2) the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

What is the likelihood of Charles prevailing? Discuss.

Your headings should be: 1. FREE EXERCISE CLAUSE 2. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE

By doing this before you begin to write, you won’t forget to answer all of the calls of the question , and just as important – you won’t be likely to wander off into areas that are not asked for! I like to put these in all capital letters to make them stand out.

This is the only time I number any headings because I am following the same numbering as in the call of the question. More numbering after this gets too confusing to keep straight and is not needed.

7. List the issues that were raised by the facts beneath each heading on your screen (or list them on your scrap paper if you are not typing).

These issues are your subheadings which I like to underline (or you can use bold font if you prefer). I don’t bother to indent them or number them as that just gets too complicated.

If you are typing, you can even insert the rule of law for each issue at this time as long as you are strictly following the IRAC method (Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion), however, I prefer to state the rules as I write the entire answer because it helps me to apply my facts to the elements of the rule.

As to what you list on your scrap paper for your outline (if anything), I believe that is something you have to determine. I have seen many different methods used, from a full fact-to-issue outline to nothing listed at all. Try out some different methods and use what works best for you. We all learn and recall information differently. I like to jot down some key facts to my  list of issues on my scrap paper outline. But sometimes I will come up with something while I am writing that I didn’t think of in the beginning.

Make sure you watch the clock to leave enough time to cover each issue. It’s a good idea to mentally break up the remaining 45 minutes into separate time slots for each call. (For example, in this Constitutional Law essay, I would allocate 25 minutes to Free Exercise Clause and 20 minutes to Establishment Clause , recognizing that this may change somewhat as I write but still watching the clock closely as I go).

8. And now – start writing!

At this stage you should have used up your 15 minutes set aside to outline. If you didn’t use the entire 15 minutes, just start writing. Then as the first alarm goes off, set it for the remaining 45 minutes. Or, if the first alarm has already gone off and you are still not finished outlining, set your alarm to the next 45 minute interval and use an extra 5 minutes to finish your outline.

But don’t ever go over 20 minutes for outlining (unless you have also typed in the rule of law statements on your screen outline). You must leave yourself at least 40 minutes to write. If it’s a race horse like Evidence questions tend to be, then you may need longer.

Practice this format in advance while you are studying for the bar exam. Write out as many essays under timed conditions using the past California Bar Exam questions as you possibly can – then compare your answers to the ones written by students as selected by the bar committee. BarIssues.com makes this super easy to do.

This is the best way to guarantee that no essays on the bar exam will be a surprise. You will go into the exam confident that you have a system in place that you have already perfected and you will ace those essays!

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Common Bar Essay Problems and How to Avoid Them

June 2, 2015 By Alison Monahan 2 Comments

When you review a lot of bar essays, you begin to see what sets the good ones apart. The answers that score the highest have some telltale traits that really start standing out the more of them you read. We here at the Bar Exam Toolbox have seen a lot of bar essays: top scores, failing scores, and everything in between. We’ve also come up with some common pitfalls that tend to make an essay score lower. What makes a bar essay bad, though? Or, more importantly, what can you do to make yours good ? Here are some of the most common problem areas we see year to year, and how you can improve them.

Misconceptions About What the Graders Want

The kind of analysis the bar graders are looking for vary from one jurisdiction to another, and can differ vastly from what you might have been writing on final exams in law school (even if you did well in your classes). One thing is for sure, though, bar graders are looking for something very specific. A lot of first-time bar takers think that so long as their essays are coherent, relatively correct, and hit the correct issues they have it made. It takes more than that, though. It’s important to find out exactly what the graders in your jurisdiction value. How do you do this? Review the posted sample answers. Review as many of them as you can and look for commonalities.

Lack of structure

You may have some memories from your law school exams of writing whatever came to your head as fast as you could. You may have even done relatively well. This is probably because a lot of law school professors are more willing to hunt and peck through stream-of-consciousness babble to find the correct points of law buried within. These days are over. Bar exam graders simply will not do this. They will read your essay critically and very quickly (usually in just a couple of minutes!). What does this mean for you? It means you need to make it as easy as possible for them to give you points. How do you do this? By being organized.

Find a format that allows you to call out the issues you’re discussing in each paragraph. Make them salient. Employ easy-to-follow approaches, such as IRAC . Organize your answer based on the call of the question. Use attack plans. A more structured answer is easier to read quickly, and it’s easier to see at a glance whether the writer is hitting all of the necessary benchmarks. Your bar exam grader is not going to give you the benefit of the doubt and search for the gems in your answer. It’s your job to put those gems on display.

Not Using the Facts Precisely or Completely Enough

You may have heard that using the facts on the bar exam is important . This is actually a big understatement. If you’ve talked to any of us at the Bar Exam Toolbox, you’ve probably heard many, many times how crucial the facts are! What does it mean to use the facts, though? A lot of bar takers think that using the facts is the same as just throwing them into your answer in some way—just making them show up somewhere. It’s not.

As we’ve said before, the fact patterns on the bar are incredibly precise and well-crafted. The talented people who write these hypos are painstaking about what they put in and what they leave out. How do you use the facts you’re given then? In a nutshell, you need to pinpoint which specific rule element(s) each fact “matches up” with. Then, you need to use the facts to “check off” each element (or say why it is not satisfied based on the facts you have). Regurgitating facts just for the sake of throwing them into your answer is a waste of time. This likely won’t get you any extra points. Matching the facts with precise issues (better yet, with rule elements or requirements)—this is what to aim for.

Lack of Planning

Did you plan the essays you wrote on your final exams in law school? A lot of students did not. Writing bar essays is different, though ( see above). Your audience is different, and you’re being tested on different skills. In order to get the precise, formulaic structure we discussed above, you need to have a plan (and you probably need attack plans and lots of practice too!). If you’re going to figure out how to use all of the facts you get, this definitely takes planning before you begin writing. Coming up with a plan for your essay before you start typing furiously is the best way to make sure you’re getting as many points as possible, and it’s also one of the only ways to avoid the dreaded stream-of-consciousness writing we talked about above.

Missing Issues

Most bar takers know they need to spot as many issues as possible to do well on the exam. A lot of students, though, think that so long as they memorize a lot of law, these issues will just start popping out at them when they read through the fact patterns on exam day. Not quite true. There are a lot of intermediate steps in between. It’s true, you can’t do too well spotting issues if you don’t know the law. You have to know the law. You also need to practice issue spotting , and you must practice your ability to determine which kinds of facts trigger which types of issues. How do you do this? Come up with your essay writing plan and do as many closed-book practice essays as you can. Don’t just practice identifying issues, practice writing out full, timed exams so you are getting good at writing analysis and allocating your time too ( see below).

Misallocating or Wasting Time

Timing is huge on the bar exam. I’ve seen quite a few failing essay answers that probably would have passed if they were actually completed. Running out of time is a very real concern, as is misallocating time between planning and writing, or giving more time to one question instead of apportioning time equally. So, how do you get good at managing your time ? Not surprisingly, the answer here is practice. Use a clock. Cut yourself off when your predetermined planning time is over and it’s time to move on to writing. Cut yourself off when the allotted time for the essay ends. Practice some essays back-to-back so you can get a feel for what you can accomplish in an hour. Discipline yourself to move onto the next essay so none of them are lacking. Be strict with your time you’re allowed, the bar exam will be.

Failure to Critique and Review

Writing practice is only half the battle when it comes to getting good at bar essays. More often than not, I see students improve the most dramatically when they start critically reviewing their own work—and when they actually re-write essays that they miss the mark on. Why is this? Well, first of all, it’s almost impossible to learn from our own mistakes if we don’t know what those mistakes are ( if you’re a repeat bar taker , this is especially true—go get those essays you had returned to you and critique them ruthlessly!). Second, it’s difficult to apply what you’re learning on one essay to a new, completely different essay since the new essay might test very different areas of law (even within the same subject). If you write the same essay a second time, you can instill knowledge about those legal issues and cement your attack plan and process so next time you see that issue, you feel more comfortable with it.

Getting critical reviews of your essays from a trusted source like a bar program, a professor, or a tutor is also a great way to ensure that you’re seeing your missteps and fixing them. Often, bar students are over confident in their abilities. Even when they make mistakes, even when they miss issues, they may somehow convince themselves they were closer to getting it right than they actually were. Sometimes getting a tough critique early on from someone who knows what the graders are looking for is the very best thing you can do for your writing.

Do you need help with the essay portion of the bar exam? BarEssays.com is a great study tool for the essay portion of the California Bar Exam. And Bar Exam Toolbox readers get a special on membership ! Email us to get the coupon code.

Want more useful bar exam advice? Sign up for our  free mailing list  now!

Did you find this post helpful? Check out some other great articles:

• The Ins and Outs of Studying for the Bar Exam 
• Bar Exam Essays – You Must Become an Expert at Reading the Facts
• 10 Tips for Working and Studying for the Bar Exam
• Warning Signs You May Need Extra Help as a First Time Bar Exam Taker

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About Alison Monahan

Alison Monahan is the founder of The Girl's Guide to Law School and the co-founder of the Law School Toolbox . Alison is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where she was a member of the Columbia Law Review and served as a Civ Pro teaching assistant. You can find her on Twitter at @GirlsGuideToLS or @LawSchoolTools .

Reader Interactions

These are some great tips for passing the bar’s essay questions. I think you are right about having misconceptions as to what the graders want to hear. Reviewing study questions and finding commonalities in the sample answers is a great way to study.

We’re a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with valuable info to work on. You have done a formidable job and our entire community will be thankful to you.

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• Sep 24, 2019

Breaking down Essay Grading by the California Bar Exam

If you are gearing up to take the February 2020 California Bar Exam, you may be wondering how the California bar essay portion is graded. California recently made some changes to their bar exam going from a three day examination period to two days. Day one is the written portion of the exam and consists of 5 one-hour essays and one 90 minute Performance Test.

California divides the graders into six groups, each consisting of 12 experienced graders and up to 4 apprentice graders. Both groups are supervised. The graders assign a raw score to each essay on a scale from 40 – 100. The State Bar of California has explained, “in order to earn a 40, the applicant must at least identify the subject of the question and attempt to apply the law to the facts of the question. If these criteria are not met, the answer is assigned a zero.” We’re going to go out on a limb here and assume you want to hit a score of 65 and above. That’s exactly what our inexpensive materials are geared to accomplish.

A score of 55 is designated as a below passing paper . The applicant missed or incompletely discussed two or more major issues. The applicant had a weak or incomplete analysis of the issues addressed and the overall organization was poor.

A score of 60 is a slightly below passing paper . The applicant may have missed or incompletely discussed one major issue. Discussion of all issues was incomplete and organization of the issues was poor.

A score of 65 is an average passing paper . Applicant had a lawyer-like discussion of all major issues and missed some minor issues. Overall paper could have been better.

A score of 70 is a slightly above average paper . Applicant had a lawyer-like discussion of all major issues and missed some minor issues. Paper could have been better, but analysis and reasoning warrants more than a 65. Well organized paper.

A score of 75 is a distinctly above average paper . Applicant discussed all major issues in a lawyer-like fashion and discussed the ancillary minor issues. Overall, a well organized paper.

A score of 80-85 is unusually complete and thorough paper. Applicant discussed all major and minor issues in a lawyer-like fashion and very well organized.

Components used for grading include: organization/format, issue spotting, rule statement, and analysis. A passing paper will have use of headings and IRAC used to organize issues discussed. Issues are generally discussed in a logical order. A passing paper will discuss all the main issues, but may fail to discuss some of the minor issues. A passing paper will have clear rule statements that may be stated verbatim or in your own words that blend some of the concepts into one statement. Rules are correctly applied to the facts of the case and there is infrequent discussion of both sides of an issue, but paper still discusses major issues raised from the fact pattern.

We hope this gives you a better idea of what a passing (65 and above) paper looks like. Feel free to head to our sample page to see a CBB sample of Civil Procedure. All subjects are organized in the same fashion and are specifically geared towards a passing score of 65 and above.

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Conquering the California Bar Exam: A 3-Month Study Plan for Success

Anyone have advice for taking the California bar? I am admitted in NY (took the bar last summer), but this exam feels so much worse. I don’t know if I feel this way because I am comparing the time I had last year to study to this year when I am working, or if the material is legitimately harder. It’s probably both. I am depending on my MBE score because I really cannot remember all of the rule statements for California essays. I would appreciate any advice anyone has 🙏🏼

So i took ca and then ny. best advice for ca is structure structure structure. those ny essays are 30 mins and you’re expected to simply write 2 paragraphs and move on. in ca your essays are an hour. use headers for the life of you. header 1 - issue. 2. rule. 3. analysis. 4. conclusion. you want to make it as easy on the grader as possible, so they can check off the points one by one. also look at the model essays on the ca bar website and adopt the rules you think most fit in your brain. lmk if you need anything further, happy to help..

Seconding this. I didn’t fully complete the last essay but had put down all the headings and a little substance and still passed. You don’t get a score breakdown if you pass here (not sure about NY) so I can’t say if that for sure saved me. I think so though

Use baressays.com to look at the trash essays that people submit and still get a passing score on. Really helps put it all in perspective and bring down the anxiety a bit

Agree with the above. Also, if there’s an ethics issue you spot in a non-ethics essay question, take 1-2 sentences to identify it and note the CA/ABA rule. If you forget the rule, especially if you’re distinguishing a CA rule (for example, it’s a CA evidence question), make it up or just state the federal rule as if it were CA. You probably won’t get dinged much (if at all) if the rule is wrong as long as you are able to apply the facts.

The essays on the ca bar are unrivaled. a lot harder and more intense than any other state bar essays. mbe is the same, however, ca bar has a higher minimum score than most states to pass that as well. i believe it was 160 (scaled). there’s really no special advice other than memorize all the most important rules for essays and take lots of mbe practice tests., if it makes you feel any better, i completely tanked the essays and still passed. i had no idea how to answer two entire questions and just made stuff up off the top of my head. i was always terrible at rote memorization and skirted by law school w/ open book exams. really thought it was time for my chickens to come home to roost. i can’t say i recommend this strategy, but here i am. i was told during prep that if you make up a rule and apply it correctly, you get partial credit. that must’ve been what saved me. it’s been over 3 years since i took the bar exam and i’m still flabbergasted..

Maybe 10-15% of the points on an essay are for getting the rule perfect. You get tons of partial credit for issue spotting, formatting, analysis of the rule statement, and a conclusion.

Adding to the above advice, for every CA essay topic, work to memorize your opening paragraph and make sure you can recite it cold. If it starts like a passing essay, and it’s structured like a passing essay, they’ll rubber stamp it

I should note that i have mary basick’s book, but it is giving me anxiety because i do not think i could produce an essay that is similar to her sample responses..

This book, helped me pass (I think). The sample essays are probably hitting everything. I think you only need 65-70 to pass on the essays. Use this book and do ALL the practice MBEs in Themis and you’ll fine. I only studied 4 hours a day for 4 months.

Rising Star

This won’t really help OP, but I’m NY qualified and will take the FL bar in Feb. I’m forking over the $3,500 for BarBri. That might be your best bet for CA—you’ll get structure, etc., that for me would be hard to create from scratch on my own. It’s annoying, because years ago my firm paid for the NY version, now I have to do it myself, but it was worth it the first time.

This - just go through the bar review course!

I took and passed both. There are things you can do when you don’t remember rules, and they don’t need to be as nuanced as you think. Shoot me a DM I’d be happy to assist.

If you can, just take one of the bar review courses. I took the IL bar then took the CA bar 2 years later when I was relocating. To be fair, this was about 8 years ago before the recent changes, but after the bar review course I honestly didn't see what the fuss was about. I think working definitely gives you a leg up in terms of how to approach the exam. Good luck!

I also passed both IL and CA, and thought IL was harder because you only had 30 minutes for the essays.

For CA bar Barbri is not enough . Get Flemings full course they teach you how to master the essays and performance exam. You have to use headers and subheadings for elements and break down each question using IREAC issue rule , rule explanations, , application, finally confusion. Buy Adaptibar also to make sure you get above the 70th percentile for the MBE exam

Fake news. I took and passed CA using barbri while working in biglaw that only gave me 2 weeks off to study.

Any in house counsel here (based in a non-CA state e.g. NY) intending to sit for the CA bar? If so, why?

Commenting because I’m also taking the CA bar and feel the same. I took the UBE in 2018 and feel like my memory has gone to shit. Sorry I don’t have advice to share but I’m rooting for us!

You don’t need to produce an essay like the one in the MB book. I also purchased that book and it was great! Just remember the structure like A1 mentioned. As for essays: 100% of the time start with the issue, then the rule statement, then analyze, then conclude.. about every single issue you find. Make sure you’re able to distinguish CA rule and fed. Specially for PR! That’s certain to be on it. MBE’s: don’t let the ones that seem hard spook you. There’s a pattern, a way that all the MBE’s get tested.

I’ve heard Themis is better than barbri in CA, it’s also cheaper. I passed with Themis & Mary Basick book.

I think the Kaplan course I took really helped, you can submit as many practice essays as you want and you get personalized feedback on each one, plus they have a ton of sample answers. They have a discounted course if you are already an attorney and don’t need the MBE half of the course. It’s 100% remote and you can choose the pre-recorded lecture option and listen whenever you have time (cheaper and more polished than the “live” version anyway).

Barsecrets.com helped me immensely with essays.

I am taking the bar in CA too and I am NY qualified. This exam is way harder.

Good luck! You will need that drink after the exam for sure!

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Exactly How Many Essays Are On The Bar Exam?

The written component of the bar exam makes up a significant portion of your score.  In fact, in the vast majority of Uniform Bar Exam jurisdictions, the written portion makes up 50% of your final score.  But what does that mean in terms of what kind of writing you are expected to produce on the bar exam?  It’s not quite as simple as writing essay after essay for a full testing day.  In this post, we discuss how many essays are on the bar exam, as well as where the rest of your written score comes from.

How Many Essays are on the Bar Exam?

First, it is important to make sure you know exactly what kind of bar exam your jurisdiction administers.  Although nearly 40 states administer the Uniform Bar Exam now, and many more use the Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) as their essay component, there are still states that use their own format.  When wondering how many essays are on the bar exam, make sure you find the answer to this question for your specific bar exam.

For those in Uniform Bar Exam jurisdictions:

You will be taking the MEE as your essay component.  In these states, there are six essays on the bar exam.  Each state administers the same six essays.  These essays do not test state-specific law, just majority and minority approaches.  However, your state might also require a state-specific component in addition to the MEE, so keep that in mind.

In the vast majority of UBE jurisdictions, the MEE is worth 30% of your overall final score.  You will be expected to complete the six MEE essays in three hours, which means you should average about 30 minutes per essay.  You can learn more about how to approach the MEE, including formatting and studying tips, in this excellent free guide !

But that’s not all!  There are more than just essays on the bar exam, and on the written portion in particular.  UBE jurisdictions also administer the Multistate Performance Test, or the MPT.  This is worth 20% of your final score.  The MPT asks you to write two lawyerly tasks, such as a persuasive brief or objective memo, in three hours.  MPTs are different than essays because you are not expected to apply law that you call up from memory.  The MPT is a closed universe where you are given a set of facts and the law that this fake jurisdiction applies.  It is then up to you to draft a legal document that interprets the law and applies it to the facts to solve a problem or accomplish a goal.

Be sure to put in the time preparing for the MPT portion as well!  Each writing component is very important to your final score and requires different preparation.  With the MPT, practice makes perfect!  Try to practice at least one MPT for each of the different kinds of tasks you might encounter. Practice is important for the MEE essays on the bar exam as well, but you also need to make sure you have the law memorized!  When writing an essay on the bar exam, you will want to pick up as many points as possible by providing an accurate rule, a precise analysis, and a conclusion that follows naturally from that analysis.

By practicing your writing skills for both MEE essays and MPTs, as well as efficiently memorizing the law, you will set yourself up to do well on the written portion of the bar exam!

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The Bar Exam: Then and Now

August 6, 2024

Posted by: Sarah Friedman

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This post was coauthored by guest author Senior Legal Reference Librarian Louis Myers and Legal Reference Librarian Sarah Friedman  in the Public Services Division at the Law Library of Congress .

To help recent bar exam takers celebrate the completion of their final step to become a practicing attorney in the United States , we wanted to look at some examples of bar exam questions from yesteryear, before the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) standardized the bar examination across most U.S. jurisdictions.

Historically , each state crafted their own exam. Bar exams usually consisted of prompts and questions and required the budding attorney to identify the legal issues, apply the rule of law to the facts, and (if they had enough time) craft a conclusion summing up the entire problem.

Today, 41 jurisdictions have adopted the UBE. The UBE is comprised of three distinct parts, the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) , the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) , and the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) .

State Questions

Here are some examples of bar exam questions from the late 1800s through the 1920s from state bar exams:

Massachusetts

Massachusetts Bar Questions and Answers from July, 1898, to July, 1905

A 1904 question was posed about family law in Massachusetts:

Q. “How may marriage be proved in this Commonwealth?” A. “General reputation, living together as married persons, or any other circumstantial or presumptive evidence, from which the facts may be inferred, is competent for consideration. Knower vs. Wesser, 13 Met. 143.” (Wilson at 49.)

New York Bar Examination Questions

A torts question from 1906:

Q. “If a firm of butchers has three partners, A, B, and C, and C leaves poisoned meat where dogs could reasonably be expected to get at it, and D’s dog is killed by eating it, what rights of action had D, if any, and against whom?” A. Assuming C acted only for personal reasons, D would have a tort action against C. The model answer cites to the American & English Encyclopedia of Law (1 ed.) and Matter of Blackford , 35 App. Div. 330. (Brice at 11.)

Burnett’s Ohio Bar Examinations with Answers

A question on wills from 1922. This question is more straightforward, asking for a definition:

Q. “Who in Ohio may make a will?” A. The answer comes from the Ohio General Code, §10503 : “A person of full age, of sound mind and memory, and not under restraint, who has property, or an interest therein may give and bequeath it by last will and testament law-fully executed.” (Burnett at 265.)

Texas Bar Examination Review: Questions and Answers

This 1916 book of Texas bar exam questions included questions about state constitutional law, such as:

Q. “Can a person hold more than one office at the same time in Texas; if so, what exception is there provided in the Constitution?” A. “No; but the exception provided in Section 40, Article 16 , is that a Justice of the Peace can be a County Commissioner, Notary Public, and Postmaster at the same time.” (Cox at 473.)

Bar Exam Questions From Other Sources

While looking into this, we found some other interesting items in the collection from other countries, other systems of laws, and even laypeople.

International Questions

Compendium in Quo Definitiones, Divisiones, Axiomata Juris, Aliæque Perquam Utiles Notitiæ Continentur, ex Institutionibus, Seu Elementis Juris Civilis à Celeberrimo Jo. Gottlieb Heineccio J. C. Compositis ad Usum Jurisprudentiæ Tironum (Recentioris Studiorum Methodi Occasione) Diligenter Depromptum

This material was created as a lesson plan for Spanish professors of Roman law , published in 1808. A civil law question is posed:

Q. “Quid est adoptio?” Translated (roughly—by the authors—to English) What is adoption? A. The answer, translated: to make a son of one without parents. ( González de la Cruz at 25.)

A Digest of the Examination Questions in Common Law; Conveyancing; Equity; Bankruptcy; and Criminal Law

The following question about arbitration was published in an 1855 collection of examination questions:

Q. “What is a court baron, and what a court leet?” (Maugham at 62.) A. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, a court baron is a “ medieval English manorial court, or halimoot, that any lord could hold for and among his tenants ” and a court leet is “ an English criminal court for the punishment of small offenses. ”

Legal Questions for Lay Audiences

One Thousand Legal Questions Answered by the “People’s Lawyer” of the Boston Daily Globe

A set of questions from the late 1800s was published in the Boston Daily Globe . These are designed to be more practical, and are written for the lay audience absent legalese.

One example , on the construction of a privacy fence:

Q. “How high can a board fence be erected between the adjoining house owners without violation of the law?” A. “Six feet; any above that height the law says is a nuisance.” (Bridgham at 103.)

You and the Law

A book published in 1928 contains questions and answers about the law for a general audience. The “Conduct and Reputation” chapter includes the following question:

Q.  “Also: may a picture be libelous?” A.  “Yes. Even a moving picture. One court has said ‘A suit for libel based upon a moving picture production is a somewhat novel proceeding, but there is no doubt that if the production tends to bring a person into disrepute, it may give rise to such an action.” (Darling at 117.)

To find other bar exam question books in the Library of Congress Catalog, search for the subject heading Law—Examinations, questions, etc.

For more In Custodia Legis posts on the bar exam, see:

• The History of the U.S. Bar Exam, Part I – The Law’s Gatekeeper
• The History of the U.S. Bar Exam, Part II – The Gate Openers
• How to Become a Lawyer Without Going to Law School

Resources Referenced

• Court Baron, Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/court-baron (last visited August 1, 2024).
• Court Leet, Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/court-leet (last visited August 1, 2024).
• Howard Douglas Burnett, Ohio Bar Examinations with Answers ( KFO81 .B8 1922 ) 265 (1922).
• John R. Cox, Texas Bar Examination Review; Questions and Answers ( KFT1281 .C6 ) 473 (1916).
• Josef Joaquin González de la Cruz, Compendium in Quo Definitiones, Divisiones, Axiomata Juris, Aliæque Perquam Utiles Notitiæ Continentur, ex Institutionibus, Seu Elementis Juris Civilis à Celeberrimo Jo. Gottlieb Heineccio J. C. Compositis ad Usum Jurisprudentiæ Tironum (Recentioris Studiorum Methodi Occasione) Diligenter Depromptum ( KJA2094.A4 G66 1808 ) 25 (1808).
• Percy Albert Bridgham,  One Thousand Legal Questions Answered by the “People’s Lawyer” of the Boston Daily Globe ( KF387 .B7 ) 103 (1891).
• Robert Maugham,  A Digest of the Examination Questions in Common Law; Conveyancing; Equity; Bankruptcy; and Criminal Law; From the Commencement of the Examination in Trinity Term, 1836, to the Present Time ( KD663 .M38 1855 ) 62 (1855).
• S. Boyd Darling, You and the Law ( KF386 .D35 ) 117 (1928).
• Ulysses Grant Wilson, Massachusetts Bar Questions and Answers from July, 1898, to July, 1905 ( KFM2481 .W5 ) 49 (1905).
• Wilson Bird Brice, A Compilation of Bar Examination Questions of the State of New York ( KFN5082 .B7 1906 ) 11 (1906).

Subscribe  to In Custodia Legis – it’s free! – to receive interesting posts drawn from the Law Library of Congress’s vast collections and our staff’s expertise in U.S., foreign, and international law.

This is all very interesting and educational, keep them posted!

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How Many MBE Practice Questions do I Get With BARBRI?

Last Updated: Sep 05, 2024

ISAAC curates and assigns multiple-choice practice questions from a 2,500+ question bank. (Note: ISAAC is the engine that runs your BARBRI bar prep course and creates your Personal Study Plan or PSP).

In addition to multiple-choice questions ISAAC curates, you also have access to a 3000+ multiple-choice question BARBRI MCQ Bank. The MCQ Bank provides extra practice in areas in which you feel a little less confident. 

When it comes to “real” MBE questions released by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), most  BARBRI bar prep options  include a MBE final prep comprised of 100 “real” MBE questions. 

Working multiple-choice MBE practice questions is critical*

*Now for the asterisk. Quantity is not the only thing that matters. In fact, it’s not even the most important factor. The order, approach, and specific bar exam practice questions you answer is more important than hitting a certain number of questions.

That’s why, early in your course, ISAAC uses proprietary methodology and algorithms to curate multiple-choice question sets to first build a strong foundation and framework. As you get deeper into your studies, ISAAC assigns more difficult questions as well as mixed-subject question sets, layering in more difficult questions testing finer points.

We actually have another entire  blog dedicated to the secret of MBE success  if you want to go deeper into this important topic.

BARBRI practice MBE questions, and how they can help

While helping more than 1.3 million attorneys pass the bar over 50+ years, we’ve learned that even though a topic  can  be tested on the bar exam, it doesn’t mean it’s  likely  to be tested. Some topics are tested all of the time and others are tested infrequently. It’s important to work on all types of MBE practice questions that focus on the areas of law that will get you the most points on the bar exam.

It’s also important to note that questions released by the NCBE are helpful in preparing for future exams, but they will not cover all the types of questions that will be asked on the bar exam. Additionally, they will not appear in any future exam once released. That’s why the multiple-choice practice questions ISAAC assigns have been created and curated for maximum benefit.

Get more points on the bar exam with BARBRI 

ISAAC focuses first on areas of the law that you’re most likely to encounter on the bar exam. This helps BARBRI students  score more points on average  compared to students who use any and every other bar prep course.

The questions ISAAC curates during BARBRI bar prep provide exposure to realistic MBE questions while making sure that you are learning things that will increase your future bar exam score. ISAAC also uses spaced repetition and interleaves practice between subjects, two strategies that are scientifically shown to maximize learning and retention.

Additionally, all multiple-choice questions you encounter include explanatory answers written by BARBRI subject matter experts. Reviewing expert explanatory answers helps you understand  why  answer options are correct or incorrect. This is another key strategy to learning and building knowledge from each multiple-choice practice question.

This entire process is scientifically shown to boost learning and retention and, ultimately, pass the bar exam.

Still wondering if BARBRI is actually the best bar prep?  Keep reading here . Or, go ahead and  check out BARBRI bar prep courses here.

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