Bar Exam Uniform Bar Exam (UBE): two-day exam, six-hours each day (12 hours total)
Written Section (2 MPTs and 6 MEEs)
Multistate Performance Test (MPT) : 3 Hours The MPT is worth a combined total of 20% of the exam. The MPT does not test your knowledge of a specific area of law, but rather your ability to complete a task that early-career lawyers are expected to handle upon graduating from law school. The tasks require you to carefully follow instructions, understand a set of facts, read caselaw and/or statutes provided to you, and analyze and apply the law to the facts in a clear and succinct way.
Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) : 3 Hours The MEE consists of six short essays and is worth 30% of the exam. It covers the following subjects listed below. Note that the website JDadvising.com offers a chart of the most frequently tested MEE subjects to help you prioritize the study of each subject proportionately.
Multiple Choice Section : 6 Hours
The Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) consists of 200 multiple choice questions and is worth 50% of the exam. The MBE ONLY covers the Multistate Subjects (Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, Torts).
Test-Taking Strategies
The reason it is important to begin thinking about the bar in your first year of law school is because the exam requires the mastery of test-taking skills that are different than those that are used for law school exams. For example, most law school exams do not use multiple choice questions. Additionally, law school essays are much longer both in the time you are given to complete your answers as well as the expected length of your answers (law school exams are usually 3 hours for each subject/course). However, for the written portion of the bar exam, you will only have 90 minutes for each of the two MPTs and 30 minutes each for the six MEEs. For the MBE section you will have roughly 1.8 minutes per question. Practicing the bar exam test-taking skills earlier (rather than later) in your law school career could increase your chance of passing the exam.
Note: In the months before the exam, we strongly encourage you to take a bar preparation course and to closely follow the program they advise. Finally, we wish you good luck! By this point, you have graduated from law school. You have all the knowledge and ability to pass the exam and succeed as a lawyer. Keep a positive attitude and keep doing what has gotten you here. See you on the other side of the bar!