I have been visiting law schools all over the country for the past year presenting MicroMash’s Bar Exam Success program. It’s a presentation that has gotten rave reviews from students and administrators alike largely because it summarizes the bar exam experience – start to finish – in only 30 minutes. Students in particular have appreciated someone presenting them with this information, as law schools often do not provide it – particularly in such bite-sized pieces.
Because of the program’s popularity among students, we have decided to post it in both PowerPoint format and long form. Naturally, the PowerPoint presentation is more of an overview of the process. The long version, however, is full of useful tips and tricks to guide someone with little to no knowledge of the bar exam through the process from application to receipt of results – and beyond. We hope that you, like thousands of students around the country, will find the information contained herein useful. Thanks for taking a look! The rest of the article, and the accompanying slides, are after the jump.
[slideshare id=2207069&doc=barexamsuccess-091013063915-phpapp01]
Bar Exam Acronyms
To begin, the bar application and examination process is riddled with tricky acronyms. You’re going to have to get comfortable with them, so we might as well define the five most frequently referenced ones right off the bat.
NCBE = National Conference of Bar Examiners
The National Conference of Bar Examiners is a national body that writes at least half of the bar for the vast majority of exam candidates. So, when you come across “NCBE”, I want you to think “exam authors”.
MBE = Multistate Bar Exam
The Multistate Bar Exam is the multiple choice portion of the bar that is part of nearly every exam in the country. So, when you come across “MBE,” think “multiple choice portion.”
MEE = Multistate Essay Exam
The Multistate Essay Exam is sort of like an essay version of the MBE – with several additional subjects. You should think “generic essay” when you come across “MEE.”
MPT = Multistate Performance Test
The Multistate Performance Test is section of approximately two-thirds of all bar exams. The MPT assesses your skills, whereas the rest of the exam assesses your knowledge. The MPT is a bit of a mystery to many, so for now, when you come across “MPT,” think “closed-universe problem.”
MPRE = Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam
“MPRE” is the one acronym the vast majority of law students already know. The MPRE is the ethics portion of the bar that you can take while still in school. So, when you come across “MPRE,” think “ethics.”
Key components of the bar exam
Now that we’ve gotten those pesky acronyms out of the way, let’s focus on how the bar exam is similar from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. First, the bar exam is offered twice a year – always during the last week of February and July. Depending on your jurisdiction, your exam will be 2, 2 ½, or 3 days in length. As mentioned above, the MBE constitutes a portion of nearly every jurisdiction’s exam, with the exception of Louisiana, Washington, and Puerto Rico.
The MBE consists of 200 questions – 190 of which count towards your final score. The remaining 10 questions are experimental and serve the purposes of the NCBE. Obviously, you cannot tell the difference between the two categories of questions, so it’s best to consider the MBE a 200 question exam. The 200 questions are answered over a six-hour period – 100 in the morning over three-hours, and 100 in the afternoon over an additional three-hours. 200 questions over six hours averages out to about 1.8 minutes per question. There are six subjects tested on the MBE. They are your core law school subjects – Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Constitutional Law, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts. As an aside, a few jurisdictions like New York and Florida test their own, state-specific multiple choice questions in addition to the MBE.
Now, all jurisdictions administer essay questions. A majority write, administer, and grade their own questions. Other jurisdictions (23 to be exact) administer the MEE (remember, this is the generic essay exam written by the NCBE). These jurisdictions ask MEE questions either in addition to, or in place of, their own questions. So, while the MEE is written by the NCBE, it is administered and graded by the participating jurisdiction.
Another component of the written exam – for about two-thirds of candidates – is the performance test. While a handful of jurisdictions (CA, PA) write their own performance test, most jurisdictions administer the MPT. The MPT, like the MEE, is written by the NCBE, but administered and graded by the participating jurisdiction. The MPT is designed to test candidates on basic lawyering skills required in typical legal situations. Candidates receive a booklet of information approximately 30 pages in length that contains everything necessary to complete the required task – from instructions, to fact patterns, to hypothetical cases and statutes. You have 90 minutes to read/understand the material, analyze it, and complete the required task. While the MPT can “task” you with writing any one of a variety of documents, it often tests you on your memo writing skills. While the 90 minutes of the MPT are super busy, you may be surprised to learn that it is largely considered the easiest section of the bar exam, as no substantive knowledge is required to complete it – everything you need is contained in the testing materials themselves. But, before you start celebrating, I want to warn you about one important twist – the packet contains both relevant and irrelevant documentation, as one of the skills tested by the MPT is your ability to discern which pieces of information you need to answer the question.
Bar exam application process
The process of applying for the bar is largely standardized among jurisdictions, beginning with the general requirement that a candidate graduate from law school before sitting for the exam. Despite this fact, candidates must start the application process in the fall of their last year in school. Candidates spend this time learning about the application process and gathering everything needed to file. Application deadlines for the July exam (the test for which a vast majority of candidates sit) generally fall sometime between the preceding February and May.
Like the application process generally, the information required on a bar application varies little from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For instance, candidates must list home addresses going back a specified period of time. Candidates must also list their employment history – again, going back a specific period of time. (A period of 10 years is fairly typical.) Some jurisdictions go so far as to ask that you include addresses where you lived or jobs that you held for as short as a few weeks at a time. Candidates also often must provide a number of references – people who are not related to the candidate by blood or marriage but who can nonetheless attest to his or her character. Some jurisdictions ask specifically for references from former professors and/or attorneys in good standing.
Not surprisingly, the records required to attach to a bar application are similar nationwide. However, the record-gathering process can be fairly arduous depending on the jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions simply require a candidate to pay a “character and fitness investigation” fee and take the process from there. Other jurisdictions require the candidate to attain the required records and forward them to the Board of Law Examiners. The latter, as you might imagine, can be quite a project. As far as records go, many jurisdictions ask for a driving record from each state in which the candidate was licensed, as well as a criminal record from each state in which the candidate lived. Many jurisdictions also ask (at a minimum) for a law school transcript. Some go so far as to require an undergrad transcript and/or a copy of the candidate’s law school application. A number of jurisdictions also ask for fingerprints and/or a passport-style photo.
While the application process sounds complicated and in a lot of ways, intrusive, I highly recommend that you take it seriously. I can assure you that no matter your jurisdiction the Board of Law Examiners will take your application seriously. As an attorney, you are in a position of trust and confidence, and the Board of Law Examiners wants to be sure that you can handle the responsibility before it even grants you permission to take the bar exam.
In my view, there are at least three “cardinal sins” of the bar exam application process. While these may seem obvious to you, I can’t stress enough the importance of avoiding them:
- Lying on your application, either actively or by omitting sensitive information. If there is something – anything – questionable in your past, it is best to disclose it to the Board. It’s better to own up to your mistake, and deal with the consequences, than to not mention it, and get caught in a lie later in the process. At the very least, I urge you to contact the Board of Law Examiners and ASK whether a certain indiscretion should be disclosed on your application. Better safe than sorry.
- Procrastinating. Throughout the bar exam application process, it is critical to keep the various deadlines in mind lest you miss one. As I’ve already mentioned, your standard bar application is fairly intricate and requires a lot of preparation, so give yourself plenty of time to complete it and submit it online or get it in the mail. If you miss a deadline, you may not be able to take the bar at all. And even if you are allowed to sit, you will likely get hit with a substantial late fee.
- Not following directions. Most boards of law examiners receive several hundred to several thousand applications a year. For that reason, they have little time to devote to any particular application. Thus, if the Board receives an incomplete application, it will not hesitate to return it to the submitting candidate. Not only does a returned application push you further back from the deadline, but some jurisdictions go so far as to charge a fee every time they have to return an application for incompleteness. So, it’s best to be careful, and submit a completely correct application the first time around.
Preparing for the bar exam while in law school
Now that we’ve covered the bar exam and application process, I’d like to share with you a few tips for things you can do during law school to prepare for the bar exam. Obviously, law school should be your focus while you’re there. However, as is probably clear at this point, it is important to keep the bar in the back of your mind throughout your law school experience (assuming you intend to sit for a bar, of course). This is particularly true in jurisdictions with early application deadlines.
First off, let’s talk about class selection. It’s impossible to take a class on every subject testable on the bar. After all, that’s one big reason why nearly every bar exam candidate takes a review course – to fill the gaps in one’s knowledge of the law. That said, there are two classes that I recommend that you take if they are not already required for graduation. The first class is Evidence. Evidence is some tough stuff – anyone who’s taken it will likely agree that hearsay in particular is challenging. For this reason, it’s important to get some exposure to Evidence prior to beginning your bar studies. Hearsay is not the kind of subject matter that you want to encounter for the first time in your bar review course. Evidence is also heavily tested on the bar – both on the MBE and the essays. You’ll see exactly 31 Evidence questions on the MBE alone. The second class I recommend is what I call “second semester Constitutional Law” or the “rights portion” of Constitutional Law. Like Evidence, Due Process and Equal Protection are tricky, particularly due to the nuanced Supreme Court decisions that constitute that area of the law. You will generally see fewer “rights” questions than Evidence questions on the bar exam. However, “rights” are fair game on the essays, and will certainly crop up in more than a handful of the 31 Constitutional Law questions on the MBE. Trust me, it’s best to avoid having to learn “rights” for the first time for the bar exam.
Other than taking bar classes, I recommend that you dedicate some time during law school to hone your writing skills. Similar to a legal writing assignment or law school exam essay, IRAC is crucial to follow on the bar exam. For those of you who are not familiar with this acronym, IRAC stands for “Issue, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion” – it’s basically the standard, widely accepted way that law students are trained to structure their writing. Following the IRAC method will undoubtedly help you organize your thoughts as the author of an essay, but doing so is even more important for the person grading your essay. IRAC forces your writing into a well organized and logical process – one that essay graders are accustomed to seeing and likely even trained to recognize. Following IRAC simply makes grading easier because the points you need to pass are obvious. If you write in a convoluted, illogical fashion, those points tend to be hidden and you will inevitably score lower.
Obviously, improving your writing skills while still in school is the preferred way to go, as trying to do so while simultaneously learning content for the bar exam is a difficult proposition for even the most gifted of students. After all, most candidates have only eight to ten weeks to prepare for the bar between graduation and the exam.
As mentioned previously, the MPRE (the ethics portion of the bar) can be taken while you are still in school. The MPRE is offered nationwide three times a year, in March, August, and November. Generally speaking, you need not take a Professional Responsibility class before you sit for the MPRE. No matter your choice on this front, I encourage you to prepare adequately for the MPRE. MPRE questions can be tricky – they are written with two right answers, and your job is to determine which of the right answers is “more right.” Thus, it’s best to get your hands on some practice questions and sample exams that will test your knowledge of the Model Rules of Professional Responsibility and the Code of Judicial Conduct. Just about every bar review company provides either a free or low cost MPRE review so make sure to take advantage of available materials.
Finally, I’d like to close this section of the presentation by sharing three tips – that apply while you’re still a law student – that guarantee a hassle-free bar application.
- Don’t wait to take care of your business. If you have a library fine, pay it. If you have a parking ticket, pay it. If you have a speeding ticket, pay it. Don’t wait until the application process to attempt to work through outstanding issues that may take some time to resolve.
- Watch your credit. With increasing frequency, boards of law examiners nationwide are taking a look at candidates’ personal credit. Credit issues, as you know, have become a major problem in this country, and boards are being more diligent than ever at screening candidates on their ability to manage their personal finances. Now, why do they care? Well, because your ability to manage your personal finances is indicative of your ability to manage your professional finances. As an attorney, your peers and clients alike will put their faith and confidence in you. Therefore, the Board of Law Examiners wants to know that you are, among other things, fiscally responsible. For that reason, you must do everything possible to avoid defaulting on a loan, missing a credit card payment, running up excessive credit card debt, etc. And if for some reason you slip up, do everything you can to resolve the issue before you apply for the bar.
- Be on your best behavior. I don’t have to tell you that the legal profession holds its members to the highest of ethical standards. As I mentioned above, you will have to report indiscretions on your bar exam application. If anything happens between when you submit your application and the bar exam, you will have to amend your application. For that matter, you will be responsible for informing the bar in your state of any and every indiscretion – as insignificant in some cases as a speeding ticket – for as long as you are a member. Therefore, it is in your best interests to be on your best behavior from yesterday until the day you retire. It’s not so fun – but so, so true!
Ok, so we’ve talked about the bar exam, the application process, and a bunch of miscellaneous topics related to law school. Now, I’d like to finish up by giving a short pep talk…
I’ve summarized my pep talk into a somewhat silly, yet still compelling equation of sorts:
due diligence + thinking ahead + solid preparation = success
The bar exam is not rocket science… Anybody – including you – can be successful!
- Do your research. Read everything you can get your hands on about your jurisdiction’s exam. Talk to classmates planning to sit for the same bar. Don’t hesitate to contact the Board of Law Examiners to fill information gaps.
- Give yourself plenty of time to get your stuff together. I recommend that you electronically submit/mail your application a week in advance of the deadline – at a minimum. Do it much sooner than that if at all possible.
- Put the time in now so that you only have to do this once. Studying for the bar must become your priority. But don’t make it so much of a priority that you take the fun out of life! Breaks are important for your mental health.
Thanks so much for reading, and best of luck on your bar exam!
