1. What is the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) and How do You Prepare For It?
The MBE is a six-hour, two-hundred question
multiple-choice examination. The National Conference
of Bar Examiners (NCBE) is responsible for producing
the MBE and its 200 items. This test is composed
of 33 or 34 questions in each of six subjects:
Contracts, Torts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence,
Real Property and Constitutional Law.
At our school, the basic courses in Contracts,
Torts, Criminal Law and Procedure are part of the
first year’s study, while Constitutional Law, Evidence,
and Real Property are required as second year
courses. Advanced courses completing additional
coverage are: Torts II, Property II (or Real Estate
Transactions), Trial Advocacy, and First Amendment
Law.
The MBE questions test you on the "three R’s"–
Reading, Reasoning and Recognizing the nuances of a question. The better you understand the rules of a
particular subject the more likely you are to avoid
traps for the unwary. Doing practice questions is a
major key to mastering the Multistate approach to
these six subjects. These are usually answered in
terms of majority rules.
2. What is the Essay Section and How do you Prepare For It?
Two thirds of the 56 American jurisdictions write
their own essay exams. The other third make use of
the NCBE’s Multistate Essay Exam (MEE).
Jurisdictions that write their own essay questions
vary in the number, complexity and length of the
questions, as well as in the subject areas tested. New
Jersey, for example, only tests the six MBE subjects,
but the questions are an hour long and relatively complex.
New York tests on a great many subjects and has a short section of multiple choice questions that reflect New York practice.
The Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) is a continuous
three-hour examination consisting of six questions. Applicants are
expected to spend approximately thirty minutes answering each of
the questions. Some questions include issues in more than one area
of law. Areas covered by the questions in the examination are:
| BAR SUBJECT | UDC-DCSL COURSE |
|---|
| Agency and Partnership | Business Organizations I |
| Corporations | Business Organizations II |
| Commercial Paper | Uniform Commercial Code |
| Secured Transactions | Uniform Commercial Code |
| Decedents Estates | Wills & Estates |
| Trusts & Future Interests | Wills & Estates |
| Conflict of Laws | Conflict of Laws |
| Family Law | Family Law |
| Federal Civil Procedure | Civil Procedure/Fed Courts |
| Sales | Contracts, UCC. |
According to the NCBE, the purpose of the MEE is to test the
applicant’s ability to:
- Identify legal issues raised by a hypothetical factual situation;
- Separate material which is relevant from that which is not;
- Present a reasoned analysis of the relevant issues in a clear,
concise, and well organized composition; and
- Demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental legal
principles relevant to the probable solution of the issues
raised by the factual situation.
The NCBE notes that the MEE requires the applicant to demonstrate
an ability to communicate in writing effectively.
3. What is the Performance Test and How do you Prepare For It?
The Multistate Performance Test (MPT) is the newest addition
to the bar family. California began using a performance test a number
of years ago and still produces its own.
Some 27 states now use the NCBE’s MPT, as do the District of
Columbia, Guam and the Northern Marianna Islands. Some of these
jurisdictions use just one 90 minute test, and fill the other hour and a
half with a state essay or short questions. Other jurisdictions–
particularly those using the MEE– administer two MPTs.
Here is how the NCBE describes the MPT:
"[It] is designed to test an applicant’s ability to use fundamental
lawyering skills in a realistic situation. Each test evaluates
an applicant’s ability to complete a task which a beginning lawyer
should be able to accomplish.
The materials for each MPT include a File and a Library.
The File consists of source documents containing all the facts of the case. The specific assignment the applicant is to complete
is described in a memorandum from a supervising attorney.
The File might also include, for example, transcripts of interviews,
depositions, hearings or trials, pleadings, correspondence,
client documents, contracts, newspaper articles,
medical records, police reports, and lawyer’s notes.
Relevant as well as irrelevant facts are included. Facts
are sometimes ambiguous, incomplete, or even conflicting.
As in practice, a client’s or supervising attorney’s version
of events may be incomplete or unreliable. Applicants are
expected to recognize when facts are inconsistent or missing
and are expected to identify sources of additional facts.
The Library consists of cases, statutes, regulations
and rules, some of which may not be relevant to the assigned
lawyering task. The applicant is expected to extract
from the Library the legal principles necessary to
analyze the problem and perform the task. The MPT is
not a test of substantive law, and problems may arise in a
variety of fields. Library materials provide sufficient substantive
information to complete the task."
What are they testing? The MPT’s goal is to require
applicants to:
- sort detailed factual materials and separate relevant
from irrelevant facts;
- analyze statutory, case, and administrative materials for
relevant principles of law;
- apply the relevant law to the relevant facts in a manner
likely to resolve a client’s problem;
- identify and resolve ethical dilemmas, when present;
- communicate effectively in writing; and
- complete a lawyering task within time constraints."
These skills are tested by requiring applicants to perform
one of a number of different types of lawyering tasks.
For example, applicants may be instructed to prepare:
- a memorandum to a supervising attorney;
- a letter to a client;
- a persuasive memorandum or brief;
- a statement of facts;
- a contract provision;
- a will;
- a counseling plan;
- a proposal for settlement or agreement;
- a discovery plan;
- a witness examination plan;
- a closing argument.
Your clinical studies should help prepare you for performing
these types of lawyering tasks, as do "skills-oriented"
courses such as Lawyering Process.
Our Local Jurisdictions
Of the four local jurisdictions, D.C. and West Virginia
both use the MEE, along with the MPT. Maryland and Virginia
do not use the MEE. Instead, they test on a range of
subjects, with Virginia having the widest range in the area.
Even though the approach to be taken in responding to essays
may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, the core
skills being tested do not vary that much.
D.C. and West Virginia (and some eight other jurisdictions
such as Hawaii) rely on the three NCBE-produced tests
for their bars. They use the MBE (200 multiple choice questions),
the MEE (Essay), and the MPT (performance), but
they each set their own passing scores and get to select the
actual essay topics and MPTs to be used. They also get to
decide whether to grade using local law as the standard.
Thus, the actual questions on the essay/MPT exam taken in
Hawaii may be different from that in Illinois and from those in
D.C. and West Virginia.
Over the years, UDC-DCSL and DCSL graduates have
taken and passed the bars in the following jurisdictions:
Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia,
Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska,
New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South
Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin,
the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, and the Navajo
Nation.
More Bar Counsel on the next page...
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