Posts tagged MBE

WHAT YOUR BAR EXAM
SUMMER WILL BE LIKE



By Anna Abrigo, Esq., BARBRI Director of Legal Education

GETTING STARTED

BARBRI bar review courses are scheduled to begin at most locations in May 2013. Be sure to pay attention to course introductions, emails and announcements so that you have all the information you need to make the most out of your bar exam preparation this summer. Also, log in to the Enrolled Student Center on BARBRI.com so to get familiar with its contents that include Quick Links and StudySmart® software.

BarExamSummer_2ESTABLISH A ROUTINE

The best approach to your bar exam summer is to treat your preparation as if it is your full-time job. Find a routine that works for you. To help you plan and manage your time, the BARBRI bar review course includes an interactive Paced Program, an online daily study and assignment schedule that outlines and explains exactly what you need to do and when.

The BARBRI course generally meets five days a week for about three-to-four hours, covering substantive law topics tested on the bar. There are usually no lectures on weekends. This schedule allows for more time to review the black letter law and complete reading and writing assignments.

Your routine should also include personal downtime. Studying for the bar is undoubtedly and extremely time consuming. But it certainly should not be a 24/7 endeavor literally. You should schedule breaks throughout the day – after a full day of studying and on the weekends. If you like working out or seeing friends, make room for those activities. Spend time with family. Do things you enjoy. This will fuel your efforts, allowing you to remain focused while studying for the bar.

TAKE OUR SIMULATED MBE

In July (weeks before the bar exam), you will take the BARBRI Simulated MBE, a practice multistate exam administered under actual timed conditions. Only the BARBRI Simulated MBE provides you with diagnostic feedback that compares your performance to more than 35,000 BARBRI students nationwide. This personal feedback, along with our expert lectures analyzing the exam in detail, will give you every advantage to land on the passing percentile of the bar exam’s graded curve. Only BARBRI can show you how you rank against the overwhelming majority of law school graduates who will be taking the upcoming bar exam. With BARBRI, you will know where you stand weeks before the exam so you can keep improving.

TRUST THAT YOU ARE BARBRI READY

Ask anyone who has passed the bar exam and you will find that confidence is one key to success. It is natural that feelings of doubt may creep in periodically but know that from day one of the BARBRI bar review course, each one of your assignments has been designed make you as prepared as possible for whatever the examiners throw your way. For example, our exclusive BARBRI AMP technology guides you to achieve mastery of the multistate topics. Practice questions of all types (MBE, Essay, MPT and local multiple choice), depending on your state, will make you comfortable with timing and substantive issues. Our knowledgeable and experienced attorneys and staff are available to answer any questions that might arise to make sure that you are indeed BARBRI ready for the bar exam this July.

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TAKING TWO BAR EXAMS



By Dale Larrimore, BARBRI Regional Vice President

Can I take two bar exams this summer? We often hear this question at this time of year. The lawyerly answer is: “It depends.”

There are two factors that control whether you sit for two different bar exams in the same week. First, you have to determine on which day each state administers its essay exam. Second, you have to find out if one of the states will accept a transferred Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) score from a concurrent exam.

KNOW THE EXACT DATES FOR BOTH STATES

MultistateThe MBE is always given on the last Wednesday in February and July. Most states administer essay exams on the Tuesday before the MBE. Three states administer essays on the Thursday after the MBE – Massachusetts, New Jersey and Wyoming. So if you want to take two bar exams at the same time, you have to combine a Tuesday/Wednesday exam with the exam in one of these three states.

For example, many students take the New York bar exam on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then travel to New Jersey for Thursday. Other popular combinations include Pennsylvania/New Jersey or Pennsylvania/Massachusetts.

CONSIDER GEOGRAPHY TO AVOID FATIGUE

There are many other combinations that you could consider like Alabama/Massachusetts, yet keep in mind that geography and fatigue can work against you.

Using this example – to sit for Alabama and Massachusetts – here’s what your schedule would look like on bar exam week:

    Monday: Three hours of Alabama Civil Procedure exams
    Tuesday: Six hours of MBE and Multistate Performance Test
    Wednesday: Six hours of MBE, then travel to Massachusetts
    Thursday: Six hours of Massachusetts Essay Exam

As you can imagine, it’s much easier to travel from New York to New Jersey than from Alabama to Massachusetts, especially after three days of the bar exam.

MAKE SURE YOUR MBE SCORE WILL BE ACCEPTED

Once you figure out whether the dates will work for the two states you choose, you next have to determine whether one of the states will accept an MBE score from an exam administered in another state. This list includes:

> Arizona
> Connecticut
> Indiana
> Kansas
> Maryland
> Massachusetts
> New Hampshire
> New Jersey
> New Mexico
> New York
> Oklahoma
> Rhode Island
> South Carolina
> Utah

FINALLY, HOW HARD IS IT TO PASS TWO STATE BARS

In some states, like New Jersey, little knowledge of state law is required. In others, like Massachusetts, a significant amount of state law is required to be successful on the essay exam.

There are obviously many factors to consider when deciding whether or not to take two bar exams at once. The good news is that BARBRI has helped thousands of students pass two bar exams simultaneously. We have specifically tailored study programs that highlight key differences between the two states and make learning law in two states not significantly harder than learning one.

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CHANGE IS COMING TO THE MBE



By Mike Sims, BARBRI President

Rumors have been swirling for years, but now it’s official:   Civil Procedure is being added to the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) beginning with the February 2015 bar exam.

In a recent memo to law school deans, Erica Moeser, the President of the National Conference of  Bar Examiners (the good people who bring you the MBE and all of the other multistate exams) announced that the 200 question, multiple-choice examination will include the following subjects:

  • Contractstest_taking
  • Constitutional Law
  • Criminal Law & Procedure
  • Real Property
  • Torts
  • Evidence
  • Civil Procedure

The new MBE will feature 27 scored questions in each subject except contracts, which will have 28 scored questions (190 questions are scored each exam, while 10 questions are unscored pre-test items).

The NCBE plans to release specific test coverage outlines for Civil Procedure later this year.

THIS CHANGE SHOULD HELP MOST BAR TAKERS

In many states, Civil Procedure is already an essay subject.  Learning it for the essay will help you on the MBE.   For everyone else, adding a new subject to the MBE will reduce the overall negative effect of scoring lower on a single subject.

WE’RE ALREADY CREATING THE TOOLS YOU NEED

The BARBRI editorial team has already been working on materials to help you prepare for Civil Procedure on the MBE.  We’ll be ready well before February 2015 so you’ll be BARBRI ready when you take the new MBE.

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