The Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) is a six-hour, two-hundred multiple-choice question examination administered as a part of the bar examination in almost all jurisdictions of the United States. The MBE largely tests black letter law, a distillation of the common law into general and accepted legal principles. The MBE covers contracts, torts, American constitutional law, criminal law, evidence, and real property. The contracts questions also include questions on the sale of goods, governed by Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, while the criminal law section also covers criminal procedure.
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Overview
The MBE is developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners and was first administered in February 1972.[1] It is administered on a single day of the bar examination in 48 states and the District of Columbia, as well as in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Republic of Palau. The only states that do not administer the MBE are Louisiana and Washington; the MBE is also not administered in Puerto Rico.[2] The MBE is given on the last Wednesday of July in all jurisdictions that require that examination. It is also given on the last Wednesday of February in the same jurisdictions, with the exceptions of Delaware and North Dakota, which only have one bar exam each year in July.
The 200 MBE questions are not broken down into sections, with the six topics distributed more or less evenly throughout the course of the exam. Exam-takers generally receive three hours during the morning session to complete the first 100 questions, and another three hours during the afternoon session to complete the second 100 questions. This means that each question can receive, on average, one minute and 48 seconds of the exam-taker's attention, which can make the exam challenging as some questions involve intricate fact patterns.
At the January 2009 conference of the Association of American Law Schools, NCBE president Erica Moeser indicated that her organization was considering adding a seventh topic, civil procedure, to the examination.[3]
Many bar examinations in the United States also include state-specific essay questions on separate days either preceding or following the MBE.
Average scores
The average raw score from the summer exam historically has been about 128 (64% correct), while the average scaled score was about 140.[1][4] In summer 2007, the average scaled score was 143.7 with a standard deviation of 15.9. Over 50,000 applicants took the test; less than half that number took it in the winter.[1]
Bar Admission Requirements
After you take the MBE in a given jurisdiction you may be able to use your MBE score to waive into another jurisdiction, or more often transfer your MBE score to use with another state's bar examination. Consult page 19 of the cited document for specific requirements[5]
Notes and references
- ^ a b c Bar Admissions statistics PDF (accessed April 23, 2008)
- ^ "Jurisdictions Using the MBE in 2008". National Conference of Bar Examiners. http://www.ncbex.org/multistate-tests/mbe/mbe-faqs/jurs/. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
- ^ Jones, Leigh (2009-01-15). "Potential Major Changes to Bar Exams Considered". The National Law Jourrnal. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/careercenter/lawArticleCareerCenter.jsp?id=1202427461503. Retrieved 2009-11-23.
- ^ BarBri Bar Review MPQ1 2008, pg. 10001.
- ^ Comprehensive Guide to Bar Admission Requirements 2009 (accessed June 29, 2009)
See also
External links
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