How to succeed on the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE)

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Let’s start with what we already know about the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE):

  • With 200 questions to answer over a period of six hours (that’s an average of one minute and 48 seconds per question), it’s a demanding test.
  • With seven major areas of substantive law tested, there are questions on a wide range of issues and sub-issues within those areas of law.
  • With each multiple-choice question drafted by a committee of law professors, your reading comprehension skills are sure to be tested like never before.

That’s a lot to take in, but you can trust BARBRI Bar Review for everything you need to know about studying for the bar exam, especially the MBE. Just remember these tips for MBE success when the time comes for your bar prep.

Practice under timed conditions

To help you build up the physical and mental endurance you will need for the MBE, BARBRI Bar Review provides you with more than 5,500 MBE practice questions, including two 200-question practice exams and three 100-question half exams. The secret to success here is to do practice exams under timed conditions to replicate, as much as possible, the actual bar exam experience.

The 200-question BARBRI Simulated MBE provides a detailed score analysis comparing your performance to every other BARBRI student taking the exam. This score report highlights how you are performing on every topic and subtopic, so you can adjust how you are studying based on this report. The score report can be very enlightening, so be sure you take this exam when you see it on the schedule.

Focus where it matters most

A strategic bar prep study strategy focuses on the areas of law most heavily and frequently tested on the MBE. The BARBRI MBE subject matter experts have analyzed the MBE for decades and have identified the most critical areas to target. Don’t try to master every one of the thousands of rules and concepts that could be tested, or you may start to feel overwhelmed and anxious about your readiness.

The adaptive BARBRI Personal Study Plan (PSP) focuses your assignments on the most heavily tested core areas, allowing you to allocate your time efficiently and effectively. And when you read the Conviser Mini Review, you will see a host of charts and exam tips that zero in on the issues that come up regularly on the exam. Also, just like with the BARBRI Simulated MBE, the percentile rank information you get on your online MBE assignments identifies your weak areas. Use this information to study smarter, not harder.

Learn from each study question

Work on improving how you read and analyze MBE multiple-choice questions. MBE success is not about how many questions you answer each day or throughout your preparation. It’s about how much you truly learn from each question you answer. The MBE skills workshops during BARBRI bar prep teach you a systematic problem-solving strategy you can use on any question you encounter on the bar exam. This strategy helps you quickly identify the issue tested and the key facts that point you to the correct answer.

For each practice question, you should also determine whether you got it right or wrong, whether your analysis was on-point, and whether you identified and understood the narrow rule being tested. Reading through the explanatory answer for each question is crucial.

One more thing we know …

BARBRI has decades of experience helping students become licensed attorneys.

Nearly 90% of our students who do the average amount of prep pass the bar exam. Don’t take our word for it, though. Ask the 1.3 million lawyers, judges and legal professionals who have passed The BARBRI Way.

You can do this!

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