The performance test (PT) is a section of the bar exam that serves to mimic a real-life legal task that a future lawyer may face. It's the closest you’ll come to practicing law on the bar exam.
The PT assesses your ability to carry out a task such as drafting an objective memo, brief, or demand letter. You’ll receive an exam booklet detailing the specific task and providing fictional evidence and legal authorities. Make no mistake—even though you don’t have to memorize any law for the performance test, it’s not a cakewalk. You’ll be expected to work strategically, read quickly, and draft a professional document in a short period of time.
How Should I Prepare for the Performance Test Component?
Practice is the key to success on the performance test. It’s a great way to become familiar with the structure of the test and develop the quick pace required to earn a high score.
Use BARBRI AdaptiBar bar prep supplements like the AdaptiBar Writing Guide to help build substantive knowledge while learning effective writing strategies. The Writing Guide helps you make the most of your study time and achieve maximum points on essays and PTs by practicing with real, released questions from past bar exams.
What Are Some Common Mistakes Examinees Make?
With the amount of knowledge and critical analysis skill that needs to be acquired before the bar exam, the performance test often gets pushed to the backburner. It’s not prioritized because it doesn’t test substantive knowledge. Yet practice and self-evaluation important for providing early assessment of your ability to examine facts, understand which ones are relevant, and develop a document that answers a pointed question.
Other Common Mistakes Include:
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Skipping directions in the task memo. Failing to heed instructions can have a big impact on your score. Read carefully and take notes of what to draft—a persuasive brief, an objective memo, a letter, etc. If you draft a memo when the assignment was to write a letter, you’ll lose precious points.
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Avoiding relevant authorities. Make a point of using every relevant case and statute provided in the exam booklet. Demonstrating your mastery of the authorities is important for scoring points.
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Skimping on analysis. Graders look carefully at the analysis in your response. After all, they are assessing whether you are competent to practice law. Prioritize applying law to fact and go light on other portions of your response, such as introductory paragraphs and reciting factual background.
How Much Time Do I Have on the Performance Test?
If you’re taking the Uniform Bar Exam, the performance test component, or Multistate Performance Test, allots merely 90 minutes per task. It’s not much time to complete your response.
Is There a Performance Test on the NextGen Bar Exam?
Yes. The new version of the bar exam—known as the NextGen UBE— contains a performance test component. Much like the current MPT, the NextGen performance tasks (which will be part of NextGen when it begins being administered in some jurisdictions in July 2026) provide a drafting assignment plus all the facts and law needed to complete the assignment.
The difference is the NextGen performance test also assesses research skills, such as identifying search terms, updating sources, and determining whether sources are sufficient to complete the assigned task.
Your Best Friend for Bar Exam Success
Make performance test success a reality with additional bar exam study tips from BARBRI. Whether you want the edge in mastering law school finals or conquering the bar exam, BARBRI has you covered.
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