The BARBRI Simulated Exam is one of the most important things you can do to prepare for the bar exam. Administered several weeks before test day, the simulation gives you an opportunity to experience exam-like conditions, assess your readiness, and identify areas where you should focus your remaining study time.
For students taking the legacy Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), the Simulated Exam—along with the industry's leading Pass Predictor—is designed to mirror the demands of the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE). When you prepare using the BARBRI Simulated Exam, you build endurance, improve pacing, and measure your performance against other test-takers.
For students taking the NextGen UBE, BARBRI offers a simulated testing experience with practice and performance reporting tools designed to help you understand your progress and focus your preparation.
No matter which bar exam you plan to take, the goal is the same. You want to gain meaningful feedback before test day and use it to guide your final weeks of preparation.
Lessons to Learn Before + During the Simulated Exam
Prepare for the Simulated Exam Like It's the Real Thing
It may sound obvious, but your results will be more meaningful if you take the exam seriously and prepare beforehand. A smart approach is to go beyond watching the BARBRI bar prep lecture videos and reviewing the outlines.
Instead, do what you plan on doing in the days leading up to the actual bar exam. For example, the use of CriticalPass Cards and other bar prep supplements like AdaptiBar and Quimbee can be great study assets aligned with your BARBRI Bar Review materials.
Your Pass Predictor Score Report Matters
Although you can re-take the Simulated Exam, you’re only graded against the majority of your peers and fellow bar takers once. Thus, it is helpful to go into the practice test with the best preparation possible.
For traditional UBE students, the BARBRI Pass Predictor score report provides detailed performance insights, including percentile rankings by MBE subject and subtopic so you know where you're outperforming other students.
For NextGen students, performance analytics and Pass Predictor reporting help identify strengths and weaknesses across tested skills and knowledge areas to find opportunities for improving efficiency and accuracy.
Treat these results as a roadmap for the final stretch of your bar preparation.
Take the Exam Under Real Testing Conditions
To get the greatest benefit from the experience, take the Simulated Exam under conditions that closely resemble your actual exam administration.
- Follow all timing requirements.
- Work in a distraction-free environment.
- Use only approved materials.
- Test on the same type of device when possible.
The closer you can get to real exam conditions, the better prepared you'll be for test day.
Avoid the Temptation to Rush Through Questions
You’re working under a time constraint, but speeding through questions leads to mistakes. Just like on the LSAT, you need to determine how long you technically have per question, and how long it takes you to work through an average question.
The goal isn't simply to finish quickly. It's to maintain a steady pace and maximize correct answers.
Practice Your Pacing
One of the most valuable lessons from the Simulated Exam is learning how to manage your energy and concentration. Use the experience to evaluate:
- Whether you're spending too much time on difficult questions
- When your concentration begins to fade
- How effectively you're allocating time throughout an exam session
Now is the time to force yourself to slow down, read more critically, and leave a small buffer for revisiting more difficult questions.
What to Do After the Simulated Exam
Keep Studying, Regardless of Your Results
If you did amazing on the BARBRI Simulated Exam, congratulations, but don't place yourself on cruise control just yet. Others will continue improving their scores between now and exam day. Stay focused, follow your study plan, and keep refining weak areas.
If you didn’t perform as well as you hoped, don't panic. A lower-than-expected score does not mean you won't pass the bar exam. Instead, view the results as valuable feedback. The BARBRI Simulated Exam shows you exactly where to focus your efforts to strengthen weaker subjects, improve your test-taking approach, and build confidence before exam day.
Incorporate More Active Learning
As your BARBRI Bar Review course progresses, and after the Simulated Exam, you typically spend less time passively reviewing information and more time actively applying it.
Try to strike a balancer in your study time among three critical areas:
- Knowledge Acquisition: Learn new material through lecture videos, reading the outlines, and CriticalPass Cards (flashcards).
- Knowledge Retention: Strengthen memory through repeated use of flashcards and spaced review techniques.
- Knowledge Application: Use what you’ve learned through hypotheticals, practice questions, practice essays, and skills-based scenarios and exercises.
After reviewing your BARBRI Simulated Exam scores and percentile rankings, you should be able to determine those areas where you need to revisit the knowledge acquisition phase and those where you would benefit most from focusing on the application phase.
Stay Positive + Trust the Process
You have come so far in this journey. Now is not the time to let the stress of studying wear you down.
Remember, the purpose of the Simulated Exam is to show you where you are today so you can prepare more effectively for tomorrow. Every practice session, review, and question completed brings you one step closer to passing the bar exam.
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