5 Things To Know Before Taking the UBE

5 Things To Know Before Taking the UBE

Bar prep can be an incredibly challenging experience.  Amidst comprehensive outlines, simple outlines, video lectures, practice tests, and study time, it is a lot to manage.  In this post, we discuss 5 things to know before taking the UBE to help you as you begin your studies!

5 Things To Know Before Taking the UBE

1. The UBE tests general principles of law.

We’re going to begin by providing a brief overview of what the UBE actually is.  The UBE consists of the Multistate Bar Exam (the “MBE”), the Multistate Performance Tests (“MPT”), and the Multistate Essay Exam (“MEE”). The following subject areas appear on the MBE:

• Civil Procedure
• Constitutional Law
• Contracts
• Criminal Law and Procedure
• Evidence
• Real Property
• Torts

The following subject areas are all fair game on the MEE:

• Business Associations (Agency and Partnership; Corporations and Limited Liability Companies),
• Civil Procedure,
• Conflict of Laws,
• Constitutional Law,
• Contracts,
• Criminal Law and Procedure,
• Evidence,
• Family Law,
• Real Property,
• Torts,
• Trusts and Estates (Decedents’ Estates; Trusts and Future Interests), and
• Uniform Commercial Code (Secured Transactions).

2. Some subjects are more frequently tested than others.

This Multistate Essay Exam Subject Frequency Chart provides a history of the essay subjects appearing on the MEE since 2011.  Below is a list of highly tested subjects on the UBE in order of the most-to-least tested:

• Civil Procedure (17 full essays plus 1 combined with another subject)
• Agency and Partnership (11 full essays plus 3 combined with another subject)
• Contracts (13 full essays)
• Secured Transactions (11 full essays)
• Real Property (11 full essays)
• Corporations and LLCs (9 full essays plus 3 combined with another subject)
• Evidence (8 full essays plus 3 combined with another subject)
• Trusts and Future Interests (8 full essays plus 2 combined with another subject)
• Constitutional Law (8 full essays plus 2 combined with another subject)
• Decedents’ Estates (Wills) (8 full essays plus 3 combined with another subject)
• Torts (7 full essays plus 3 combined with another subject).

3. 1L and the MBE.

As discussed above, your first-year law courses will likely all appear in some form on the UBE.  Before you begin bar prep, it may be a good idea to review your 1L grades, and, while you’re at it to dig out those outlines.  If you can identify any areas that were more difficult than others, you can make sure that you focus your attention on those areas during bar prep.  Briefly, the MBE consists of 200 multiple-choice questions administered over the course of six hours.  While the MBE more or less tests the seven above-referenced topics pretty evenly, some sub-topics are more likely to appear on the MBE.  We include a list of those sub-topics below:

• Civil Procedure: Pre-Trial Procedures, Jurisdiction, and Venue
• Constitutional Law: Individual Rights
• Contracts: Formation, Breach, and Discharge of Contracts
• Criminal Law: Constitutional Protections of Accused Person
• Evidence: Relevance of Evidence and Reasons for Excluding Evidence
• Real Property: Equally divided (Real Estate Contracts, Mortgages, Ownership of Property, Rights in Land, Title to Property, and Contracts and Sales)
• Torts: Negligence

4. The MBE is important, but so is the rest of the exam.

Students often get caught up in studying MBE materials that they do so at the expense of the MEE and MPT!  Exam takers should remember that each MPT is worth 10% (20% total) and the MEE makes up for the remaining 30% of the exam.  Failure to prepare for the remainder of the exam could put your bar exam score in jeopardy!  As you prepare for the bar exam, don’t just stick with mastering those multiple-choice questions!  Be sure to do plenty of practice essays (and self-grade them!) along with practice MPTs in bar exam-like conditions!

5. Passing the UBE depends on your state.

Passing scores on the UBE differ from state to state.  Keep in mind that a passing score in one jurisdiction might not equate to a passing score in another jurisdiction.  Given that the MBE, MEE, and MPT all play a role in your UBE score, it is important to make sure you adequately prepare for all three aspects of the exam.  The MBE is worth 50% of your UBE score while the MEE and MPT combined make up the remaining 50%.

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