Recap of the February 2018 Michigan Bar Exam

Recap of the February 2018 Michigan Bar Exam

The February 2018 Michigan bar exam was just like we thought it would be — tricky, long, but more fair than last February.

A lot of students struggled with timing and rushed through questions or skipped questions altogether on the February 2018 Michigan bar exam. If you struggled with timing or missed issues or questions, you are not alone!

A few notes about the February 2018 Michigan Bar Exam:

• Professional Responsibility was not tested this exam! We were happy to see that missing from the third Michigan bar exam in a row.
• The more “unusual” subjects were Conflicts (though the issue–contractual dispute–did not surprise us) and Garnishments (which we predicted was coming up).

Some of the questions that students struggled with were #1 (Contracts, which is typically tricky and this exam was no exception!) #2 (Garnishments), #3 (Evidence, which was fair but hard for those who have not mastered impeachment, which includes most people), #6 (the Family Law issue with “automatic forfeiture” which most students BS’ed), and #8 (the odd landlord-tenant-dispute-brought-into-district-court claim). If you struggled with these, you are not alone. If you ran out of time to fully answer #8 or #9, you are also not alone.

Most students thought that the afternoon portion was easier than the morning, though there were still some tricky issues in the afternoon (with Real Property and Criminal Law being the slightly more unusual subjects).

Some of the questions on the February 2018 Michigan bar exam were straightforward. In fact, we predicted quite a few issues. Specifically we had given all of our students an identical confrontation clause question on their final mock exam (we invented the fact pattern based off of the same U.S. Supreme Court decision) as we thought it was coming up. We predicted the shareholder right of inspection issue in Corporations, tenancies in Real Property (though that was a hard question), preexisting condition and disability in Workers’ Compensation, wage garnishments in Creditors’ Rights, and validity of an oral trust, among others. We were happy to see those issues on this exam!

If you found that you ran out of time, confused some subjects or topics, or did not know how to answer one or more questions…you are not alone! Not only that, but it is completely normal and you can still pass with flying colors. The average passing score for the last exam was below a score of 7. We predict a pretty good grading curve and a decent passage rate. Remember, the exam is scaled and that there is always tomorrow to make up some points.

The February 2018 Michigan bar exam essay portion is over. Time to look onward to the MBE day! Take a break tonight, rest up, and get ready for the MBE day tomorrow!