How Many MBE Questions Should I Do in Total Before The Bar Exam?

How Many MBE Questions Should I Do in Total Before The Bar Exam?

Preparing for the bar exam is just as personal as any other educational endeavor you embark on. This is important to remember because one of the biggest stressors associated with preparing for the bar exam is when students compare themselves with others. Remember that everyone is different in what they specifically need to do to pass the exam. Of course there is general guidance that is helpful to everyone preparing, but the specifics are always personal.

How Many MBE Questions Should I Do in Total Before The Bar Exam?

Answering MBE questions gives you exposure to how information is tested.

It is of course advisable to complete MBE questions – even if you know the law super well and did well in law school. This is because completing questions will give you exposure to how the information is tested. As you can imagine, the MBE is not completely reinvented every time. Instead, certain issues and topics tend to be tested in similar ways. So completing questions can give you exposure to how questions are tested.

However, on the other hand, some students go crazy and complete thousands of questions and don’t get anywhere! This is because while they are exposed to how questions are tested, they are not learning from their mistakes when they answer a question incorrectly. Thus, there is a happy medium where you practice MBE questions to get sufficient exposure to how topics are tested – but you do not go crazy answering questions without a purpose – and without seeing your score improve.

Quality Over Quantity

So, before answering the question, “How many MBE questions should I do total before the bar exam?” it is important to note that the main takeaway with MBE practice is quality over quantity. Answering some quantity of MBE questions is important (as we mention above) but you do not want to sacrifice quality for quantity. Sacrificing quality is one of the biggest mistakes we see bar exam takers make.

So, when it comes to your practice, it is important that every week you do some questions timed, and some questions untimed—slowly and methodically. For a step-by-step guide on how to improve your MBE score click here. This teaches a slow and methodical method – and is perfect for students who race through questions rather than slowing down!

For help with a MBE schedule, click here.

Timed Practice

If you want to make sure that you are getting in both types of practice it is helpful to carve out a half day each week for timed practice. As bar prep progresses you can do more and more timed exams. Gradually take it from an hour to two hours, and then from two hours to a half day exam. Finally, incorporate some full day exams. Many of our students like taking Friday mornings for this type of practice. That way, they feel like they had all week to practice and review. Friday morning is their day to sit down for set of timed questions.

If you complete one hour of timed questions, remember to complete 33 questions. In two hours, you should complete 66. And in three hours, you should complete 100 questions. See this post on how to improve your timing on the MBE if you struggle with timing.

Untimed Practice

When it comes to doing untimed practice, it is important that you do some questions each week slowly and methodically. Don’t mind the clock while you do them. By working slowly, you can pick up on how they ask certain questions, and really hone in on what you do and don’t understand. This approach will better focus your studies. For students who have done hundreds of questions and can’t quite seem to get their MBE score up, it is likely because they don’t do enough untimed practice. They simply went through the motions without understanding the material better.

So, How Many MBE Questions Should I Do Before the Bar Exam?

Let’s get back to the question, “How many MBE questions should I do total before the bar exam?” The answer isn’t a specific number. Rather, it is more or less a range that you should be getting done to ensure that you exposed yourself to enough material to pass the exam. As discussed above, this range covers not only timed exams, but also untimed practice. It also incorporates a range of questions, which will change depending on the person, for the last two weeks of bar prep when you are hopefully just reviewing the materials.

The answer to the question, “How many MBE questions should I do total before the bar exam?” for most students tends to be somewhere between 800-1000. Remember that this number is a range on purpose—some people will need to do less than others. For instance, many who struggle with timing issues find that by incorporating timed practice early, they may do more questions in total than other students. Others can do less questions and be just fine going into the bar exam. We have had students complete half the amount of questions above and pass with flying colors. The goal is not to hit a certain number. Rather, the goal is to answer questions well and learn from incorrect mistakes.

Remember, there is not a precise number that will guarantee that you will pass. Instead, the goal is to make sure that you are getting in good quality practice, and doing both timed and untimed work. For information on how to figure out how many questions you should be aiming to get right to pass the bar exam read this.

Looking for additional MBE help?

If you are looking for MBE help, read our 10 expert MBE tips here. Check out our step-by-step guide to improving your MBE score, please review this post for an overview of tips. This is a great free MBE resource. If you would like to receive our MBE tip of the day emailed to you, please fill out the form below. 

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