A Beginner’s Guide to the Multistate Essay Exam

A Beginner’s Guide to the Multistate Essay Exam

If you are just beginning your bar prep, you may wonder what the multistate essay exam is and how to approach it. In this post, we give you a “beginner’s” guide to the multistate essay exam. We tell you what the multistate essay exam is, tips for how to approach it, and how it differs from law school exams.

A Beginner’s Guide to the Multistate Essay Exam

What is the Multistate Essay Exam?

The multistate essay exam is a three-hour long test. It has six essay questions. To finish in time, you should plan on allocating about 30 minutes to each essay question.

The multistate essay exam is on the first day of the bar exam.

While the multistate essay exam will test six essay questions, there are actually 14 potential subjects that it could test.  Further, occasionally, one essay will test more than one subject (e.g., a subject like Civil Procedure will be combined with a subject like Conflicts of Law).

What subjects are tested on the multistate essay exam?

The multistate essay exam (otherwise known as the “MEE”) has 14 potential subjects it could test (though not all 14 will appear on an exam). These 14 subjects are as follows:

(These first group of 7 subjects overlap with the multistate bar exam—that is, the multiple-choice portion of the bar exam, so when you study for the multistate bar exam, you are also studying for the multistate essay exam!)

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

(These 7 subjects are specific to the multistate essay exam—you will not see them anywhere else on the exam.)

• Family Law
• Secured Transactions
• Conflicts of Law
• Decedents’ Estates
• Trusts and Future Interests
• Corporations and LLCs
• Agency and Partnership

Some essay exams are “MBE heavy” meaning 4 of the 6 questions will cover subjects that are also tested on the MBE. Some are “MEE heavy” meaning that 4 of the 6 questions will cover subjects that are tested on the MEE. Occasionally, the essays are split evenly.

Are all MEE subjects tested equally?

No! And this is great news as it is very easy to study super-efficiently for the multistate essay exam! You can see from our MEE chart here that some subjects are tested more heavily than others!

You should also check out this post on the highly tested MEE topics, once you dive into MEE studying. (It links to a youtube video and a free PDF download of highly tested MEE topics.) Just like not all subjects are tested equally on the MEE, neither are all topics. (This is why we are able to accurately predict many of the MEE topics on a given exam in our Multistate Essay Exam seminar.)

How is a multistate essay exam question different from a law school exam question?

The multistate essay exam differs from a law school exam in a few different ways. The good news is that the multistate essay exam is actually easier than law school exam questions. Here are a few of the key differences:

• First, generally the multistate essay exam question will tell you what the issues are. Unlike a law school exam, you usually do not have to “hunt” for issues. This already makes it a little easier than law school exams!
• You will use a simple “rule, analysis, conclusion” (RAC) format for each issue. That is, you will state the rule. Apply the law. And arrive at a strong conclusion. Unlike law school, a RAC will not spin out into a sub-RAC or sub-sub-RAC.
• The conclusion is important! In law school, you may not have really cared about conclusions or maybe your professor did not assign many points to the conclusion. On the multistate essay exam, generally, the graders want you to arrive at a specific conclusion. Graders award points to those who reach the correct conclusion.
• The “A” stands for “apply the law” not “argue both sides.” You may be used to arguing both sides in a law school essay. However, in response to an MEE question, you will want to simply apply the law. (Occasionally, you will discuss both a majority and minority viewpoint on an MEE answer. But even then, you will not be “arguing” the law. You will simply apply it and conclude.)
• An MEE question may test more than one subject. However, it is usually pretty obvious if it tests more than one subject. (You can read this post on common MEE “crossover” subjects if you are worried about this!)

What is the best advice you have on how to approach the multistate essay exam?

Check out this post on five of our best multistate essay exam tips if you are looking for more advice! We have helped hundreds of students conquer the multistate essay exam and have tutors that have scored in the 99^th percentile on the MEE! These five tips will go a long way in helping you improve your MEE score!

We also have a great, free MEE guide here and a guide on the highly tested MEE topics here!

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