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How Much is the Multiple-Choice Portion of the Bar Exam Worth?

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Multiple choice questions on law school examsHow much is the multiple-choice portion of the bar exam worth?

Many students who struggle with the multiple-choice portion of the bar exam wonder what percentage of their overall bar exam score the multiple-choice portion is worth.

As of the writing of this post, most states make the multiple-choice portion of the bar exam worth 50% of an applicant’s overall bar exam score. Some states, however, make the multiple-choice portion (MBE) worth less. For example, Pennsylvania states that the MBE is worth 45% of an applicant’s bar exam score.

Other states score the MBE as being only worth 40% of an Applicant’s score. Some states go even further and make it worth only 33% of an applicant’s score (or 1/3 of the overall score.) Usually essays or multi-state performance tests (MPTs) make up the remaining portion of the score.

States where the Multiple-Choice Portion is
Worth 40% of an Applicant’s Score:

The following states say that the MBE is worth 40% of the bar exam.

  • Delaware
  • Mississippi
  • New York (however, New York is switching to the Uniform Bar Exam in July 2016. The UBE weighs the MBE at 50% of an applicant’s score)
  • North Carolina
  • Texas
  • Virginia

States where the Multiple-Choice Portion is
Worth less than 40% of an Applicant’s Score

The following states weight the MBE as being even less than 40%:

  • California (35%) (however, beginning in July 2017, California is switching to a two-day exam and weighing the MBE as 50% of the score)
  • Maine (36%)
  • Nevada (33%)
  • Maryland (33%)
  • Ohio (33%)

Other Approaches to the MBE:

South Carolina and South Dakota, Vermont, Kentucky, Louisiana have specific requirements for the MBE (e.g. Kentucky states that a score of 132 is needed on the MBE and 75% of the points are required on the essay portion of the bar exam. South Carolina divides its exam into seven sections, and requires at least a score of 110 on the MBE, and that applicants pass six of the seven sections.).

Overall, it looks like there is a movement toward the MBE being worth 50% of an applicant’s score. The Uniform Bar Exam (which is being adopted by an increasing number of states each year) weighs the multiple-choice and essay portion equally. Thus, there is a trend toward making the multiple-choice portion of the bar exam worth 50% of an applicant’s overall score.

For more information, please see statistics found at the National Conference of Bar Examiner’s page here.

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