How to Get Comfortable with MPTs on the Bar Exam

How to Get Comfortable with MPTs on the Bar Exam

If you are like many people, you don’t feel comfortable with the MPT portion of the exam. Many bar exam takers don’t realize just how uncomfortable they are with MPTs until they practice one. (And hopefully this happens before the bar exam day!) If you are one of the many that hopes to get comfortable with MPTs before the exam, there are a few things you can do to get comfortable with MPTs. Here, we tell you exactly what to do and in what order:

How to Get Comfortable with MPTs on the Bar Exam

1. Memorize the MPT formats

The first thing to do is memorize the MPT formats. If you memorize MPT formats, you will feel significantly more comfortable with the MPT because you will know how to approach each one. While this in and of itself is not enough, it is the first step to getting comfortable with the MPT portion of the bar exam.

2. Complete our “Baby MPTs”

We have made a “baby” MPT that use the same mini-file and mini-library for four different tasks. So you can read one mini-file and mini-library and practice with the following tasks: (1) the objective memorandum (2) the persuasive brief (3) opinion letter and (4) demand letters.

Our baby MPTs are helpful because you can work on formatting and structure and we provide you with additional tips. Some students find it helpful to complete them more than once until they know them.

This is a great way to get comfortable with MPTs because it does not take up too much time but yet you can get practice with each type of MPT.

We will be selling an MPT guide with baby MPTs soon. If you are interested in signing up to hear when it is available, please sign up below to be notified via email!

3. Get the paper MPT books.

Some students are completely surprised at what a huge difference it makes to have the MPTs in paper books with pages that they can bend, underline, and flip through.

The nice thing about the MPT books that we sell is we divide them by category, but we also have a point sheet and a model student answer (when available) for each MPT. It makes it easy to write an MPT, and then quickly check your answer against a model and student answer.

More importantly, it saves time. If you have paper MPT books with the NCBE point sheets and student answers in one place, you do not have to worry about searching online to find what you need to properly evaluate your answer.

4. Practice MPTs.

This may be the most obvious way to get comfortable with MPTs. However, it is the one that most students dread doing!  The best way to feel confident and comfortable going into the MPT portion of the exam is to practice writing MPT answers ahead of time. However, this is easier said than done…so see the next tip!

5. Schedule MPTs ahead of time and make them the first thing you do in the morning.

Rather than saying you are going to spend a day on MPTs, or even a half day on MPTs, just put it in your schedule to complete about two MPTs a week (assuming you are relatively early on in your bar prep). Do them on different days and do them in the morning. This will help you start your day off right, and you won’t make up excuses to not do them.

• Looking for MPT Help?

  We offer the following MPT products and services:

  • MPT private tutoring for those seeking one-on-one help to pass the MPT.
  • An MPT guide which takes students from the beginning to end in how to write an MPT.
  • MPT feedback for those seeking structural and organizational review of practice questions.
  • Real MPT questions! We offer all NCBE-released questions from 2000 to present compiled in one book.
  • An MPT seminar for those seeking help on how to tackle the MPT.

  Also, check out our new Free Bar Exam Resource Center, which includes our most popular free guides, posts, webinars, and more!