I ran out of time on the MBE. Does that mean I failed the bar exam?

I ran out of time on the MBE. Does that mean I failed the bar exam?

If you ran out of time on the MBE, you are definitely not the only one. So many students struggle with timing and end up skipping questions during each section (some skip just a few, others skip five or ten questions). It is obviously not ideal to run out of time on the MBE. But, it happens. And students who run out of time still pass the exam — every single bar exam! 

I ran out of time on the MBE. Does that mean I failed the bar exam?

There are a few things to consider if you ran out of time on the MBE:

• First of all, you are not alone. We have already mentioned it but it is important. It is very common to run out of time!
• Second, you likely ran out of time because you spent extra time on other MBE questions — and getting those MBE questions right may make up for any questions you may have answered incorrectly due to lack of time. So you may have made up for your timing issues somewhere else.
• Third, the MBE is worth 50% of your score in most states. 175 of the 200 MBE questions are scored. So, if you ran out of time for, say, ten questions. This is 5.7% of your total MBE score and only 2.8% of your total bar exam score. In other words, while it may feel much more significant than that, you can still definitely pass even if you left those ten questions blank or got every single one of those ten questions wrong.
• Fourth, if you had time to guess on the questions, there is still a 25% chance you answered the questions correctly. So, using the hypo above, if you missed 10 questions, mathematically speaking, you still probably answered 2.5 of those questions correctly on average. So, you really probably answered 7.5 incorrectly, which is 4.28% of the MBE or 2.14% of your total bar exam score. (If you had any time to quickly narrow down incorrect answers, this number may be even smaller.)
• Lastly, remember, you do not need to get an “A” to pass the bar exam — or to pass the MBE! In most states, you need 60-65%. You can still definitely achieve this goal even if you ran out of time on the MBE. It happens every single administration!

In short, it’s okay if you ran out of time on the MBE. You are not the only one and it does not mean you failed the bar exam. There is nothing you can do about it now so take a deep breath, accept it, and move on. We know it is easier said than done!

Please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below!

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