I Think I Failed The MPRE. What Should I Do?

I Think I Failed The MPRE. What Should I Do?

First, let’s acknowledge that taking the MPRE is a huge accomplishment! It’s a necessary step students take towards becoming lawyers. The MPRE also tests important knowledge. It is very common to be feeling anxious about your test scores after you take the exam. You may even feel like you’ve failed the MPRE. Our best advice is: try to stay relaxed because you don’t know your score yet! But that’s easier said than done. While you wait for your score, keep this information in mind!

I Think I Failed The MPRE. What Should I Do?

It depends on your jurisdiction. The MPRE is scored on a 50 to 150-point score scale. Passing scores range from 75 – 86. Check the passing score in your jurisdiction here. The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) converts the raw scores to the 50 to 150-point scale using an undisclosed formula. We’ve found that answering approximately 50% – 60% of the questions correctly may equate to a passing score. Check out this post if you want more information about our MPRE scoring estimates! Keep in mind that you don’t have to get every question right to pass the MPRE. In fact, you can miss quite a few questions and still avoid failing the MPRE. No one is going to care what your score was. All you have to do is pass!

1. It’s common for people to remember what they didn’t know.

Like many law students, you’ve probably been taking multiple-choice tests since you were in elementary school. After every test, it seems students dwell on questions they were unsure about. It happens all the time in law school exams too. Students leave a test beating themselves up over the one question that stumped them. At the same time, students ignore all of the questioned they breezed through!

It’s perfectly natural and commonplace to be experiencing the same thing with the MPRE. Because we tend to remember the things that give us a hard time, we also tend to take the easy questions for granted. If you’re feeling like you failed the MPRE, try to remind yourself of all the questions you felt confident about. Perhaps you’ll find that those types of questions outweigh the questions you’re worried about.

Additionally, fretting about whether you answered “A” or “C” isn’t going to change your MPRE score. For now, things are out of your control, so you might as well relax while you wait for your score to come in. If you are feeling overwhelmed, read more about our tips for coping with MPRE anxiety.

2. What can I do now?

Do something you enjoy! Depending on when you’ve taken the MPRE, you might still be dealing with the stress of law school classes or work. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take an afternoon to relax. Read for fun, go for a walk, have lunch with a friend, or do something else you enjoy. It’s still important to focus on school, work, and extra-curricular activities. However, burnout will make you ineffective in all areas of your professional life! Like we said above, there’s no use in worrying over your MPRE performance right now. Maybe you’ve passed or maybe you didn’t. Either way, you can’t address the next steps until you actually have your score. And even if you fail the MPRE this time, remember…

3. You can take it again, and no one will know!

Many students fail the MPRE, so it is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, unless you tell anyone, no one will know that you’ve failed the MPRE except the NCBE. While you certainly don’t want to have to take the MPRE again, it’s very common! Try not to let failing the MPRE break your self-confidence. Just keep moving forward.

The MPRE is offered multiple times throughout the year. You can take it in March, August, and October. We recommend passing the MPRE before you take the bar, as some jurisdictions only allow you to take the bar once before you pass. Passing the MPRE early also just helps relieve stress. You’ll want to focus on studying for the bar. You don’t want to study for the bar and the MPRE.

Finally, if you have failed the MPRE, you should take the time to reflect on your previous study habits. Did you assume the exam would be easy? Did you not take enough practice exams? Could you not dedicate enough time to studying? There are a number of reasons students fail the MPRE. Finding out what you struggled with is the first step to achieving a passing score next time! If you’re struggling with how to evaluate yourself, check out these factors to consider in determining if you need an MPRE tutor.

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