Tips for Attorneys Studying for the Uniform Bar Exam

Tips for Attorneys Studying for the Uniform Bar Exam

In this post, we discuss tips for attorneys studying for the Uniform Bar Exam. Many attorneys have started choosing to take the Uniform Bar Exam, which means re-visiting their (fun) bar exam days. However, because you are already an attorney, you should study for the bar exam in a slightly different way than a non-attorney. There are some things you will want to focus on more than when you took your state bar exam. And other things, you may need less help with. In this, post we outline some tips for attorneys studying for the Uniform Bar Exam.

Tips for Attorneys Studying for the Uniform Bar Exam

1.Get to know the basics of the Uniform Bar Exam.

One of the first things that attorneys studying for the Uniform Bar Exam should do is to get to know the basics of the Uniform Bar Exam (also called the “UBE”). The Uniform Bar Exam has three parts:

• The multistate bar exam (MBE) which is composed of 200 multiple-choice questions. Civil Procedure is now a subject on the MBE (which is new as of 2015). This is worth 50% of your score.
• The multistate essay exam (MEE) which contains six essay questions that cover a potential of 14 subjects. This is worth 30% of your score.
• The multistate performance test (MPT) which requires you to complete two “lawyerly” tasks in 90 minutes each. This is worth 20% of your score. (If you took a bar exam with an MPT before, note that now you will have two MPTs and they are worth a substantial amount of your score!)

To get an overview of the Uniform Bar Exam, we recommend you check out this post if you are not already familiar with what the UBE tests.

2. Practice several multistate essay exam (MEE) questions. The MEE is more predictable than many state bar exams.

You may have taken a wacky state bar exam with unusual and unpredictable essay subjects. We have good news for you — the MEE is much more predictable (and many times, more fair) than a state essay exam.

This means a few things:

• First, you will want to be very familiar with the highly tested MEE topics.  Knowing these highly tested topics will give you a big advantage going into the exam.
• Second, you want to practice a lot of MEEs!
• An MEE is different than some state bar exam essays so check out our MEE template here if you are wondering how to get started.

3. Get real multistate bar exam (MBE) questions.

Chances are when you took the bar exam the first time, you did not use real MBE questions. Maybe because you did not know they exist. But they do exist and now is the time to get them. The MBE is very tricky and the MBE average has been quite low recently.

So make sure you are using real MBE questions. You can also check out our source for real MBE questions here.

4. Practice MPTs more than you think you need to!

A multistate performance test (MPT) is designed to test lawyerly skills. As an attorney, you certainly have an advantage walking into the MPT — and the good news is, in UBE states, it is worth 20% of your score!  However, the hardest thing about an MPT is the timing aspect. You only have 90 minutes to write a memo, brief, letter, or whatever other task they give you.

Many attorneys make the mistake of not practicing the MPT portion because they are the least worried about it. We recommend you practice it even more if you think it is your strong suit, because you will look like a shining star in comparison with other examinees if you take it seriously!

5.Take the bar exam seriously!

You have already passed one bar exam, which definitely gives you an advantage walking into the Uniform Bar Exam. However, no bar exam is “easy” and you will definitely have to dedicate time to studying for it. Practicing law for a few years can serve as an advantage to you (…some of those civ pro rules may make more sense to you know that you have been practicing!) but there are also a lot of strange nuances of the law that you probably have not thought about since the last time you took the bar exam that you will now have to re-learn!

If you are looking for a great option for a Uniform Bar Exam course, check out our Uniform Bar Exam full-service course! Here, we tell you why it is a great option for attorneys!

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