Why Am I Having Trouble With the MBE?
Why Am I Having Trouble With the MBE?
If you are having trouble with the MBE (multistate bar exam), you are not alone. Several students complain that they complete several practice questions but never seem to see an improved score. They answer 100 questions a day but it doesn’t make a difference. Certainly, their lack of improvement isn’t due to lack of effort. If you find yourself in this category, you may realize that answering 100 questions a day is not what you need to do to improve. So what, exactly, is it that you need to do?
Why Am I Having Trouble With the MBE?
There could be a multitude of reasons that you are having trouble with the MBE. These reasons could include:
- You don’t understand the law. If you do not understand the difference between, say, res judicata and collateral estoppel. Or if you do not have a bigger picture of Real Property in your head, you are going to struggle. You can fix this by attending lecture through your commercial course, or pursuing other options such as private tutoring.
- You know the broader picture of the law but you have not memorized the details. This is probably the most common reason students struggle with the MBE. Many students understand the general picture but struggle with the details.
- You have memorized the law but you don’t know what it means, so you have trouble applying it.
- You get tricked by answer choices and even though you know the answer, you choose the wrong one. Sometimes this requires a confidence boost — so you do not change your answer at the last minute!
- You struggle with legal vocabulary and bubble in the wrong answer choice because you are confused about what the question is asking or what the answer choices say.
- You have not been exposed to enough MBE questions. This requires more practice!
Options to figure out what you struggle with on the MBE:
- One thing you can do right now is to start taking a slower and more methodical approach to MBE questions. This alone can help point you into the right direction. See this post for a very slow and methodical approach. It will help you identify what you struggle with so that you can then fix your approach.
- You can sign up for MBE tutoring or our MBE Strategies Workshop. This two-hour session can give you key MBE strategies to help you slow down so that when you are answering questions you can actually see your score improve (rather than just furiously answering a bunch of questions and never seeing any results).
Looking for MBE Help?
Free or discounted resources
- A five-star MBE course that provides you with the best instruction, outlines, and questions. Preview our course for free here!
- Free popular bar exam guides (an MBE guide, a guide on how to pass the bar exam, and a guide to hiring a bar exam tutor) written by bar exam experts!
- Our new Free Bar Exam Resource Center, which includes our most popular free guides, posts, webinars, and more!
- Free bar exam webinars taught by top bar exam experts
Other resources
Our most POPULAR and highly rated bar exam resources are:
- Our On Demand Bar Exam Course
- Our NEW MBE Mastery Class, which covers 35 recently released MBE questions in an engaging and helpful way to help you boost your MBE score!
- MBE private tutoring for those seeking one-on-one help to pass the MBE.
- Real MBE questions —the best practice questions available!
- An MBE guide, which has a guaranteed 7-point score increase.
You can read more about our MBE services here.
