Will I Fail The Bar Exam If I Wrote A Short MEE Answer?

After the bar exam, many takers start to worry about the things they feel went wrong. One thing people often stress about is the length of their MEE answers. If they wrote a short MEE answer, they start to worry that this means their bar exam score will take a significant hit. And then if they wrote multiple short MEE answers, they start to wonder how they could possibly pass. In this post, we try to calm those fears!

Will I Fail The Bar Exam If I Wrote A Short MEE Answer?

The short answer is: not necessarily! While it mostly depends on exactly what that short MEE answer contained, a short response does not guarantee a terrible score! Many people have practiced enough that they are able to reproduce an accurate rule statement, a precise analysis, and an accurate conclusion in a straightforward and compact manner.

There are no “extra” points to be picked up by being “wordy” – discussing the background of the law, resetting the scene by purely regurgitating facts, throwing in words that make the sentence sound more technical, etc. The grader is going to be looking for whether you have identified the proper issue, stated the rule accurately, correctly applied the law to the facts and reached the right conclusion. If you do that, you will pick up all of the points you need. The grader isn’t going to give you more just because your answer is “prettier” than someone else’s.

As you are writing your response, just make sure you answer all of the questions following the IRAC format. If you feel like you’ve identified all of the issues, nailed the law, analyzed the facts properly, and reached the correct conclusion, don’t stress about how long your response is! Trust that you knew what you needed to say and that you stopped when all of your points were made. If that means you wrote a short MEE answer, then so be it. If you feel good about what you wrote, don’t come back and add filler information just to take up space.

And after the exam, don’t second guess yourself. The length of your response is not important – it is the content. Don’t think about what you might have missed. So, don’t worry about what others wrote for that question. You said what you said, you can’t change anything. Just because you wrote a short MEE answer, that doesn’t mean your score will automatically be low. The number of points you earn is not directly tied to the number of words you wrote. You can pick up plenty of points just by saying a few words – as long as those are the right words!

The Takeaway

Just like in many bar exam-related areas, quality should be emphasized rather than quantity. The quality of your response is far more important than how long it ends up. If you can hit on all of the key points in a short, efficient manner, then your score will be just fine!

If, down the road, you find out that you did score too low on the MEE, here are our suggestions on what you should do if you score low on the MEE.

Looking to Pass the Bar Exam?

Free Resources:
- 🌟Bar Exam Free Resource Center: Access our most popular free guides, webinars, and resources to set you on the path to success.
- Free Bar Exam Guides: Expert advice on the MBE, the MEE, passing strategies, and overcoming failure.
- Free Webinars: Get insight from top bar exam experts to ace your preparation.
Paid Resources:
- 🏆One-Sheets: Our most popular product! Master the Bar Exam with these five-star rated essentials.
- Bar Exam Outlines: Our comprehensive and condensed bar exam outlines present key information in an organized, easy-to-digest layout.
- Exclusive Mastery Classes: Dive deep into highly tested areas of the MBE, MEE, MPT, and CA bar exams in these live, one-time events.
- Specialized Private Tutoring: With years of experience under our belt, our experts provide personalized guidance to ensure you excel.
- Bar Exam Courses: On Demand and Premium options tailored to your needs.
- Bar Exam Crash Course + Mini Outlines: A great review of the topics you need to know!
🔥 NEW! Check out our Repeat Taker Bar Exam Course and our new premier Guarantee Pass Program!

Will I Fail The Bar Exam If I Wrote A Short MEE Answer?