I am an overthinking, indecisive Libra. I spend my time arguing with myself about simple questions. I enjoy stressing over the finer details of life, afterall, seeing both sides of an argument brings me joy! If you couldn’t tell by this soliloquy, when it comes to school, I am not very confident regarding multiple-choice questions. Throughout my life, anytime I had a multiple-choice exam, I would get extremely anxious because I could make an argument for many of the answers. Give me an essay, I will write you a book. I’ll analyze every angle of a fact pattern. Give me a multiple-choice exam, I struggle, I second-guess myself, and I feel like a complete failure. Despite this weakness of mine, I somehow managed to pass the bar exam and do better on the MBE than I did on the essays. Since I have some experience under my belt in struggling with multiple-choice questions, I wanted to share some things that helped me when I was studying for the bar exam and be successful. I hope these tips help you as much as they were beneficial for me!
What is the MBE?
The MBE is the Multistate Bar Examination. It is the portion of the bar exam that was developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE). It is administered in all U.S. Jurisdictions other than Louisiana and Puerto Rico. This exam is a six-hour, 200 question multiple-choice test that is usually administered on the last Wednesday in February and July of each year. Only 175 questions are actually graded and they cover seven subjects: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts.
Nail the General Rule of Law
One reason why you may be struggling with MBE questions is that you have not completely learned the general rules of the specific area of law. It is critical that you learn the law that is tested on the MBE. If you don’t know what the rules are, you will confuse yourself into choosing an answer that may have a correct statement of law but an incorrect answer for the specific question. Also, be very careful when reading the questions. Slow down and take your time analyzing what the question is actually asking. This will significantly help you improve your score and catch any little mistakes.
Know What You Don’t Know
Everyone struggles with a certain area of law, or maybe two. You may find that you are consistently missing a specific subject when practicing MBE questions. Fortunately, you can learn from the mistakes you are making. After you answer some practice questions, you should review them. Make note of what questions you continuously get correct and which questions you may frequently miss. Then, when you are reviewing your notes, you can focus on areas that you get wrong consistently or get confused on.
Study in Timed Settings
Since you have a limited amount of time to complete the bar exam, it is a good idea to practice in timed settings. It is challenging to finish a 200 question exam in such a short amount of time. Especially considering that the questions are typically fact patterns that you have to analyze and apply the law to. Thus, if you get comfortable practicing the questions while under time constraints, you will feel less stressed on the actual exam.
Start With Questions You Feel Confident In
When you are actually taking the exam on game day, it is best to start with questions that you feel comfortable with. There are likely some areas of law that you are more confident in and can easily breeze through. This also helps build your morale at the beginning of the exam. Also, you should skip over questions that you are struggling with. You have a limited amount of time to finish the exam. It is best to avoid questions that are difficult and come back to them towards the end of the exam. That way, you are maximizing your time and focusing on questions that you are more likely to get correct.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
Unfortunately the saying “practice makes perfect” is kind of true here. One of the best ways to improve your score is to practice. The more exposure you have to the MBE questions, the more you will be able to recognize patterns in how the questions are formed, what specific areas are tested, and generally feel more comfortable with the questions. Even if you can do 15-20 practice questions at a time, the more practice you have, the better off you will be!
It is Okay to Struggle!
At the end of the day, you should remind yourself that you are human, and it is okay if you are struggling with a part of the bar exam. The MBE is difficult, as is the bar exam. You are going through one of the most challenging times of your career. It is not easy, so struggling is just part of the journey! If you feel like you really need help overcoming your difficulties with the MBE, maybe you should look into tutoring or other additional courses to aid in your understanding of the bar exam. In any case, you will get through this difficult period and be successful. Best of luck on the bar exam!
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