[Editor’s note: Hugh Reed has been a bar exam tutor for more than 40 years and has passed the MBE more than 30 times.]
With a focus on individual performance, constant feedback and prompt attention by experts who have taken and passed numerous bar exams, personal tutoring offers a level of expertise and personal attention that you can’t get through review courses.
Most candidates who take the bar exam know that it consists of both the multiple-choice part and written parts.
The Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), a confidential and copyrighted examination, will largely determine your final score. Indeed, the former Director of Testing for the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) — the proponent of the MBE — has repeatedly confirmed that most candidates complain that the questions on the MBE are different than the ones with which they practiced their bar reviews.
My tutored candidates, on the other hand, often report how many questions they saw on the MBE that were similar to the questions they practiced with in their Reed materials.
Most states adjust essay scores based on the MBE score achieved because studies have indicated a close correlation of performance on the MBE and the written parts of the bar exam.
And, many states test MBE subjects on the essay part of the bar exam, including jurisdictions that use the Uniform Bar Exam, and California and Florida. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for each candidate who is taking the MBE to fight for every point and to master the most often tested concepts and caveats in each subject by practicing with realistic questions, remembering key concepts with memory devices, and approaching each part of the exam with proven test-taking techniques.
Aside from a solid approach on the MBE, you also must excel on the written part — the essays and performance tests, where required.
Continuous feedback on your practice essays/performance tests by bar exam experts is crucial to assure success on the written part. And, if you remember key concepts with helpful memory devices, you will capture most, if not all the points.
Easy Mnemonics
An easy technique to remember the five Great Lakes is to memorize the mnemonic: HOMES.
Similarly, an easy way to remember the elements of contract formation is COALL:
(Consideration, Offer, Acceptance, Legal subject matter, and Legal capacity of the parties).
Additionally, the essential elements of a common law contract are: QTIPS (Quantity, Time for performance, I dentification of the parties, Price, and Subject matter of contract.
For UCC contracts, of course, only the quantity term is required, other than for output and requirement contracts.
Test tip: how to pick between two answer choices on the MBE
Always choose statements of law over fact!
Choose the longer and more specific answer choice.
Choose an answer choice that deals with “first in time” over other answer choices. Example: elements of a crime must be considered before we get to the defenses, if any. Similarly, you must check exclusions to hearsay before considering the exceptions.
Generally, stay away from Latin terms, language you’ve never heard of (don’t assume you were absent that day in law school) and/or absolutes. For example, “must,” “only,” “always” and “never.”
Play word association — associate terminology in answer choices with the subject and topics that are being tested. Guilty for Criminal Law, Reasonable Person for Torts, Contracts Clause for Constitutional Law and so on.
Cross-Check modifiers “if,” “because” and “unless,” and pick them in that order. Remember, “no, unless” means “if.”
Remember: Larry Liked Fried Shrimp Perfectly Cooked
L — Choose Law over fact answer choice
L — Choose the Longer and more explanatory of two answer choices
F — Pick an answer choice of an event that happened First in time
S — Stay away from Latin terms, unfamiliar terminology, and absolutes
P — Play word association
C — Check modifiers and pick them in the order of “if” “because” “unless”
