Many state bar examiners release essay and performance test questions used on prior bar exams. In addition, some states release sample answers to these exam questions. If you intend to take a certain state's bar exam, review the past questions and answers as part of your bar preparation. Links to many states' released questions are listed below, including those drafted by the National Conference of Bar Examiners.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia now use the Multistate Essay Examination, developed by the National Board of Bar Examiners. The MEE is a three-hour test with six essay questions and tests on the following subjects: Agency and Partnership, Commercial Paper, Conflict of Laws, Corporations, Decedents' Estates, Family Law, Federal Civil Procedure, Sales, Secured Transactions, and Trusts and Future Interests, along with the six Multistate Bar Examination subjects: Constitutional Law, Contracts and Sales, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts. For more information and sample questions, see the National Conference of Bar Examiners' website on the MEE.
More than 30 jurisdictions have adopted the Multistate Performance Test, developed by the National Board of Bar Examiners. The MPT consists of one or two 90-minute skills questions covering legal analysis, fact analysis, problem solving, resolution of ethical dilemmas, organization and management of a lawyering task, and communication. The questions are designed to test the fundamental skills necessary to complete various tasks that a beginning lawyer is likely to confront. For each MPT question, the applicant receives a case file and a library. The applicant is assigned a task and then must decipher and apply appropriate authorities from the library to perform that written task. Grading of the MPT is the exclusive responsibility of the jurisdiction administering the exam. For more information and sample questions, see the National Conference of Bar Examiners' website on the MPT.
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