who grades the bar exam essays

The Smart Guide to the MEE

• MEE Jurisdictions
• Format & Overview of the MEE
• A Step-by-Step Approach on How to Read, Organize, & Draft Your Answer to an MEE Essay Question
• 15 MEE Tips to Increase Your Essay Score
• How to Study & Prepare for the MEE
• MEE Practice: How to Use Model Essay Answers & Sample Examinee Answers Effectively
• Where to Find Past MEE’s

MEE Grading & Scoring

• What’s Next?
• Download the PDF

A Guide to Mastering the Multistate Essay Exam (MEE)

What you’ll learn:.

• How the MEE is Graded & Scored
• MEE Grading Standards… with MEE Grading Key
• How an MEE Score is Determined – Raw Scores and Scaled Scores
• The Total Percentage Weight of an MEE Score (in each jurisdiction)

What You REALLY Need to Know About MEE Grading and Scoring

All written scores are combined, and then scaled using a complex formula.  For UBE jurisdictions, the written portions of the exam (MEE + MPT) are combined and scaled to a number between 1-200.

Other than that, you shouldn’t really worry about the specifics of grading and scoring .  Your main focus should be on studying the law, essay practice so you write an excellent essay answer, and comparing your practice essays to the MEE Analyses released by the NCBE.

How an MEE Score is Determined (Raw Scores → Scaled Scores)

• Graders use a process called Calibration to ensure fairness when grading and rank-ordering papers.  Calibration is achieved by test-grading “calibration packets” of 30 student papers to see what the range of answers is, and then resolving any differences in grading among those graders and/or papers.  This process ensures graders are using the same criteria so grading judgments are consistent for rank-ordering.³
• For UBE Jurisdictions , an examinee’s scores for the MEE and MPT are combined, which comprises the examinee’s combined written “raw score” for the exam. This combined written “raw score” is then scaled putting the written raw score on a 200-point scale .  Specifically, the combined “raw score” is scaled to the mean and standard deviation of the Scaled MBE Scores for all examinees of the examinee’s respective jurisdiction (the state in which you take the bar exam).  This means that an examinee’s written portion is scaled “relative” to the other examinee answers in that jurisdiction.
• Step # 3: The total written “scaled score” is weighted accordingly, depending on how much the written component is worth for that jurisdiction’s bar exam .  For UBE jurisdictions, the total written “scaled score” is 50% of the total exam score (30% for the MEE + 20% for the MPT).

Total Weight of MEE Score

In other jurisdictions, the MEE/essays is normally worth between 30% and 45% .  Some jurisdictions have additional state essays and/or have a minimum passing score for the MEE/essay portion.

MEE Grading Standards

Many jurisdictions do not release their grading standards or grading scale, but a few states do.

Here are the grading standards and scale for Washington State.

For other MEE jurisdictions, we have confirmed the following raw essay grading scales (see chart below).  The NCBE recommends a six-point (0 to 6) raw grading scale , 4 but jurisdictions can use another scale.  If you know a grading scale that isn’t listed, we would appreciate that you contact us so we may include it.

Additional Resources on MEE Grading & Scaling

If you’re interested in more details on MEE grading and scaling, please see the following articles:

• 13 Best Practices for Grading Essays and Performance Tests by Sonja Olson, The Bar Examiner, Winter 2019-2020 (Vol. 88, No. 4).
• Essay Grading Fundamentals by Judith A. Gundersen, The Testing Column, The Bar Examiner, March 2015.
• Q&A: NCBE Testing and Research Department Staff Members Answer Your Questions by NCBE Testing and Research Department, The Testing Column, The Bar Examiner, Winter 2017-2018.
• It’s All Relative—MEE and MPT Grading, That Is by Judith A. Gundersen, The Testing Column, The Bar Examiner, June 2016.
• Procedure for Grading Essays and Performance Tests by Susan M. Case, Ph.D., The Testing Column, The Bar Examiner, November 2010.
• Scaling: It’s Not Just for Fish or Mountains by Mark A. Albanese, Ph.D., The Testing Column, The Bar Examiner, December 2014.
• What Everyone Needs to Know About Testing, Whether They Like It or Not by Susan M. Case, Ph.D., The Testing Column, The Bar Examiner, June 2012.
• Quality Control for Developing and Grading Written Bar Exam Components by Susan M. Case, Ph.D., The Testing Column, The Bar Examiner, June 2013.
• Frequently Asked Questions About Scaling Written Test Scores to the MBE by Susan M. Case, Ph.D., The Testing Column, The Bar Examiner, Nov. 2006.
• Demystifying Scaling to the MBE: How’d You Do That? by Susan M. Case, Ph.D., The Testing Column, The Bar Examiner, May 2005.

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³See, 13 Best Practices for Grading Essays and Performance Tests by Sonja Olson, The Bar Examiner, Winter 2019-2020 (Vol. 88, No. 4), at Item 5.

4 See Id ., at Item 3.

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Bar Exam Scoring: Everything You Need to Know About Bar Exam Scores

It’s important to know how the bar exam is scored so that you can understand what’s required to pass. The following sections will provide an overview of how the bar exam is scored, including information on essay grading, the MBE scale, and converted scores.

Understanding How the Bar Exam Is Scored

First, we’ll look at the UBE (Uniform Bar Exam). This is the bar exam used in a majority of states, and it’s what we’ll be focusing on in this article.

The UBE is broken down into three sections: the MPT (Multistate Performance Test), the MBE (Multistate Bar Exam), and the MEE (Multistate Essay Exam) .

The MBE is a 200-question, multiple-choice exam covering six subject areas: contracts, torts, constitutional law, evidence, criminal law, and real property .

Each state sets its own passing bar exam score for the MBE. Thus, Pennsylvania, Georgia, New York, California, Minnesota, and Nevada bar exam scoring differs from state to state. But in general, it’s between 140 and 150.

The MEE consists of six essay questions covering the same six subject areas as the MBE.

Bar exam scoring in states may also include one or two additional, state-specific essay questions.

The MEE is graded on a scale of 0-30, and the bar exam pass score is typically between 24 and 27.

The MPT is a skills-based exam that consists of two 90-minute tasks. It’s designed to test your ability to complete common legal tasks, such as writing a memo or conducting research.

The MPT is graded on a pass/fail basis, and there is no set passing score.

Now that we’ve covered the basics of the UBE bar exam score range, let’s take a more in-depth look at how each section is graded.

Essay Grading

The MEE essays are graded by trained graders from the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE).

Each essay is read and graded twice, once by a human grader, and once by a computer program.

If the human and computer grades differ by more than 2 points, a third grader will read and grade the essay.

The essays are graded on a scale of 0-30, with 6 being the lowest passing score.

To determine your score, the graders will look at the overall quality of your answer, as well as your ability to apply legal principles, analyze fact patterns, and communicate effectively.

The MBE Scale

The MBE is graded on a scale of 0-200, with 130 being the lowest passing score.

To determine your score, the NCBE will first convert your raw score (the number of questions you answered correctly) into a scaled score.

This is done to account for differences in difficulty between the exams.

After your raw score gets converted to scaled scoring, it’s then added to your MEE score to determine your overall UBE score.

Scaled Scores

The total score that an examinee receives on the bar exam is typically a scaled score.

A scaled score is a number that has been adjusted so that it can be compared to the scores of other examinees who have taken the same test.

The purpose of scaling is to ensure that the scores are accurate and reliable and to account for any differences in difficulty between different versions of the test.

For example, suppose that the average score on the MBE in one state is 100 points and the average score in another state is 10 points.

If the two states were to use the same passing score, then it would be much easier to pass the bar exam in the first state than in the second.

Scaling ensures that this is not the case by adjusting the scores so that they are comparable.

It is important to note that scaling does not necessarily mean that the scoring process is fair.

In some cases, an examinee who receives a scaled score of 140 points might have scored higher than another examinee who received a scaled score of 150 points.

However, this does not necessarily mean that the first examinee performed better on the exam overall. It could simply be that the exam was easier in the first examinee’s state than in the second examinee’s state.

What’s important is that, thanks to scaling, the two examinees have an equal chance of passing the bar exam .

Another factor that can affect an examinee’s total score is weighting.

Weighting is the process of giving certain sections of the exam more importance than others.

For example, in some states, the MBE counts for 50% of the total score, while the MEE counts for 30%, and the MPT counts for 20%.

In other states, however, the weights may be different. For example, the MBE might count for 60%, while the MEE and MPT count for 20% each.

The weights are determined by each state’s bar examiners and can be changed at any time.

It is important to note that weighting does not affect an examinee’s score on individual sections of the exam. It only affects the overall total score.

What Is a Passing UBE Score in Every State?

In order to pass the Uniform Bar Exam, examinees must earn a score of at least 260 on the MBE and MEE. However, a score of 280 is generally considered to be a good score, and a score of 300 to 330 (highest score on bar exam) is considered to be excellent.

Bar Exam Passing Score by State

It’s worth noting that a 280 will ensure a passing score in all states. And it will put you in the 73 bar exam scores percentiles.

The average baby bar exam score range is between 40 and 100. This means that the average score is between 70 and 80.

Scoring high on bar exam essays is extremely important to your overall score. For many students, essay writing is the most difficult and stressful part of the bar exam. But with a little practice and guidance, you can learn how to score high on bar exam essays so you can pass the first time to keep your bar exam costs down.

• See Top Rated Bar Review Courses

FAQs on Bar Exam Scoring

The bar exam is scored by a point system, with 400 being the highest possible score. What score do you need to pass the bar exam?

The highest possible score on the bar exam is 400.

A good bar exam score depends on the jurisdiction but is typically between 260 and 280.

Scoring for the bar exam works by awarding points for each correct answer. The number of points awarded varies depending on the question and the jurisdiction.

Kenneth W. Boyd

Kenneth W. Boyd is a former Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and the author of several of the popular "For Dummies" books published by John Wiley & Sons including 'CPA Exam for Dummies' and 'Cost Accounting for Dummies'.

Ken has gained a wealth of business experience through his previous employment as a CPA, Auditor, Tax Preparer and College Professor. Today, Ken continues to use those finely tuned skills to educate students as a professional writer and teacher.

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Jurisdictions Administering the MEE

Select a jurisdiction for a summary of bar admission information specific to that jurisdiction and contact information for its bar admission agency.

• MEE Administered
• MEE Not Administered
• District of Columbia
• Northern Mariana Islands
• Puerto Rico
• Virgin Islands

Each jurisdiction will provide specific information regarding materials, including appropriate identification, that examinees are allowed to bring with them to the test center.

About the MEE

The Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) consists of six 30-minute questions. Developed by NCBE, the MEE is administered by user jurisdictions as part of the bar examination on the Tuesday before the last Wednesday in February and July of each year. 

The MEE is only one of a number of measures that a board of bar examiners may use in determining competence to practice. Each jurisdiction grades the MEE and determines its own policy with regard to the relative weight given to the MEE and other scores. Jurisdictions that administer the   Uniform Bar Examination  weight the MEE component 30%.

Registration Information

The MEE is developed by NCBE and administered by user jurisdictions as part of the bar examination. Applicants register for the MEE by applying to a jurisdiction for the bar exam. View our interactive map for jurisdictions administering the MEE and other information.

Preparing for the MEE

The MEE consists of six 30-minute questions. Areas of law that may be covered on the MEE include the following: Business Associations (Agency and Partnership; Corporations and Limited Liability Companies), Civil Procedure, Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law, Contracts (including Article 2 [Sales] of the Uniform Commercial Code), Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Family Law, Real Property, Torts, Trusts and Estates (Decedents' Estates; Trusts and Future Interests), and Article 9 (Secured Transactions) of the Uniform Commercial Code. Some questions may include issues in more than one area of law. The particular areas covered vary from exam to exam.  

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Dominating the Essays: Organize Issues and Prioritize Rules to Know on the Bar Exam

Ever wonder how you’re supposed to juggle everything in your head? How do you prioritize the rules to know for the bar exam?

How are you supposed to learn all this when time is tight? How do you tackle the massive body of rules to know?

How do you know you’ve completed the essay in full? Did you even talk about the correct issues? Are the graders going to give you the points? Are they even going to read your prose?!

You’d love to start practicing essays but feel like you just haven’t learned enough law yet. It’s overwhelming to even begin.

At least the answer is right there in MBE questions… If you’re a bar taker struggling with coming up with what to write, essays are the bane of your existence. Your rambling paragraphs start to blur.

Let’s breathe. We can simplify the essays and make them less scary…

Key takeaways:

• Issues: Learn not just the rules but also how to present and organize the issues (with examples below)
• Rules: Highest-priority issues and rules are those that have appeared in the past (there are two other priorities)
• There are efficient and effective ways to hit both of the above at once

Know not just the rules but also the issues

Put yourself in the essay grader’s shoes for a moment…, so now, as the applicant, what can you do to get the most points on the essays, 1) don’t write like a lawyer. write like a bar taker., 2) organize the issues., prioritize memorizing the rules and issues in this order…, 1) issues and rules that have appeared in past exams, including main issues, sub-issues, defenses, 2) issues and rules deemed important, 3) other fringe issues and rules that might come up (rule against perpetuities, anyone), take your practicing and memorizing to the next level.

Before getting into how to prioritize the rules for the bar exam, I need to emphasize something else first.

After working with readers and coaching clients over the years, there are two things that have become apparent:

• Writing essays on the bar exam is NOT about writing like a lawyer
• Issues are king (I talk about this more in this video )

That’s why gaining experience and intuition through writing bar essays is so helpful. You won’t be too surprised or lost on what to write about during the exam.

Meanwhile, some bar takers think they have to write a beautiful treatise so that bar graders can put on a monocle, do a deep literary analysis of the romance between P and D, and press it against their chest while looking out the window because your prose tugged at their heart.

The graders couldn’t care less about that LOL

If it helps, think about the time you watched someone slowly lose interest in you while being unable to do anything about it. And how futile texting them your thoughtful walls of text was.

You sigh at the pile of essay answers that waits for you every day.

You have thousands of the same shitty ass essays to sift through. You have to try to be consistent and fair across all those essays. You try your best at your thankless job, and all they do is complain about your “subjectivity.”

You also want to get through these essays as quickly as possible since you’re already getting underpaid. You’re already reading these answers while at the red light or sitting on the toilet. Your life is blurring together.

Perhaps it’s time to cut corners. Maybe just look for the headings and scan for keywords in the analysis…

This becomes a fairly mechanical process once you get through several similar issue patterns. Like fact patterns , there are corresponding issue patterns .

Prior law experience or creative writing will detract from answering the way graders want you to.

Practicing attorneys tend to not do as well on bar essays because this is a SEPARATE skill from real practice.

How do you write the way the graders want to see? Write like a bar taker instead:

Make the issues loud and clear. Punch the grader in the eyes by creating clear headings. Break out the sub-issues and elements into their own “street signs” for the grader.

Here’s an example of a major issue ( Contract Formation ) and an element (Offer) clearly called out, and their corresponding principles (rule statements):

In fact, being able to identify (or “spot”) and organize the issues is at least as important as knowing the rules. ( Here’s how to make issue identification a systematic process. )

It’s not about long-winded analyses or writing beautiful rule statements (neither got me to pass the first time).

Issues are where everything starts. An IRAC can’t sprout (and you get no points) from a seed that’s never planted.

Identifying the relevant issues is a signal to the grader that you understand what’s being tested. Rules and applications will naturally cascade down from the issues like a waterfall. Yes, you still want the meat of your answer written well.

Think of it as submitting a resume (or texting a girl). Hit the main points that the reader will care about. You’re but one out of a pile. Just a number. A hassle to go through. Better make the most out of the 10-15 seconds of the recruiter’s attention.

There is a certain logic and order to how you approach each issue.

Example of how to organize a call of the question in an Evidence essay:

You can even start to notice common issues that clump together (that you should discuss to get as many points as possible):

Here’s one for a Civil Procedure essay. Just plug and play the rules:

This is like 75% of the essay, so don’t freak out if it looks like a lot. But it’s a lot more structured than trying to start by typing a mess of words, right?

The best part: These issues clumps repeat! There are issue patterns like I said above. So if you see another SMJ or PJ question, just plug and play the same thing as here.

Outlining the issues and filling in the blanks should become a routine process because you will have seen the patterns so many times. Success is boring, not sexy.

If you have issues outlined like this, you’re pretty much home free. Do this for every essay, and you’ll know how to solve similar essays that appear on the bar exam.

OK, so that was about issues. Now about prioritizing rules…

Of course, you still need to know the law corresponding to the issues you identify. But if you need to prioritize, narrow the field of issues and rules in this order:

Issues and rules that have been tested a lot tend to be tested again. The more they’ve been tested, the more important they are.

Learn the important issues and rules by solving problems from the past and studying the answers.

• Find a collection of past essays and PTs here (for the California and Uniform Bar Exams).
• Find real MBE questions from sources such as Emanuel’s Strategies & Tactics for the MBE or AdaptiBar .
• Here are the biggest (highly tested) areas on the MBE.

You don’t need to have “learned enough law yet” before you dive into the pool! Trying to ensure that is exactly how I failed the California Bar Exam my first time.

Knowledge removed from the facts is nothing. It’s all artificial if you don’t know how to use it.

Seeing real problems will be productive because it will reveal what you know and don’t know. It’s like getting on the scale to measure yourself. THEN you can review and fill in the gaps.

The essay and MBE questions you go through now will become familiar fact patterns you might see again on the exam. Practicing and self-critiquing your work help you accomplish everything you seek:

• Getting better at identifying issues
• Memorizing and remembering rules through active recall
• Knowing how to apply the rules you memorized
• Picking the right answer on the MBE more often
• Gaining confidence

In other words, practicing will help solidify everything, including understanding and retaining the important concepts likely to be tested. Exciting!

You may not get through all the past essays, but you may have a feeling that there are issues and rules that would be good to know.

Maybe you’ve seen them around somewhere, maybe in law school or mentioned in a bar prep lecture. Typically, they’re listed in outlines .

You’ll still need to rote memorize these things, unfortunately. MBE questions especially may test you on specific obscure rules.

Note that I continue to mention issues and not just rules. That’s because memorization isn’t just about memorizing rules .

Better to at least get familiar in case they ask you about it.

When I retook the bar exam, there were essay questions I wasn’t sure how to answer because I didn’t know about zoning (issues I didn’t know about) and criminal prosecutor ethical duties (rules I didn’t know).

Even though my life flashed before my eyes thanks to these gaps in knowledge, I still passed the exam by focusing more on the first two priorities during bar prep than absolutely everything at once .

Now you know where to focus if you’re short on time. If you feel tempted to skip over subjects based on predictions , try this approach instead.

It’s still a lot to learn, though.

If you want to make the material more manageable and less overwhelming, check out Magicsheets and Approsheets.

Magicsheets condensed outlines contain all three of the above categories of priority—covering 95% of the testable issues and rules in 5% of the space of your bar prep course content.

Approsheets issue checklists and flowcharts help you hit all the relevant issues on an essay so you can stop having that “blank screen syndrome.”

It’s a no-brainer if you want to invest in your dreams:

• Imagine Not Practicing Performance Tests

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Preparing for the Essays on the Bar Exam

June 3, 2024 By Alison Monahan Leave a Comment

We have spent a lot of time over the last few months meeting with bar takers who have received disappointing results. When we speak to people about dusting themselves off to study again, the essays are generally a major focus. When thinking about strategies, keep these things in mind:

Make time for practice, practice and more practice: You need to make sure you are practicing (every day, hopefully!). But beyond just practicing you need to make sure you are …

Practicing under timed conditions and without notes/outlines – especially as you get closer to the exam. And don’t just practice under timed conditions …

Evaluate your work! You can use model answers , a course like our Writing of the Week course or work with one of our tutors . But, it is critical you understand what is needed for a passing essay. Once you have that feedback …

Tweak and update your pre-writing approach or writing style. Feedback is great, but the magic happens when you start to incorporate that feedback into the execution of the essays. Re-write your work to see if you can get it where it needs to be. Do additional practice and get more feedback. You should start to see results. And if you are running into a continuous wall…

Get help! From us , from your law school, or from your bar review provider.

Don’t let the essays hold you back from bar exam success. We hope this month’s content will help you feel more confident on this part of the exam. We’re going to be talking about various strategies for maximizing success on your bar essays, from working on pre-writing your answers to reviewing past (and most common) essay topics to thinking about time management. You won’t want to miss these crucial strategies as you head into this important part of your bar study time!

Ready to pass the bar exam? Get the support and accountability you need with personalized one-on-one bar exam tutoring or one of our economical courses and workshops . We’re here to help!

About Alison Monahan

Alison Monahan is the founder of The Girl's Guide to Law School and the co-founder of the Law School Toolbox . Alison is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where she was a member of the Columbia Law Review and served as a Civ Pro teaching assistant. You can find her on Twitter at @GirlsGuideToLS or @LawSchoolTools .

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Bar Exam Essays Part 1: How do they grade the bar exam essays?

by Dustin on

You will spend close to two months, take dozens of practice essays, and spend a good two or three days in the bar exam.  That’s a lot of time to put into the exam, and how much time do you think the graders will invest into reading your essays?  About three to five minutes per essay, at most.

At least once before the exam, it’s a good idea to try the exercise of putting yourself in the shoes of the person who will be holding your fate:

1)      Set the timer to five minutes

2)      Click here to go to a sample essay answer on the calbar website

3)      Read an actual essay exam answer

4)      Come back when you’re done

See, it doesn’t actually take that long to read an answer.  Keep in mind, the exam answer you just read is a ‘model passing’ answer, and believe me when I say this, it is an amazingly well-written answer!  You don’t need to be even close to writing like this to pass.  But, hopefully you will see how CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT it is your essays are structured , organized , readable , and use headings (that topic is for a different post, coming soon).  For a grader to get through your essay in this short amount of time, it will need to be very readable.

Now, if you really want to feel like a bar exam grader, repeat the exercise dozens of times at 10:00pm.  You will be in a very similar situation to what the grader has to do, after spending a full day at work, coming home to his family, and is now trying to meet his deadline of reading 100 bar exam essays this week.  He doesn’t have a lot of time and needs to be very efficient and methodical in his reading.  The easier you make it on him, the better.

Process of Bar Exam Grading

Here is a rough review of the process the graders go through when grading your exam.

Bar exam graders are attorneys who have passed the bar and sign-up to be a grader.  They get paid a stipend (which is likely far less than what they make at their jobs).

After the bar exam is taken, a group of graders get together and take the same essay you just took.  They write out a full essay, including all the rules and analysis.  Then the graders meet together, look at what each of them wrote down, and create a ‘model’ answer.

Next, the graders get together with the student answers, and they’ll each grade the same student answer, giving their opinion of what the answer should receive.  They will then compare their opinions, discuss reasons why, and after several run-throughs, give a breakdown of how many points each issue is worth and a score of what they think that exam answer would deserve.

Then, they grade a second essay, running it through the same process and grading model they had created for the first essay, recalibrating any necessary point adjustments.  Eventually they find a model answer and grading system that all the graders can use.  Although, grading may seem subjective for each grader, believe it or not, if fifteen graders grade the same exam using this calibrated point system, each grader will typically fall within five points of each other.  This is to ensure fairness, equality, and eliminate personal subjectivity amongst anyone grading the exams.  Any grader who’s scores are consistently more than five points off from all the other graders is typically removed.

I hope this comforts you a little and gives you an idea of what your exam will go through after you finish uploading or turning it in on test day.

Good luck in passing your bar exam !

All info stated in the article was according to a California barbri lecture I attended during my bar prep and the calbar website.

See Bar Exam Essays Part 2: 8 things Every Bar Essay should Have

Related Articles:

• Bar Exam Week has Arrived: Don’t make this Mistake on your Essays
• Bar Exam Week Tip #2: Type my essay outline or write it on scratch paper
• Should I Handwrite or Type My Bar Exam Essay and Performance Test Answers
• Should I Make a Long Outline for Each Bar Exam Topic
• Should I Repeat Bar Exam Questions I Already Practiced

Yes, I want My Free Guide!

Article by Dustin Saiidi

Dustin has written 134 awesome articles.

Dustin Saiidi, author of The 7 Steps to Bar Exam Success, graduated in the bottom half of his class, but passed the bar exam on his 1st attempt. He shares how he overcame those challenges and gives tips, advice, and strategies so you can pass your bar exam, stress-free.

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The First-Timer Essay-Study Program combines 20 Practice Essays with all 13 modules of our Online Seminar Series. Our seminar series will help you master BarGraders' 5-step technique for writing passing Bar answers, and will teach you about commonly tested issues and common cross-over subjects. Put this new strategy into practice with 20 Practice Essays.

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The Essay-Plus Program combines 30 Practice Essays with a Failed Exam Review where a former California bar exam grader will review and analyze your answers from a failed bar exam. Our former bar graders will help you understand your strengths and pinpoint weaknesses in your writing style and approaches. They will also help you formulate a strategy to make the next bar exam your last. Put this new strategy into practice with 30 essays.

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The Essay-Ultimate Program combines 40 Practice Essays with all 13 modules of our Online Seminar Series and a Failed Exam Review. This package provides our three flagship services at an incredible value.

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Practice Essays are the core of the BarGraders service specifically designed to help you prepare for the challenges of exam day.

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Learn a subject-by-subject approach to writing passing California Bar Exam Essays from the insiders — former California bar exam graders. Each module walks you through the company's 5-step technique designed to help you write passing Bar answers. This technique is then applied to an actual question so you can see it in action. Each module also reviews commonly tested issues, as well as common cross-over subjects.

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Gain invaluable insight from former Bar Exam graders.

Work directly with a former California bar exam grader to understand your failed bar exam. Find out what went wrong and what you can do to correct it and move forward. These 1-on-1 sessions are typically conducted via Skype or a phone call to minimize disruptions to your study schedule.

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• Failed Exam Review sessions typically last 45 minutes

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Study Finds GPT-4’s Bar Exam Scores Overinflated and Methodologically Flawed

The study also scrutinizes the grading process for the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) and Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) sections.

Recent research questions the reliability of GPT-4 ‘s performance on the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) . When OpenAI released GPT-4 last year, it was said to have human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks , such as passing a simulated bar exam or writing creative stories. 

A study published in the Artificial Intelligence and Law journal highlights numerous methodological flaws that could compromise the integrity of the reported scores. The study by Eric Martínez, a doctoral student in MIT's brain and cognitive sciences department, argues that OpenAI's estimation of GPT-4's percentile rank on the UBE is likely exaggerated. The paper suggests these figures, presented as conservative, may not accurately represent the model's genuine abilities. This becomes particularly problematic when these percentiles are assumed to be lower-bound estimates.

Methodological Flaws in GPT-4's Bar Exam Performance

In its GPT-4 Technical report , OpenAI claimed that the large language model (LLM) achieved human-level performance, including passing a simulated bar exam. However, the study identifies significant methodological issues that could undermine these claims. The researcher argue that OpenAI's estimate of GPT-4's percentile rank on the UBE is likely exaggerated. They point out that these figures, presented as conservative, may not accurately reflect the model's true abilities.

Hyperparameters and Prompting Techniques

Martinez analyzed how different hyperparameter settings, such as temperature adjustments and various prompting techniques, influence GPT-4's performance on the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE). He found that changing temperature settings had minimal impact on performance.

Conversely, using few-shot chain-of-thought prompting substantially improved outcomes compared to straightforward zero-shot prompting, underscoring the importance of prompt engineering in AI performance evaluation.

Martinez recently addressed a New York State Bar Association continuing legal education course, examining if GPT-4's bar exam results reflect its capability as a lawyer in a 90-minute dialogue with Luca CM Melchionna, the Tech and Venture Law Committee Chair of the New York State Bar Association's Business Law Section.

“ If I can draw the analogy of if you're trying to pass a fitness test for the military and you need to get a 7-minute mile, you might not train very hard to get a faster time than that ,” he said. “ That doesn't mean that you're not capable of a much faster time, it might be more efficient to use resources elsewhere .”

“ It seems the most accurate comparison would be against first-time test takers or to the extent that you think that the percentile should reflect GPT-4's performance as compared to an actual lawyer, then the most accurate comparison would be to those who pass the exam ,” Martinez pointed out.

Martinez also said that ChatGPT-4's improvement from the 10th to the 90th percentile on the bar exam from its predecessor ChatGPT-3.5 far exceeded that of similarly related exams including the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) where ChatGPT-4 raised its score by 40 percentage points.

In-depth Analysis of Performance and Grading

Martinez´study scrutinizes the grading processes for the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) and Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) sections. While they successfully replicated GPT-4's MBE score, several flaws were identified in the methodologies used for grading the MPT and MEE sections. This casts doubt on the reliability of the reported essay scores.

The study's conclusions highlight four main findings regarding OpenAI's claim of GPT-4's 90th percentile UBE performance:

Skewed Estimates : GPT-4's score approaches the 90th percentile based on February administrations of the Illinois Bar Exam . However, these estimates are skewed towards low scorers, as the majority of test-takers in February failed the July administration and typically score lower than the general test-taking population.

Lower Percentile with July Data : Using July data from the same source, GPT-4's performance estimate drops to the 68th percentile, including below-average performance on the essay portion.

Comparison with First-Time Test Takers : Comparing GPT-4's performance against first-time test-takers results in an estimated 62nd percentile overall, with a 42nd percentile in the essay portion.

Performance Among Those Who Passed : When considering only those who passed the exam, GPT-4's performance falls to the 48th percentile overall, and a mere 15th percentile on essays.

Additionally, the study questions the validity of GPT-4's reported UBE score of 298. Despite replicating the MBE score of 158, methodological issues in grading the MPT and MEE sections call into question the validity of the essay score (140).

Broader Implications for AI and the Legal Profession

These findings have significant implications for both the legal profession and AI research . For the legal profession, the study suggests that practicing lawyers might find a sense of relief, as GPT-4 performs worse than many lawyers on the essay portion, which closely resembles real-world legal tasks. However, the widely publicized “90th percentile” claim could lead to inappropriate reliance on GPT-4 for complex legal tasks, potentially increasing the risk of legal errors and professional malpractice.

For AI research, the study underscores the importance of rigorous and transparent evaluation methods. The transparency of AI capabilities research is crucial for ensuring the safe and reliable development of AI systems. Implementing stringent transparency measures can help identify potential warning signs of transformative AI progress and prevent false alarms or unwarranted complacency.

The authors recommend that future studies focus on refining assessment methods and exploring the effects of various prompting techniques in greater detail. This approach could lead to more accurate and trustworthy evaluations of AI capabilities, particularly for complex tasks like the UBE.

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Note: this post was updated in October 2021 with additional information on what a passing New York Bar Exam Score Report looks like!

How to dissect your new york bar exam score report (if you did not pass) .

Knowing exactly how to read your New York Bar Exam score report can be invaluable, especially if you did not pass the exam. New York gives you a lot of information about what you need to work on to pass the exam.  Please refer to the New York Bar Exam score report above as we go through each section.

Section I: Basic Background information

The beginning of your score report will give you basic background information — e.g., the bar exam date, your name, identification number, and seat number. Verify this information to make sure it is correct.

Section II: Scaled Essay Score

Next, you will see your scaled essay score. You will see all six MEE scores and your two MPT scores.  The range for these scores is 20 – 80 . A score of 50 is considered to be the average (or mean) score. So, a 50 is considered a “passing” score. The MEE portion is worth 30% of your total score. (So each essay is worth 5% of your total score.)

The MPT scores are the same. The range for the scores is 20 – 80 and a score of 50 is passing. However, the MPTs are worth more than the essay portion. Together, they make up 20% of your score. Thus, each MPT makes up 10% of your overall score.

Your total essay score will be a number in or close to the hundreds. The total essay score is made up of the 6 MEE scores (worth 60% of your total essay score) and the 2 MPT scores (worth 40% of your total essay score). A 133 on this section is considered passing. If you were far below a score of 133, you have work to do on the written portion. (Note: You do not have to get a 133 on this portion to pass. You can make up with a lower essay score with a higher MBE score. So if you received a 130 on the written portion and a 140 on the MBE portion, you would still pass the exam with a 270. But, you want to aim for at least a score of 133 when you study.)

Section III: MBE Score

Next, you will see your MBE score. First, you will see your overall MBE score (“MBE Score” right under “Written score”). A 133 is considered passing. So, if you scored below that, you have work to do. If you scored a 133 or above, you are in good shape.  To see what your overall MBE score means, see this post . The percentiles will be slightly different each administration, but these are about what you can expect to see.

On the bottom of your New York Bar Exam score report, you will see “percentiles” for each MBE subject. This provides helpful information about how you scored in comparison to other bar exam takers.

For example, if “CIVIL PROCEDURE” has the number 5.5 next to it. It means that you scored higher than only 5.5% of bar exam takers (and lower than 94.5% of bar exam takers). That means you have work to do on Civil Procedure.  If REAL PROPERTY has the number 80.3 next to it, that means you scored higher than 80.3% of takers, which is good news. This is very helpful information as it can give you a general idea of which subjects you may want to pay closer attention to while you begin to study for the next bar exam.

Total Score

Next, look at your total score. A 266 is passing. It does not matter what your written score or MBE score was, so long as together they add up to a score at or higher than 266!

We hope you found this article on how to dissect your New York Bar Exam score report helpful!

If you failed the New York Bar Exam and are wondering what the next steps are, check out this article . We also list several resources below.

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Will my score report look like this if I passed the New York Bar Exam?

No! If you passed the New York Bar Exam, you will get a letter. Your letter will state:

• your overall UBE score
• your converted MBE score

You will not see a breakdown of how you performed on the MEE and MPT. (You can figure out your overall MEE score by subtracting your MBE score from your UBE score. So, for example, if you scored a 300 on the UBE and a 140 on the MBE, you can deduce that you scored a 160 on the written portion of the bar exam (300 – 140 = 160). But you will not be able to see how you performed on the individual MEEs and MPTs.

Helpful Bar Exam Articles:

If you are looking for helpful articles, check out these:

• How to pass the bar exam the second time around : 5 things to do differently.
• I failed the New York Bar Exam. What should I do? Here is a step by step guide.
• I failed the bar exam twice (or three times, or four or more times) : Here is a step-by-step guide to getting out of this vicious cycle!
• Should I rewatch lectures if I fail the bar exam? Generally, the answer is no.
• How to tell your boss you failed the bar exam : What to say and what not to say.
• Lastly, check out our very popular note to those who failed the bar exam , quotes for those who failed the bar exam , and a list of famous people that failed the bar exam — you are not alone!

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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.
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I used JD Advising [tutoring] for my second attempt to pass the IL UBE bar exam and increased my score by 52 points! I went from being nervous and scared to the 95 th percentile of all UBE takers. JD advising helped me so much for my second attempt for the bar. Also, I was working full-time the second time I took the bar exam and they completely built the schedule around my available time and the amount of weeks I had to study. I can’t recommend their program enough. Compared to other big bar prep services, JD Advising is so much more personalized and they actually 100% care about you and your success on the bar exam. Thank you JD Advising! And thank you so much to my personal tutors who guided me through the whole process, Ninos and Lisa! You are both amazing!

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• Grading the NextGen Field Test: Two Graders’ Thoughts on the NextGen Bar Examination

This article originally appeared in The Bar Examiner print edition, Spring 2024 (Vol. 93, No. 1), pp. 65-67. By Geoffrey R. Bok;   Carole Wesenberg

In early 2024, NCBE had 4,124 participants from 88 law schools in 41 jurisdictions take part in a nationwide field test for the NextGen bar exam. The field test helped NCBE gather feedback and data on new question types, test the computer-based delivery system, and refine timing estimates. Jurisdiction graders also had the opportunity to gain experience in grading the new exam. Two graders share their insights on the process below.

Extensive Grading Materials and High-Quality Questions: The NextGen Bar Exam Ensures Thorough Assessment and Grader Uniformity

By Geoffrey R. Bok I have been grading bar examinations since 1989, first in Massachusetts and later in Vermont—each of which first administered the Uniform Bar Exam in July 2018 and July 2016, respectively. I have written and graded state law essay questions, and graded the Multistate Essay Examination, the Multistate Performance Test (MPT), and the earlier 2023 NextGen pilot test. Based on this, I was asked to be a grader for six questions during the recent field test of the NextGen bar exam.

NCBE’s training for grading the NextGen field test was extensive. Each question came with a comprehensive document that contained the full text of the question, along with related materials that had been given to examinees (such as relevant legal documents, court decisions, newspaper articles, affidavits, and transcripts of client interviews). These materials also provided the grader with a detailed and clear list of the points a correct answer would make, as well as a list of incorrect answers. Many sample answers were included, as were extensive summaries of what score each of these sample answers should receive. Finally, graders watched a separate on-demand video for two of the questions, in which an expert went over how to score answers to each question.

The first type of question I graded required the examinee, acting as an attorney in a matter, to provide two short responses based on the factual (and sometime legal) information provided to them. For example, such responses could be in terms of what the attorney should do next in representing their client, what arguments to make to the opposing side to try to settle the case favorably, what discovery to request, and/or what facts are adverse or helpful to their client. Sometimes a question had more than two correct answers, but the examinee got full points by identifying two correct answers and half the total points for only identifying one correct answer. On the questions of this type that I graded, it forced the examinee to review a somewhat complex set of facts and then use their legal skills and knowledge to respond briefly to a specific inquiry for two pieces of information or future action.

The other type of question I graded was similar to a shorter version of the current MPT, in that it gave the examinee the law and facts needed to write a legal document (e.g., a legal memorandum to a judge in support of a client’s motion or revisions to a draft contract). Answers that received the most points found the applicable legal standards in the provided materials, found the most helpful facts in the provided facts to apply to these legal standards, and then brought them together in a document that did not misstate either the law or the facts. Some of these questions were longer than others, so examinees were tasked with writing documents of different lengths and levels of complexity.

There also were some multiple­-choice questions, but these did not appear to need a human grader to score them. These multiple-choice questions appeared both within each item set of short-answer constructed­-response questions and as standalone items.

I have a few observations based on my experience grading the NextGen field test. First, in all my years of grading bar examinations, I have never been so impressed with the scope and detail of the provided grading materials and resources. Access to such extensive grading materials should ensure that grading a NextGen answer is both accurate and uniform from grader to grader. For instance, for NextGen, two graders will grade each response, and when the grades are not within a set tolerance, they will receive a third grade from a grading leader or more senior grader. Next, I found that the exam’s questions, and the answers they sought, appeared to test an examinee’s legal knowledge and skills in a very fair, thorough, and thoughtful manner. Furthermore, the factual patterns (and types of questions asked based on these factual patterns) reflected real legal problems and tasks that a newly licensed lawyer would face.

Based on this field test grading, and on my many years as a grader and a bar examiner, I am excited to see the NextGen bar exam move from this stage to implementation.

Ensuring Progress: The NextGen Bar Exam Improves Lawyer Skills Testing and Grader Consistency

By Carole Wesenberg Change does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change.” — Henry Steele Commager 1

Over the past two decades, I have graded the bar exam in Idaho 36 times. The exam has certainly changed over this time, including via adoption of the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) in March 2011. Idaho is now exploring whether to adopt the NextGen bar exam.

Besides grading the bar exam, I have attended NCBE conferences and workshops; worked with the Idaho State Bar regarding the grading process; and, most recently, served on Idaho’s NextGen Bar Examination Task Force. To better understand the grading-process changes that would be necessary in Idaho due to the new exam, I volunteered and was selected to grade the NextGen field test.

After grading the NextGen field test, I was struck by the progress made in ensuring that the new exam provided a better assessment of the real-world skills and knowledge necessary to be a competent attorney. Examinees still need to know and understand the law. However, they no longer have to memorize, for example, the doctrinal minutiae of every complex or nuanced legal topic. Instead, for some questions examinees must identify what legal research to undertake, what facts are important, and/or what their clients need to know.

Although the grading process may not be front of mind for most stakeholders, for longtime graders like me, grading the high-stakes bar exams is an enormous responsibility. Graders need to ensure fairness to both examinees and the public. And, because of the UBE’s score portability, a benefit that continues with the NextGen exam, it’s important that one jurisdiction’s grading standards do not significantly differ from another’s.

Over my years of grading, I have thought a lot about best practices to ensure fairness and consistency. However, the challenge with the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) and the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) is that it is impossible to entirely eliminate the subjectivity that can come with grading essay questions. NCBE provides a lot of resources through rubrics, model answers, and workshops to help calibrate exam answers. However, grading consistency remains a challenge requiring both awareness and vigilance.

The NextGen bar exam eliminates many of my concerns regarding grading and consistency. It directs examinees to provide written answers to address specific tasks in a practice-oriented context, such as identifying errors in a contract or interpreting a provided statute. These tasks require examinees to provide concise and focused responses compared to the more open-ended format of the MEE. These changes help ensure that grading will be more objective, fair, and uniform within and throughout jurisdictions.

NCBE has done an excellent job of making the graders’ job more straightforward. The NextGen bar exam includes integrated question sets and performance tasks; NCBE provides a grading rubric, grading notes, and benchmarks for these test items. The materials were generally thorough and easy to apply. In particular, the benchmarks provided model answers and examples of partially correct and incorrect answers, taking a substantial amount of guesswork out of determining the proper number of points to assign to an answer.

Integrated question sets are geared to quickly assess an applicant’s ability to analyze, synthesize, or evaluate the information provided. The sets I graded called for two or four correct answers per question, and those answers were limited to one or two sentences; answers were graded on a two-point scale. I found the grading less time-­consuming and, more importantly, easier to discern the differences between the answers. Relative grading or rank-ordering were no longer in play. In short, grading was simplified: the answer was correct, partially correct, or incorrect.

Performance tasks were similarly more straightforward to grade. They are more akin to the current MPT; however, each question’s call was narrowly tailored to assess an applicant’s skills in legal research and written legal analysis. Thus, instead of reviewing a lengthy answer typical of an MPT, performance task answers were shorter and more focused. In the task I graded, the rubric was not broken down holistically by issue but rather via a familiar IRAC/CREAC format, 2 with each element graded on a two-point scale and another two-point assessment for the overall answer organization. Although I might question whether a conclusion element should be weighed the same as a rule or application element, I am pleased that many subjective components have been eliminated. And I expect NCBE to refine the grading process further in the future.

All in all, the changes present in the NextGen bar exam ensure progress on two fronts. First: it is a better test of lawyering skills. Competent representation does not require mere memorization of the law. Nor would we expect newly licensed attorneys to rely solely on their memory; to do so would constitute malpractice. A licensure exam should test for the skills a profession requires. Second: the NextGen bar exam has a more objective, fair, and consistent grading format. Graders can be more confident in the validity and reliability of the grading process for both the applicants and the public. These are the strengths of the NextGen bar exam, and I am excited about the changes and progress to come.

• Henry Steele Commager, “We Have Changed—and Must,” New York Times (April 30, 1961), at 77, available at https://www.nytimes.com/1961/04/30/archives/we-have-changed-and-must-a-historian-reviews-the-profound.html . (Go back)
• IRAC (Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion) or CREAC (Conclusion, Rule, Explanation, Analysis, Conclusion) are two methods for organizing specific legal issues.  (Go back)

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In This Issue

Spring 2024 (Vol. 93, No. 1)

• Letter from the Chair
• President’s Page
• Facts & Figures

2023 Statistics

• How Generative Artificial Intelligence Made “Hallucinate” Cambridge Dictionary’s 2023 Word of the Year
• From My Perspective: Coding Justice: Charting the Path with AI
• The Next Generation of the Bar Exam: Adopting the NextGen Bar Examination: Two Jurisdictions’ Perspective
• Quarterly Update: NextGen Development Forges Ahead with Prototype Exam on the Horizon 
• The Testing Column: Grading the MEE, MPT, and the NextGen Bar Exam: Ensuring Fairness to Candidates
• FAQs About Bar Admissions: I passed the bar exam! When can I call myself a lawyer?
• News & Events
• In Memoriam: Diane F. Bosse
• In the Courts

Bar Exam Fundamentals

Addressing questions from conversations NCBE has had with legal educators about the bar exam.

Online Bar Admission Guide

Comprehensive information on bar admission requirements in all US jurisdictions.

NextGen Bar Exam of the Future

Visit the NextGen Bar Exam website for the latest news about the bar exam of the future.

BarNow Study Aids

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2023 Year in Review

NCBE’s annual publication highlights the work of volunteers and staff in fulfilling its mission.

Bar examination and admission statistics by jurisdiction, and national data for the MBE and MPRE.

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