The MBE Exam Has Concluded for July 2014

The MBE Testing Institute will be conducting MBE seminars in October, November and January. Look for more information on this site and on www.mbetestinginstitute.com.

The MBE exam is over.  On Wednesday, thousands of students sat for the exam.  Students are telling us that they thought at one session was extremely hard.  Do you agree?

Remember, effective on the next MBE exam, Federal Civil Procedure will be tested.  The MBE Testing Institute will be holding seminars on the MBE, including Federal Civil Procedure.

An MBE Tutor is important to the repeat taker.  The MBE Testing Institute can help you overcome the difficulty of the MBE test and help you to a successful score.

If you need help passing the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for more information.

 

Today is the MBE

Today is the MBE for everyone taking the bar, no matter where you are taking the bar exam (except for Louisiana and Washington). Relax and be confident. Pace yourself. Remember, 1.6 minutes a question. Keep your time. You must answer every question. You have studied hard for this day and you will perform to the best of your ability.

Good luck to everyone. Keep believing in yourself.

An MBE Tutor is important to the repeat taker.  The MBE Testing Institute can help you overcome the difficulty of the MBE test and help you to a successful score.

 

If you need help passing the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for more information.

 

2 days until the MBE: Facing the Bar Exam with Confidence

It is now 2 days to the MBE.

Part of the battle to pass the bar exam is your attitude. Don’t go into the bar with negative energy. You must have confidence in your abilities. You have to go into the bar fired up and excited. This is your future and you will conquer it. You have studied extensively, you know the information and now you will prove it when you enter the bar examination. A positive attitude is half the battle. You feel good – you do good. With confidence, you have won before you have started.

Where does confidence come from? Confidence doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s a result of something… hours and days and weeks and years of work, dedication and training. You are ready. You will go into the bar exam prepared to pass the exam. You have studied and practiced the MBE questions – you can do no more. Your analysis is sharp and you have a great game plan. You have prepared and you are confident.

For those who are taking the bar exam as a repeat taker, do not lose your edge. Do not look back at your past failures and think you cannot pass the bar exam. Do not doubt yourself, do not be afraid that you will repeat your mistakes. You must go into the exam with confidence that you will pass the bar exam. If you doubt yourself, then indeed you stand on shaky ground. Believe that you will pass.

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful.

An MBE Tutor is important to the repeat taker.  The MBE Testing Institute can help you overcome the difficulty of the MBE test and help you to a successful score.

If you need help passing the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for more information.

5 days until the MBE: Consistency on the Bar Exam

It is now 5 days to the MBE. Your job today, along with continuing to practice your exam techniques, is to think about consistency. In all the bar exam scores I have read, I have rarely seen an up and down score, with a student doing great in one subject and horrible in another subject. i.e., a 10 in property, a 30 in torts. Instead, there is a consistency of scores across the board. The student is routinely good in all the subjects, or routinely bad in the subjects. Your objective is, of course, to be perform consistently well across the spectrum of subjects and across the tasks you must do in order to pass the bar exam.

How do you perform consistently well in all subjects? Your consistency started with your study plan, when you first began this bar exam process. Hard work always demands a consistency of its own in your thoughts, purpose and action over that long period of study time and your sense of purpose has been the most important aspect of your life, these past 2 months. Every day you approached your bar exam studies with the steadiness of an athlete in training. In just a few days from now, all of your hard work will pay off because you dedicated your time and effort to consistent study. Like that athlete, you will win your race.

With that consistency of study time and steadfastness, you walk into the bar exam with a sense of security and confidence that you will pass the bar exam.

An MBE Tutor is important to the repeat taker.  The MBE Testing Institute can help you overcome the difficulty of the MBE test and help you to a successful score.

If you need help passing the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for more information.

1 Week to the MBE: Stay Focused

Your goal for this last week is to keep your focus while you solidify your knowledge of the black letter law and improve your timing. The week before the exam is a time when you should be cool, collected and confident.

Don’t let anyone or anything distract you this week. It’s not worth it. You only have a week left to go and you can relax later,

Remember to take care of your body and mind. This means eating well, getting some sleep and working on self-confidence.

As to practical things, make sure you have confirmed your travel plans or hotel stay, make sure you have packed what you need to take with you for the bar exam, including your admission ticket, your identification, your watch, etc.

Now that you know the law, make sure your timing is correct, i.e. complete 17 MBE questions in 30 minutes; 34 MBE questions in an hour.

It isn’t uncommon to start running out of energy this week. So take some breaks to energize yourself. You need to keep your mind focused on bar material. Your focus is critical to success.

An MBE Tutor is important to the repeat taker.  The MBE Testing Institute can help you overcome the difficulty of the MBE test and help you to a successful score.

If you need help passing the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for more information.

9 days to the MBE: Keep Motivated

It is 9 days to the MBE. Along with your belief that you will pass and remaining positive, you must stay motivated. Studying for the bar exam is drudgery at its finest. Day-in and day-out, every day, minutes and hours pass by as you struggle to learn, review and to practice. Sometimes you wonder why you are putting yourself through this misery. 

That is why you must stay motivated. What is your incentive to continue studying and to pass the bar exam? You went through 4 years of colleges and the last 3 years going to law school to come to this juncture in your life. Among a desire to do good for others and the love of the law, you went to law school mainly to provide a good living for yourself and for your family.

Don’t forget those reasons for why you went to law school, for why you are studying for the bar exam and why you need to pass and become the lawyer you have always wanted to be.

Motivate yourself to get through the material today, not tomorrow. Be happy about the progress you make today only. Then start afresh the next day. You’ll worry about tomorrow, when it comes. Motivation comes in small bites when you are studying for the bar exam. Stay steady this week and continue to review your materials, practice your questions and, above all else, stay motivated. You will pass the bar exam.

An MBE Tutor is important to the repeat taker.  The MBE Testing Institute can help you overcome the difficulty of the MBE test and help you to a successful score.

If you need help passing the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for more information.

The MBE Exam: Make Sure You Are Bubbling Correctly

One of the biggest mistakes that students make is “misbubbling” their answer sheet.  The student either skips a question or puts the mark in the wrong answer space.  Here is some advice to prevent you from marking the wrong answer choice.

Do not ever skip questions on the MBE. Answer them in the order they are given. Put a check by the question or even write down the number and, only, if you have time left, you can go back and recheck your answer.

But make sure you fill in the bubble for your answer choice for the correct question. For those who have trouble with keeping track of the question number on the answer sheet, put a scrap paper underneath the answer choice for that question you are answering.  You do not want to skip that question, lose your place on the bubble exam answer sheet and then mismark the remaining answers because you forgot you skipped the question. That is a horror story that has happened to applicants too many times to count.

An MBE Tutor is important to the repeat taker.  The MBE Testing Institute can help you overcome the difficulty of the MBE test and help you to a successful score.

If you need help passing the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for more information.

2 Weeks Until the MBE

You have 2 weeks until the multistate bar examination. Instead of spending the day getting nervous about the time, concentrate on what you have left to do.

By this time, you should have pretty much memorized as much black letter law as you can cram into your brain. It is now time to put away the books and stop studying the law.

What you need to do in these final 2 weeks to prepare yourself for the bar exam is to practice, practice, practice. You are now familiar with your state test and the MBE questions and what to expect from the bar exam.

Once you finish your MBE questions under time constraints, spend an equal amount of time reading the explanations for the right and wrong answers. Read for comprehension, also. There might be a point of law that you did not know that you can learn from reading the explanations.

Try to get in at least 50 MBE questions per day, if you can. This way you can really be sharp when exam time comes.

Don’t waste the time to panic, but do take the time to practice. You will be more prepared than ever if you follow this schedule.

An MBE Tutor is important to the repeat taker.  The MBE Testing Institute can help you overcome the difficulty of the MBE test and help you to a successful score.

If you need help passing the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for more information.

MBE Question Approach for the Bar Exam

As you practice your approach to the MBE, ask yourself these two questions: What is the subject area and what is happening in the fact pattern.

You then want to isolate the legally relevant facts. The next step of analysis is to ask what the legal issue is, what rule of law addresses this fact pattern and what should be the outcome.

Your next step is to identify the issue in each answer choice. Finally, ask yourself which answer choice best corresponds to the issue in the fact pattern.

Follow this simple approach for answering your MBE questions.

An MBE Tutor is important to the repeat taker.  The MBE Testing Institute can help you overcome the difficulty of the MBE test and help you to a successful score.

If you need help passing the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for more information.

Practice MBE Timing

As to timing of the MBE, you must answer 100 questions in 3 hours, both in the morning and the afternoon. Breaking it down further, you must answer each question in 1.8 minutes, or 17 questions in a half hour and 34 questions in an hour. You must be able to sustain that fast pace.

As you practice, keep that pace in mind. It is imperative that you finish all 200 questions. You do not want to leave any questions unanswered or unread and lose valuable points. As you know, even 1 point or 2 points can mean the difference between passing and failing.

Not only do you need to answer the questions, you need to answer them correctly.

How do you build up your time and accuracy? In the beginning of this process, start with 17 questions first – note your time and your accuracy. As you get better at your accuracy, your time will also get better. Once you feel that you are comfortable with the 17 questions, then, proceed to doing 34 questions in one sitting. Again, notice how long it took you and your accuracy. Then move up doing 68 questions in 2 hours, until finally you are working at 3 hour stretches.

You must get comfortable and condition yourself to sitting for 3 hours, working on MBE questions, without losing your focus or concentration. In the last couple of weeks, prior to the bar exam, you should be working on 3 hour blocks for the MBE.

Once you get to the bar exam, write down the time for 34 questions, 68 questions or break it down in half hours, i.e. 17, 34, 51 etc., so you can glance at your sheet and know that you are on schedule to answer all 100 questions.

An MBE Tutor is important to the repeat taker.  The MBE Testing Institute can help you overcome the difficulty of the MBE test and help you to a successful score.

If you need help passing the MBE, contact the MBETesting Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for more information.

Three Weeks to the MBE

Every state who tests the MBE, tests on the Wednesday of the bar exam week.  It is now three weeks to the MBE.  Three weeks to the MBE is a good time to evaluate how you are doing. You have enough time to now pinpoint your weak areas and enough time to change your schedule if you feel you’re spinning your wheels. Consider this day your line in the sand.

By now you should have done several hundred multistate questions. If you haven’t done it, get busy. Change your schedule if you need to, work on your weak areas and keep testing.

If you have, you are ready for the bar exam. You just need to keep working, stay cool and continue to test yourself.

Make sure you are peaking on exam day. If you are like some of my students who study all night, stop it today. Get up at 6 am or 7 am and start studying at 9 am until 12 pm, with no breaks, then study from 1 pm to 4 pm, with no breaks, You want to mimic the bar exam hours so you are at your peak at 9 am every day.

Don’t pretend you’re not nervous. Accept that it’s okay to be nervous. Channel that nervous energy properly by attacking your study schedule and transform your nerves into confidence. But, remember, you do not want to be overly tired for the bar exam. Try to sleep through the night or, at least, take some cat naps during the day to catch up on missed sleep.

One of the most important things to do during this 3 week period is not to doubt your abilities. You can pass this bar and you know it. You just need to be in the top 2/3rds of your state. Don’t stress too much about what you don’t know – you are not expected to get a 100% on this test – it’s more like 65%. The examiners expect that you will have weak areas. Go into the bar exam with the knowledge you will pass the bar exam.

An MBE Tutor is important to the repeat taker.  The MBE Testing Institute can help you overcome the difficulty of the MBE test and help you to a successful score.

If you need help passing the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for more information.

Strategies for the Answer Choices for the MBE

Here are some strategies for the answer choices for the MBE:

1. Look for the more precise answer: That is a better choice – one that incorporates more facts and more of the law relevant to your fact pattern.

2. Be careful of those absolutes. If you see words like must, always, never, etc., be careful, because we know that the law almost never deals in absolutes. They are few absolutes in the law.

3. Look for conjunctions. Be careful when you see words like because, if, only if, unless, etc. Those conjunctions are designed to try to trick the reader, especially the careless reader. For example, you’ll see a question that says, if the jury believes the defendant, it is because…. This example wants you to focus on the defendant’s defense, not whether the defendant is guilty.

4. Be careful of distractors. Common distractors for evidence are the best evidence rule and prejudicial v. probative. Make sure you know when you can use these two as the right answer or else they may be distractors.

5. Be careful of sympathy or dislike. The MBE likes to pull at your heart strings a bit too. Sometimes they have a really reprehensible defendant who has a legitimate “procedural” issue that makes him not guilty, i.e. an improper search and seizure. You want to find him guilty, but the police make an error and the evidence is suppressed. Similarly, you’ll see a sympathetic person who commits a cause of action or a crime and must be either liable or guilty. Don’t let emotion rule the day.

Remember, that common mistakes in choosing the answer come from not knowing the law, not reading the fact pattern carefully, or not reading the call of the question.

An MBE Tutor is important to the repeat taker.  The MBE Testing Institute can help you overcome the difficulty of the MBE test and help you to a successful score.

If you need help passing the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for more information.

The Answer Choices for the MBE

As we know, after the fact pattern and the call of the question, there are 4 multiple answer choices. One of those multiple choice answers is the correct one, while distractors form the other 3 choices. How do we know which choice is the correct answer?

The good thing about the MBE is that the right answer is staring at you. Your just have to find the right answer out of 4. That’s a 25% chance you’ll pick the right answer. The wrong answer choices usually come in various categories: the law is incorrect, the facts are incorrect, there is a mixture of wrong facts and wrong law, or the law is correct but doesn’t apply to your facts.

Yes, the MBE uses every trick in the book, but you can find the right answer by eliminating the wrong answers first. Being able to eliminate the wrong answers is critical to your success in finding the right answer. Because even if you don’t know the right answer, you may be able to successfully eliminate the other 3 answers and get to the right answer, even without knowing what the right answer is.

Eliminating the obvious wrong answers will substantially increase your chances of getting the right answer. If you successfully eliminate two, you chances become 50% of getting the right answer.

Remember that the correct answer must state the correct law, must state the correct facts, have a sound application of law to facts and finally needs to address and resolve the central issue in the fact pattern.

Remember, you get no points for choosing the wrong answer, so you must get the right answer for your MBE questions at a rate of at least 65% – 70% in order to pass the MBE.

An MBE Tutor is important to the repeat taker.  The MBE Testing Institute can help you overcome the difficulty of the MBE test and help you to a successful score.

If you need help passing the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for more information.