Kate-
The old saying holds true..(rather cliched, but still):
The bar exam prep is a marathon, not a sprint.
You can't (and shouldn't) expect your best performances this early in the race. 40-50% correct right now is just fine. I've taken two bar exams (failed first one last July by less than a point, scored a 106 raw (scaled 126.7) on the MBE (54%). I was so very close, even with that rather poor MBE score.
This last February I passed the D.C. bar exam and my MBE was 136 raw (68%) (scaled 150.7).
Last July, my practice MBE questions were around 55-56% correct, so I finished fairly close to where I was running. This February, my practice questions were averaging aroun 60% correct, but about 70% of the time my second choice was the correct answer.
I used the
BarBri StudySmart software both times, but did many more of the advanced questions the second time around. I also used the Strategies & Tactics book by Walton & Emanuel, some
Pmbr, the 2006 annotated MBE you can access through the NCBE website and listened to the
Pmbr cds...for many hours.
It is probably rather difficult to pass with 40% correct on the MBE, but you're a long ways from where you will be in the middle of July. It really is the last few weeks that brings things together.
Stay the course- you're on track.