The Maryland Bar Exam is a two-day exam -- Tuesday and Wednesday -- with the essay questions on Tuesday and the multiple-choice Multistate Bar Exam on Wednesday.

First Day (Tuesday) morning session:
* 2 hours 55 minutes
* 7 Maryland Essay Questions

First Day (Tuesday) afternoon session:
* 2 hours 45 minutes
* 3 Maryland Essay Questions
* 1 Multistate Performance Test (MPT)

Second Day (Wednesday) morning session:
* 3 hours
* Multistate Bar Examination (MBE)
* 100 multiple-choice questions

Second Day (Wednesday) afternoon session:
* 3 hours
* Multistate Bar Examination (MBE)
* 100 multiple-choice questions

Applicants may transfer an MBE score form another jurisdiction form a concurrent exam only.

Grading of the Maryland Bar Exam: Each Maryland Essay question is worth six points. Your total essay score is then scaled on the same scaling as the MBE (0-200). The Maryland Essay Exam counts for 2/3 of your final score. The MBE counts for 1/3 of your final score.

The way this works practically is: Your scaled Essay Exam score is doubled and added to your scaled MBE score. Thus, if you received a scaled score of 135 on the Maryland Essay Exam, and a scaled score of 140 on the MBE, your final score would be (2 X 135) + 140 = 410. You need a minimum combined score of 406 (out of a potential 600) to pass. Thus, your 410 would be a passing score. Maryland generally releases the results of the Summer exam in mid-November and the results of the Winter exam in mid-May.

Admission on Motion: Maryland does NOT permit admission on motion.

In general, you must take and pass the Maryland bar exam. However, if you passed a bar exam and are licensed to practice law in another jurisdiction, and have practiced law as a principal means of support in another jurisdiction for 10 years, or five of the last 10 years immediately preceding your Maryland application, and you intend to practice law in Maryland, you may be able to take an essay exam, instead of the full Maryland Bar Exam. The essay exam tests Maryland Civil/Criminal Practice & Procedure and Rules of Professional Conduct.

Note: In addition to passing the Maryland Bar Exam, prior to admission, you must complete a course on legal professionalism offered by the Maryland State Bar Association

Recent changes: As of October 1, 2010, the Maryland General Bar application and petition (including retakes) and the Out-of-State Attorney petition are on-line for all bar exams. All applicants are required to fill out their applications and/or petitions on-line, electronically submit the materials, and submit a hard copy to the Board’s office with original signatures, notarization, and supplemental documents as required by the filing deadline. Please read the eBar instructions before you begin the electronic application/petition process.