Kate33

I have reviewed barbri audio lectures on the MBE topics, reviewed outlines, and have begun practicing MBE questions (on MicroMash), about 40-50 Qs a day. I am not doing as well as I had hoped (40-50% right). I know I have roughly 2 mos. before the bar exam, but I am worried that I will not do well enough on the MBE to pass the bar. I am not sure if my scores will improve much with additional practice in time to pass.

I am seriously thinking of not sitting for the exam but taking the next WA state exam (all essays, no MBE) instead and saving the hefty bar exam fee ($800+).

Any suggestions/thoughts??? Thanks.

Kate

Category: MBE

monali8

Kate!!!　Don't be silly! You will do just fine!!! Your 40-50% at this early is fantastic!!! You will definitely pass with the practice. Don't forget to review from your mistakes and learn from them. If you can get just up to 60% you will definitely pass, but 40-50% has a chance of passing with the curve. So you have 2 months to do even better than that. Stick with it!

Kate33

Thanks for your pep talk, Mona! But are you sure about your stats/curve? I have seen numerous sources suggest that a 65% pass rate is req'd to pass the bar. I could be mistaken, but I don't think it is possible to pass with a 40% correct answer MBE score. Esp. not in NM, where the MBE counts for 50%.

Upnorthguy

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.