Missouri Bar Exam
Board of Law Examiners
407 Jefferson Street
Jefferson City, MO 65101
(573) 751-9814
mble@osca.state.mo.us
www.mble.org
Two Important Web Sites
Missouri Board of Law Examiners
www.mble.org
National Conference of Bar Examiners
www.ncbex.org
Application Process
You must submit an Application for Bar
Examination regardless of whether you
registered as a law student.
Unless you submitted within the past 36
months an Application for Character and
Fitness Report, you also must submit that
application concurrently with your
Application for Bar Examination.
Application Deadlines
To qualify for the lowest fee, your
application must be postmarked or
received by March 15 for July exam or
October 15 for February exam.
Later filing with higher fee. Refer to Rule
8.07(b) for dates and Fee Schedule for fee
amounts.
Postponement - Reg. 3 to
Rule 8.07
Submit written notice prior to start of
exam to carry forward fee to next exam.
No fee if written notice submitted 30 days
or more before exam.
Refer to Fee Schedule for postponement
fee if written notice submitted less than
30 days before the exam.
Current Address
We will mail important information about
the exam and your application. We use
the address you list in your application.
If you move, you should immediately
notify us in writing of your new address.
Laptop Pilot Program
Read the announcement on web page to
see if you qualify to participate.
Submit a Laptop Pilot Program
Participation Form with your application
for the exam.
If you are selected to participate, we will
send you instructions on how to download
the software.
Two Portions of Exam
Day 1 - Essay Portion
4 MO Essay Questions @ 30 minutes each
1 MPT Question @ 90 minutes
6 MEE Essay Questions @ 30 minutes each
Day 2 - MBE Portion
MBE - 200 Multiple Choice Questions
 3 hours/100 questions in a.m. and 3 hours/100
questions in p.m.
Essay Subjects
Listed in Reg 2 to Rule 8.08.
Agency & Partnership; Commercial Paper;
Conflicts of Law; Corporations & LLCs;
Estates; Family Law; Federal Civil
Procedure; Sales; Secured Transactions;
Trusts & Future Interests; MO Civil
Procedure; Remedies; and
Administrative Law.
Multistate Essay Exam
(MEE)
Written by NCBE. May substitute question
by MO Board.
May cover more than one substantive
area in a question.
Questions not labeled as to subject
matter.
Answer according to MO law.
Subject matter outlines listing scope of
coverage at www.ncbex.org
Missouri Essays
Written by Missouri Board of Law
Examiners.
Missouri Civil Procedure, Remedies,
Administrative law are never written by
NCBE.
MO Essays also may cover any of the MEE
subjects.
Multistate Performance
Test (MPT)
Written by NCBE.
This is not a subject matter test - it is a
skills test. Question will provide all the
law you need to perform the assigned
task.
MPT is included as part of your essay
score in determining pass/fail status.
Day 2 - MBE
33 items each in Constitutional Law,
Criminal Law & Procedure, Evidence, and
Real Property.
34 items each in Contracts and Torts.
Past Exams on Web
Past MEE and MPT questions and model
analyses are available in the 4 MO law
school libraries. Copyright held by NCBE.
Order at www.ncbex.org.
Past MO essays and sample answers are
available at www.mble.org
Selected MBE questions are available
through NCBE. Order at www.ncbex.org
Other Info on Web
Exam schedule, Rule 8, and FAQs at
www.mble.org
Apply online to take the MPRE at
www.ncbex.org
Grading the Essays & MPT
Graded on a raw scale of 0 to 6. Includes
half-points, e.g., 3.5
Score of 0 if your answer is nonresponsive to the question asked.
MPT score of 0 to 6 is multiplied by 1.5 to
get your final MPT raw score.
Raw scores for 10 essays and MPT(x 1.5)
added to get total raw essay score.
Grading the MBE
Raw MBE score is the number of
questions you answered correctly.
Raw MBE score is converted to a scaled
(“equated”) score by ACT.
Equating adjusts for varying degrees of
difficulty from one exam to the next.
Scaled Essay Score
Total raw essay score is converted to a
scaled score.
Scaling converts your raw essay score
from a 0-69 scale to the 0-200 scale of
the MBE.
Scaling adjusts for varying degrees of
difficulty and grader subjectivity.
Weighting
A total weighted scaled score of 1300 is
needed to pass.
Your scaled essay score will be weighted
60% and your scaled MBE score will be
weighted 40% of your total weighted
scaled score.
(Scaled Essay x 6) + (scaled MBE x4) =
total weighted scaled score.
Review Process
After preliminary results calculated, all 10
essays and MPT are regraded if
preliminary score is 1282-1299.
Original and regrade scores are averaged
to determine final score.
Released results are final and there is no
appeal, regrade, or review after release.
MBE Hand-Scoring
You can request a hand-scoring of your
MBE.
Send us a written request that lists your
name and SSN, along with a check for $6
made payable to ACT.
Authorization to release
scores to your law school
Release form is in the Application for Bar
Exam.
Optional.
Purpose is to help your school analyze
performance of its graduates and
determine ways to help students do better
on the exam.
Preparation Tips
Plan to devote adequate time to prepare.
Practice tests will help you with pace and
familiarize you with format of test but are
not a substitute for learning the material.
Read information on MBLE web page,
don’t rely on second-hand information.
During the Test
Remain calm, pace yourself - watch the
digital timer.
Do you have somewhere more important
to be? Use the time given - there’s no
extra credit for finishing first.
LISTEN to the INSTRUCTIONS we read
before each session, especially those
about how to identify your answer as
yours.
When you write your answer in the wrong
book, tell the proctors.
To delete something from your answer,
just mark a line through it.
Read question quickly for what you are
being asked to answer; then read again
carefully as you outline answer.
Relax during lunch break - it’s a long day.
What are the graders
looking for?
Substantive Legal Knowledge
Analytical Ability - Legal and Factual
Effective Communication Skills
Management of Legal Work - Ability to
Work Under Time Constraints
IRAC Method
Issue
Rule of Law
Analysis
Conclusion
The Basics
Write legibly - or sign up for laptop.
Don’t needlessly regurgitate facts given in
the question.
Don’t just regurgitate memorized black
letter law. Show you understand the law
by analyzing issues and applying law to
facts.
A Superior Answer Is
Concise, analytical, responsive to the
question(s) asked.
Applies the law to the relevant facts.
Gives the reader the sense that you know
what you are writing about - uses terms
of art correctly.
Reaches a logical conclusion.