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Will be a 3L this year. Still thinking about signing up for the August test, but may want to hold off until November. Is it okay to wait until then to take the MPRE or safer to take in August in the case that I fail and have to retake it? Also, do you have to pass the MPRE before taking the NY bar or can you always take it after?

SKlei wrote:Will be a 3L this year. Still thinking about signing up for the August test, but may want to hold off until November. Is it okay to wait until then to take the MPRE or safer to take in August in the case that I fail and have to retake it? Also, do you have to pass the MPRE before taking the NY bar or can you always take it after?

You can retake in March. However, the MPRE is generally around the time of spring break at many schools, so it might kill your plans. You do not need to pass the MPRE prior to taking the NY Bar exam. However, I'm not positive, but I think every NY judicial dept only performs C&F twice a year. So, if you were to fail in August after sitting for the bar, you'd have to go through the winter C&F. It would essentially delay admission for four or five months. Most people don't fail the MPRE, though.

Take the August test. From the sounds of it, it hasn't changed from when I took it, which means you should only need to put in 15 hours of studying to comfortably pass.

November will be fine as well if you'd prefer to do it then. You are really unlikely to fail and if you do, you will still have time to take it again.

Just take it in August and be done with it. I was at the beach the week before I took the test and didn't study that much. I glanced over the conviser outline in my barbri book and did all the practice tests. Walked out feeling like I failed it, ended up with a score high enough for every jurisdiction. (and I suck at the PR stuff)

It's really not that bad. Take a week out of your summer to study for it (if you're feeling ambitious) and be done with it.