MPRE Forum

[BlueLotus]

This is probably overkill, but I watched the Themis, Barbri and Kaplan videos, filled in the corresponding outlines, read the Barbri long outline and Conviser mini review and did most of the Barbri and Themis practice questions available. Good luck on the retake.

[zot1]

Just got the email that mpre is experiencing problems. For those who accessed scores, any reason to think that was not our correct score?

[BlueLotus]

Just got the email that mpre is experiencing problems. For those who accessed scores, any reason to think that was not our correct score?

I just accessed my score. Same as yesterday.

The NCBE website is currently unavailable. We are working on the problem and hope to have it available soon.

However, your NCBE account (including March MPRE scores) can be accessed at https://account.ncbex.org

[LetsGoLAW]

86. Spent about 15 hours using Themis. Passed by a point, but who cares, I passed!

[thewaterlanding]

86. Spent about 15 hours using Themis. Passed by a point, but who cares, I passed!

Right there with you. Spent about an hour the night before. Just had other things to do that week.

[Buffalo Barrister]

Studied throughout the week before. Maybe three hours per day for five days. Totally sick and distracted by personal problems on exam day. Only definitively knew the answers to about six or seven questions. Saw I was out of time with only one minute left but six questions remaining and just bubbled in randomly for during the final seconds. Hated the experience.

Passed in New York. Had to hit the reload button on my browser this morning for about an hour.

Also, all the test-day rules about no phones, purses, hats, etc.? Out the window at the Buffalo location. Purses all over the place. When time was called I INSTANTLY did a twisting stretch and the girl behind me was ALREADY on her tablet. Not large phone - but tablet! Right at her desk! Proctors collected her exam while her purse and tablet were in her hands and didn't even say a word.

[Jhausie]

125 and not a savant.

Did both BARBRI and Kaplan MPRE prep. Watched both lectures, did both outlines, all the practice exams, and a few extra questions. Looks like it was way overkill, especially since scoring anything over an 86 (Utah) is pointless. Moral of the story: just do some dedicated, concentrated prep and you should be fine.

I like Kaplan's online interface better than BARBRI's but that is a matter of personal preference. Kaplan also has a really nice video walk through for one of their practice exams, which was helpful.

Hope this info helps.

As far as test day went the proctors in Minnesota were super strict. No phones, food, hoodies, zip up fleeces, hats, purses, etc... Borderline ridiculous with the no zip up fleece/hooded sweatshirt stuff.

[k5220]

I'd recommend the BARBRI video (which lays a nice foundation) and questions (which I think are actually better for learning the substance of what you need to know at the level of depth it's actually tested).

I only studied for 7 hours. (I put off studying til the day before because I was crazy busy, but then a family emergency came up and I lost most of my day). I watched the BARBRI video filling in the blanks in the outline they provided, did about 20 or 30 practice questions, and made myself 4 pages of notes based on rules I wanted to remember from the BARBRI outline and stupid distinctions I learned through the practice questions.

I had to guess on like half of the questions on test day (usually after narrowing it down to 2 possible answers) and I felt pretty bad walking out of the test, but I ended up passing by a lot (132). I don't think I deserved to pass, but I've always been a pretty good guesser and I learned a lot of the important stuff by paying attention to the details in the BARBRI video (like who counts as family for conflicts and the point about in-laws being treated the same as non-in-laws) and paying attention to the mistakes I made and the kinds of subtle distinctions that were important for the practice questions.

[bklynattorney]

Didn't get a high enough score for NY Guess that I didn't prep enough (I'm in the unusual position, I guess, of having passed the bar on the first try, but not the MPRE). I'm not too bummed as my full time job doesn't require admission to the bar, but it would've been nice to get this out of the way! I'm not sure if I'll register/take the August test as I may be too busy with work, but I'll play things by ear in the next month or so.

[BlueLotus]

Didn't get a high enough score for NY Guess that I didn't prep enough (I'm in the unusual position, I guess, of having passed the bar on the first try, but not the MPRE). I'm not too bummed as my full time job doesn't require admission to the bar, but it would've been nice to get this out of the way! I'm not sure if I'll register/take the August test as I may be too busy with work, but I'll play things by ear in the next month or so.

The key to passing is doing as many practice problems as possible, and reading carefully through the explanations for the correct answers. Get your hands on the free Barbri, Themis, and Kaplan materials. You can definitely balance full-time work and prep for the August MPRE. Good luck.

[anon sequitur]

Does anyone know what our scores mean, either as a percentile or raw score? Just curious.

For those taking it in the future, I found the online lectures to be not anywhere nearly as helpful as the practice questions with explanations. I listened to the barbri and themis lectures, but I mostly did it as a way of procrastinating, listened on headphones while exercising, cooking, etc. So I was kind of zoned out and only got the very basic stuff. Never looked at an outline or anything like that. Then the night before the exam, literally at around 8pm I finally got around to doing practice questions, which freaked me out because I was getting like half of them wrong. So I did practice questions for about five or six hours, felt like I was guessing between two answers on around half or more of the questions on test day. Still, got a 94, so lesson learned, should have gone to bed earlier.

[ShttyExmTkr]

I watched the barbri video (twice) and completed the corresponding outline(s).
I also did all practice questions.
I did not feel like I had it down, but still remained confident. My score wasn't overwhelmingly high (101), but I passed.
I know some folks who failed it a couple times, don't sweat it, you'll get it next time.

Thank you this makes me feel better. I feel like this was the fire under my ass that I needed to start studying for the bar.

[ShttyExmTkr]

This is probably overkill, but I watched the Themis, Barbri and Kaplan videos, filled in the corresponding outlines, read the Barbri long outline and Conviser mini review and did most of the Barbri and Themis practice questions available. Good luck on the retake.

Thank you.. but now I hate the fact that I won't be able to completely enjoy having finished the bar. This will still be hanging over my head until August. Sigh.

[ShttyExmTkr]

Studied throughout the week before. Maybe three hours per day for five days. Totally sick and distracted by personal problems on exam day. Only definitively knew the answers to about six or seven questions. Saw I was out of time with only one minute left but six questions remaining and just bubbled in randomly for during the final seconds. Hated the experience.

Passed in New York. Had to hit the reload button on my browser this morning for about an hour.

Also, all the test-day rules about no phones, purses, hats, etc.? Out the window at the Buffalo location. Purses all over the place. When time was called I INSTANTLY did a twisting stretch and the girl behind me was ALREADY on her tablet. Not large phone - but tablet! Right at her desk! Proctors collected her exam while her purse and tablet were in her hands and didn't even say a word.

I know. I wasn't allowed to go the restroom because I had already signed in! I had to hold it in and take the test. Maybe that's where that one point went (got 84, needed 85).

[osbarca]

Scores from August 2015 are already online (though NBCE hasn't sent the email to takers yet).

[PJP]

Great! I got a scaled score of 114. I studied for 2 days and did 2 practice tests (60 questions each) on Barbri MPRE. Guess it helped a lot.

[bluewin888]

got 90... PASS!

[RedGiant]

got 90... PASS!

Ditto. I only listened to the Sum & Substance tapes by Chemerinsky while commuting in July, and listened to half of the BarBri lecture. That's it. Did not look at BarBri book, did not practice questions. Just winged it. DONZO. PASS. PASS. PASS. Don't care that it was just barely AT ALL.

[texasbar]

I scored 121.

I wrote it after the July bar, which was torture. My brain refused to function! So I watched the barbri video attentively once (didn't fill in the handout), and watched it a second time while reading through the materials barbri provided. I did about 5 practice tests.

[derklink]

Scored 114 after I failed the first time (I admit, only had 2 days to prepare). Did Kaplan, there was one ore two lectures/videos and two or three practice exams. Worked out well.

[starryski]

studied like 4 hours over the course of 2 or 3 days. just listened to a 4 (or 6 dont recall) hour lecture. took all the notes. did 60 practice questions and 10 the morning of. passed with 91. i literally felt like i guessed on all but 5 of the questions. i was shocked i passed.

[Jay Marc]

Not too bad.

[JenDarby]

Just as a routine reminder, it's always the second most ethical answer

[squiggle]

Just as a routine reminder, it's always the second most ethical answer

As a law school classmate put it, ask "what would lawyer Jesus do?", and then pick the next less stringent answer. I ended up scoring over 100 (but was also taking Pro Rep that semester).

[Avian]

Just as a routine reminder, it's always the second most ethical answer

People kept saying this but I think because I've drunk the Model Rules Kool-aid, the actual answer now seems like the most ethical answer.