July 2014 Bar Exam results thread Forum

[hoppingabird]

Iowa reports the MBE score to successful applicants. Iowa does not release the MEE MPT or total scaled scores to passing applicants.

My MBE was 136. I'm not sure if that is raw or scaled based upon the above statement
that was accompanied with the score.

[ilove_toshop]

130.8 Scaled MBE - which sounds about right because I felt like garbage walking out after that. 284 Scaled UBE Score -- so passed and done.

[ilove_toshop]

I also wanted to say that while I have been more of a reader rather than active participant in posting, I have enjoyed my time on here. Best of luck to all!

[jeffreymabq]

These are scaled MBE scores. So far no one has reported receiving a raw score on this forum.

Traditionally, NM sends an index card with your raw score for each section (with your congratulatory letter). Now...just the scaled score, so NM is not issuing.

[thedudeabides01]

Long time listener, first time caller.

Received my Utah bar exam results this morning. Passed with a 150 scaled MBE/150 scaled MEE/MPT (Utah is a UBE state). Based on the Pass/Fail list posted to the Utah Bar's site, pass rate was down only slightly for last year's July exam (2 points or so). I think this goes a long way to debunking the myth that the MBE was somehow more punitive this time around. If not, it at least shows that state-by-state statistics are more anecdotal than predictive.

MBE score was surprisingly high, given the fact I felt the morning MBE session was a complete shit show. I literally guessed on at least 25 percent of the questions. MEE score also somewhat surprising: I had no clue on the Corps question, and know I misapplied rules on other essays. Still, I passed with an overall scaled score of 300.

The moral of this story: don't freak out (like I did) thinking you failed because the Bar was more difficult this time around. Like others, I didn't study as much as I should have, thought the MBE was much more difficult than the practice tests I'd completed, and left feeling like hell.

Good luck to all those still waiting.

[Colle]

Another Utah bro here come to offer more reassurance for those still waiting: Simply cannot believe I passed this goddamn thing given how I felt walking out of the test. Checked the results today about 95% convinced I'd failed. I got thoroughly destroyed on the corporations essay. Made up some rules on at least two or three other essays. Completely dismayed at the number of MBE questions I guessed on in both sessions -- it was a shit-ton, no exaggerating. Passed with some room to spare. Keep the faith and good luck.

[THB]

Iowa taker here. I was convinced I failed. It felt like I purely guessed on 90-95% on the MBE questions, ended up getting a 140 scaled. Iowa doesn't release your MEE or MPT scores, but I felt good about both of them, so I probably passed with plenty of room to spare.

[LAWYER2]

Congrats everyone. This next month can't come fast enough for me. I've yet to clean out all the bar prep sh!t out of my home office. Told myself, once I pass, I'll clean it.

[beachbum]

Passed. Missouri came in at 85.4% pass, down from 88.6% in July 2013. (FWIW, looking at July 2014 v. July 2013, it seems the average MBE and essay scores both dropped a few points.)

I think I'll know my individual score breakdown tomorrow (will update when I find out). Just for the sake of comparison/posterity, I didn't think the MBE/exam was particularly hard or particularly easy - it seemed par for the course when compared against Barbri's materials, though it's certainly possible that I just missed many of the finer points/got lucky. Anyway, it's definitely a great relief - and best of luck to everyone still waiting.

Edit: I ended up with a 163.8 MBE, which (in terms of %ile) lines up well with my performance on Barbri's materials. So, there you go. Hope that's helpful, and good luck to everyone.

[Neidermeyer]

I heard this in school today. The national bar passage rate is way down (how far down is way down, do not know). Is there a way to verify this rumor? My understanding is that most of the states have not yet reported. I know GA will not be out for a while, my sis just started at a firm this week and this rumor will likely add to her anxiety.

Looking at several states that have posted Bar Exam statistics, it does appear that pass rates are down compared to last summer.

Washington: July 2013 (84.5%); July 2014 (77.4%)
Idaho: July 2013 (80.3%); July 2014 (65.1%)
Missouri: July 2013 (88.6%); July 2014 (84.8%)

In Missouri, average mbe scores have dropped as well. Last year it was 146.89, and this year it is 143.22.

:/

[84Sunbird2000]

I heard this in school today. The national bar passage rate is way down (how far down is way down, do not know). Is there a way to verify this rumor? My understanding is that most of the states have not yet reported. I know GA will not be out for a while, my sis just started at a firm this week and this rumor will likely add to her anxiety.

Looking at several states that have posted Bar Exam statistics, it does appear that pass rates are down compared to last summer.

Washington: July 2013 (84.5%); July 2014 (77.4%)
Idaho: July 2013 (80.3%); July 2014 (65.1%)
Missouri: July 2013 (88.6%); July 2014 (84.8%)

In Missouri, average mbe scores have dropped as well. Last year it was 146.89, and this year it is 143.22.

:/

Looks like the MBE curving methodology failed. Sorry, but the idea that this class of takers was 2-3 points worse across the Board - which matches the scores in most other states this year - does not hold water. By entrance scores (being the 2010 and 2011 incoming classes depending upon joint degrees) and whatever else, there is little difference.

The scores year over year should be getting normalized to a nearly identical median and average. We are talking huge sample sizes of highly similar demographics of takers. That the NCBE is not giving out raw scores at the same time makes it appear this curve was pretty weird.

[krishna_das]

I heard this in school today. The national bar passage rate is way down (how far down is way down, do not know). Is there a way to verify this rumor? My understanding is that most of the states have not yet reported. I know GA will not be out for a while, my sis just started at a firm this week and this rumor will likely add to her anxiety.

Looking at several states that have posted Bar Exam statistics, it does appear that pass rates are down compared to last summer.

Washington: July 2013 (84.5%); July 2014 (77.4%)
Idaho: July 2013 (80.3%); July 2014 (65.1%)
Missouri: July 2013 (88.6%); July 2014 (84.8%)

In Missouri, average mbe scores have dropped as well. Last year it was 146.89, and this year it is 143.22.

:/

Looks like the MBE curving methodology failed. Sorry, but the idea that this class of takers was 2-3 points worse across the Board - which matches the scores in most other states this year - does not hold water. By entrance scores (being the 2010 and 2011 incoming classes depending upon joint degrees) and whatever else, there is little difference.

The scores year over year should be getting normalized to a nearly identical median and average. We are talking huge sample sizes of highly similar demographics of takers. That the NCBE is not giving out raw scores at the same time makes it appear this curve was pretty weird.

I think the issues many examinees experienced with Examsoft the first day affected MBE performance. I think we may be seeing the negative effects of Examsoft on the lower scores and passage rates this year.

[Dafaq]

I think the issues many examinees experienced with Examsoft the first day affected MBE performance. I think we may be seeing the negative effects of Examsoft on the lower scores and passage rates this year.

Firms handling the examsoft class action suits are licking their chops.

[84Sunbird2000]

I think the issues many examinees experienced with Examsoft the first day affected MBE performance. I think we may be seeing the negative effects of Examsoft on the lower scores and passage rates this year.

Ohhhhh.... That does make sense. But why not release the raw scores? To protect Examsoft?

[krishna_das]

I think the issues many examinees experienced with Examsoft the first day affected MBE performance. I think we may be seeing the negative effects of Examsoft on the lower scores and passage rates this year.

Ohhhhh.... That does make sense. But why not release the raw scores? To protect Examsoft?

My guess is that NCBE has chosen not to release raw scores for its own reasons. NCBE is probably not the least bit concerned with Examsoft and its issues.

[OhScalia]

Passed. Missouri came in at 85.4% pass, down from 88.6% in July 2013. (FWIW, looking at July 2014 v. July 2013, it seems the average MBE and essay scores both dropped a few points.)

I think I'll know my individual score breakdown tomorrow (will update when I find out). Just for the sake of comparison/posterity, I didn't think the MBE/exam was particularly hard or particularly easy - it seemed par for the course when compared against Barbri's materials, though it's certainly possible that I just missed many of the finer points/got lucky. Anyway, it's definitely a great relief - and best of luck to everyone still waiting.

Edit: I ended up with a 163.8 MBE, which (in terms of %ile) lines up well with my performance on Barbri's materials. So, there you go. Hope that's helpful, and good luck to everyone.

Beachbum, what was your raw score in the Barbri simulated exam? Thanks

[SauceyIntruder]

Hey guys first time/long time here. I passed MO as well and here are my anecdotal takeaways for my preparation:

Took Themis, completed 97% of the course (started early, but only studied a max of 6 hours a day), only did enough practice essays to the point where I felt like I had the structure down (IRAC), then focused on straight memorization the week preceding the test. Was scoring in the 70% on the practice MBE sets and scored a 68% total on the Themis simulated exam (not sure of the scaled score). Scored highly on the practice MPTs.

Now for the test itself:

Felt confident about the MPTs after the AM session, the MEE PM session I felt went about average. I felt best about the crim law, evidence, and contract essay. Least confident about the Civ Pro and Family Law essay. I don't think that I bombed any of them, but I knew that I couldn't afford to bomb the MBE at this point.

For the MBE I felt slightly more confident about the AM session then I did for the PM session. Again, I didn't walk out thinking I bombed it, but after coming onto this forum I did relate to mostly all the difficult questions pointed out here at which point I began to question the outcome.

Results as already given:

MO average MBE: 143.22
MY scaled MBE: 157

MO average essays: 143.21
MY scaled essays: 146

Passed by 43 points. (MO requires 260 combined scaled).

While I never felt like I bombed the test, I did feel very uneasy in the weeks before the results came down, especially about the MBE. If I had to guess I would imagine that a hefty curve was applied as my best score for taking MBE questions ended up being the exam itself.

My advice: stay the HELL away from this website and trust in the process, if you put in the time and effort then you surely passed.

[AJS30]

I think the issues many examinees experienced with Examsoft the first day affected MBE performance. I think we may be seeing the negative effects of Examsoft on the lower scores and passage rates this year.

Ohhhhh.... That does make sense. But why not release the raw scores? To protect Examsoft?

My guess is that NCBE has chosen not to release raw scores for its own reasons. NCBE is probably not the least bit concerned with Examsoft and its issues.

I think there's an article in this issue that talks about why NCBE no longer releases raw scores (still in bed and too lazy to actually read)....http://www.ncbex.org/assets/media_files ... ridged.pdf

[LSATurday]

OR is in

71% passed out of 419

only 23% of repeats.

[OhScalia]

OR is in

71% passed out of 419

only 23% of repeats.

It looks like the overall passage rate is lowest in decades. It's only 65%.

[Neidermeyer]

Does Oregon release MBE scores?

[84Sunbird2000]

OR is in

71% passed out of 419

only 23% of repeats.

It looks like the overall passage rate is lowest in decades. It's only 65%.

The overall pass rate was lower than February! I'll admit that the cavalcade of low pass rates (apparently due to MBE scales) is increasing my nervousness a bit.

[LSATurday]

Does Oregon release MBE scores?

Pretty sure they don't. I believe they only release scores to those who fail, and I'm not sure what extent they do that.

Yeah, I mis-quoted the pass rate, I used the first-time pass rate, which is on-par with past years over all...way way way down for a July exam.

[Hannibal]

Somehow I'm more stressed now than I was when actually preparing for the bar/taking the bar.

[Neidermeyer]

Somehow I'm more stressed now than I was when actually preparing for the bar/taking the bar.

Agreed. I go through periods of thinking I may have failed, and others of thinking "surely I worked hard enough." The wait is abysmal.