Strong MBE = AUTO bar pass Forum

[UnleashTheHockey]

I saw the old reference earlier in the thread but still feel a bit confused. Can anyone give me an idea of where my raw score needs to be (safe or auto pass) in Pennsylvania?

55% Essays (6 Essays x 20 Points, 1 PPT x 30)
45% MBE

Edit: 272/400 to pass.

[09042014]

I saw the old reference earlier in the thread but still feel a bit confused. Can anyone give me an idea of where I need to be (safe or auto pass) in Pennsylvania?

55% Essays (6 Essays x 20 Points, 1 PPT x 30)
45% MBE

You need a 162 to autopass.

Autopass is far far far from "Safe." You are probably safer at 150. IIRC two years ago that was the highest MBE score where the person failed the exam in Penn.

[CatsPajamas]

Missouri test taker here. Would a 150 be an auto-pass?

- 260 total needed
- MBE & essays are 50/50 (each worth 200 points)
- Essays are 2 MPTs and 4 MEE essays, all equally weighted

[schweitziro]

Missouri test taker here. Would a 150 be an auto-pass?

- 260 total needed
- MBE & essays are 50/50 (each worth 200 points)
- Essays are 2 MPTs and 4 MEE essays, all equally weighted

Yea.

[lmr]

God i wish i wasn't in CA…i remember seeing somewhere in last bar cycle's thread someone had an MBE score over 80% and still failed…that possibility has been haunting me ever since.

[CatsPajamas]

Missouri test taker here. Would a 150 be an auto-pass?

- 260 total needed
- MBE & essays are 50/50 (each worth 200 points)
- Essays are 2 MPTs and 4 MEE essays, all equally weighted

Yea.

Thanks!

[Georgia Avenue]

Wanted to follow up on, well, this entire thread by posting this reminder to those in 50/50 states who are freaking out:

In Illinois you need 264 to pass. A 140 scaled MBE is 37th percentile. That's not even getting 66% right, according to conversion charts. To get the other 124 needed for passing, even with basically a bottom 1/3 MBE score, you need to just be in the 9th percentile written. The 9th.

[jd20132013]

yeah when i see people in 50/50 states freaking out i want to reach through the screen and







hug them




but slap them first

[igo2northwestern]

Question -- How do I translate the % I get right on BarBri to a 1XX score? Is it just % correct x 190?

[Ford Prefect]

Missouri test taker here. Would a 150 be an auto-pass?

- 260 total needed
- MBE & essays are 50/50 (each worth 200 points)
- Essays are 2 MPTs and 4 MEE essays, all equally weighted

MO is 2 MPT (20% weight) and 6 MEE (30% weight). MBE is the other 50%.

[dudnaito]

Wanted to follow up on, well, this entire thread by posting this reminder to those in 50/50 states who are freaking out:

In Illinois you need 264 to pass. A 140 scaled MBE is 37th percentile. That's not even getting 66% right, according to conversion charts. To get the other 124 needed for passing, even with basically a bottom 1/3 MBE score, you need to just be in the 9th percentile written. The 9th.

Yeah, but what if i plan on writing "penis" on all 9 essays over and over and over again?

All jokes aside though, I wonder how low the grading goes for essays. Seriously, I've barely even so much as glanced some of the MEE/IEE subjects. I have exactly around 46 hours left to just skim over these subjects more than half of which I've never even come into contact with during law school. I was preparing for the Missouri Bar (which has only around 13 subjects compared to Illinois' 23 subjects), until I found out that USCIS somehow lost my Certificate of Citizenship in the mail, and Missouri won't take anything less than a Citizenship Certificate or a Birth Certificate, so uh.. yeah.

My simulated 200 MBE's have been anywhere from 67%-82% raw, but it's a legitimate fear that I literally won't be able to write a single word down for around 2 essays out of the 9 MEE/IEE's. Is the general consensus that if you just make up rules and write complete and utter b.s., they'll still give you at least 1 out of the 5 points? I mean... how low can they grade these things? If it's anything like law school (WUSTL), professors basically have to give you "something" just so you won't mess up the scale too bad, but I'm guessing that's a non-issue in a bar exam where there are many more test-takers. Ugh... i hate myself.

[CatsPajamas]

Missouri test taker here. Would a 150 be an auto-pass?

- 260 total needed
- MBE & essays are 50/50 (each worth 200 points)
- Essays are 2 MPTs and 4 MEE essays, all equally weighted

MO is 2 MPT (20% weight) and 6 MEE (30% weight). MBE is the other 50%.

Yep, you're right. Thanks for correcting my typo.

[Ford Prefect]

Missouri test taker here. Would a 150 be an auto-pass?

- 260 total needed
- MBE & essays are 50/50 (each worth 200 points)
- Essays are 2 MPTs and 4 MEE essays, all equally weighted

MO is 2 MPT (20% weight) and 6 MEE (30% weight). MBE is the other 50%.

Yep, you're right. Thanks for correcting my typo.

I live to serve.

[Georgia Avenue]

Wanted to follow up on, well, this entire thread by posting this reminder to those in 50/50 states who are freaking out:

In Illinois you need 264 to pass. A 140 scaled MBE is 37th percentile. That's not even getting 66% right, according to conversion charts. To get the other 124 needed for passing, even with basically a bottom 1/3 MBE score, you need to just be in the 9th percentile written. The 9th.

Yeah, but what if i plan on writing "penis" on all 9 essays over and over and over again?

All jokes aside though, I wonder how low the grading goes for essays. Seriously, I've barely even so much as glanced some of the MEE/IEE subjects. I have exactly around 46 hours left to just skim over these subjects more than half of which I've never even come into contact with during law school. I was preparing for the Missouri Bar (which has only around 13 subjects compared to Illinois' 23 subjects), until I found out that USCIS somehow lost my Certificate of Citizenship in the mail, and Missouri won't take anything less than a Citizenship Certificate or a Birth Certificate, so uh.. yeah.

My simulated 200 MBE's have been anywhere from 67%-82% raw, but it's a legitimate fear that I literally won't be able to write a single word down for around 2 essays out of the 9 MEE/IEE's. Is the general consensus that if you just make up rules and write complete and utter b.s., they'll still give you at least 1 out of the 5 points? I mean... how low can they grade these things? If it's anything like law school (WUSTL), professors basically have to give you "something" just so you won't mess up the scale too bad, but I'm guessing that's a non-issue in a bar exam where there are many more test-takers. Ugh... i hate myself.

well, that's a good question

the essay grading is relative to everyone else - so your raw score itself is graded on a curve basically. meaning, if they decide to drop tax, admin, or suretyship on us, everyone is getting equally boned. so you might be able to get a 2 just by saying "there is such a thing as administrative law and it governs administrative agencies, who can make rules and adjudicate and stuff"

[Mal Reynolds]

Can somebody do the number crunch for minimum Missouri pass? We've got a freak out going on over here.

[09042014]

Can somebody do the number crunch for minimum Missouri pass? We've got a freak out going on over here.

~160 since it's only 40% MBE. BUT, MPT is worth 20%. So if they can just "pass" the MPT 143 is auto pass.

[CatsPajamas]

Can somebody do the number crunch for minimum Missouri pass? We've got a freak out going on over here.

~160 since it's only 40% MBE. BUT, MPT is worth 20%. So if they can just "pass" the MPT 143 is auto pass.

Actually, Missouri is 50% MBE, 30% MEE, and 20% MPT. How much does that lower the MBE score needed?

[09042014]

Can somebody do the number crunch for minimum Missouri pass? We've got a freak out going on over here.

~160 since it's only 40% MBE. BUT, MPT is worth 20%. So if they can just "pass" the MPT 143 is auto pass.

Actually, Missouri is 50% MBE, 30% MEE, and 20% MPT. How much does that lower the MBE score needed?

if its 50% then 150.

[tsutsik]

Can somebody do the number crunch for minimum Missouri pass? We've got a freak out going on over here.

~160 since it's only 40% MBE. BUT, MPT is worth 20%. So if they can just "pass" the MPT 143 is auto pass.

Actually, Missouri is 50% MBE, 30% MEE, and 20% MPT. How much does that lower the MBE score needed?

if its 50% then 150.

I'm sure this is a stupid question, but does everything hinge on whether it is 50% MBE? It doesn't make a difference what score it takes to pass? What happens in a 280 state?

[orm518]

Still very curious for any scoring information about the Massachusetts bar.

From the professor at my school who runs bar prep: you should aim for a raw score of 40/70 on the Mass Essays and a scaled 130 MBE will get you to the magic 270. Of course, we don't know exactly what you need to get on BarBri or Kaplan MBE to get a 130 scaled on the real thing, but you can take what they tell you their "add-on" is and do the math to get an estimate.

Essentially essays get scaled to match the distribution curve of the MBE, so if the median MBE score is 144 (like it was in 2012, nationally, based on NCBEX stats) then the median essay raw score will get a 144. If you're perfectly average you get a 288 and pass handily. I believe the essays are matched to the scale for just the MA takers of the MBE, so that 144 number is just a placeholder. My professor says to aim for 40 on the essays because the factor they multiply your raw essay score by, to mimic the MBE, is in the range of 3.5 to 3.8. In 15 years it's never been lower than 3.5 so to be safe use that.

RAW Essay x 3.5 = x
270 - x = your scaled MBE needed.


You can of course reverse engineer this equation if you think you know where you'll land on the MBE, and figure out what kind of essay scores you need.

[09042014]

~160 since it's only 40% MBE. BUT, MPT is worth 20%. So if they can just "pass" the MPT 143 is auto pass.

Actually, Missouri is 50% MBE, 30% MEE, and 20% MPT. How much does that lower the MBE score needed?

if its 50% then 150.

I'm sure this is a stupid question, but does everything hinge on whether it is 50% MBE? It doesn't make a difference what score it takes to pass? What happens in a 280 state?

It does matter what the total score required is. But Missouri happens to be the same as Illinois so I knew it already. Basically for 50% states you add 2 points for everything over 264.

[tsutsik]

It does matter what the total score required is. But Missouri happens to be the same as Illinois so I knew it already. Basically for 50% states you add 2 points for everything over 264.

So in a 50% state with a 280 passing score, you need a 182 scaled MBE to be auto pass? That sucks.

[09042014]

It does matter what the total score required is. But Missouri happens to be the same as Illinois so I knew it already. Basically for 50% states you add 2 points for everything over 264.

So in a 50% state with a 280 passing score, you need a 182 scaled MBE to be auto pass? That sucks.

Yea I get like 175

[Georgia Avenue]

264. 264. 264.

/repeats over and over while breathing into brown paper bag

[beachbum]

264. 264. 264.

/repeats over and over while breathing into brown paper bag

Yup.