The "Ask @JoeSeperac" Thread Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi Joe, I'm also a Texas examinee.

Texas Score: 826
MBE Scaled: 176.3

Thank you!

[Lukky]

Hi Joe!

Was hoping to see how I compared as well and how the written portion went.

MBE score 162.4
Total score 349.

Thanks!

Congratulations! Based on your scaled MBE score of 162.4, your estimated raw MBE score was about 146/175 correct (based on the last time an MBE scale was released in 2013). This means you answered about 83.4% of the graded MBE questions correctly. This places you in the 89.8% percentile for the MBE. This means that 10.2% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 162.4 (based on national data for the past 7 years).

Based on a total score of 349, your written score was 186.6, which would have placed you in the 100% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 0% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT).

Although NCBE does not release percentiles for total UBE scores, based on the MBE and written percentiles, this would place you in the 94.9% percentile among examinees nationwide based on your total score of 349 (meaning that 5.1% of examinees nationwide scored better than you on the UBE). Please keep in mind this is just an estimate and may be incorrect.

Your written score was phenomenal. Any advice for others?

Joe, I had a quick question. It seems like, sometimes, you quote a lower percentile despite a higher total score (same bar exam). For example, in the post above, this person scored a 349 and was quoted to be in the 94.9% percentile, but you quoted someone else who got a 337 to be in the 95.7% percentile. How does this calculation work?

[JoeSeperac]

Hi Joe,

I took the July 20 UBE and scored a 331

MBE: 164
MEE: 167

Could you please let me know where this falls nationally/what my raw MBE score is?

Thanks!

Congrats!

Based on your scaled MBE score of 164, your estimated raw MBE score was about 85% correct. This places you in the 91.9% percentile for the MBE. This means that only 8.1% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 164 (based on national data for the past 7 years).

Based on a total score of 331, your written score was 167, which would have placed you in the 94.8% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 5.2% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT).

Although NCBE does not release percentiles for total UBE scores, based on the MBE and written percentiles, this would place you in the 93.4% percentile among examinees nationwide based on your total score of 331 (meaning that 6.7% of examinees nationwide scored better than you on the UBE). Please keep in mind this is just an estimate and may be incorrect.

If you don't mind one quick question, if you had to attribute your passing to just one thing, what would that be? I ask this to see if there is any commonality in answers among high scoring examinees.

[JoeSeperac]

Hi Joe,

I took the early September UBE and would love a breakdown.
UBE: 308
MBE: 158.9
Written: 148.8

Thank you!

Congrats on passing! Based on your scaled MBE score of 158.9, your estimated raw MBE score was about 81% correct (based on the last time an MBE scale was released in 2013). This places you in the 84.8% percentile for the MBE. This means that 15.2% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 158.9 (based on national data for the past 7 years).

Based on a total score of 308, your written score would have placed you in the 64.8% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 35.2% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT).

Although NCBE does not release percentiles for total UBE scores, based on the MBE and written percentiles, this would place you in the 74.8% percentile among examinees nationwide based on your total score of 308 (meaning that 25.2% of examinees nationwide scored better than you on the UBE). Please keep in mind this is just an estimate and may be incorrect.

On the MBE, examinees usually score close to their MBE practice scores, especially if they have done a large number of MBE questions in practice. How many MBE questions did you do in practice for the J20 exam, what sources did you use (e.g. Kaplan, Barbri, NCBE, Adaptibar), and what was your overall % correct for these practice questions?

Thanks!

I used Barbri and Adaptibar, but I switched to using just Adaptibar in the latter part of prep. I did something close to 1,500 or 1,600 questions between the two. My Adaptibar overall percentage was right around 73% over roughly 1,100 questions, but it was almost 80% in the last few weeks.

Thanks. Based solely on your practice scores, I would have predicted an MBE score between 145-155 on the J20 exam, so you overperformed. Congrats again!

[JoeSeperac]

Hi Joe, could you give me your thoughts on my score.

Texas October 2020

Final Score: 833
MBE Scaled Score: 170.3

Thank you!

Congratulations on passing the J20 TX bar exam. Based on your scaled MBE score of 170.3, your estimated MBE score was about 90% correct. This places you in the 97.2% percentile for the MBE. This means that 2.8% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 170.3 (based on national data for the past 7 years).

I attempted to convert your Written and Total Scores to the UBE Scale. I estimate your Total UBE Score would have been 333. Based on a total score of 333, your written score was 162.9, which would have placed you in the 90.4% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 9.6% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT). This means you could pass the exam in all UBE states.

Did you do anything special for your MBE study?

[JoeSeperac]

Hi Joe, I'm also a Texas examinee.

Texas Score: 826
MBE Scaled: 176.3

Thank you!

Great job! Out of about 6,000 examinees who have sent me their MBE scores over the past 10 years, only 20 did better than you.

Based on your scaled MBE score of 176.3, you answered about 95% of the graded MBE questions correctly. This places you in the 99.3% percentile for the MBE. This means that 0.7% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 176.3 (based on national data for the past 7 years). In attempting to convert your Written and Total Scores to the UBE Scale. I estimate your Total UBE Score would have been 330.

On the MBE, examinees usually score close to their MBE practice scores, especially if they have done a large number of MBE questions in practice. How many questions did you answer in practice, from what sources (e.g. Barbri, Kaplan, Adaptibar, NCBE) and what was your overall % correct?

[JoeSeperac]

Hi Joe!

Was hoping to see how I compared as well and how the written portion went.

MBE score 162.4
Total score 349.

Thanks!

Congratulations! Based on your scaled MBE score of 162.4, your estimated raw MBE score was about 146/175 correct (based on the last time an MBE scale was released in 2013). This means you answered about 83.4% of the graded MBE questions correctly. This places you in the 89.8% percentile for the MBE. This means that 10.2% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 162.4 (based on national data for the past 7 years).

Based on a total score of 349, your written score was 186.6, which would have placed you in the 100% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 0% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT).

Although NCBE does not release percentiles for total UBE scores, based on the MBE and written percentiles, this would place you in the 94.9% percentile among examinees nationwide based on your total score of 349 (meaning that 5.1% of examinees nationwide scored better than you on the UBE). Please keep in mind this is just an estimate and may be incorrect.

Your written score was phenomenal. Any advice for others?

Joe, I had a quick question. It seems like, sometimes, you quote a lower percentile despite a higher total score (same bar exam). For example, in the post above, this person scored a 349 and was quoted to be in the 94.9% percentile, but you quoted someone else who got a 337 to be in the 95.7% percentile. How does this calculation work?

The most likely reason is one person sat for a Feb exam while another sat for a July exam. For example, a 150 MBE is about 87th percentile in Feb versus 67th percentile in July. Secondly, my estimates are based on a rolling average of percentiles from the last 7 administrations (to smooth the percentiles somewhat) meaning they can change depending on when you sat for the exam. Alternatively, it could be a mistake in my spreadsheet - if you link to the two different posts, I can check to make sure my calculations are accurate.

[Anonymous User]

Hi Joe, I'm also a Texas examinee.

Texas Score: 826
MBE Scaled: 176.3

Thank you!

Great job! Out of about 6,000 examinees who have sent me their MBE scores over the past 10 years, only 20 did better than you.

Based on your scaled MBE score of 176.3, you answered about 95% of the graded MBE questions correctly. This places you in the 99.3% percentile for the MBE. This means that 0.7% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 176.3 (based on national data for the past 7 years). In attempting to convert your Written and Total Scores to the UBE Scale. I estimate your Total UBE Score would have been 330.

On the MBE, examinees usually score close to their MBE practice scores, especially if they have done a large number of MBE questions in practice. How many questions did you answer in practice, from what sources (e.g. Barbri, Kaplan, Adaptibar, NCBE) and what was your overall % correct?

Thanks Joe! I only used Themis and completed about 80% of the course (but 100% of the MBE materials). I read each MBE outline once, watched lectures (these were just OK), and did a lot of questions daily, reading through the explanations after. I did about 2,100 questions and was practicing around 85% overall with several sessions toward the end in the high 80s and low 90s. I also know I have a tendency to do better on exams than in practice because I can focus better.

[Beingalive123]

Hi Joe,

I took the July 20 UBE and scored a 331

MBE: 164
MEE: 167

Could you please let me know where this falls nationally/what my raw MBE score is?

Thanks!

Congrats!

Based on your scaled MBE score of 164, your estimated raw MBE score was about 85% correct. This places you in the 91.9% percentile for the MBE. This means that only 8.1% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 164 (based on national data for the past 7 years).

Based on a total score of 331, your written score was 167, which would have placed you in the 94.8% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 5.2% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT).

Although NCBE does not release percentiles for total UBE scores, based on the MBE and written percentiles, this would place you in the 93.4% percentile among examinees nationwide based on your total score of 331 (meaning that 6.7% of examinees nationwide scored better than you on the UBE). Please keep in mind this is just an estimate and may be incorrect.

If you don't mind one quick question, if you had to attribute your passing to just one thing, what would that be? I ask this to see if there is any commonality in answers among high scoring examinees.

Thanks! As far as attributing something, I’d say focusing on practice questions. I did tons of extra practice questions, which made the MBE feel like an old friend by exam day.

[Anonymous User]

Hi Joe, I was also a TX October (remote) examinee and was hoping you could tell me where I ranked nationally/my raw MBE score:

Final Score: 787
MBE Scaled Score: 166

Thank you so much!

[JoeSeperac]

Hi Joe, I'm also a Texas examinee.

Texas Score: 826
MBE Scaled: 176.3

Thank you!

Great job! Out of about 6,000 examinees who have sent me their MBE scores over the past 10 years, only 20 did better than you.

Based on your scaled MBE score of 176.3, you answered about 95% of the graded MBE questions correctly. This places you in the 99.3% percentile for the MBE. This means that 0.7% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 176.3 (based on national data for the past 7 years). In attempting to convert your Written and Total Scores to the UBE Scale. I estimate your Total UBE Score would have been 330.

On the MBE, examinees usually score close to their MBE practice scores, especially if they have done a large number of MBE questions in practice. How many questions did you answer in practice, from what sources (e.g. Barbri, Kaplan, Adaptibar, NCBE) and what was your overall % correct?

Thanks Joe! I only used Themis and completed about 80% of the course (but 100% of the MBE materials). I read each MBE outline once, watched lectures (these were just OK), and did a lot of questions daily, reading through the explanations after. I did about 2,100 questions and was practicing around 85% overall with several sessions toward the end in the high 80s and low 90s. I also know I have a tendency to do better on exams than in practice because I can focus better.

Thanks. Yours is a great example of how practice scores generally mirror exam scores. Based on your practice scores, I would have predicted an MBE score between 165-170.

[JoeSeperac]

Hi Joe, I was also a TX October (remote) examinee and was hoping you could tell me where I ranked nationally/my raw MBE score:

Final Score: 787
MBE Scaled Score: 166

Thank you so much!

Congratulations on passing the J20 TX bar exam! Based on your scaled MBE score of 166, your estimated raw MBE score was about 86% correct (based on the last time an MBE scale was released in 2013). This places you in the 94% percentile for the MBE. This means that 6% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 166 (based on national data for the past 7 years).

I attempted to convert your Written and Total Scores to the UBE Scale. I estimate your Total UBE Score would have been 315. Although NCBE does not release percentiles for total UBE scores, based on the MBE and written percentiles, this would place you in the 79.4% percentile among examinees nationwide based on your total score of 315 (meaning that 20.6% of examinees nationwide scored better than you on the UBE). Please keep in mind this is just an estimate and may be incorrect.

[mgwlee]

Hi Joe,

I was a DC October examinee and was hoping you could tell me where I rank:

Written Component Scaled Score: 162

Multiple Choice Scaled Score: 157.6999 (Is it usually sent like this?)

Total Scaled Score: 320

Thank you!

[Anonymous User]

Hi Joe,

I am a DC examinee and would appreciate your analysis of my scores:

Written component scaled score: 148
Multiple Choice Scaled Score: 140.4
Total Scaled Score: 288

Thanks!

[basketofbread]

Hi Joe,

Just found out about NY.

Score: 322
Scaled multiple choice: 170

Please let me know, thanks!

[ZVBXRPL]

HI Joe,

Thanks for this thread.
I felt unready for the NY bar, having scored 56% on the Barbri Simulated, and then 57%, 59%, and 60% on the NCBE exams. But I was told to take the exam anyhow by people I trust, so I went with it.

Having come out of the bar exam this week, I felt pretty good after the first day. I hit many issues on the MPT, and the MEEs went pretty well. However, the MBE was tough. Chances are I scored only 50% on the MBE, based on how i feel/my past performance. What percentile would I have to score in with a 50% MBE? Also, any guess when results will be out/ They said end of December...

Feeling down-

Based solely on your reported practice scores, I would predict an MBE score between 120-130 on the J20 exam. Please note this is a very rough estimate and should be taken with a grain of salt. To determine whether you are at-risk of failing, enter your information into my UBE Score Estimator:

http://www.seperac.com/zcalc-passcalc.php

Shade down your projected MBE because of your low practice scores, but this should give you a good idea of where you should fall.

Next, play with this calculator:

https://mberules.com/ny-bar-exam-score-calculator/

Put in scores between 120-130 for the MBE and then just estimate your MEE/MPT. If all your written scores are a bit above passing (51 or so), you will squeak by. For example, a scaled MBE score of 129 would be about 56% correct (based on the released 2013 NY scale). This would place you in the 21.7% percentile for the MBE. This means that 78.3% of Jul examinees nationwide would have done better than you on the MBE based on a scaled MBE score of 129 (based on national data for the past 7 years).

Okay - 291 scaled in NY with a 139.1 on the BME portion. What's my percentile, please?

[JoeSeperac]

Hi Joe,

I was a DC October examinee and was hoping you could tell me where I rank:

Written Component Scaled Score: 162

Multiple Choice Scaled Score: 157.6999 (Is it usually sent like this?)

Total Scaled Score: 320

Thank you!

Your comment "Is it usually sent like this?" made me laugh. Yes, for some strange reason it has always been this way. It is my understanding NCBE reports the MBE to one decimal place so DC oddly subtracts a small amount from each score. I have seen it go even further (e.g. Written Component Scaled Score: 121.59999999999999). Maybe this is done for internal sorting?

That said, congratulations on passing the J20 DC bar exam! Based on your scaled MBE score of 157.6999, your estimated raw MBE score was about 80% correct. This places you in the 82.7% percentile for the MBE. This means that 17.3% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 157.6999 (based on national data for the past 7 years). Based on a total score of 320, your written score was 162, which would have placed you in the 89.2% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 10.8% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT). Although NCBE does not release percentiles for total UBE scores, based on the MBE and written percentiles, this would place you in the 86% percentile among examinees nationwide based on your total score of 320 (meaning that 14.1% of examinees nationwide scored better than you on the UBE). Please keep in mind this is just an estimate and may be incorrect.

If you don't mind, how many MBE questions did you do in practice for the J20 exam, what sources did you use (e.g. Kaplan, Barbri, NCBE, Adaptibar), and what was your overall % correct for these practice questions?

[JoeSeperac]

Hi Joe,

I am a DC examinee and would appreciate your analysis of my scores:

Written component scaled score: 148
Multiple Choice Scaled Score: 140.4
Total Scaled Score: 288

Thanks!

Congratulations! Based on your scaled MBE score of 140.4, your estimated raw MBE score was about 65% correct. This places you in the 45.2% percentile for the MBE. This means that 54.8% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 140.4 (based on national data for the past 7 years).

Based on your written score was 148, which would have placed you in the 62.9% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 37.1% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT).

Over the past 20 years, there have been about 1,214,744 bar exam takers nationwide and 851,402 bar exam passers for an overall national pass rate of about 70%. So you generally need to be better than the bottom 30% to pass. Although NCBE does not release percentiles for total UBE scores, based on the MBE and written percentiles, this would place you in the 54.1% percentile among examinees nationwide based on your total score of 288 (meaning that 46% of examinees nationwide scored better than you on the UBE). Please keep in mind this is just an estimate and may be incorrect.

[JoeSeperac]

Hi Joe,

Just found out about NY.

Score: 322
Scaled multiple choice: 170

Please let me know, thanks!

Congratulations on passing. Based on your scaled MBE score of 170, your estimated raw MBE score was about 89% correct. Please note this is an estimate based on the 2013 scale. This would place you in the 97% percentile for the MBE. This means that 3% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 170 (based on national data for the past 7 years).

Based on a total score of 322, your written score was 152, which would have placed you in the 71.9% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 28.1% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT).

Although NCBE does not release percentiles for total UBE scores, based on the MBE and written percentiles, this would place you in the 84.5% percentile among examinees nationwide based on your total score of 322 (meaning that 15.5% of examinees nationwide scored better than you on the UBE). Please keep in mind this is just an estimate and may be incorrect.

If you don't mind one quick question, if you had to attribute your passing to just one thing, what would that be? I ask this to see if there is any commonality in answers among high scoring examinees.

[JoeSeperac]

HI Joe,

Thanks for this thread.
I felt unready for the NY bar, having scored 56% on the Barbri Simulated, and then 57%, 59%, and 60% on the NCBE exams. But I was told to take the exam anyhow by people I trust, so I went with it.

Having come out of the bar exam this week, I felt pretty good after the first day. I hit many issues on the MPT, and the MEEs went pretty well. However, the MBE was tough. Chances are I scored only 50% on the MBE, based on how i feel/my past performance. What percentile would I have to score in with a 50% MBE? Also, any guess when results will be out/ They said end of December...

Feeling down-

Based solely on your reported practice scores, I would predict an MBE score between 120-130 on the J20 exam. Please note this is a very rough estimate and should be taken with a grain of salt. To determine whether you are at-risk of failing, enter your information into my UBE Score Estimator:

http://www.seperac.com/zcalc-passcalc.php

Shade down your projected MBE because of your low practice scores, but this should give you a good idea of where you should fall.

Next, play with this calculator:

https://mberules.com/ny-bar-exam-score-calculator/

Put in scores between 120-130 for the MBE and then just estimate your MEE/MPT. If all your written scores are a bit above passing (51 or so), you will squeak by. For example, a scaled MBE score of 129 would be about 56% correct (based on the released 2013 NY scale). This would place you in the 21.7% percentile for the MBE. This means that 78.3% of Jul examinees nationwide would have done better than you on the MBE based on a scaled MBE score of 129 (based on national data for the past 7 years).

Okay - 291 scaled in NY with a 139.1 on the BME portion. What's my percentile, please?

Congratulations on passing the J20 NY bar exam! Based on your scaled MBE score of 139.1, your estimated raw MBE score was about 64% correct (based on the 2013 NY MBE scale which is the last time NY ever released it). This places you in the 42.4% percentile for the MBE. This means that 57.6% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 139.1 (based on national data for the past 7 years). Based on a total score of 291, your written score was 151.9, which would have placed you in the 71.6% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 28.4% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT). Based on the MBE and written percentiles, this would place you in the 57% percentile among examinees nationwide based on your total score of 291 (meaning that 43% of examinees nationwide scored better than you on the UBE). Please keep in mind this is just an estimate and may be incorrect.

I'm glad you passed.

[basketofbread]

Hi Joe,

Just found out about NY.

Score: 322
Scaled multiple choice: 170

Please let me know, thanks!

Congratulations on passing. Based on your scaled MBE score of 170, your estimated raw MBE score was about 89% correct. Please note this is an estimate based on the 2013 scale. This would place you in the 97% percentile for the MBE. This means that 3% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 170 (based on national data for the past 7 years).

Based on a total score of 322, your written score was 152, which would have placed you in the 71.9% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 28.1% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT).

Although NCBE does not release percentiles for total UBE scores, based on the MBE and written percentiles, this would place you in the 84.5% percentile among examinees nationwide based on your total score of 322 (meaning that 15.5% of examinees nationwide scored better than you on the UBE). Please keep in mind this is just an estimate and may be incorrect.

If you don't mind one quick question, if you had to attribute your passing to just one thing, what would that be? I ask this to see if there is any commonality in answers among high scoring examinees.

Thanks Joe! Hmm, probably just doing a whole lot of MBE questions. I did about 2000, half open book for the beginning of my practice.

[mck87]

Hi, I just found out my NY bar exam results this morning and I was so excited to find out that I had passed.

My total score was 335 and my MBE score was 173.3. How would that break down? Appreciate your help in understanding what the scores mean!

Thanks

[JoeSeperac]

Hi, I just found out my NY bar exam results this morning and I was so excited to find out that I had passed.

My total score was 335 and my MBE score was 173.3. How would that break down? Appreciate your help in understanding what the scores mean!

Thanks

Congratulations on passing the J20 NY bar exam! Based on your scaled MBE score of 173.3, your estimated raw MBE score was about 91% correct. This places you in the 98.4% percentile for the MBE. This means that 1.6% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 173.3 (based on national data for the past 7 years).

FYI, of the 6,500+ examinees who have sent me their scores over the years, only 35 have scored higher than you.

Based on a total score of 335, your written score was 161.7, which would have placed you in the 88.8% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 11.2% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT). Although NCBE does not release percentiles for total UBE scores, based on the MBE and written percentiles, this would place you in the 93.6% percentile among examinees nationwide based on your total score of 335 (meaning that 6.4% of examinees nationwide scored better than you on the UBE). Please keep in mind this is just an estimate and may be incorrect.

If you don’t mind a brief follow-up question, can you let me know what part of your bar review you found most useful/helpful.

[jjcorvino]

Hi Joe, your estimator was spot on. I put in my information and it guessed my score exactly (weird as hell).

Took New York, my total score was 336 and my scaled score was 173.3. Could you verify the percentile?

Thanks!

[gardenia]

Hi Joe,

I took the NY online exam in Oct 2020. My score was 305, 157.7 scaled score for the MBE. What percentiles are those? Thanks!

Because I see you asking people how they studied--I completed 68% of Barbri and focused most heavily on reading the Conviser Mini Outlines for the MBE subjects.