Top Law Schools

Looking for advice from those who have taken multiple bar exams, ideally from IL, but would be open to those who've transferred (or not) their MBE from one passing state to another.

I'm considering taking the Illinois bar in July '15 or February '16 and have a question about how much of the exam to take. IL allows a bar passer from another jurisdiction to transfer an MBE score >140, thus waiving out of the 2nd day. The catch is that you must independently pass the cumulative portion of the Illinois essays, MEE, and MPT. If you don't pass on essays only, then in the future you'll have to retake the entire exam. I recently passed the bar in one jurisdiction and did well on the MBE (>165). I have no idea what my essay scores were, but I think they are very average based on feedback I got on my bar course.

My initial reaction was enthusiasm at only having to take one day of the exam. But on further thought, I'm thinking that if the MBE is a strength that I can maximize my IL chances by retaking the entire exam and not just the essays.

Has anyone made a similar decision? What did you decide and why?

2bars wrote:Looking for advice from those who have taken multiple bar exams, ideally from IL, but would be open to those who've transferred (or not) their MBE from one passing state to another.

I'm considering taking the Illinois bar in July '15 or February '16 and have a question about how much of the exam to take. IL allows a bar passer from another jurisdiction to transfer an MBE score >140, thus waiving out of the 2nd day. The catch is that you must independently pass the cumulative portion of the Illinois essays, MEE, and MPT. If you don't pass on essays only, then in the future you'll have to retake the entire exam. I recently passed the bar in one jurisdiction and did well on the MBE (>165). I have no idea what my essay scores were, but I think they are very average based on feedback I got on my bar course.

My initial reaction was enthusiasm at only having to take one day of the exam. But on further thought, I'm thinking that if the MBE is a strength that I can maximize my IL chances by retaking the entire exam and not just the essays.

Has anyone made a similar decision? What did you decide and why?

Take the entire test. A strong MBE score pretty much equals an auto-pass. The IL breakdown is roughly as follows: MBE is weighted 50%, essays (MEE and IEE) are weighted 43%, and the MPT is weighted 7%. The higher you score on the MBE, the lower you can score on the essays. Last July the average multiple choice score for Illinois test-takers was 147. A person who reached that number could score a 117 on the writing and still pass the bar.

to the OP - wondering if you did some additional research and decided either way. i recently moved to IL and am facing a similar decision. thanks!