MBE Exam-Taking Tips Forum

[whitecollar23]

I thought I'd start a thread where people share MBE tips they've come across or figured out that have been extremely helpful. I'll start by sharing a tip that I have discovered through my studies.

There are often questions where we could narrow down the answer choices to 2 options, and then we're stuck. Not necessarily stuck because we don't know the law, but because it's a very tough and close question. Here's what I discovered:

Most MBE questions are looking to test you on a specific issue, and sometimes in focusing on that issue, a test writer may mistakenly put in a very close answer that could arguably be right because he just isn't focusing in on that. In that situation, the right answer will almost always be the answer that answers what issue the test writer is trying to test us on. It might seem obvious in hindsight, but it really isn't.

tl;dr: if you're stuck between two answer choices, take a second to figure out what exact issue the question is testing you on and then pick the answer that will solve that issue.


I'll share more random tips in this thread as I study over the coming weeks and need to take breaks.


EDIT:

PLEASE NOTE:
The purpose of this thread is specifically to share tips on how to improve your ability to answer MBE questions. Although tips on how to act if you're running out of time or what-not, such tips are better suited for a different thread.

Additionally, please realize that I made this thread to help people with the MBE. If you share a piece of advice that is more likely to be detrimental to the average student, I will point that out. Don't take it personally; just please qualify your advice if it only works for some people or in some situations.

[whitecollar23]

One more tip to get this party going:

When reviewing practice MBE questions, aim to know not only why the right answer is correct, but why each wrong answer is wrong. This will help you not only know the law better, but get used to weeding out wrong answers. Apply this to every question you cover, even the ones you get right.

[rcharter1978]

If you get to the last 10-15 minutes and you KNOW you aren't going to be able to read through everything

1. Bubble in whatever favorite random guess answer choice you like (mine was B)

2. go back and start skimming for questions that you KNOW you can answer. If you really know torts and you see a torts fact pattern with three questions, go for it. If you have no idea about title theories, and you see some property fact pattern about title theories, just random ass guess and move onto the next question.

3. Erase your pre-selected answer and bubble in whatever you think it is. (Do NOT employ this method if you don't have a good eraser on your pencil!!!!)

This method worked for me both times, because it allowed me to continue working up until the very last nanosecond without worrying about leaving questions blank. And if you fill in the answer choices with the same random answer choice you're bound to get a few of them right.

[whitecollar23]

If you get to the last 10-15 minutes and you KNOW you aren't going to be able to read through everything

1. Bubble in whatever favorite random guess answer choice you like (mine was B)

2. go back and start skimming for questions that you KNOW you can answer. If you really know torts and you see a torts fact pattern with three questions, go for it. If you have no idea about title theories, and you see some property fact pattern about title theories, just random ass guess and move onto the next question.

3. Erase your pre-selected answer and bubble in whatever you think it is. (Do NOT employ this method if you don't have a good eraser on your pencil!!!!)

This method worked for me both times, because it allowed me to continue working up until the very last nanosecond without worrying about leaving questions blank. And if you fill in the answer choices with the same random answer choice you're bound to get a few of them right.

Since when are there multiple questions attached to one fact pattern?

[rcharter1978]

If you get to the last 10-15 minutes and you KNOW you aren't going to be able to read through everything

1. Bubble in whatever favorite random guess answer choice you like (mine was B)

2. go back and start skimming for questions that you KNOW you can answer. If you really know torts and you see a torts fact pattern with three questions, go for it. If you have no idea about title theories, and you see some property fact pattern about title theories, just random ass guess and move onto the next question.

3. Erase your pre-selected answer and bubble in whatever you think it is. (Do NOT employ this method if you don't have a good eraser on your pencil!!!!)

This method worked for me both times, because it allowed me to continue working up until the very last nanosecond without worrying about leaving questions blank. And if you fill in the answer choices with the same random answer choice you're bound to get a few of them right.

Since when are there multiple questions attached to one fact pattern?

There were actually a few of them on the last MBE, IIRC. Never more than three though.

Maybe I just got the one set of MBE questions where there were multiple questions attached to a fact pattern.

[whitecollar23]

If you get to the last 10-15 minutes and you KNOW you aren't going to be able to read through everything

1. Bubble in whatever favorite random guess answer choice you like (mine was B)

2. go back and start skimming for questions that you KNOW you can answer. If you really know torts and you see a torts fact pattern with three questions, go for it. If you have no idea about title theories, and you see some property fact pattern about title theories, just random ass guess and move onto the next question.

3. Erase your pre-selected answer and bubble in whatever you think it is. (Do NOT employ this method if you don't have a good eraser on your pencil!!!!)

This method worked for me both times, because it allowed me to continue working up until the very last nanosecond without worrying about leaving questions blank. And if you fill in the answer choices with the same random answer choice you're bound to get a few of them right.

Since when are there multiple questions attached to one fact pattern?

There were actually a few of them on the last MBE, IIRC. Never more than three though.

Maybe I just got the one set of MBE questions where there were multiple questions attached to a fact pattern.

Weird. I haven't seen that done with any practice questions. I don't recall (but I don't think) from the diagnostic MBE I took, but haven't see that happen in any practice MBE questions.

[rcharter1978]

If you get to the last 10-15 minutes and you KNOW you aren't going to be able to read through everything

1. Bubble in whatever favorite random guess answer choice you like (mine was B)

2. go back and start skimming for questions that you KNOW you can answer. If you really know torts and you see a torts fact pattern with three questions, go for it. If you have no idea about title theories, and you see some property fact pattern about title theories, just random ass guess and move onto the next question.

3. Erase your pre-selected answer and bubble in whatever you think it is. (Do NOT employ this method if you don't have a good eraser on your pencil!!!!)

This method worked for me both times, because it allowed me to continue working up until the very last nanosecond without worrying about leaving questions blank. And if you fill in the answer choices with the same random answer choice you're bound to get a few of them right.

Since when are there multiple questions attached to one fact pattern?

There were actually a few of them on the last MBE, IIRC. Never more than three though.

Maybe I just got the one set of MBE questions where there were multiple questions attached to a fact pattern.

Weird. I haven't seen that done with any practice questions. I don't recall (but I don't think) from the diagnostic MBE I took, but haven't see that happen in any practice MBE questions.

So yeah -- it was strange, because I never saw it on AdaptiBar, so I was a little surprised when I saw it on the exam. But perhaps I got some strange MBE set. Did anyone else see this in February 2016?

[Raiden]

Great thread for tips. Another one tip is predicting the answer choice after reading the fact pattern. If you have an idea of what the answer should look like, you will be less likely to be persuaded away by the bar's enticing wrong answers.

[whitecollar23]

It might have been an experimental portion, as they might be considering bringing it back to the exam. That might be interesting.

[whitecollar23]

Great thread for tips. Another one tip is predicting the answer choice after reading the fact pattern. If you have an idea of what the answer should look like, you will be less likely to be persuaded away by the bar's enticing wrong answers.

That's a very debatable tip, and can often do more harm than good. If you guess what the answer is beforehand and then it's not there, you are more likely to panic. It also is an approach that will slow you down if you do it for every question. Sure, if an answer comes to mind as you are reading the question, great. But that situation can also lead you to pick the wrong answer, as you may pick an answer that appears correct, when there is still a better answer.

IMHO: Don't take an approach where you predict the answer before looking at the choices. If an answer pops into your head by nature, great, but still look at the other answers, as the MBE will often have two very similar answers, of which one just happens to be the better of the two. The goal here is accurate speed. If you want to refrain from picking a trick answer, read each answer carefully, but don't take added steps that will unnecessarily slow you down. Just my perspective.

[ballouttacontrol]

Are you basing your tip off of barbri questions? Because from what I hear they, and other prep companies questions, are not really representative of the test. Instead barbri has questions written like that to, at least obstensibly, train you how to take the real questions.

That to me means I would not rely on tricks to get answers right in barbri, because it might not work come exam time. Barbri has to write wayyyy more questions than the actual exam writers do.

[whitecollar23]

Are you basing your tip off of barbri questions? Because from what I hear they, and other prep companies questions, are not really representative of the test. Instead barbri has questions written like that to, at least obstensibly, train you how to take the real questions.

That to me means I would not rely on tricks to get answers right in barbri, because it might not work come exam time. Barbri has to write wayyyy more questions than the actual exam writers do.

Actually, I've heard from most people that company questions are representative of the exam, just often more difficult on average. Regardless, I looked at some actual MBE questions this week and it would hold true for them, as well. It's a tip. If you don't find it beneficial, don't use it. If you do, use it.

[ballouttacontrol]

This forum doesn't seem to agree with you

Was just clarifying. Thx.

[whitecollar23]

This forum doesn't seem to agree with you

Was just clarifying. Thx.

I got my information from this forum. Regardless, it's irrelevant to the tip.

tl;dr: This tip is relevant regardless of your opinion on similarity of questions.

[whitecollar23]

This forum doesn't seem to agree with you

Was just clarifying. Thx.

Oh, and please point me to these threads you refer to that express that the questions are all different. Because all I've heard about Kaplan questions is that they're similar yet harder on average.

[myrtlewinston]

Any tips for Evidence? It's aggravating.

[whitecollar23]

Any tips for Evidence? It's aggravating.

I think that evidence is one section where knowing the rules really well is crucial. Once you have then down, you should be able to spot little tricks in there as you go through a little mental checklist of the rules in your mind. Evidence questions are tricky, but a lot of the tricks are based on the rules and where they do and don't apply. So yeah, knowing the rules here is crucial, more so I think than most of the other subjects.

[rcharter1978]

Any tips for Evidence? It's aggravating.

Try to group your exceptions. If you're using Barbri I think they do a good job of that. That way you can sort of have a checklist. I feel like its a subject that may also lend itself to flowcharting if you're into that sort of thing. Flowcharting and mnemonics.

I feel like A Male Human may have a document that helps. He had sent me some of his stuff for a few subjects, and Evidence may have been one of the subjects. In reviewing his material, it does had a flowcharty feel, and I think that lends itself to evidence. He might let you take a peek at it to see if its something that might help you out before you buy?

[myrtlewinston]

Thanks! I've separated the exceptions into groups and will dig out my Conviser. The questions I did earlier tested on really fine points. I felt better after doing a few released ones instead.

[L_William_W]

Great thread for tips. Another one tip is predicting the answer choice after reading the fact pattern. If you have an idea of what the answer should look like, you will be less likely to be persuaded away by the bar's enticing wrong answers.

I halfway agree with this. After a while, I started noticing patterns in both the correct and incorrect answers.

I took the bar 4 times- the 4th time was the charm. I didn't finish it on attempt #1. In the second attempt, my MBE was a pathetic 118.6. In attempt #3, my MBE was a 123.2. In my last attempt, my MBE was a 130.2. That's not a high score, but since I pwned the essays, it was enough to pass.

I have a tip that may or may not work. I won't be held responsible if you use this tip and fail...

After taking the bar multiple times, I realized that there were some subjects that I was better at than others. Torts and crim were my two best subjects. Contracts, civ pro, and property were the bane of my existence. Con Law and Evidence were in between.

My strategy was to get at least 80% of the questions in crim and torts correct. I also aimed to study extra hard in con law and evidence. Those subjects are tricky, but if you do enough of them and know the rules down pat then you can get a good score in those sections. As for my three weakest subjects, I simply went through the motions of studying. i figured that if I got 60% of the questions on the exam correct then my MBE would be in the low-130's and that would be enough to pass since I was very confident in my essay writing ability.

When the exam was over, I felt very confident in torts and crim. In torts, there was only one question that confused me- it was whether a person committed conversion of chattel if they borrowed their friend's laptop with permission and inadvertently slipped on a puddle and destroyed it. In crim, I was befuddled by a question in which a person was robbed and then they chased the robber down the block and punched them. I said that it was assault since it wasn't a self-defense situation. Other than those two, I felt like I got the majority of the questions in torts and crim correct. I also felt confident in evidence and con law. As for the other three sections, I think I got only 1/3 of them correct.

The NCBE no longer releases the breakdown of your performance on each section (this is done to screw over repeaters). However, I'm pretty aware of the ratio of questions I got correct in each section.

[whitecollar23]

Great thread for tips. Another one tip is predicting the answer choice after reading the fact pattern. If you have an idea of what the answer should look like, you will be less likely to be persuaded away by the bar's enticing wrong answers.

I halfway agree with this. After a while, I started noticing patterns in both the correct and incorrect answers.

I took the bar 4 times- the 4th time was the charm. I didn't finish it on attempt #1. In the second attempt, my MBE was a pathetic 118.6. In attempt #3, my MBE was a 123.2. In my last attempt, my MBE was a 130.2. That's not a high score, but since I pwned the essays, it was enough to pass.

I have a tip that may or may not work. I won't be held responsible if you use this tip and fail...

After taking the bar multiple times, I realized that there were some subjects that I was better at than others. Torts and crim were my two best subjects. Contracts, civ pro, and property were the bane of my existence. Con Law and Evidence were in between.

My strategy was to get at least 80% of the questions in crim and torts correct. I also aimed to study extra hard in con law and evidence. Those subjects are tricky, but if you do enough of them and know the rules down pat then you can get a good score in those sections. As for my three weakest subjects, I simply went through the motions of studying. i figured that if I got 60% of the questions on the exam correct then my MBE would be in the low-130's and that would be enough to pass since I was very confident in my essay writing ability.

When the exam was over, I felt very confident in torts and crim. In torts, there was only one question that confused me- it was whether a person committed conversion of chattel if they borrowed their friend's laptop with permission and inadvertently slipped on a puddle and destroyed it. In crim, I was befuddled by a question in which a person was robbed and then they chased the robber down the block and punched them. I said that it was assault since it wasn't a self-defense situation. Other than those two, I felt like I got the majority of the questions in torts and crim correct. I also felt confident in evidence and con law. As for the other three sections, I think I got only 1/3 of them correct.

The NCBE no longer releases the breakdown of your performance on each section (this is done to screw over repeaters). However, I'm pretty aware of the ratio of questions I got correct in each section.

The answer to that Tort question is that it would be a conversion, as once you commit the intentional tort of trespass to chattels, you're responsible for whatever happens to it afterward that causes conversion (I'm like 98% sure as to this). As for the Crim Law question, I'd have to look up the law or see the rest of the choices to be sure, but I'm pretty sure that I would need more facts to answer it. If he was trying to recover the property, it would likely be like a hot pursuit in a Torts context, but if he just punched him and the question asked if it was self-defense; it wasn't, as the danger had already disappeared.

Congrats on passing the bar! Must have been an incredible feeling getting your score back and being able to feel a sigh of relief!

[joeyc328]

Passed UBE in 2015. The one MBE tip I tend to give out is realizing that there is only a limited number questions that can be asked. If you do enough practice questions and realize the issue being asked you will be fine.

Also on the test if you look down and do not recognize those patterns it is probably one of the 10 not counting questions.

[L_William_W]

Great thread for tips. Another one tip is predicting the answer choice after reading the fact pattern. If you have an idea of what the answer should look like, you will be less likely to be persuaded away by the bar's enticing wrong answers.

I halfway agree with this. After a while, I started noticing patterns in both the correct and incorrect answers.

I took the bar 4 times- the 4th time was the charm. I didn't finish it on attempt #1. In the second attempt, my MBE was a pathetic 118.6. In attempt #3, my MBE was a 123.2. In my last attempt, my MBE was a 130.2. That's not a high score, but since I pwned the essays, it was enough to pass.

I have a tip that may or may not work. I won't be held responsible if you use this tip and fail...

After taking the bar multiple times, I realized that there were some subjects that I was better at than others. Torts and crim were my two best subjects. Contracts, civ pro, and property were the bane of my existence. Con Law and Evidence were in between.

My strategy was to get at least 80% of the questions in crim and torts correct. I also aimed to study extra hard in con law and evidence. Those subjects are tricky, but if you do enough of them and know the rules down pat then you can get a good score in those sections. As for my three weakest subjects, I simply went through the motions of studying. i figured that if I got 60% of the questions on the exam correct then my MBE would be in the low-130's and that would be enough to pass since I was very confident in my essay writing ability.

When the exam was over, I felt very confident in torts and crim. In torts, there was only one question that confused me- it was whether a person committed conversion of chattel if they borrowed their friend's laptop with permission and inadvertently slipped on a puddle and destroyed it. In crim, I was befuddled by a question in which a person was robbed and then they chased the robber down the block and punched them. I said that it was assault since it wasn't a self-defense situation. Other than those two, I felt like I got the majority of the questions in torts and crim correct. I also felt confident in evidence and con law. As for the other three sections, I think I got only 1/3 of them correct.

The NCBE no longer releases the breakdown of your performance on each section (this is done to screw over repeaters). However, I'm pretty aware of the ratio of questions I got correct in each section.

The answer to that Tort question is that it would be a conversion, as once you commit the intentional tort of trespass to chattels, you're responsible for whatever happens to it afterward that causes conversion (I'm like 98% sure as to this). As for the Crim Law question, I'd have to look up the law or see the rest of the choices to be sure, but I'm pretty sure that I would need more facts to answer it. If he was trying to recover the property, it would likely be like a hot pursuit in a Torts context, but if he just punched him and the question asked if it was self-defense; it wasn't, as the danger had already disappeared.

Congrats on passing the bar! Must have been an incredible feeling getting your score back and being able to feel a sigh of relief!

You're correct with regards to the torts question. I had already looked up the answer after I went home on day 2. I was nervous as hell since I knew I blew that question. As for crim, I'm still unsure if I got it correct. It's a moot point, but I'm just curious.

[jchiles]

I'm not saying these are good or bad tips but it seems like just doing practice problems, going through the motions with a bar study course, and learning the black letter law are the best ways to improve on the MBE.

[whitecollar23]

Passed UBE in 2015. The one MBE tip I tend to give out is realizing that there is only a limited number questions that can be asked. If you do enough practice questions and realize the issue being asked you will be fine.

Also on the test if you look down and do not recognize those patterns it is probably one of the 10 not counting questions.

I wouldn't rely on this. There's always new questions to ask, and most MBE questions have not been released.