Library Guides: Bar Exam and MPRE Success: Uniform Bar Exam

About the Uniform Bar Exam

The Uniform Bar Exam (UBE)—coordinated by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE)—contains three components:

The Multistate Essay Examination (MEE), which consists of six 30-minute essay questions;
The Multistate Performance Test (MPT), which consists of two 90-minute tasks; and
The Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), a six-hour, 200-question multiple-choice examination.

Visit NCBE's Uniform Bar Examination webpage for more information on the UBE.

NCBE Practice Materials

Free subject matter outlines and previously administered questions are also available on the NCBE's website:

Free MEE and MPT sections and sample answers dating back to February 2021 are available on the Ohio Supreme Court's website. Note, however, that these are "NCBE’s summary of the . . . questions" and not necessarily their full text.

Ohio Supreme Court, Bar Examination Essay Questions

Study Aids

In the Physical Collection

The Ultimate Guide to the UBE by Melissa A. Hale; Antonia A. B. Miceli; Tania N. Shah; Brittany L. Raposa
Call Number: KF303 .H35 2022
Addressing the relative newness of the UBE, this guide provides a step-by-step process for tackling each section of the exam, utilizing real students’ past bar exam answers (including real bar exam scores), and employing expert contributors’ commentary for added perspective.
Strategies and Tactics for the MBE by Kimm Walton; Steven L. Emanuel
Call Number: KF303 .W35 2023
Strategies & Tactics for the MBE contains fully explained answers that analyze each answer option for each question and provides detailed advice on how to handle MBE questions in each of the MBE subject areas.
Strategies and Tactics for the MBE 2 by Steven L. Emanuel
Call Number: KF303 .E54 2023
Strategies & Tactics for the MBE 2 provides over 465 questions to help you prepare for the Multistate Bar Exam. With comprehensive explanations of why one answer choice is the best answer and why the other choices are not, Steve Emanuel helps you gain the ability to select the best answer with certainty.

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CALI eLangdell Books

Passing the Bar: A Quick Reference Guide For Today’s Law Student by Allie Robbins
This book is designed to provide guidance to law students as they prepare to embark upon bar study. It covers topics such as how to make a study plan, strategies for successful bar study, tips for attacking each portion of the exam, taking care of your mental health, and preparing your loved ones for bar study. The book also provides weekly tips for use during the bar study period, and for exam day itself. The quick reference format allows students to easily access advice for whatever is most pressing to them at a particular moment.

Emanuel Law in a Flash Digital Flashcards

Available anywhere you have internet access, the Emanuel Law in a Flash flashcard set includes thousands of cards covering Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contract Law, Corporations, Criminal Law, Evidence, Property, Secured Transactions, Torts, and more.

To access, visit the link, click on “Subscribed School Membership,” and sign up using your Ohio State email address.

LexisNexis Digital Library

Bar Exam Success by Sarah J. Berman
Think of this book as your personal trainer at the academic gym. Bar Exam Success: A Comprehensive Guide will provide the support and guidance students need, equipping you with the deliberate, affirmative steps to ensure bar passage. Fostering a growth mindset, this handbook will change what you do and how you think.
Pass the Bar! by Denise Riebe; Michael Schwartz
Pass the Bar! provides a comprehensive overview of the pre-bar review, bar review, and bar exam process. Readers are given specific information about what to do during the year before their bar exams; checklists, exercises, and reflection questions; tips for studying and completing practice questions; and sample exam questions and answers to maximize their likelihood of bar exam success.
The Zen of Passing the Bar Exam by Chad Noreuil
A comprehensive approach to studying for and passing the bar exam. Couched in neuroscience and Zen principles of focus, discipline, awareness, balance, and simplicity, the book provides guidance for the best daily practices for uplifting your mind, body, and spirit during the rigors of studying. In addition to lifestyle and mindset, the book also offers specific, practical advice for maximizing scores on all portions of the bar exam.

West Academic Study Aid Collection

The Bar Exam in a Nutshell by Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus
This nutshell walks you through the entire bar preparation process from getting a head start during law school to taking the exam. It features comprehensive coverage of the UBE, including an explanation of each component and how to prepare for it. This edition also provides guidelines for selecting a bar review course, bar planner checklists, advice on how to manage the material you cover in bar review courses, and advice on how to learn the law so you can remember it and use it to answer exam questions.
Mastering Multiple Choice for Federal Civil Procedure MBE Bar Prep and 1L Exam Prep by Steven Baicker-McKee; William M. Janssen
This practice book offers practical, easy-to-follow advice on multiple choice exam-taking strategies, clear suggestions on effective multiple choice practicing techniques, and a robust set of Civil Procedure multiple choice practice questions with answers and explanations (designed to simulate MBE-style questions).
Office Hours on Bar Exam Success by Sara J. Berman
This series of short audio tracks tackle some of the thorniest questions plaguing law students during bar prep. Tracks include: 400-600 Hours, Briefing Cases, Family and Friends, Fear of Failure, Fear of Success, Focus on the Long View, IRAC, My GPA is Set, Other Parts, Stupid and Biased.
A Short & Happy Guide to the MPT by Katherine Kelly
The Multistate Performance Test is a standardized test which means it is created and graded based on formulas and patterns. A Short & Happy Guide to the MPT teaches you how to take advantage of this by identifying the basic underlying formulas on which every MPT is constructed and the standard performance expectations. This book not only identifies what skills are tested, but how they are tested, and how you can demonstrate mastery of those skills.
A Short and Happy Guide to Conquering the MBE by Don Doernberg; Cynthia Pope
The Multistate Bar Exam is intimidating because it covers a wide array of subjects and because it is all multiple-choice questions. If you feel overwhelmed by all the subjects and the nuances of them and have never liked multiple-choice questions, particularly in law school, then this book is precisely what you need. Conquering the MBE gives you a step-by-step process for attacking every multiple-choice question in every MBE subject, with lots of examples.
A Short and Happy Guide to the MEE by Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus; Irene Crisci
This Short & Happy Guide is a one-source resource for what you need to maximize your performance on the MEE--not a generic essay writing guide, but a treasury of information, issue identification, and subject area frameworks tailored specifically for the MEE. This book is not intended to replace a bar review course for the substantive law you need to know to pass the bar exam. Instead, it show you how to turn the law into point-worthy essays.