How MBE Practice Exams Can Make or Break You on the Bar Exam

At this stage of bar prep, you've taken an MBE practice exam. If you're struggling, don't let the stress throw you off your game. Stress is normal during bar prep, but the important thing is to use your stress to maintain your focus on the work ahead of you. That means making sure you're taking more practice exams.

You can't ignore MBE practice exams.

First thing's first: practice exam scores are hugely important in MBE success. It is imperative that you get used to answering hundreds of MBE questions before you sit for the real thing. With that said, although MBE practice exams are a good measure of what you know and don’t know, they can be particularly stress-inducing.

How to learn from your score.

The important part, however, is to learn from your score, no matter how bad it may be. Closely examine your score, breaking it down by subject and topic areas within subjects, if possible. Identify any patterns, particularly areas of weakness, and consider readjusting your studying accordingly. Also pay attention to streaks of wrong answers - if this is happening to you, take a look at this advice.

Keep taking shorter practice exams.

As you move ahead in the study process, don't stop taking shorter, timed MBE sections, even in single subjects where you need work. Also, work on taking shorter, one-hour simulated exam sessions at least once every other day, paying particular attention to timing. The goal with practice exams is that you should walk into the real MBE feeling like you've done this a million times before.

Don't panic. It won't help.

Most importantly, don’t panic about bad scores. A freakout won’t really do anything to help you. Instead of getting overwhelmed, get focused on what you need to work on. With just a few weeks remaining until the exam, you still have plenty of time to strengthen areas of weakness and get up to speed.

Good luck as you enter the home stretch, and keep up the hard work!