california bar exam july 2019 essay answers

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Previously Released Bar Exam Essay Questions

Welcome to the past California Bar Exam past essays directory. 

To view a varying range of graded essays from the State Bar, visit BarEssays.com . Email us for a  $25 discount code  at  [email protected] .

Join the Facebook Group titled:   California Bar Exam Essay Discussions . 

One-Hour Essays

90 minute performance tests.

Multistate Performance Test.  Property of the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

MPT 2002   MPT 1:  State v. Tweedy

MPT February 2009 MPT 1:  Phoenix Corporation v. Biogenesis, Inc. MPT 2:  Ronald v. Department of Motor Vehicles MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2009   MPT 1:  Jackson v. Franklin Sports Gazette , Inc. MPT 2:  In re City of Bluewater MPT Point Sheets

MPT February 2010   MPT 1:  State of Franklin v. McLain MPT 2:  Logan v. Rios MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2010   MPT 1:  In re Hammond MPT 2:  City of Ontario MPT Point Sheets

MPT February 2011   MPT 1:  Butler v. Hill MPT 2:  In re Magnolia County MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2011   MPT 1:  In re Field Hogs, Inc. MPT 2:  In re Social Networking Inquiry MPT Point Sheets

MPT February 2012   MPT 1:  Franklin Resale Royalties Legislation MPT 2:  In re WPE Property Development, Inc. MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2012   MPT 1:  State of Franklin v. Soper MPT 2:  Ashton v. Indigo Construction Co. MPT Point Sheets

MPT February 2013   MPT 1:  In re Wendy Martel MPT 2:  In re Guardianship of Will Fox MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2013   MPT 1:  Monroe v . Franklin Flags Amusement Park MPT 2:  Palindrome Recording Contract MPT Point Sheets

See this link for  more   MPTs and Score Sheets.  

Also, here are  MPTs from Georgia . I like these MPTs because the library does not have a two-column format for cases. https://www.gabaradmissions.org/essay-and-mpt-questions-and-selected-answers

Disclaimer:  Past exams found here are the property of the State Bar of California and the National Conference of Bar Examiners. The property is used here in accordance with all written regulations.

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Performance  test, on  the   cal. bar, e-book is titled   1440:  mastering the, performance test, get this free, pt  e-book, delivered to your email now.

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Bar Exam Preparation

Graded Bar Exam Essay Answer Bank

Are you writing bar exam essays the way the graders want? One way to check your work is to see graded essays, including high- and low-scoring answers from actual bar takers.

To that end, you’ll find two things here:

• Mostly for California. Other states like New York and Nevada are also available.
• For more actual essays from California takers, check out BarEssays ( click here to grab a $25 coupon ).
• Below the essay bank is a link to California bar essay issue charts by subject and year.

Real graded CA bar essay answers (some other states available)

Essay 1 (Business Associations): 55 , 55 , 55 , 52.5 (55/50), 60 , 55 (55/55), 55 , 50

Essay 2 (Torts): 55 , 55 , 55 (annotated with comments) , 75 (80/70), 70 , 65 (65/65), 60 , 60

Essay 3 (Professional Responsibility): 60 , 60 , 45 , 50 (50/50), 70 , 62.5 (60/65), 50 , 60

Essay 4 (Criminal Law and Procedure): 55 , 55 , 50 , 62.5 (60/65), 55 , 52.5 (55/50), 65 , 65

Essay 5 (Remedies): 40 , 50 , 55 , 62.5 (60/65), 55 , 55 (50/60), 50 , 50

California PT: 60 , 60 , 55 , 65 (65/65), 60 , 65 (65/65), 60 , 60

Essay 1 (Civil Procedure): 57.5 (55/60), 60 , 55 (55/55), 65

Essay 2 (Constitutional Law): 57.5 (60/55), 70 , 52.5 (55/50), 55

Essay 3 (Real Property): 52.5 (55/50), 55 , 62.5 (70/55), 60

Essay 4 (Professional Responsibility): 67.5 (65/70), 55 , 57.5 (55/60), 60

Essay 5 (Evidence): 62.5 (60/65), 65 , 57.5 (60/55), 60

California 90-minute PT: 60 (60/60), 65 , 75 (75/75), 60

Essay 1 (Contracts): 67.5 (65/70), 62.5 (65/60), 55 , 52.5 (55/50), 65 , 55 , 60

Essay 2 (Constitutional Law): 57.5 (60/55), 55 (55/55), 55 , 60 (60/60), 60 , 55 , 55

Essay 3 (Professional Responsibility): 62.5 (60/65), 60 (55/65), 50 , 62.5 (60/65), 65 , 55 , 55

Essay 4 (Business Associations): 55 (55/55), 57.5 (60/55), 45 , 60 (60/60), 50 , 55 , 50

Essay 5 (Wills/Community Property): 57.5 (55/60), 62.5 (60/65), 60 , 57.5 (60/55), 55 , 50 , 65

California 90-minute PT (Objective Memo – Torts): 75 (75/75), 65 (65/65), 60 , 60 (60/60), 65 , 55 , 50

New York MEEs and MPTs: Set 1

Nevada Essays and NPTs: Set 1

Selected answers for 2022 July MEEs and MPTs

The essays are generally structured fine. Formulaic IRAC is a good way to organize arguments.

Regarding the second essay specifically (Con Law), there were more free speech issues in the first call of the question, such as whether content-based or content-neutral rules apply in a public school. I didn’t see respective rules for those (strict scrutiny for the content-based, for example). I think you did well hitting on those threshold issues like overbreadth, but you may have missed more important issues.

This leads me to think that perhaps you are getting some issues right but not others. I encourage you to study when the selected answers get posted on the state bar website (or here ) to see which issues they discussed and how they’re resolved.

I think that you may also need to connect the rules to the facts, rather than simply listing out facts in your application paragraphs. I noticed this in the third essay (Professional Responsibility). One way is to use the word “because.”

I wanted to add that you did a good job on the PT. This is where some people lose a lot of points when they neglect it since it’s worth 2x an essay. 

Essay 1 (Criminal Law and Procedure): 67.5 (70/65), 70 (65/75) , 67.5 (80/55), 65 (65/65), 50 , 67.5 (60/75), 55 , 65

Essay 2 (Community Property): 72.5 (80/65), 57.5 (55/60), 65 (65/65), 65 (65/65), 60 , 65 (70/60), 55 , 65

Essay 3 (Torts, Remedies): 62.5 (65/60), 52.5 (55/50), 55 (55/55), 57.5 (60/55), 55 , 60 (60/60), 60

Essay 4 (Evidence, Professional Responsibility): 52.5 (55/50), 50 (50/50), 65 (65/65), 57.5 (60/55), 55 , 62.5 (65/60), 55 , 70

Essay 5 (Business Associations, Remedies): 65 (60/70), 62.5 (65/60), 65 (70/60), 62.5 (60/65), 60 , 57.5 (55/60), 55

California 90-minute PT (objective memo): 52.5 (55/50), 60 (65/55), 57.5 (55/60), 57.5 (55/60), 55 , 60 (65/55), 55 , 60

Some things to focus on:

• Lay out the rules first. However, try to only introduce rules that you are going to use. This keeps your answer tight and gives you more time to talk about the facts and other issues. If you are spending a ton of time writing about the rules, you may not have that luxury. Also, don’t introduce new rules after you start talking about the facts or applying another rule.
• Focus on completely identifying the issues. Ask yourself, what are they trying to test you on with these fact patterns? The more you solve similar fact patterns, the more you’ll see issue patterns you can whip out on the exam. Also, sometimes it’s better to have more issues identified with less analysis, especially for broad calls of the question. Professional Responsibility is one such subject where you want to focus on the issues and rules first (cook the essay), then fill in your analysis as time allows.
• Be clear with your organization and presentation. You want to make it easy for the grader to know what issue you’re discussing, what the rule is, and where you are applying the rule. And of course what your conclusion is. Use headings and paragraphs liberally. The easier you are to understand, the more likely they will give you points. Remember that reading thousands of these essays is exhausting for the grader. Give them a breath of fresh air. Writing bar essays isn’t just about legal knowledge; it’s doing a service for your client.
• Address all the questions completely.

From the applicant:

Here are a few of my thoughts: 

• Essay #1  – The 25 point discrepancy between the first and second grader makes absolutely no sense to me.  When I read my response, I cannot understand how I possibly could have been given a 55 by the second grader.
• Essay #3  – I broke out all the elements for the equitable remedies (TROs, Preliminary Injunctions, Permanent Injunctions) because this was a remedies-heavy question.  So again, not sure what I did to receive only a 55 on this essay.
• PT  – Because the bar exam was back in person in February, I had the ability to make a strategic decision to do my PT first (before Essay #4 and #5), which I did.  All I could hear anyone talking about after the afternoon session on the first day was how they did not finish the PT.  This made me feel even more confident because I did finish.  I even spent 5 extra minutes on the PT to make sure it was bulletproof to avoid what happened to me on the PT in July.  In July, I missed the infamous “Blue Pencil” issue and did not finish concluding.  Yet, I got the same exact score on the PT in February as I did in July.  When I walked out of the afternoon session on day 1, I thought I  at least  got a 65 on the PT, but I honestly was expecting a 70 or 75.  With how much the PT is worth, this dropped my raw writing score significantly.
• MBEs  – my percentiles went up in most areas compared to the July bar, but my scaled score was lower.  I understand the scaling changes for each exam, but not quite sure what else I can do for the MBEs when I spent 90% of my time during bar prep preparing for the MBEs.

My feedback:

First, I have to say that this was one of the hardest CA exams, with a 33.9% pass rate as you know. Even with a higher raw written score, you received a lower scaled score. Unfortunately, that’s just the casualty of whatever statistical adjusting they do. Theoretically, scaled scores are equivalent to one another… Theoretically. 

Essay 1 : 

I agree with you that the disparity in scores for Essay 1 is unusual. I don’t see how it deserves a 55. You pretty much did textbook IRAC, identified numerous issues, and organized and presented it all in a clean format. The only thing I can think of is that you didn’t actually connect the rules to the facts step by step. If you analogize it to an algebra problem, each line is a small step to the answer. Here’s an example:

Rule = perfect. (Note that I also had perfect rules on my first attempt.)

• “Here, Jim and Fred both armed themselves with handguns and went to the store on Avon street.” Great.
• “As an accomplice, Jim can be liable for any foreseeable crimes if he aided, encouraged, or abetted the crimes.” What made Jim an accomplice? The bridge is missing. One way to tell if you are bridging the rule to a relevant fact is if you can use the word “because.” The better thing to say here is to say  what Jim did  that would qualify as aiding, encouraging, or abetting. I don’t think the facts say such a thing.
• “Here, it can be inferred that Jim partook in these crimes and aided, encouraged, or abetted the target crimes and any foreseeable crimes.” I disagree with the “inferred” part. You should cite a fact from the hypo to support this. You talk about conspiracy below this, which is closer to what happened in the fact pattern.

My guess is that the 2nd reader read the essay more carefully since it was a reread in the gray zone.

I didn’t read through the rest in the interest of time, but one thing that’s evident is that essay grading is subjective. Hence, any “best practices” you can do to make it easy for the grader to give you points will help. I think your formatting is nice and clean. I love how you break down the issues, and you know your rules. You’re in a great place in terms of knowledge. Perhaps better usage of the facts will help next time around. 

Essay 3 : 

You did a great job on the remedies question. When the selected answers come out, take a look at what other torts there could have been. At first glance, you probably got the major ones.

Without doing a deep dive, I can only say that it was hard to see where the application of the facts was. I saw a lot of statutes being recited, and noticed your usage of facts in the middle of one of the paragraphs.

Raw written score :

Your average written score is 61.8 (432.5 / 7). You needed a 62.78 for this exam. That’s just 7 more raw points (~439.5 vs. 432.5). Can’t help but think that you would have “passed” the essay portion if they’d kept your first read.

VIDEO: review and breakdown of the 5th set of essays

Essay 1 (Civil Procedure): 65 , 55 , 55 , 55 , 62.5 , 50 , 50 , 65

Essay 2 (Professional Responsibility): 60 , 65 , 50 , 50 , 57.5 , 50 , 75 , 62.5

Essay 3 (Torts): 55 , 55 , 51 (adjusted for ExamSoft issue), 65 , 62.5 , 55 , 55 , 65

Essay 4 (Criminal Procedure): 50 , 60 , 50 , 60 , 62.5 , 65 , 65 , 65

Essay 5 (Wills, Community Property): 70 , 55 , 50 , 65 , 72.5 , 60 , 60 , 57.5

California 90-minute PT: 55 , 55 , 55 , 55 , 60 , 45 , 55 , 55

• PT-only donation: 65

Essay 1 (Evidence): 55 , 45 , 52.5

Essay 2 (Contracts & Remedies): 60 , 50 , 60

Essay 3 (Community Property): 55 , 65 , 80

Essay 4 (Professional Responsibility): 50 , 60 , 62.5

Essay 5 (Real Property): 50 , 50 , 52.5

California 90-minute PT: 60 , 45 , 55

Second column of essays has some of my annotations in bubble comments.

Essay 1 (Professional Responsibility): 57.5 , 50

Essay 2 (Business Associations – Corporations): 52.5 , 50

Essay 3 (Real Property): 57.5 , 55

Essay 4 (Criminal Law & Procedure): 62.5 , 55

Essay 5 (Remedies – Contracts): 55 , 55

California 90-minute PT: 52.5 , 50

Essay 1 (Torts):  60 ,  70 ,  57.5 ,  60 ,  50  

Essay 2 (Professional Responsibility):  65 ,  75 ,  57.5 ,  57.5 ,  60  

Essay 3 (Contracts Remedies):  60 ,  65 ,  52.5 ,  60 ,  60  

Essay 4 (CA Evidence):  65 ,  60 ,  57.5 ,  70 ,  65  

Essay 5 (Business Associations):  65 ,  55 ,  65 ,  65 ,  55  

California 90-minute PT:  57.5 ,  60 ,  60 ,  55 ,  70

The recurring theme I see in your essays (nice job on the PT) is that issues are missing. I think your IRACing is good. However, you can’t do the IRACs if you don’t bring up the I (issue) in the first place.

To this end,  Approsheets  may be helpful. In addition, I’ve heard good things about  Mary Basick’s blue book (2nd ed.)  

Sample answers aren’t out yet, but I’d suggest looking at the higher-scoring answers in the essay answer bank for reference

Examples of things you could have discussed:

Q1. NIED. What recovery is possible (part of the questions)

Q2. PR essays typically have general calls (what violations or obligations are there)… Issue identification is especially important.

Q3. Valid contract formation. Could have discussed more specific sub-rules and corresponding facts for the elements for specific performance (final call of the question)

Lesser point: Since you’re handwriting, presentation becomes more important. Try to leave enough spacing between issues and discussions so that it’s easier for the grader to see where discussions end and begin.

Essay 1 (Civil Procedure):  55 ,  55 ,  55 ,  50 ,  62.5 ,  65 ,  60 ,  55 ,  65  

Essay 2 (Remedies, Con Law):  60 ,  62.5 ,  70 ,  55 ,  62.5 ,  52.5 ,  55 ,  72.5 ,  50 ,  60  

Essay 3 (Criminal Law and Procedure):  55 ,  60 ,  55 ,  60 ,  57.5 ,  65 ,  55 ,  55 ,  70  

Essay 4 (Prof Resp):  60 ,  55 ,  50 ,  50 ,  55 ,  52.5 ,  55 ,  65 ,  55 ,  55  

Essay 5 (Contracts):  60 ,  57.5 ,  60 ,  55 ,  57.5 ,  55 ,  65 ,  70 ,  60 ,  55  

California 90-minute PT:  55 ,  60 ,  60 ,  65 ,  62.5 ,  55 ,  70 ,  60 ,  60  

My assessment of essays in the 5th column of essays above (in  bold ).

Essay and PT set 1  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 57.5, Q3 62.5, Q4 55, Q5 57.5, PT 70) 

Essay and PT set 2  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 62.5, Q3 60, Q4 60, Q5 62.5, PT 62.5)

Essay 1 (Wills, Trusts, Community Property):  70 ,  60 ,  55 ,  65  

Essay 2 (Torts):  57.5 ,  65 ,  65  

Essay 3 (Real Property):  52.5 ,  62.5 ,  60 ,  65/70  

Essay 4 (Civil Procedure, Evidence):  65 ,  55 ,  60  

Essay 5 (Prof Resp):  55 ,  52.5 ,  60  

California 90-minute PT:  57.5 ,  60 ,  60 ,  65/60

Essay 1 (Contracts):  60 ,  55  

Essay 2 (Evidence):  65 ,  65  

Essay 3 (Prof Resp):  75  (sample from  BarEssays ),  55  

Essay 4 (CA Comm Prop):  60 ,  55  

Essay 5 (Con Law):  55 ,  50  

California 90-minute PT:  55 ,  55  

Essay and PT answers set 1  (scores: Q1 60, Q2 50, Q3 50, Q4 55, Q5 50, PT 55) 

Essay and PT answers set 2  (scores: Q1 65, Q2 57.5, Q3 55, Q4 65, Q5 55, PT 60)

New York :  2018 July New York (UBE) MEE and MPT set  (MEE 1-6 scores in order 57.06, 44.55, 55.46, 41.42, 53.79, 40.09; MPT scores in order 49.42, 52.44; total 137.7)

Essay 1:  55  ( Brian’s Annotations )

Essay 2:  60  

Essay 3:  60  

Essay 4:  65  ( Brian’s Annotations )

Essay 5:  65  

California 90-minute PT:  65  

Essay and PT answers set 1  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 55, Q3 65, Q4 50, Q5 60, PT 60) 

Essay and PT answers set 2  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 60, Q3 55, Q4 70, Q5 60, PT 50)

Essay 1:  60 ,  72.5 ,  60 ,  65 ,  60 ,  65 ,  60  

Essay 2:  60 ,  62.5 ,  60 ,  60 ,  55 ,  55 ,  65  

Essay 3:  65 ,  62.5 ,  65 ,  55 ,  55 ,  50 ,  50  

Essay 4:  60 ,  65 ,  65 ,  70 ,  60 ,  60 ,  65  

Essay 5:  65 ,  62.5 ,  60 ,  60 ,  55 ,  55 ,  60  

California 90-minute PT:  65 ,  57.5 ,  75 , –, –,  55 ,  45

Essay 1: –,  62.5 ,  60 ,  55 ,  50  

Essay 2: –,  57.5 ,  55 ,  60 ,  50  

Essay 3: –,  65 ,  55 ,  70 ,  65  

Essay 4: –,  60 ,  60 ,  60 ,  50  

Essay 5: –,  65 ,  60 ,  55 ,  65  

Essay 6: –,  65 ,  60 ,  60 ,  60  

PT A:  57.5 ,  70 ,  55 ,  70 ,  65  

PT B:  60 ,  60 ,  70 ,  65 ,  60

Essay 1:  55 ,  65 ,  65 ,  55 ,  55  

Essay 2:  55 ,  55 ,  60 ,  55 ,  45  

Essay 3:  60 ,  50 ,  60 ,  55 ,  55  

Essay 4:  55 ,  65 ,  55 ,  55 ,  50  

Essay 5:  55 ,  60 ,  75 ,  60 ,  55  

Essay 6:  50 ,  60 ,  50 ,  55 ,  55  

PT A: –, –,  50 ,  50 ,  55  

PT B:  50 , –,  60 ,  60 ,  55  

Essay and PT answers set 1  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 60, Q3 45, Q4 60, Q5 65, Q6 60, PT A 50, PT B 55) 

Essay and PT answers set 2  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 50, Q3 50, Q4 50, Q5 55, Q6 50, PT A 55, PT B 60) 

Essay and PT answers set 3  (scores: Q1 60, Q2 57.5, Q3 65, Q4 52.5, Q5 65, Q6 60, PT A 60, PT B 57.5)

Nevada :  Essays Day 1  (scores in order: 63.32, 90.06, 71.40 / 75.00 passing),  MPTs  (score in order: 67.50, 51.91 / 75.00 passing),  Essays Day 3  (scores in order: 61.52, 93.47, 76.43, 78.82 / 75.00 passing)

Essay 1:  60 ,  65 ,  62.5  

Essay 2:  50 ,  60 ,  60  

Essay 3:  50 ,  55 ,  60  

Essay 4:  60 ,  70 ,  55  

Essay 5:  50 ,  55 ,  57.5  

Essay 6:  50 ,  60 ,  57.5  

PT A:  55 ,  55  

PT B:  65 ,  70  

My analysis of the first column of essays and PTs above (in bold )  (my estimated scores before actual scores were sent to me + my evaluation of the answers and suggestions)

Essay and PT answers set 1  (scores: Q1 55, Q2 60, Q3 65, Q4 50, Q5 60, Q6 50, PT A 60, PT B 70) 

Essay and PT answers set 2  (ZIP file with images; scores: Q1 55, Q2 75, Q3 65, Q4 55, Q5 50, Q6 50, PT A 55, PT B 60) 

Essay and PT answers set 3  (scores: Q1 50, Q2 50, Q3 50, Q4 60, Q5 55, Q6 55, PT A 55, PT B 55)

Essay 1:  60  

Essay 2:  65  

Essay 4:  55  

Essay 5:  55  

Essay 6:  60  

PT A:  60  

PT B:  55

Essay and PT answers set 1  (scores in order: Q1 60, Q2 55, Q3 55, Q4 60, Q5 55, Q6 55; PT A 50, PT B 50) 

Essay and PT answers set 2  (scores in order: Q1 60/55, Q2 75/85, Q3 60/55, Q4 65/65, Q5 65/60, Q6 60/60; PT A 55/55, PT B 60/60)

Essay 1:  65  

Essay 3:  55  

Essay 6:  55  

PT B:  70  

New York :  2014 July New York essay answers set  (scaled scores in order: 60.82, 44.77, 43.83, 40.62, 45.01, 31.66)

Essay and PT answers set 1  (scores in order: Q1-6 55, 55, 55, 55, 55, 55; PTs 55, 60)

Essay 1:  65 ,  60  

Essay 2:  55 ,  50  

Essay 3:  55 ,  50  

Essay 4:  50 ,  55  

Essay 5:  50 ,  55  

Essay 6:  60 ,  60  

PT A:  55 ,  65 ,  70  

PT B:  60 ,  55  

Issue Outlines

Sample legacy (3-hour) CA PT answers by Brian

PT 2008 FEB B (Dr. Snyder)  — with grader commentary PT 2006 FEB B (Estate of Small)  — with grader commentary and self-analysis PT 2012 FEB B (State v. Dolan)  — self-graded PT 2009 JULY A (Farley)  — self-graded PT 2010 JULY A (Vasquez CC&Rs)  — self-graded with notes, comments, and questions Snow King Mountain Resort answer , notes Pearson

California essay and issue charts by subject

Anonymous donor’s how-to-use: Barbri has a different chart that has the subjects in the left column, the month and year of the test along the top row, and the question number where the subject and test date intersect, but creating the chart this way made me focus on my weakest subjects instead of trying to predict which topics would be tested. There were certain subjects where I missed a lot of issues, e.g., constitutional law and community property, because I didn’t take ConLaw II or CP in law school.

Instead of doing the same amount of essays for each subject, I’d only outline the subjects that I’d spotted most of the issues for and use my extra time reviewing how the essays were organized in my weakest subjects for as many essays as I could.  Having a chart allowed me to find those essays faster, compare how they were written from year to year, and create a template for how to approach issues that I hadn’t learned in law school.

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July 2019 Uniform Bar Exam Recap

July 2019 uniform bar exam recap (mee and mpt).

In our blog post we give you a quick recap of the July 2019 Uniform Bar Exam, including what was tested on the July 2019 Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) and the July 2019 Multistate Performance Test (MPT).

[Note: Our blog post has been modified to remove any factual information from the essay questions/MPTs as these have not been released publicly yet. We still discuss the general subjects and topics tested.] 

July 2019 Multistate Essay Exam (MEE)

For the most part, the issues tested on the essays were more nuanced than the February 2019 exam. This time the Examiners chose to test the MBE and MEE subjects almost equally, rather than favoring one set of subjects over the other. We were thankful to predict ALL of the subjects that were tested (Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, Contracts, Decedents’ Estates, and Corporations).

The following subjects were tested on the MEE:

Note, we also list a few of the topics tested. However, this is not meant to be an exhaustive list. You may have discussed different/additional topics and still get full credit. We do not have the fact patterns in front of us so we are going off of reports we have heard from students. Do not be discouraged if you did not discuss these exact topics! 

• Decedents’ Estates/ Conflict of Laws:  how to create a valid will and holographic will, validity of foreign wills, gifts causa mortis, lapse, antilapse statute, how to prove ambiguous terms in a will, adopted children ( Note:  We did predict that Decedents’ Estates would appear on the exam, and it did! We weren’t expecting a Conflict of Laws crossover, but we did tell our seminar students and UBE course students to review this issue in case it was tested!)
• Criminal Procedure:  Miranda warnings  ( Note:  We predicted that Criminal Law and Procedure would show up and it did. We thought it might be crossed over with Evidence, but it was purely a Criminal Procedure question.)
• Corporations: fiduciary duties ( Note:  We did predict that Corporations would appear on the exam and it did!)
• Contracts:  common law contracts, anticipatory repudiation, substantial performance, damages, duty to mitigate ( Note:  We did predict that Contracts would appear on the exam and it did.)
• Family Law: spousal support, family privacy doctrine, constitutional right to direct the upbringing of one’s children, which court has jurisdiction over a child custody decree (UCCJEA), best interests of the child, a fit parent’s decisions should be given deference ( Note:  We did not predict Family Law.)
• Civil Procedure/Constitutional Law: motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, motion to dismiss for lack of failure to state a claim, class actions, standing. ( Note:  We did predict that Civil Procedure would appear on the exam and it did!)

A majority of the. issues that were tested were covered by our  Multistate Essay Exam Seminar  and  MEE One-Sheets . We will be updating posts over the next week to note exactly which issues were covered in our UBE Course, our MEE Seminar and the MEE One-Sheets. On the whole, we are quite happy that we predicted the subjects on five of the six essays on the July 2019 Uniform Bar Exam. Our students had a tremendous advantage going into the written portion of the exam today!

If you are feeling nervous about what you wrote for any of the essay questions you are not alone! For the large part, examinees reported that the essays tested more nuances this round. In particular, many students found the Decedents’ Estates and Civil Procedure question to be quite challenging.

July 2019 Multistate Performance Test (MPT)

The MPTs consisted of two objective memos.  We suspected the NCBE would test at least one of the traditional tasks this round. And indeed, we were right—we predicted that exam takers would be expected to write an objective memo. It is unusual (but not unheard of) for the NCBE to test two objective memos on one exam as typically the NCBE will test an objective task and a persuasive task. The objective memos were lengthy and many examinees report running out of time on one or both tasks.

Thus, we do expect the grading curve to be more generous on this administrations’ MPTs and essays (as compared to February 2019).

Please remember that you cannot change what you wrote today, so try to get a good night’s rest and confidently tackle the MBE portion of the exam tomorrow. Carefully read the call of the question and make sure your answer lines up with the facts presented in the questions. We hope you found our recap of the July 2019 Uniform Bar Exam helpful. Good luck on the MBE!

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I think I’ll tell my brother to enroll in a Uniform Bar Exam course so he’ll be trained for next year’s bar exam. He’s currently in school and he’s studying to become a lawyer, so it makes sense that he should prepare himself for what’s to come if he’s going to pursue his intended carer. Thanks for informing me that this year, the Miranda warnings were included in the exam, so I’m sure that he’ll find this news useful.

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MBE Smart Sheets

“Smart” Attack Sheets for the MBE Subjects Concise breakdowns of the law for each subject that were created for memorization & review in the weeks and days leading up to the exam. Designed to be used in tandem with our Priority Outline, these Smart Sheets help you quickly memorize the important rules and topics with our signature priority color-coded system.

• Clear and concise rule statements.
• 6 to 10 pages of succinct explanation per subject.
• The most important rules at a glance with a color-coded Priority Rating (High/Med).
• A focus on the highly tested MBE topics and rules.

Not only that, these sheets quickly condense rule statements into clusters , helping you spot and analyze issues likely to be tested together thereby reinforcing your memory and triggering connections on test day.

Frequency Charts

for the CA Essay, PT, & MBE sections Our Frequency Charts catalog the number of times each rule or item has appeared on the bar exam, and helps to further identify topics that are worth devoting your precious study time on.

The Frequency Charts:

• Are sorted from most to least tested .
• Include bar charts to visually see how often items are tested.
• Can be used as a checklist to make sure you’re studying ALL of the important subjects & rules .

Printable Flashcards

A printable version of the flashcards is also available in PDF format for those who like to study in a paper hard-copy format.

Step 3.  Practice

The Perfect Practice Materials .  Use the most current & relevant practice materials for YOUR bar exam study. 

Studying the law is one thing, but you’ll also need practice to pass.  To that end, we have developed smart study tools and licensed real MBE, Essay, & PT Questions straight from the NCBE and California Committee of Bar Examiners.

California Essay Practice

Real Practice Essays

You must actually practice writing essays to do well on the Essay Section!  No matter how painful.  We recommend writing at least 1-2 essays per subject area.

SmartBarPrep gives you access to actual Past California Bar Essays .  Use these to practice writing essays under timed conditions.

• Real CA Essay Questions for 22+ years (over 250 essays spanning Feb. 2000 – Feb. 2023).
• Two full Sample Answers for every essay . These answers received high grades by passing examinees, and are perfect to grade yourself to see how your answer measures up.
• Clickable table of contents to easily find a particular Subject, Essay Question, or Answer. The Essays are organized in reverse chronological order by subject tested.  That way you can see the most recent essays first or click on a particular essay for a subject you want to work on.

California PT Practice

Real Practice PT’s

The California Performance Test (PT) is often an overlooked section of the exam, despite the fact that it accounts for decent portion of your score.  With that in mind, we encourage practicing at least 1 question per Task type.

In our PT Practice Materials , we’ve made that easy by organizing past PT’s by Task so you can easily jump into practice.

• Real newer current-format California PT exams (12 questions from July 2017 – Feb. 2023).
• Plus two Selected Examinee Answers for each California PT included.
• Real MPT exams for 22+ years (over 100 questions from July 1997 – July 2023). These mimic the current newer-format California PT’s and are excellent for practice.
• MPT Point Sheets that the bar exam graders use to score MPT questions so you can grade yourself.
• A clickable Table of Contents to easily find a particular Task Type, PT Question, Selected Answer, or Point Sheet. The PT questions are organized by Task in reverse chronological order, so you can start with the newest questions first.

MBE Practice

Four Practice Exams

Each Practice Exam includes 100 questions from six MBE subject areas: 

• Constitutional Law
• Criminal Law and Procedure
• Real Property

Note :  Civil Procedure was not tested on the MBE until February of 2015, and for that reason is not included in this study set.  But rest assured, we have you covered with our Civil Procedure Mini Practice Exam (see below).

Detailed Explanations for the 400 Practice Questions

Explanations are essential to effective MBE Practice.  If you do tons of questions, but never review explanations of why your answer was correct or incorrect, then you’re missing the point of doing the practice questions in the first place.

Knowing why your answers were incorrect or incorrect will propel your studying to the next level.  This will not only solidify your MBE knowledge, but also eliminates any wild guess (that resulted in a correct answer) from being bypassed and not reviewed.

Civil Procedure Mini Practice Exam

Test your knowledge of Civil Procedure with 56 Official MBE Questions , including the first ever actual used Civil Procedure questions released.

PLUS, included are the official answer explanations written by the NCBE for each question – including the ones just released in 2019 and 2020.

Mini Practice Exams by Subject

Each mini-exam includes 30 MBE Questions drawn from recent exams.  The mini-exams are grouped individually by subject area, followed by an Answer Key.

Each group of questions is prefaced by the official Subject Matter Scope Outline released by the NCBE.

There are no explanations for these sets, but they are the most recent questions released by the NCBE and are the closest thing to the actual MBE questions still used on the test today .

Each Smart Study System Package Also Includes:

Integrate Our Guides With Your Bar Review Course

While our study guides are intended to be your go-to resource for passing the bar, they are also designed for integrated use along with popular courses like BarBri, Themis, BarMax, and Kaplan.

Our Priority Outlines, Smart Sheets, and study tools integrate well with review courses because each is arranged in terms of frequency and topic, saving you the hassle of trying to figure out which rules are the most important to study.

SmartBarPrep has helped thousands of examinees pass the bar exam since 2011!

“I passed the bar!  I wanted to thank you for the amazing outline.  Your outline was all I read for the essay portion, and it really helped me out.  It was very organized and it had all the rules that I needed for the essays.  Thank you again and have a great day.” Arezoo B. Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law (Passed California bar exam using SmartBarPrep).

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can i see a sample.

Sure… you can see samples of our California bar exam study materials here .

Is there a guarantee?

Yes… If after reading through our outlines and study guides, you aren’t happy for any reason, just email us within 30 days of purchase and you’ll receive a full refund.*  We obviously don’t think it’ll come to that, but if you’re even the least bit worried, then put your mind at ease.

*When 30-Day Guarantee is Not Applicable

NO REFUNDS are given under any circumstances for the portion of any purchase relating to MBE Practice Questions because of the nature of the materials.  We unfortunately cannot issue refunds for the MBE Practice Question amount, as substantial per student licensing fees must be paid to the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) for providing access to such materials.

When will the July 2024 materials be released?

The updated July 2024 bar exam study materials will be released in early June 2024.  [Note: The exact release date depends on when the most recent exam is released, so that we can update the priority & frequency statistics.]

If you purchase the current February 2024 version now, we will automatically send you the July 2024 materials for FREE when they are released.

If I purchase now, will you send me the July 2024 materials?

Yes, we will automatically send you the July 2024 materials for FREE when they are released.  You will immediately receive the February 2024 materials to get a head start studying.

What is the access period (how long can I access the materials)?

Smart Flashcards – Access Period

Access Period for All Other Study Materials

With the exception of the Smart Flashcards, all of our study materials are delivered in standard digital PDF format.  Once downloaded, you can use the materials as long as you wish.

However, the link to download the materials usually expires at 6 months from your purchase (for security reasons) – we can reactivate the download links in certain circumstances if you email us.  For that reason, we suggest that you download the materials on your computer or device.

What is the format?

With the exception of the Smart Flashcards, all of our study materials are an instant digital download in PDF format.  Unfortunately, we do not provide any materials in hard-copy paper format.  However, there are no restrictions on printing, so you would be able to print the outlines and study guides yourself.

You can use any PDF reader software to view the PDF files.  If you need a PDF reader software, you can download Adobe Reader for free here .

Can I print the outlines?

Yes, there are no restrictions on printing out copies of the materials for your personal use.

How long will it take to get access?

Immediately, since the files are downloadable.  After your purchase, you will be emailed a unique link to access and download the files.

What subjects are covered?

SmartBarPrep’s study materials cover the subjects tested on the California Bar Exam Essays and Multistate Bar Exam (MBE).  See the full list of subjects below:

California Essay Subjects

• Partnerships
• Corporations
• Civil Procedure
• Community Property
• Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• Professional Liability
• Wills & Estates

MBE Subjects

• Criminal Law & Procedure

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