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Dominating the Essays: Organize Issues and Prioritize Rules to Know on the Bar Exam

Ever wonder how you’re supposed to juggle everything in your head? How do you prioritize the rules to know for the bar exam?

How are you supposed to learn all this when time is tight? How do you tackle the massive body of rules to know?

How do you know you’ve completed the essay in full? Did you even talk about the correct issues? Are the graders going to give you the points? Are they even going to read your prose?!

You’d love to start practicing essays but feel like you just haven’t learned enough law yet. It’s overwhelming to even begin.

At least the answer is right there in MBE questions… If you’re a bar taker struggling with coming up with what to write, essays are the bane of your existence. Your rambling paragraphs start to blur.

Let’s breathe. We can simplify the essays and make them less scary…

Key takeaways:

• Issues: Learn not just the rules but also how to present and organize the issues (with examples below)
• Rules: Highest-priority issues and rules are those that have appeared in the past (there are two other priorities)
• There are efficient and effective ways to hit both of the above at once

Know not just the rules but also the issues

Put yourself in the essay grader’s shoes for a moment…, so now, as the applicant, what can you do to get the most points on the essays, 1) don’t write like a lawyer. write like a bar taker., 2) organize the issues., prioritize memorizing the rules and issues in this order…, 1) issues and rules that have appeared in past exams, including main issues, sub-issues, defenses, 2) issues and rules deemed important, 3) other fringe issues and rules that might come up (rule against perpetuities, anyone), take your practicing and memorizing to the next level.

Before getting into how to prioritize the rules for the bar exam, I need to emphasize something else first.

After working with readers and coaching clients over the years, there are two things that have become apparent:

• Writing essays on the bar exam is NOT about writing like a lawyer
• Issues are king (I talk about this more in this video )

That’s why gaining experience and intuition through writing bar essays is so helpful. You won’t be too surprised or lost on what to write about during the exam.

Meanwhile, some bar takers think they have to write a beautiful treatise so that bar graders can put on a monocle, do a deep literary analysis of the romance between P and D, and press it against their chest while looking out the window because your prose tugged at their heart.

The graders couldn’t care less about that LOL

If it helps, think about the time you watched someone slowly lose interest in you while being unable to do anything about it. And how futile texting them your thoughtful walls of text was.

You sigh at the pile of essay answers that waits for you every day.

You have thousands of the same shitty ass essays to sift through. You have to try to be consistent and fair across all those essays. You try your best at your thankless job, and all they do is complain about your “subjectivity.”

You also want to get through these essays as quickly as possible since you’re already getting underpaid. You’re already reading these answers while at the red light or sitting on the toilet. Your life is blurring together.

Perhaps it’s time to cut corners. Maybe just look for the headings and scan for keywords in the analysis…

This becomes a fairly mechanical process once you get through several similar issue patterns. Like fact patterns , there are corresponding issue patterns .

Prior law experience or creative writing will detract from answering the way graders want you to.

Practicing attorneys tend to not do as well on bar essays because this is a SEPARATE skill from real practice.

How do you write the way the graders want to see? Write like a bar taker instead:

Make the issues loud and clear. Punch the grader in the eyes by creating clear headings. Break out the sub-issues and elements into their own “street signs” for the grader.

Here’s an example of a major issue ( Contract Formation ) and an element (Offer) clearly called out, and their corresponding principles (rule statements):

In fact, being able to identify (or “spot”) and organize the issues is at least as important as knowing the rules. ( Here’s how to make issue identification a systematic process. )

It’s not about long-winded analyses or writing beautiful rule statements (neither got me to pass the first time).

Issues are where everything starts. An IRAC can’t sprout (and you get no points) from a seed that’s never planted.

Identifying the relevant issues is a signal to the grader that you understand what’s being tested. Rules and applications will naturally cascade down from the issues like a waterfall. Yes, you still want the meat of your answer written well.

Think of it as submitting a resume (or texting a girl). Hit the main points that the reader will care about. You’re but one out of a pile. Just a number. A hassle to go through. Better make the most out of the 10-15 seconds of the recruiter’s attention.

There is a certain logic and order to how you approach each issue.

Example of how to organize a call of the question in an Evidence essay:

You can even start to notice common issues that clump together (that you should discuss to get as many points as possible):

Here’s one for a Civil Procedure essay. Just plug and play the rules:

This is like 75% of the essay, so don’t freak out if it looks like a lot. But it’s a lot more structured than trying to start by typing a mess of words, right?

The best part: These issues clumps repeat! There are issue patterns like I said above. So if you see another SMJ or PJ question, just plug and play the same thing as here.

Outlining the issues and filling in the blanks should become a routine process because you will have seen the patterns so many times. Success is boring, not sexy.

If you have issues outlined like this, you’re pretty much home free. Do this for every essay, and you’ll know how to solve similar essays that appear on the bar exam.

OK, so that was about issues. Now about prioritizing rules…

Of course, you still need to know the law corresponding to the issues you identify. But if you need to prioritize, narrow the field of issues and rules in this order:

Issues and rules that have been tested a lot tend to be tested again. The more they’ve been tested, the more important they are.

Learn the important issues and rules by solving problems from the past and studying the answers.

• Find a collection of past essays and PTs here (for the California and Uniform Bar Exams).
• Find real MBE questions from sources such as Emanuel’s Strategies & Tactics for the MBE or AdaptiBar .
• Here are the biggest (highly tested) areas on the MBE.

You don’t need to have “learned enough law yet” before you dive into the pool! Trying to ensure that is exactly how I failed the California Bar Exam my first time.

Knowledge removed from the facts is nothing. It’s all artificial if you don’t know how to use it.

Seeing real problems will be productive because it will reveal what you know and don’t know. It’s like getting on the scale to measure yourself. THEN you can review and fill in the gaps.

The essay and MBE questions you go through now will become familiar fact patterns you might see again on the exam. Practicing and self-critiquing your work help you accomplish everything you seek:

• Getting better at identifying issues
• Memorizing and remembering rules through active recall
• Knowing how to apply the rules you memorized
• Picking the right answer on the MBE more often
• Gaining confidence

In other words, practicing will help solidify everything, including understanding and retaining the important concepts likely to be tested. Exciting!

You may not get through all the past essays, but you may have a feeling that there are issues and rules that would be good to know.

Maybe you’ve seen them around somewhere, maybe in law school or mentioned in a bar prep lecture. Typically, they’re listed in outlines .

You’ll still need to rote memorize these things, unfortunately. MBE questions especially may test you on specific obscure rules.

Note that I continue to mention issues and not just rules. That’s because memorization isn’t just about memorizing rules .

Better to at least get familiar in case they ask you about it.

When I retook the bar exam, there were essay questions I wasn’t sure how to answer because I didn’t know about zoning (issues I didn’t know about) and criminal prosecutor ethical duties (rules I didn’t know).

Even though my life flashed before my eyes thanks to these gaps in knowledge, I still passed the exam by focusing more on the first two priorities during bar prep than absolutely everything at once .

Now you know where to focus if you’re short on time. If you feel tempted to skip over subjects based on predictions , try this approach instead.

It’s still a lot to learn, though.

If you want to make the material more manageable and less overwhelming, check out Magicsheets and Approsheets.

Magicsheets condensed outlines contain all three of the above categories of priority—covering 95% of the testable issues and rules in 5% of the space of your bar prep course content.

Approsheets issue checklists and flowcharts help you hit all the relevant issues on an essay so you can stop having that “blank screen syndrome.”

It’s a no-brainer if you want to invest in your dreams:

• What to Do If You Are Retaking the Bar

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Common Bar Essay Problems and How to Avoid Them

June 2, 2015 By Alison Monahan 2 Comments

When you review a lot of bar essays, you begin to see what sets the good ones apart. The answers that score the highest have some telltale traits that really start standing out the more of them you read. We here at the Bar Exam Toolbox have seen a lot of bar essays: top scores, failing scores, and everything in between. We’ve also come up with some common pitfalls that tend to make an essay score lower. What makes a bar essay bad, though? Or, more importantly, what can you do to make yours good ? Here are some of the most common problem areas we see year to year, and how you can improve them.

Misconceptions About What the Graders Want

The kind of analysis the bar graders are looking for vary from one jurisdiction to another, and can differ vastly from what you might have been writing on final exams in law school (even if you did well in your classes). One thing is for sure, though, bar graders are looking for something very specific. A lot of first-time bar takers think that so long as their essays are coherent, relatively correct, and hit the correct issues they have it made. It takes more than that, though. It’s important to find out exactly what the graders in your jurisdiction value. How do you do this? Review the posted sample answers. Review as many of them as you can and look for commonalities.

Lack of structure

You may have some memories from your law school exams of writing whatever came to your head as fast as you could. You may have even done relatively well. This is probably because a lot of law school professors are more willing to hunt and peck through stream-of-consciousness babble to find the correct points of law buried within. These days are over. Bar exam graders simply will not do this. They will read your essay critically and very quickly (usually in just a couple of minutes!). What does this mean for you? It means you need to make it as easy as possible for them to give you points. How do you do this? By being organized.

Find a format that allows you to call out the issues you’re discussing in each paragraph. Make them salient. Employ easy-to-follow approaches, such as IRAC . Organize your answer based on the call of the question. Use attack plans. A more structured answer is easier to read quickly, and it’s easier to see at a glance whether the writer is hitting all of the necessary benchmarks. Your bar exam grader is not going to give you the benefit of the doubt and search for the gems in your answer. It’s your job to put those gems on display.

Not Using the Facts Precisely or Completely Enough

You may have heard that using the facts on the bar exam is important . This is actually a big understatement. If you’ve talked to any of us at the Bar Exam Toolbox, you’ve probably heard many, many times how crucial the facts are! What does it mean to use the facts, though? A lot of bar takers think that using the facts is the same as just throwing them into your answer in some way—just making them show up somewhere. It’s not.

As we’ve said before, the fact patterns on the bar are incredibly precise and well-crafted. The talented people who write these hypos are painstaking about what they put in and what they leave out. How do you use the facts you’re given then? In a nutshell, you need to pinpoint which specific rule element(s) each fact “matches up” with. Then, you need to use the facts to “check off” each element (or say why it is not satisfied based on the facts you have). Regurgitating facts just for the sake of throwing them into your answer is a waste of time. This likely won’t get you any extra points. Matching the facts with precise issues (better yet, with rule elements or requirements)—this is what to aim for.

Lack of Planning

Did you plan the essays you wrote on your final exams in law school? A lot of students did not. Writing bar essays is different, though ( see above). Your audience is different, and you’re being tested on different skills. In order to get the precise, formulaic structure we discussed above, you need to have a plan (and you probably need attack plans and lots of practice too!). If you’re going to figure out how to use all of the facts you get, this definitely takes planning before you begin writing. Coming up with a plan for your essay before you start typing furiously is the best way to make sure you’re getting as many points as possible, and it’s also one of the only ways to avoid the dreaded stream-of-consciousness writing we talked about above.

Missing Issues

Most bar takers know they need to spot as many issues as possible to do well on the exam. A lot of students, though, think that so long as they memorize a lot of law, these issues will just start popping out at them when they read through the fact patterns on exam day. Not quite true. There are a lot of intermediate steps in between. It’s true, you can’t do too well spotting issues if you don’t know the law. You have to know the law. You also need to practice issue spotting , and you must practice your ability to determine which kinds of facts trigger which types of issues. How do you do this? Come up with your essay writing plan and do as many closed-book practice essays as you can. Don’t just practice identifying issues, practice writing out full, timed exams so you are getting good at writing analysis and allocating your time too ( see below).

Misallocating or Wasting Time

Timing is huge on the bar exam. I’ve seen quite a few failing essay answers that probably would have passed if they were actually completed. Running out of time is a very real concern, as is misallocating time between planning and writing, or giving more time to one question instead of apportioning time equally. So, how do you get good at managing your time ? Not surprisingly, the answer here is practice. Use a clock. Cut yourself off when your predetermined planning time is over and it’s time to move on to writing. Cut yourself off when the allotted time for the essay ends. Practice some essays back-to-back so you can get a feel for what you can accomplish in an hour. Discipline yourself to move onto the next essay so none of them are lacking. Be strict with your time you’re allowed, the bar exam will be.

Failure to Critique and Review

Writing practice is only half the battle when it comes to getting good at bar essays. More often than not, I see students improve the most dramatically when they start critically reviewing their own work—and when they actually re-write essays that they miss the mark on. Why is this? Well, first of all, it’s almost impossible to learn from our own mistakes if we don’t know what those mistakes are ( if you’re a repeat bar taker , this is especially true—go get those essays you had returned to you and critique them ruthlessly!). Second, it’s difficult to apply what you’re learning on one essay to a new, completely different essay since the new essay might test very different areas of law (even within the same subject). If you write the same essay a second time, you can instill knowledge about those legal issues and cement your attack plan and process so next time you see that issue, you feel more comfortable with it.

Getting critical reviews of your essays from a trusted source like a bar program, a professor, or a tutor is also a great way to ensure that you’re seeing your missteps and fixing them. Often, bar students are over confident in their abilities. Even when they make mistakes, even when they miss issues, they may somehow convince themselves they were closer to getting it right than they actually were. Sometimes getting a tough critique early on from someone who knows what the graders are looking for is the very best thing you can do for your writing.

Do you need help with the essay portion of the bar exam? BarEssays.com is a great study tool for the essay portion of the California Bar Exam. And Bar Exam Toolbox readers get a special on membership ! Email us to get the coupon code.

Want more useful bar exam advice? Sign up for our  free mailing list  now!

Did you find this post helpful? Check out some other great articles:

• The Ins and Outs of Studying for the Bar Exam 
• Bar Exam Essays – You Must Become an Expert at Reading the Facts
• 10 Tips for Working and Studying for the Bar Exam
• Warning Signs You May Need Extra Help as a First Time Bar Exam Taker

Photo credit: Hururg/Shutterstock

Ready to pass the bar exam? Get the support and accountability you need with personalized one-on-one bar exam tutoring or one of our economical courses and workshops . We’re here to help!

About Alison Monahan

Alison Monahan is the founder of The Girl's Guide to Law School and the co-founder of the Law School Toolbox . Alison is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where she was a member of the Columbia Law Review and served as a Civ Pro teaching assistant. You can find her on Twitter at @GirlsGuideToLS or @LawSchoolTools .

Reader Interactions

These are some great tips for passing the bar’s essay questions. I think you are right about having misconceptions as to what the graders want to hear. Reviewing study questions and finding commonalities in the sample answers is a great way to study.

We’re a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with valuable info to work on. You have done a formidable job and our entire community will be thankful to you.

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Top 17 Bar Exam Essay Writing Tips | MEE

Bar Exam Basics | MBE Tips | MEE Tips | MPT Tips  | MPRE Tips

The MEE is normally the first part of the first day of the bar exam (some states reverse the order and have you do the MPT first). You have three hours to write six essays. That makes for about 30 minutes per essay. The six essays account for 30% of your total UBE score. Twelve topics are fair game, and you won’t know which will actually pop up—almost any combo is possible.

Some use CRAC; others use IRAC. But why use something that sounds like an illegal drug or a torture apparatus when you could just remember UROC?

Mee tips & tricks, tip #1 – study all the mee subjects.

Trying to streamline your studies by guessing which subjects you’ll actually have to write about is a risky recipe for ulcers.

• What are the MEE subjects? All seven of the MBE subjects plus five MEE-specific subjects. Again, the seven MBE subjects are Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts. The five MEE-specific subjects are Business Associations (which covers agencies, partnerships, corporations, and LLCs), Conflict of Laws, Family Law, Trusts and Estates, and Secured Transactions. Typically, each essay only hits one subject area, but some combine multiple, like Family Law and Conflicts, Criminal Procedure and Evidence, Agency and Torts, and so on.

Tip #2 – Competence before practice

You want to practice writing good essays, not bad ones. Good ones require knowing the right rules.

• Remember the tips we gave you for memorizing the MBE rules; use the same techniques in tackling the MEE rules—target the right content within each subject based on the NCBE’s—the company that writes the UBE’s—own outlines, and use accurate prep materials, mnemonics, flashcards, audio outlines, chunking, and so on.

Tip #3 – Use the real stuff

Use real practice questions and point sheets.

• The NCBE publishes old MEE questions and their point sheets—the sheets actually used to grade those old MEEs. Like past MBE questions, you can buy past MEE questions directly from the NCBE or through Crushendo.

Tip #4 – Time yourself

Practice writing each essay under timed conditions.

• As with the MBE, your pace and productivity are half the battle. Though strenuous, push yourself to complete each practice essay within 30 minutes.

Tip #5 – Time some full MEEs

Practice writing some full MEEs under timed conditions.

• It won’t be enough to rock one essay in 30 minutes, you’ll need to do be ready to do six back-to-back. Don’t let exam day be the first time you attempt that grind.

Tip #6 – Tackle the most familiar subjects first

• You can do the essays in any order. Do the less intimidating ones first. This does not mean you should read all the questions and fact patterns top-to-bottom before diving into your first question. It should only take a minute to glance at all six questions and get a decent feel for familiarity.

Tip #7 – UROC

UROC . I mean it. Some use CRAC;  others use IRAC .

But why use something that sounds like an illegal drug (or a way to smuggle it into a prison) or a torture apparatus when you could just remember UROC ?

UROC is your basic structure for addressing each issue in each essay. Each essay will have multiple UROC structures. Bar essays are not creative works; organization should be formulaic and predictable.

• U pgraded issue
• O perate on the facts
• C onclusion

Tip #8 – Upgrade the issues

• Each question will hand you the basic issues. Write those down; you must address each. But don’t settle for how they’re framed; upgrade them. Issue statements in point sheets are normally more detailed and helpful than the issue statements in the questions. Your issue statements should be similar in caliber and quantity to those in the point sheets. Study point sheets carefully.
• Example . Don’t just say: “Is Jane liable for Bob’s injuries?” even if the question puts it in such basic terms. Instead, say something like, “Can Bob recover damages from Jane under a negligence claim when they crashed after Jane ran a red light while Bob was speeding?”
• Upgraded issue statements not only give graders a good first impression, but they offer a basic outline for each UROC structure.

Tip #9 – Avoid fluff

Avoid lengthy intros and summaries. Your upgraded issue statements should suffice.

Tip #10 – Keep it simple

Keep rule statements simple. Lay out the basic elements or factors and mention any relevant defenses.

• Example . Negligence requires duty, breach, actual cause, proximate cause, and damages. A common negligence defense is comparative negligence.

Tip #11 – Outline issues first

Write all your upgraded issue statements and general rules before operating on the facts under each. This will give you a solid outline to follow for your entire essay.

Tip #12 – Operate on the facts

Four things to remember about operating:

• Like the MBE, one thing that will help you isolate helpful facts is reading the actual questions before the accompanying fact patterns.
• Second, operate in order. Work through the facts in the order of the elements, factors, and relevant defenses laid out by your basic rules.
• Example . You could begin your paragraph addressing proximate cause with “Proximate cause means the type of harm was reasonably foreseeable.” And then immediately apply the specific facts to that specific law by saying, “Serious broken bones are a reasonably foreseeable type of harm for blowing a red light and causing a high-velocity car accident. Thus, Jane’s actions were likely the proximate cause of Bob’s broken back.”
• Fourth, like any good surgeon, don’t leave behind foreign objects. Don’t invent or assume facts. Stick with what you’re given.

Tip #13 – Conclude quickly

Conclude quickly, highlighting the scale-tipping facts.

• Remember: Graders don’t normally care much about what you conclude, but instead, how you got there. Stress less about whether you got your conclusion “right” and more about whether you supported your conclusion.

Tip #14 – Embrace active voice

• Jane hit Bob.
• Not: Bob was hit by Jane.

Tip #15 – Don’t use citations

Don’t waste time on specific citations.

• With the exception of key constitutional amendments, you normally should not spend study time memorizing the specific sources of law, or exam time citing them.
• That said, it does not hurt to name other basic sources that you happen to know, if name-dropping does not slow you down or interrupt flow.

Tip #16 – Double-check

Spend a couple minutes at the end of each essay double-checking that you hit all the issues, major rules, and key facts.

Tip #17 – Type fast

Type faster than 50 words per minute. If you cannot comfortably type at least 50 words per minute, consider taking a typing course. Some good free ones are available online.

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How Many Issues Can You Miss on the MEE and Still Pass the Bar Exam? Forum

How Many Issues Can You Miss on the MEE and Still Pass the Bar Exam?

• Anonymous reply with quote

Post by S0M21L » Thu Jul 27, 2017 10:33 am

Re: How Many Issues Can You Miss on the MEE and Still Pass the Bar Exam?

Post by teaearlgreyhot » Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:31 am

Post by cats » Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:47 am

S0M21L wrote: How many issues can you miss on the MEE and still pass the bar exam? For example, will points be given by examiners for essay answers with any of the following: incomplete rule statements, incorrect rule statements, incomplete analysis, or incorrect analysis? Thank you.

Post by fire_ice » Thu Jul 27, 2017 1:05 pm

cats wrote: S0M21L wrote: How many issues can you miss on the MEE and still pass the bar exam? For example, will points be given by examiners for essay answers with any of the following: incomplete rule statements, incorrect rule statements, incomplete analysis, or incorrect analysis? Thank you.

Post by cats » Thu Jul 27, 2017 1:08 pm

fire_ice wrote: cats wrote: S0M21L wrote: How many issues can you miss on the MEE and still pass the bar exam? For example, will points be given by examiners for essay answers with any of the following: incomplete rule statements, incorrect rule statements, incomplete analysis, or incorrect analysis? Thank you.

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Post by edwardt1988 » Thu Jul 27, 2017 2:24 pm

teaearlgreyhot wrote: It really depends on how you performed on the other parts of the exam. Here's how it was explained to me by my bar prep class, (disclaimer, this may only be helpful if you're in NY): In NY the passing score is 266. Since the MBE and your written average each count for 50% of your overall score, you're looking for a 133 on each. But, you could score very high on the MBE (let's say 160), making the essay part of your overall score less crucial to your passing: a 160 MBE score means you only need to get a 106 written score, which is very doable. On each of the essays and the MPTs, you want a score of approximately 50 (scores can range from 20 to 80). If you scored above 50 on any essay or MPT, it helps you toward passing, and if you score below 50, it would weigh you down. Your stronger essays can help make up for your weaker ones, as could a high MBE score, as explained above. TL;DR It's impossible to tell how you are going to be graded, because grading is a bit of a mystery, but I know people on this forum who skipped an entire essay question, and still passed. So, if you missed some components, or gave an incorrect definition of the law, it does not necessarily mean you failed. Try to stay positive and keep your head up!

Post by S0M21L » Thu Jul 27, 2017 2:33 pm

Post by JustaQ » Thu Jul 27, 2017 2:53 pm

Post by teaearlgreyhot » Thu Jul 27, 2017 3:10 pm

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Post by teaearlgreyhot » Thu Jul 27, 2017 3:11 pm

S0M21L wrote: teaearlgreyhot wrote: It really depends on how you performed on the other parts of the exam. Here's how it was explained to me by my bar prep class, (disclaimer, this may only be helpful if you're in NY): In NY the passing score is 266. Since the MBE and your written average each count for 50% of your overall score, you're looking for a 133 on each. But, you could score very high on the MBE (let's say 160), making the essay part of your overall score less crucial to your passing: a 160 MBE score means you only need to get a 106 written score, which is very doable. On each of the essays and the MPTs, you want a score of approximately 50 (scores can range from 20 to 80). If you scored above 50 on any essay or MPT, it helps you toward passing, and if you score below 50, it would weigh you down. Your stronger essays can help make up for your weaker ones, as could a high MBE score, as explained above. TL;DR It's impossible to tell how you are going to be graded, because grading is a bit of a mystery, but I know people on this forum who skipped an entire essay question, and still passed. So, if you missed some components, or gave an incorrect definition of the law, it does not necessarily mean you failed. Try to stay positive and keep your head up!

Post by hockeyman969 » Thu Jul 27, 2017 3:48 pm

Post by S0M21L » Thu Jul 27, 2017 8:18 pm

hockeyman969 wrote: I missed more than 6 issues and ended up with a 155 combined MEE and MPT from July 2016, you'll be ok.

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BarEssays.com Blog

How to properly set up issues and rules in bar essays.

06/22/2021 by baressays

A Guest Column by Brian Hahn of Make This Your Last Time

Last time in the BarEssays blog, I alluded to how issues were the most important component of IRAC in an essay answer .

That’s different from many students’ instincts from law school and school in general—that they need to write more to score higher.

This is not necessarily true. You can write little and score well. It’s not the word count itself that matters, although the word count is indicative of how many issues you’ve identified.

I know we’re already dropping bombshells 20 seconds in. But now you’re already ahead of the curve by arming yourself with these insights.

Let’s see if there’s more you can take away about essay writing for the California Bar Exam, with some specific examples illustrating the above:

• A Professional Responsibility essay that scored a 70, which has short, punchy IRACs courtesy of BarEssays )
• Another example from BarEssays where the word count is low but scored a 65 (PDF link courtesy of BarEssays )
• A client of mine who received a 65 on this 603-word Community Property essay from the recent 2021 February California Bar Exam (courtesy of Make This Your Last Time with permission from the author)

But before we go on, I want to be perfectly clear here:

I’m not suggesting that you write less in order to score high. Generally, shorter answers don’t get high scores because they tend to not discuss important issues the graders are looking for. Conversely, there are many lower-scoring answers that write a good amount (over 1,000 words) or even a lot (over 2,000 words). (Take a look at BarEssays to study more examples like these!)

With the passing scaled score of 1390 in California, an average written raw score of 60-62.5 would likely put you on track to pass (assuming you were also scoring 1390 on the MBE side).

As you saw above, a score of 60 or higher is doable if you can use the relevant issues and rules. Of course, you want to be able to discuss the facts and connect them to the rules, but this is not always the pivotal point as many bar takers assume. In fact, the application part is the easy part.

The hard parts that require understanding of the material are the issues and rules. Once you’re able to set up that issue skeleton and support it with rules, then you’re basically home free.

Even if you write beautiful rules or analyses, if you miss the issues that are intended to be identified, you’re turning in an incomplete answer, and you’ll get a score reflecting that.

To that end, I’m going to share how to set up the issues and rules, and when to go deep into analysis (or not).

How to set up issues and rules for the California Bar Essays

As always, the part we avoid is the thing that will make a bigger difference.

When you open up an essay question and try to answer it, where do you get stuck the most—probably the issues, right?

The blank-page syndrome is where you don’t know where to start writing. It’s less daunting to write something reasonable once you have the issues and rules down.

Fortunately, the bar exam tests you on a limited universe of issues. There are only so many issues they can test you on. And with 20+ years of essays available , many of these issue patterns have repeated over the years.

Consequently, if you’ve seen the past essays, you’ve pretty much seen them all. (You’ll still need to memorize areas that haven’t been tested, although that’s less important than the areas that have been tested frequently before.)

So how do you even find these issues in the essays?

As noted above, there’s a limited set of testable issues.

The issues are triggered by the facts (facts relate to rules, and rules relate to issues). But I never use the phrase “issue spotting.” To me, that implies you wing it and somehow happened to draw the issues out of thin air. As if you will somehow know it when you spot it in the wild.

Rather than a haphazard approach, I found that a systematic approach was more helpful to me (as well as many of my readers through the years).

This is called issue checking : Rather than thinking of it as spotting issues, you are now checking for issues, matching the facts to the known and preexisting issues.

So have a list of issues when you practice your essays. You can make your own, or you can use something like Approsheets ( fact-issue checklists and flowcharts, samples here ) or BarEssays templates which are available as part of a premium BarEssays membership .

If you had something like this set up already, does it seem more doable to write a full essay answer?

For 2015 February Essay 1

Here’s what I suggest when trying to solve those past essays…

List the issues and their corresponding rules. Be able to do this within 10-15 minutes (for California essays).

This is your skeletal outline. Now you can corral the facts from the hypothetical and connect them to the appropriate rules. Incidentally, this is known as essay cooking , a technique that allows you to double or triple your essay practice efficiency.

The “meaty” part of your answer, the application, is more stylistic than anything. The “correct” issues and rules will be relatively consistent. When skimming your answer, the graders will be looking for those over the precise choice of facts you included in your answer.

Speaking of the application part of IRAC, sometimes you want to dial that part up or down, depending on the situation.

When to focus on issues vs. deep analysis in your essay answer

If you see a broad call of the question, focus on identifying issues, less on analysis. Examples of broad calls of question:

• “With what crimes may D be charged?”
• “What ethical obligations did L breach?”
• “What remedies, if any, would be available?”

If you see a narrow call of the question, analyze the facts more. The issue has already been given to you. Examples of narrow calls of question:

• “Is D guilty of robbery?” (Discuss the elements of robbery and the facts relating to each element)
• “Can L ethically withdraw from representing P?” (Discuss mandatory and permissive withdrawals)
• “Did the court rule correctly on the motion to dismiss based on lack of personal jurisdiction?” (Analyze the various sub-issues of the International Shoe test)

Note that narrow calls may raise sub-issues, nuances, exceptions, and/or defenses.

As you can see, distinguishing broad vs. narrow calls of the question can inform your issues and essay coking.

Should you ping pong?

There’s often a lot of “P would argue… D would argue…” type arguments in student answers.

Now, others may say you need to do this. And you can. But blindly throwing in fake court drama isn’t always the best of use of your limited time.

This style should be used where appropriate , not as a default.

Going off the above distinction between broad and narrow calls, this type of argument may be more useful for narrow calls where you want to be more thorough with your analysis. Or maybe the facts are vague; then you can look at different angles.

With a broad call of the question, the better approach is to argue opposing legal theories (such as a prima facie case vs. defenses) or split views (such as Cardozo and Andrews).

So don’t automatically go into ping-pong mode. Don’t lose sight that issues are key.

If you want to use what you learned here and write better essay answers, take a look at the variety of actual graded answers at BarEssays.com , and supplement with an issue checking aid like Approsheets .

Online Resources

Research guides, study aids for law students.

• Aspen Learning Library - Formerly the Wolters Kluwer Online Study Aids Library
• AudioCaseFiles
• LexisNexis Digital Library
• Themis Law School Essentials
• Bar Exam Sample Essays
• Sample Exams
• Black Letter Outlines
• Emanuel CrunchTime
• Emanuel Law Outlines
• Examples and Explanations
• Gilbert Law Summaries
• Glannon Guides

Many state bar associations post former bar exam essay questions and sample answers on their websites. These model answers are useful for studying for the bar and final exams.

Search online for state bar exam questions and answers, or use the list provided at the bottom of this page. Access is free.

• Try writing a response to a practice question, then comparing your response to the model answer.
• Some bar exam questions require the application of state law (e.g., California civil procedure), and may not be helpful if you are studying federal law. Read the question carefully. 
• Subject coverage will vary by exam and by state.

1L Subjects:

• Civil Procedure (federal and state questions)
• Constitutional Law
• Contract Law
• Criminal Law

2L/3L Subjects:

• Business Organizations
• Conflict of Laws
• Criminal Procedure
• Family Law/Community Property
• Professional Responsibility/Ethics
• Secured Transactions (Uniform Commercial Code 2)
• Wills & Trusts

Sample Exam Questions & Answers By State

• Mississippi
• Pennsylvania
• UBE  (Many of the states on this list administer the UBE, but the states offer more recent model essay answers than the UBE)
• << Previous: Themis Law School Essentials
• Next: Sample Exams >>
• Last Updated: Jan 27, 2022 9:12 AM
• URL: https://guides.law.byu.edu/studyaids

Great MBE/Bombed essays.....Any states NOT require Essays???

<p>I just sat the bar exam. The national average was 138 on the MBE and I got a 143 on that part BUT BOMBED the essays bringing me to a FAILING score. (just found out today, very upset)</p>

<p>I know that I should just repeat but my state makes me take BOTH sections again NOT JUST the part that I passed. (not cool, I know)</p>

<p>I am worried that if I focus on the part I failed that I’ll neglect the part I passed and just end up on the other extreme.</p>

<p>Does anyone know if there are any states out there that either.

• Let you take only Multiple Choice (no essays required at all) or
• Who let you retake ONLY the essays if you passed the MBE?</p>

<p>If so, PLEASE let me know. Thankyou!</p>

<p>30 second google search: [Bar</a> Exam / Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) | BarReciprocity.com ](<a href=“ http://barreciprocity.com/bar-exam-mbe-transfer/]Bar ”> Bar Exam / UBE Transfer - BarReciprocity.com )</p>

<p>My understanding is that an MBE score almost never transfers to a different state, unless you either passed the bar for the previous state, or you sat for two bar exams concurrently.</p>

<p>My very blunt advice is to improve on your essays - a LOT. If your 143 MBE score didn’t carry you over into passing, then you are either in a state with a very high passing score, or you really bombed those essays.</p>

<p>It’s easy to get the essays right (or at least right enough to pass): *Do not spend so much time on one essay that you neglect the others *If you come to an essay that you know nothing about, leave it for the end and aim to get about half of the available points *If you are unclear on a specific law upon which the essay turns (e.g. is it 10% or 5% of the shares in a corporation that enables a SH to have the right to inspect the books?), make up the rule and continue with your analysis. Yes, you will lose a few points, but you’ll still get the majority of the points for that essay. *Study the distinctions between MBE law and your state law. Most states use the distinctions as fodder for essay questions. For example, don’t bother studying all of your state’s Evidence laws; just study the ways in which they differ from the federal rules.</p>

<p>ALWAYS remember that the people who grade essays for bar exams are spending about five or ten minutes per essay and are doing this in front of the TV or while making dinner. Just stating a very clear rule, then applying some semblance of analysis to it, while using the language that attorneys use to describe these situations (e.g. “The portrait adeemed back into the estate,” not “The portrait was not properly given to the decedent’s son”), will get you to a passing score.</p>

<p>…and here is another link to state-by-state requirements for passing: <a href=“ http://www.ncbex.org/assets/media_files/Comp-Guide/CompGuide.pdf[/url] ”> http://www.ncbex.org/assets/media_files/Comp-Guide/CompGuide.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt ;

<p>Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out. It just gets under my skin a bit since I know in DC they let you repeat JUST the essays if within 25 months (if taken there to begin with) and in my state (MI) when I started law school they allowed you to SKIP the essays ALL TOGETHER if you passed the MBE MC part (which I did) but they changed the rules before I graduated. </p>

<p>-Kind of mad…but work with what you got I guess huh?</p>

<p>Did you take a bar review class? If not, you definitely need to pay for one and don’t skip classes. Can you take BAR/BRI before you repeat? They give excellent tips for essays.</p>

<p>NewLaw: if you took the Michigan bar and got a 143 on your MBE, then you must have gotten less than 63.5% of the available essay points.</p>

<p>Have someone review your essays and give you pointers on how to write better ones. Look at whether or not you lost points on essays with topics that were covered on the MBE, or those that were not. Study the distinctions between MBE’s common law and your state’s specific law.</p>

<p>I knew the author of this book a long time ago. She runs…or at least ran…a course that focused SOLELY on writing essays for the bar exam. Some other attorneys I know had kids that failed the bar. They took Mary’s course and passed the second time around. Maybe the book will help you. I’ve never even seen it, so I can’t vouch for the book itself, but people who took her course felt it was worthwhile. Or more accurately, I know the parents of “kids” who paid for them to take Mary’s course after they failed the bar the first time and passed it after taking Mary’s course and the parents felt the course made the difference. </p>

<p>[Scoring</a> High on Bar Exam Essays Book & CD by Mary Campbell Gallagher, J.D. (Harvard) PH.D. Book & CD for Law Students taking Bar Exam](<a href=“ http://www.barwrite.com/scoringhigh.html]Scoring ”> http://www.barwrite.com/scoringhigh.html )</p>

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Can you fail the MBE and still pass the bar exam?

Many students do  not  feel very good walking out of the multistate bar exam (MBE). So if you do not feel good about your MBE performance, you are not alone! (And you may not have performed as poorly as you think!)

Nevertheless, you may be wondering if you can fail the MBE and still pass the bar exam.

The answer, in most states, is  yes . In most states, as long as you make up for any lost points on the essay portion of the exam, you can fail the MBE and still pass the bar exam. For example, in New York, you need a 266 out of 400 potential points to pass the bar exam. You should technically aim for a score of at least 133 on both the MBE and written portion as this would get you to the score of 266 that you need. However, you can get to that 266 in other ways. You could get a 130 on the MBE and a 136 on the written portion. Or a 110 on the MBE and a 156 on the written portion. In other words, in most states there is no minimum MBE score that you need to pass .

There are exceptions to this though!

The following jurisdictions do have a minimum threshold MBE score:

• Kentucky requires a minimum score of 132 on the MBE
• South Dakota requires a minimum score of 135 on the MBE
• Palau requires a minimum score of 120 on the MBE
• Georgia requires a minimum score of 115 on the MBE

(Note: please check with your jurisdiction’s website for the most updated information!)

So if you are not in one of those states, you can still technically “fail” the MBE and pass the bar exam.

Good luck waiting for bar exam results!

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Why You'll Pass or Fail the Bar Exam Based on the MBE

02 May, 2023

Focusing your bar prep on MBE subjects is the smartest strategy for passing the bar exam, even at this late stage of bar prep.

Depending on your jurisdiction, there can be 15 or more potential subjects tested on the bar exam. But the seven subjects that comprise the MBE are the most important to your chances of passing the bar. Here's why:

1) MBE Subjects Are Tested Twice

Obviously the MBE subjects will come up on the MBE. Duh. But they also come up on the essay portion of the bar exam in almost every state, including all UBE states that use the MEE (Multistate Essay Exam). 

Usually 1/3 to 1/2 of essay questions involve MBE subjects. So sure, you may be tested on Family Law, but you  know you're going to be tested on MBE subjects like Civ Pro or Crim, and they will come up a lot, on both the essays  and the MBE.

So why on earth would you dedicate even half the time studying Family Law as you would studying any given MBE subject? You shouldn't. You should focusing on MBE subjects and practicing MBE questions.

2) The MBE is hard

Most people regard the MBE as the hardest portion of the bar exam. The questions are rarely easy or straightforward. They can be tricky , and sometimes worded in a way that guides you to the wrong answer.

The only upside of the MBE is, again, that you know ahead of time what subjects will be tested. So, you should use that to your advantage.

3) You can't game the MBE (but you can game essays)

This last point is important. The MBE is multiple choice. You cannot fake your way through it. You either know or can figure out the right answer or... you don't.

Moreover, if you miss an MBE question, you get no points. Each question is all or nothing.

Essays, on the other hand,  can be gamed . Even if you can't craft a perfect answer, you can get points for an OK answer. And, if you understand the realities of how essays are graded, it's not that hard to craft an essay that reads better than it is.

4) Gaming the essays

The person who will be reading your bar exam essay will have read hundreds if not thousands of other essays answering the same question. They have a lot of essays to get through. Which, frankly, means that they're looking for buzz words and phrases.

What that means for you is this: for essays, you can get by as long as you understand the basic framework of non-MBE subjects . You have to understand concepts so you can issue-spot. But as long as your answer hits on some issues, you'll get some points.

For MBE subjects that come up as essays, this is where you can and should shine. Hit all the issues you can, get all the points you can. And it shouldn't be hard if you're putting most of your time into studying MBE subjects.

5) The big takeaway

You pass or fail the bar exam based on MBE subjects, not secondary subjects. You should adjust your studying accordingly - if you know the MBE subjects cold, you'll be in a much better position to pass. 

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• WHAT DO YOU DO NOW AFTER YOU’VE BOMBED YOUR SIMULATED MBE PRACTICE TEST?

Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

The bar examination is a few weeks away and you’ve bombed your simulated MBE practice test. You need somewhere between a 130 and 140 on the MBE to pass your bar exam and you are nowhere near that score, even with a scale. Scoring 60% out of 200 multiple choice questions was clearly a lot harder than you anticipated. Is the writing on the wall? ARE YOU GOING TO FAIL THE BAR EXAM?

What do you do now?

Take a deep breath and evaluate where you are in your bar preparation. You still have a lot of time to study before the actual bar examination. It’s not over until the fat lady sings!

Understand the Reason Behind the Simulated Exam. Simulations are meant to give you an opportunity to prepare for the actual bar exam. Ideally, you know what to expect regarding the structure of the bar exam: 200 multiple choice problems in 6 hours, essays, possibly a performance test, etc. However, knowing and experiencing are very different. Now, you’ve had an opportunity to take the MBE under exam conditions with distractions. You’ve sat with ear plugs in for 6 hours. You’ve relied on a small clock in the lecture hall to keep pace. You’ve realized that 6 hours of multiple choice questions is exhausting and after the 4th hour you wanted it all to be over. These were all necessary experiences to have BEFORE the actual bar exam.

It’s Time to Kick it Up a Notch. Many of you have been studying hard, but this practice test is just the thing to motivate you to kick it up a notch. Does that mean putting in more study hours?  For some of you, yes! For others, it means being more productive during the hours you are studying.

Be an Active Participant in Your Studying. You’ve been trying to keep up with your commercial bar prep schedule and all of the assigned homework. However, sometimes you are just checking the box to complete an assignment instead of really focusing on the actual assignment. You have to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Then over the remaining study time, you have to balance your time neutralizing weaknesses with reinforcing your strengths. In order to do this, you need to evaluate your substantive knowledge. Then adjust your schedule accordingly.

Focus on Quality Not Quantity. Routinely, we hear students say that in order to pass the bar exam they must complete X number of multiple choice questions before the bar. Is there any truth in that sentiment? Well, after seeing hundreds or thousands of questions, will you begin to see patterns? However, in our experience, it is not the quantity of questions completed that improves performance; it’s the quality of the practice and review that improves performance. Quality review not only improves MBE performance, it also improves substantive performance which can translate to other areas of the bar exam, specifically essays.

Now is the time to put aside your fears and dig deep. One simulated practice exam is not going to hold you back from accomplishing your dream. You are the reason we started this company. You are not alone. We are here to help. Trust in us to help you focus your final weeks of bar preparation to get you across the finish line.  Our study schedule is perfect for the final 2-3 weeks of studying – allowing you to get organized, improve memorization, and refine your focus. Just follow the schedule for success and  conquer the bar exam with BarSiege! Share this:

• DO NOT PANIC – BarSiege Is Here!
• 7-10 Days Before the Bar Exam – When the Magic Happens
• Managing Stress and Anxiety During Bar Prep
• THE IMPACT OF CAFFEINE ON YOUR BAR EXAM PREPARATION
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New angle: how many MEE Q's can you bomb and still pass?

True story: my friend left 2 blank ( at max did some bullet points) and passed with a 290

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Guest Essay

The Mystery of JD Vance Is Unraveling

By Thomas B. Edsall

Mr. Edsall contributes a weekly column from Washington, D.C., on politics, demographics and inequality.

JD Vance embodies the pros and cons of political competition in a divided America. He helps, and he hurts.

GZero Media broke this out neatly in a piece it posted on his “pluses and minuses” during the Republican National Convention:

Vance strengthens Donald Trump’s “champion of the working man” message — a Republican rebranding away from its strongly pro-business past. We also saw that emphasis in the striking first-night convention speech from Sean O’Brien, president of the Teamsters, a labor union with 1.3 million members, who accused business and corporate lobbyists of “waging a war against American workers.” That’s not a speech you would have heard at any Republican National Convention of the past century. Vance’s reputation as defender of the globalization-battered working class can help Trump in the electorally crucial Midwest industrial belt states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. But Vance is also an absolutist on restricting abortion, the Republican’s biggest current weakness, according to polls. He has adopted Trump’s line that abortion rules should be left to the states, but his voting record is striking. He favors banning abortions, even if the mother is a victim of rape or incest , as well as laws that allow police to track women who have crossed state lines for an abortion. He has opposed legislation that would protect in vitro fertilization. A poll earlier this month showed that 61 percent of U.S. adults want their state to allow abortion for any reason, and 62 percent support protections for access to IVF.

During the 2022 Ohio Republican Senate primary race, the Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio warned Vance that many Republican voters hold “the perception that he is anti-Trump” because, up until that time, he had been willing to describe the 2020 contest only as “unfair.”

“I think the election was stolen from Trump,” Vance declared in a Republican Senate debate two months later.

In an interview with The Youngstown Vindicator, an Ohio newspaper, Vance contended that there was extensive fraud in 2020, including a “big tech” conspiracy directed by Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook.

Vance told The Vindicator that Zuckerberg spent $420 million “buying up local boards of elections in battleground states of mostly Democratic areas” to “tilt” the vote in Biden’s favor.

Vance didn’t stop there. “We have a fake country right now,” he said. “If a billionaire can go and buy up votes in our biggest geographies and tilt an election, transform who can be president, it’s really, really dangerous stuff.”

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