Essential Facts of the UBE

By David Busis Published May 17, 2021 Updated Jul 11, 2021

The first step toward success on the bar exam is learning to navigate all its moving parts. What do all those acronyms stand for? What does each section ask me to do? What areas of law do I need to study? How does the scoring work? We’ve gathered the answers to all those questions in this concise, handy guide. Whether you’re just starting to prepare for the bar or looking for a last-minute reference before test day, here’s what you need to know.

What is the UBE?

“UBE” stands for Universal Bar Examination. It’s a two-day test that’s written and scored by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (“NCBE”), whose helpful website you can find here: https://ncbex.org/. The UBE is administered twice a year, on the last Tuesday and Wednesday in February and July.

Almost all American jurisdictions now use the UBE or accept UBE scores.[1] The idea behind it is to make scores “portable” so that it’s easy to transfer them from one place to another. Every jurisdiction that participates sets a minimum UBE score that it considers a passing grade. All jurisdictions that currently accept the UBE have set their minimums between 260 and 280 out of a possible 400 points (65-70%). If your score meets the passing threshold in a certain jurisdiction, it will count toward your admission to the bar.

How is it administered?

In most years, the MBE is only administered in person. In 2020, the NCBE responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by creating a remote-testing option, and it will continue to offer a remote option through at least the July 2021 exam.

That doesn’t mean that remote testing will be available in your location, though. Each jurisdiction gets to choose whether to hold the UBE in person, remotely, or both, so you’ll need to check with your bar admission agency to find out what options it’s offering. You can also visit this link, which the bar examiners have provided to track updates for the July 2021 exam: https://www.ncbex.org/ncbe-covid-19-updates/july-2021-bar-exam-jurisdiction-information/.

The big picture

Each day of testing consists of two sessions, three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon with a break for lunch in between.

On the first day, you’ll complete two separate parts of the UBE: the Multistate Performance Test (or “MPT”) and the Multistate Essay Examination (or “MEE”). On the second day, you’ll spend both sessions tackling the Multistate Bar Examination (or “MBE”).

Of these three parts, the MBE is most important because it counts for 50% of your total score. The other 50% is split between the MPT (20%) and the MEE (30%). Let’s look closely at each of those parts. We’ll start with the MBE, since it’ll require the most preparation and have the biggest impact on your overall performance.

Multistate Bar Examination (MBE)

The Questions

The MBE is a 200-question, multiple-choice test. You’ll have six hours total to complete it, split between a morning session and an afternoon session. Of the 200 questions, 175 of them are real questions that will count toward your final score. The other 25 are unscored “pre-test” questions that the bar examiners are trying out for future versions of the exam. There’s no way to know which questions fall into which bucket, so you should treat all of them as if they are real.

Each question will have four answer choices. The MBE doesn’t penalize wrong answers, so you should make sure you select an answer choice for every question, even if you have to guess.

The Law

The scored MBE questions will be evenly divided among seven areas of substantive law:

• Civil Procedure
• Constitutional Law
• Contracts
• Criminal Law and Procedure
• Evidence
• Property
• Torts

There will be about 25 questions in each area, but they’ll be spread randomly throughout the exam. The MBE doesn’t lump all of the torts questions together into a single section. (That would be too easy!) Instead, you’ll have to switch from one area to the next as you go from question to question.

The MBE is designed to test “fundamental legal principles.” If a specific question wants you to apply an unusual or specialized rule of law, it will tell you to do so. Otherwise, base your answers on general principles, not minority rules or state-specific quirks.

Timing and scoring

Perhaps the most infamous aspect of the MBE is its relentlessly fast pace. With 200 questions to pack into six hours, you’ll have just 1 minute and 48 seconds per question. That means you need to work through 33 or 34 questions every hour. It’s important to be aware of this time pressure when you’re preparing for the exam and to avoid getting bogged down in any particular question on test day.

The conventional wisdom is that to pass the UBE, you need to answer 130 to 135 questions correctly on the MBE. That’s just an estimate for a couple of reasons.

First, the NCBE scales the scores on every exam to adjust for changes in difficulty. If your version of the MBE is harder than last year’s was, you’ll need fewer right answers to earn a particular score.

Second, since the MBE is only 50% of the total, you can make up some ground on the other parts of the exam if the MBE doesn’t go well. Remember, though, that all jurisdictions require a total score of 65-70% to pass the UBE as a whole. If you’re scoring in that 65-70% range on your MBE practice tests, you’re on target to pass. Of course, if you’re able to hit the MBE out of the park, you’ll give yourself some breathing room on the MEE and MPT.

MBE Summary

To recap, the MBE counts for half of your final UBE score. It’s 200 questions spread out over two three-hour sessions, which averages to 1 minute, 48 seconds each.

The questions test general legal principles in civ pro, con law, contracts, criminal law and procedure, evidence, property, and torts.

There are no penalties for guessing, so if you don’t know the answer, pick one, and keep going!

Multistate Essay Examination (MEE)

The MEE counts for 30% of your total UBE score, and it’s administered the day before the MBE. It consists of six essay questions, and you get 30 minutes to answer each one. The MEE is designed to test several skills:

• Spotting legal issues
• Distinguishing relevant facts and legal rules from irrelevant ones
• Legal reasoning
• Communicating your analysis effectively in writing

The MEE also tests your knowledge of substantive law. It draws questions from all seven of the MBE subjects listed above and from these additional areas:

• Business Associations (Agency and Partnership, Corporations, and Limited Liability Companies)
• Conflict of Laws
• Family Law
• Trusts and Estates (Decedents’ Estates; Trusts and Future Interests)
• Article 9 (Secured Transactions) of the Uniform Commercial Code

Like the MBE, the MEE wants you to base your answers on general principles in each subject area. Don’t apply state-specific laws in your essays, unless your jurisdiction has told you to do otherwise.

Multistate Performance Test (MPT)

The final 20% of your UBE score will come from the MPT, which is administered on the same day as the MEE. The purpose of the MPT is to test your ability to perform the practical skills that lawyers use in everyday life.

The MPT consists of two 90-minute “tasks.” For each task, you will receive two items: a “file” of relevant documents and a “library” of legal authorities for you to consult.

The file will contain a memo from your supervising attorney that tells you what task you need to perform. Possible tasks include writing a memo or a brief, drafting a provision of a contract or a will, preparing a letter to your client, or developing a plan for discovery or witness examination.

The file may also contain documents that relate to the matter, like pleadings, correspondence, contracts, police reports, or excerpts of deposition testimony. Basically, it’s designed to be a miniature version of the office file an attorney might keep while working on a client matter.

You will also get a “library” of statutes, case law, or other legal authorities. All the law you need to perform the task will be in the library. The MPT doesn’t test your knowledge of substantive law; it gives you the applicable law and wants to see how you apply it to a real-world situation.

To complete a task, you’ll review the memo, the facts, and the law, and you’ll produce whatever written work product your supervising attorney has requested. The bar examiners will grade your work product based on several criteria:

• Your evaluation of the facts in the file
• Your understanding of the legal authorities in the library
• How you use the legal authorities to support your analysis and conclusions
• Your ability to spot and resolve any ethical problems the matter might involve
• Your ability to communicate effectively in writing

The MPT may be the least-valuable section in terms of your overall UBE score, but it’s a great opportunity to show off the skills you’ve learned in law school without having to worry about memorizing legal rules. If there are any weaknesses in your knowledge of substantive law for the MBE or the MEE, the MPT is the place to make up for them. It’s not about what you know. It’s about what you can do.

MPT Summary

The MPT tests practical lawyering skills rather than substantive knowledge. It involves two 90-minute tasks and counts for 20% of the UBE score.

Each task requires you to read a “file” that contains a memo from your supervisor and various factual documents and a “library” of legal authorities. You’ll then write whatever sort of work product the memo told you to create.

The emphasis is on factual analysis, legal reasoning, handling ethical issues, and communicating effectively with your audience.

More on Scores

In almost every jurisdiction, all you need to do is achieve a “passing” score for the UBE as a whole. You just need a total score equal to whatever number the jurisdiction has set as its threshold to pass. That means you don’t have to perform equally well on all three parts of the UBE to achieve your goal.

If you’re an excellent writer but don’t love multiple-choice tests, your success on the MEE and MPT can bolster a mediocre score on the MBE. On the flip side, if you’d rather reason through answers A through D than write a memo, you can aim for a high MBE percentage and relax a little during the other portions of the exam.

Here are a few examples of possible results to illustrate this point. Remember that all jurisdictions currently have thresholds between 260 and 280 out of a possible 400, which equates to 65-70%.

In Scenario 1, the test-taker scores 70% on all three UBE sections and achieves a passing score in every jurisdiction. Scenarios 2 and 3 show that if you perform really well on the MBE, you have some room to make mistakes on the MEE and MPT. If you score 90% on the MBE, you only need half of the available points on the other two sections to pass. And in Scenario 4, you can see that even a 60% score on the MBE will be okay if you outperform the average on the written portions of the exam.

Now that you know what kinds of numbers to hope for in your test results, when can you expect to get them? After you complete the UBE, the wait for your scores begins, and unfortunately, it can last quite a long time. Depending on where you take the test, you should expect to wait 4 to 17 weeks to receive your results. It often takes longer for jurisdictions to release results for the July bar than it does for February because so many recent graduates sit for the July exam. The best way to find out when your jurisdiction releases bar scores is to contact its bar admission agency.

Preparing for the UBE

Most test-takers start preparing for the UBE about 9-10 weeks before the exam. That means mid-May for the July test and mid-December for the February test. During that period, expect to study 35-40 hours per week—roughly enough for a full-time job but not enough to burn out before test day. Days off to clear your mind and get some R&R are highly recommended!

Some people choose to study on their own using their notes and books from law school. Taking the bar isn’t the same as taking a law-school final, though, and some people didn’t take classes in every substantive area that’s covered on the UBE. As a result, most test-takers seek out resources that are specific to the UBE, including lectures, outlines, and question banks. Some study materials are available on the NCBE website (ncebx.org), including general outlines of topics for the MBE and MEE and some sample questions. In addition, private companies like BARBRI, Kaplan, Themis, JD Advising, UWorld—and yes, 7Sage—offer bar-prep courses and tools.

Whatever approach you decide works best for you, preparing for the UBE will be intense. Just try to keep it all in perspective: this is a goal you can achieve without losing your mind or letting it take over your life!

Take-Home Points for the UBE

Most jurisdictions require that you pass the Universal Bar Examination (UBE) to be admitted to the bar. The score you need to pass depends on your jurisdiction, but it’ll be somewhere between 65 and 70%.

The UBE is given over two days in July and again in February. Whether your test will be held in person or remotely depends on your jurisdiction.

The UBE has three parts:

• The Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) is a day-long, 200-question, multiple-choice test that accounts for 50% of your total score. It tests general legal principles in seven areas: civ pro, con law, contracts, criminal law and procedure, evidence, property, and torts.
• The Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) gives you three hours to answer six essay questions, and it accounts for 30% of your total score. The MEE covers the seven MBE subjects as well as business associations, conflict of laws, family law, trusts and estates, and secured transactions.
• The Multistate Performance Test (MPT) is administered on the same day as the MEE and consists of two 90-minute “tasks” that test your practical lawyering skills. The MPT doesn’t require any substantive legal knowledge. It asks you to use the facts and legal authorities that are given to you to create work product for a hypothetical client matter.

Preparation for the UBE takes most test-takers 9-10 weeks of dedicated studying. You can study on your own or use bar-prep courses created by companies like 7Sage to guide you through the material. Most people use a combination of lectures, outlines, and practice questions to ensure they have mastered the substantive material and the best strategies for approaching the UBE.

Each jurisdiction determines when it will release UBE results after the July and February tests. Check with your bar admission agency to find out when you can expect the scores to come in.

[1] This post is intended for applicants whose jurisdictions use some or all of the UBE in bar admissions. Some jurisdictions do not use the UBE at all or only use some parts of it. Some states that do use the UBE also require a state-specific component in addition to the UBE. Each state and territory gets to set its own rules for bar admission, so be sure to visit your bar’s website and find out exactly what’s required!