MBE: Multistate Bar Examination
What the MBE tests
The Multistate Bar Examination is a six-hour, 200-question multiple-choice test; 175 questions count and 25 are unscored pretests. It covers Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts. Questions test rule application to new facts, not local practice.
Core rule patterns
- Civil Procedure: personal jurisdiction, subject-matter jurisdiction, venue, Erie, pleadings, discovery, summary judgment, claim preclusion.
- Constitutional Law: judicial review, standing, equal protection tiers, due process, First Amendment, federalism.
- Contracts: formation, consideration, UCC 2-207, parol evidence, breach, remedies, third-party rights.
- Criminal Law/Procedure: mens rea, homicide, defenses, search and seizure, interrogation, right to counsel.
- Evidence: relevance, hearsay and exceptions, character, impeachment, privilege.
- Real Property: estates, landlord-tenant, deeds, recording, mortgages, easements, takings.
- Torts: negligence duty/breach/causation/damages, strict liability, products liability, intentional torts, defamation.
Worked example
A neighbor stores gasoline in a shed; a spark from the homeowner's mower ignites it, burning the neighbor's house. Negligence? Duty: homeowners owe reasonable care; storing gasoline may be an abnormally dangerous activity if it creates a serious risk that cannot be eliminated by reasonable care. If strict liability applies, foreseeability of the spark is irrelevant to breach, but causation still must be shown. If only negligence applies, compare utility and risk under the Hand formula. The answer turns on activity classification and proximate cause, not mere foreseeability.
Traps
Choosing a true statement that does not resolve the call; ignoring the burden of proof; confusing probable cause with reasonable suspicion; applying common law when the facts invoke the UCC; forgetting that hearsay offered for effect on the listener is not hearsay.