MT Bar study guide
MT Bar · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Montana Bar Examination is the licensing examination a candidate must pass before being admitted to practice law in Montana. It is administered on the Uniform Bar Examination platform, a standardized design developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners and adopted by Montana, which means the same test architecture and the same scoring scale are used in a number of states. Candidates typically sit for it after earning a J.D. and after clearing character and fitness review. Topics on this exam: Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), Multistate Essay Examination (MEE), and Multistate Performance Test (MPT). The MT Bar study guide has 3 sections and about 968 words.
01Multistate Bar Examination (MBE): Rule Application Under Time Pressure
The MBE is a six-hour, 200-question multiple-choice exam (175 scored) covering Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts. Each question tests application of a rule to a short fact pattern. The exam generally uses majority rules and the Federal Rules where applicable; do not import local variations unless the question supplies them. Read the call before the facts: "if true," "assuming," "most likely," and "best" change the analysis.
355 words, about 2 min02Multistate Essay Examination (MEE): Issue Spotting and Rule Application
Six 30-minute essays in three hours. Subjects: the seven MBE subjects plus Business Associations, Conflict of Laws, Family Law, Trusts and Estates, and Secured Transactions (UCC Article 9). Essays often combine subjects. You must spot issues, state rules, apply facts, and conclude - no answer choices.
317 words, about 2 min03Multistate Performance Test (MPT): Lawyering Tasks from a Closed File
Two 90-minute performance tasks. You receive a File (facts, correspondence, pleadings) and a Library (statutes, cases, rules). The law you need is in the Library; do not rely on outside law. Tasks include office memos, client letters, briefs, contracts, and discovery plans.
296 words, about 1 min