MBE: Doctrine Under Time Pressure
What the MBE tests
The North Dakota Bar’s MBE component is the NCBE’s 200-question, six-hour multiple-choice test; 175 questions are scored and 25 are unscored. It samples seven subjects-Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts-through fact patterns that require selecting the single best answer under prevailing majority doctrine.
Core rules and concepts
- Civil Procedure: personal jurisdiction (minimum contacts, fair play), subject-matter jurisdiction, venue, Erie, pleading, summary judgment, claim and issue preclusion.
- Constitutional Law: state action, due process, equal protection tiers, First Amendment, Commerce Clause, federalism.
- Contracts: common law versus UCC Article 2, formation, consideration, Statute of Frauds, parol evidence, remedies.
- Criminal Law: actus reus, mens rea, homicide, defenses, Fourth/Fifth/Sixth Amendment.
- Evidence: relevance, character, hearsay and exceptions, confrontation, impeachment.
- Real Property: estates, future interests, landlord-tenant, easements, covenants, recording.
- Torts: negligence elements, intentional torts, strict liability, products liability.
Worked example
A merchant signs a writing promising to sell 500 widgets at $10 each and to keep the offer open until May 1. On April 15 the merchant revokes; the buyer accepts on April 20. Under UCC § 2-205, a merchant’s signed assurance that an offer will be held open is irrevocable for the stated time-up to three months-even without consideration. The April 15 revocation is ineffective, so the April 20 acceptance forms a contract unless another defense applies. The answer is not “revocation is effective because no consideration”; that is the common-law trap.
Traps
Ignoring the call (“which is most likely”); applying common law to a sale of goods; treating “not hearsay” as an exception; confusing burdens of production and persuasion; and choosing a true statement that does not answer the question.