Multistate Bar Examination (MBE): 175 Scored Multiple-Choice Questions
The MBE is a 200-question exam with 175 scored multiple-choice items and 25 unscored pretest items. It tests seven subjects through applied fact patterns. Success depends on precise rule elements and on rejecting a choice that is legally true but does not answer the call.
Core rules by subject
- Civil Procedure: subject-matter and personal jurisdiction, venue, Erie, pleadings, discovery, summary judgment, claim and issue preclusion.
- Constitutional Law: standing, state action, Commerce Clause, due process, equal protection, First Amendment.
- Contracts: common-law and UCC Article 2 formation, consideration, defenses, third-party rights, breach, remedies.
- Criminal Law and Procedure: common-law crimes, mens rea, homicide, defenses, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rules.
- Evidence: relevance, hearsay and exceptions, character, impeachment, privilege, expert testimony.
- Real Property: estates, future interests, co-tenancy, landlord-tenant, easements, covenants, recording, mortgages.
- Torts: negligence, intentional torts, strict liability, products liability, defamation, privacy, damages.
Worked example
Plaintiff offers a bystander's statement, 'The brakes failed as the car pulled out,' made seconds after the crash, to prove the brakes failed. The statement is an out-of-court assertion offered for its truth, so it is hearsay. It may still be admissible as an excited utterance if the crash was startling and the declarant was under its stress; it could also qualify as a present sense impression if made immediately after perceiving the event. The best answer is not 'inadmissible hearsay' but 'hearsay admissible under an exception,' assuming the foundation is shown.
Traps
- A choice that states a correct rule but does not resolve the call.
- Hearsay offered for effect on the listener or to show notice is not hearsay; statements offered to prove the declarant's state of mind may be hearsay with an exception.
- Supplemental jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1367 does not extend to certain claims by plaintiffs against parties joined under Rules 14, 19, 20, or 24.
- In future interests, distinguish a vested remainder subject to divestment from a contingent remainder; class gifts turn on vesting and class closure.
- In constitutional questions, identify state action before applying equal protection or due process; Commerce Clause analysis includes channels, instrumentalities, and substantial effects.