Dr. Steiner 
(rev. 10-1-2010)

Overview of the Texas Bar Exam

The Student Handbook also has a section on the Texas Bar Exam that also covers the subjects tested on the Texas Bar Exam and provides other useful information.

I.        Format

Daily Schedule

Day 1:

Texas Procedure & Evidence/

Multistate Practice Test (20%)

Day 2:

Multistate Bar Exam (40%)

Day 3:

Texas Essays
(40%)

Morning

Two 90-minute exams

3 hours (100 questions)

3 hours (6 essays)

Lunch

  

90 minutes

90 minutes

Afternoon

  

3 hours (100 questions)

3 hours (6 essays)

II.      Web Resources


A.      Texas Board of Law Examiners


B.      National Conference of Bar Examiners

III.      Subjects

           A.       Texas Procedure and Evidence (10% of score)

                      1.       Description from Texas Board of Law Examiners

The P&E exam is a 90-minute test covering both civil and criminal procedure and evidence. It is printed in one exam booklet, and it is up to you to decide how much time to spend on each section. When you finish the first section of the test, go immediately to the second section.

                      2.      Web resources: Past exams and bar examiners' comments on Texas Bar Examiner website

 3.      Questions and comments for July 2000 through July 2008 exams are collated here for your           convenience:

4.      Questions and comments for February 2009 through July 2010 exams are collated here:

           B.       Multistate Practice Test (10% of score)

                      1.      Description from Texas Board of Law Examiners

The MPT is a 90-minute exam designed to test your ability to use fundamental lawyering skills in a realistic situation and will evaluate your ability to complete a task a beginning lawyer should be able to accomplish. The exam materials to be provided to you will include a File and a Library. The MPT requires you to: (a) sort detailed factual materials and separate relevant from irrelevant facts; (b) analyze statutes, cases, and administrative materials for relevant principles of law; (c) apply the relevant law to the relevant facts to resolve a client’s problem; (d) identify and resolve ethical dilemmas, when present; (e) communicate effectively in writing, and; (f) complete the required task within 90 minutes.

                      2.      Format of assignment: brief in support of motion, client letter, memorandum

                      3.      Web resources: Past exams on National Conference of Bar Examiners website .

                      4.      Bar Examiners Comments: Past MPT's aren't posted on the BLE website; however the examiners do post                                 comments.

        • The comments for February 2009 through February 2010 are collected here

           C.       Multistate Bar Exam (40% of score)

                      1.        Description: 200 multiple choice questions; two 3-hour sessions

                      2.       Subjects

                                 a.         Contracts

                                 b.        Constitutional law

                                 c.        Criminal Law and Procedure

                                 d.        Real Property

                                 e.        Evidence

                                 f.        Torts

                      3.       Resources:

The National Conference of Bar Examiners now has available for purchase two sets of 100 MBE questions for $26 per set. These 100-question, annotated online practice exams that use questions from recent MBEs. “Purchasing this item gives you a subscription for online access to the exam, for unlimited trials, expiring one year after the date of purchase. You can take the exam in either timed or untimed sittings, and you will receive feedback on your answers, including annotations and a customized score report.” The National Conference of Board Examiners also has some really old exams available for purchase, which it says shouldn’t be used for preparing for the MBE. Go here for the NCBE Online Store.

           D.       Texas Essays

                      1.        Description: 12 essays; two 3-hour sessions

                      2.        Subjects

                                 a.        Uniform Commercial Code (2 essays)

                                 b.        Business Associations, including corporations, agency and partnerships (2 essays)
                                            

                                 c.        Family Law (2 essays)

                                 d.        Wills & Administration (2 essays)

                                 e.        Real Property (2 essays) (for a brief BLE outline of this subject
                                            click here)

                                 f.        Trust & Guardianship (1 essay)

                                 g.        Consumer Law (1 essay) (for a brief BLE outline of this subject click here) 

                                 h.        Cross-over topics


3.        The Board of Law Examiners says that taxation and bankruptcy may appear as an element of other            essays, such as family law, oil and gas, trusts, wills and estates, etc.

4.        As of the July 2010 exam, in the twenty three exams given since July 1999, seven essays (7/276)            have had cross-over elements, including one essay asking about the effect of a bankruptcy stay on a            foreclosure sale, two essays having questions about federal estate tax, one essay having a federal gift            tax element, and one asking about the tax advantages of alimited liability partnership versus a                       corporation.  

5.        Web resources: Past exams and bar examiners' comments on Bar Examiner website. Beginning with            the February 2009 exam, the BLE now posts "selected answers" instead of posting comments. These            select answers for the Day Three essays are "unrevised answers written by examinees under time            constraints without access to the law books." They are available here.

                      6.        Essays and examiners' comments from July 2000 through July 2008 are collated here for your convenience.                                  They are grouped by subject matter:

                      7.        Essays for February 2009 through July 2010 are collated below.

IV.      STCL Courses and the Bar Exam

           A.       STCL Courses Related to the Texas Procedure and Evidence Section

                      1.        Evidence

                      2.        Texas Pretrial Procedure

                      3.        Texas Trial and Appellate Procedure

                      4.        Criminal Procedure

                      5.        Texas Criminal Procedure

           B.       STCL Courses Related to the MPT

                      1.        LRW I

                      2.        LRW II

           C.       STCL Courses Related to the Multistate Bar Examination

                      1.        First-year substantive courses

                      2.        Evidence and Property II

                      3.        Criminal Procedure 

                      4.        First Amendment 

           D.       STCL Courses Related to the Texas Essays

                      1.        Uniform Commercial Code

                                 a.        Payment Systems

                                 b.        Secured Transactions

                      2.        Business Associations

                                 a.        Corporations

                                 b.        Agency & Partnership

                      3.        Family Law

                                 a.        Family Law

                                 b.        Marital Property

                      4.        Wills & Administration

                                 a.        Wills, Trusts, & Estates

                                 b.        Administration of Estates & Guardianships

                      5.        Real Property

                                 a.        Property I

                                 b.        Property II

                                 c.        Oil & Gas

                      6.        Trust & Guardianship

                                 a.        Wills, Trusts, & Estates

                                 b.        Administration of Estates & Guardianships

                      7.        Consumer Law

                                 a.        Consumer Transactions

                                 b.        Insurance
                                            Note: Consumer Transactions covers insurance law topics on the bar.     

                      8.        Cross-over topics

                                  a.      Business Bankruptcy

                                  b.      Consumer Bankruptcy

                                  c.      Estate and Gift Taxation

V.     Studying for the Bar

 In March 2007, Delta Theta Phi law fraternity sponsored a program on studying for the bar. It features advice from four recent graduates on such matters as scheduling. It is available here. One graduate, Adrian Ramirez, also provided a handout with a suggested schedule. It is available here.

Ronda Harrison has provided another suggested schedule, which was geared to the July 2006 bar exam. It is available here.

VI.     STCL Performance

           A.       Bar Passage Rates (BLE Statistics)

           B.       Analysis of July 2004 Bar Results (BLE-commissioned study of results that addresses causes of                       failure)

VII.     "I'm Taking a Bar Exam"

           The Derailers, Bar Exam from Brewed in Texas, Vol. 2 (Compadre Records)