Preparing for the MPRE Exam

The MPRE is the Multi-state Professional Responsibility Exam. The MPRE is part of the process of becoming a lawyer, and is required in all states, as far as I know. Unlike the bar exam, the MPRE is offered three times throughout the year at a number of locations in each state. Typically the locations are the towns or cities where a law school is located. The exam itself is 60 questions, however only 50 are scored, and 10 are non-scored experimental questions. Also, the scored and non-scored questions are not differentiated on the exam, similar to the LSAT. You are allotted two hours and five minutes to take the exam, there is only one section so you are allowed to leave early if you complete the exam early.

The MPRE is scored on a scaled scoring system ranging from 50 to 150, with 100 being the average. Your score is determined on your performance with the other test takers who took the exam the same day as you. This is used to gauge the difficulty of the exam and equalize it with past exams taken. Each state has its own score requirements, so you should look those up so that you know what you need to pass. For example, Florida requires a scaled score of 80 to pass. Unfortunately, because of the scaled scoring, it is difficult to determine what your scaled score would be on any practice exams that you take in preparation of the exam. I never found any way to convert my practice exams to a scaled score. However, the good news is that there are old MPRE exams available to use as practice exams.

There are tons of study aids available that can help prepare you for the MPRE. The best way is to take the Ethics or Professional Responsibility course offered at your law school. I know many require this course, and recommend taking the MPRE as soon as possible after completing the course. I wish I had not waited a year between taking Professional Responsibility and taking the MPRE. However, any study aids from those courses will be helpful, and you can also get MPRE specific study guides. For my studying, I used BarBri, which includes MPRE prep with the bar exam prep course. The BarBri course consisted of a four hour video (which is available online if you are signed up with BarBri), and a study guide with blanks to fill in as you watched the video. BarBri also provided a test prep book that included a study outline, 5 practice exams, and notes on all the topics. I found the study guide that went with the video, and the study outline to be the best way to prepare. After reviewing those two things, I took all of the available practice exams. With the practice exams, explanations are given on why an answer is correct, and why the others are wrong. Many of the questions asked on the MPRE are similar to questions asked in the past, because of this, learning the reasoning behind why one answer is wrong was very helpful.

There are numerous ways to study for the MPRE, but doing old practice exams should be a part of any studying. Studying doesn’t have to start too early before the exam, many people start studying the week of the exam and do just fine.