MBE Questions: How Much Testing Should You Do?

When you take the MBE portion of the bar, you must average 34 questions per hour to answer all 100 questions in the allotted 3 hours. You must make sure on the day of the MBE exam, you do not run out of time. Yes, it’s imperative that you answer the MBE correctly, but it is also imperative that you have an opportunity to answer every question. You cannot allow yourself to run out of time and potentially fail to answer 5 to 10 questions that you didn’t get to. Even if you don’t know the answer, you can at least narrow the answer choices to 2 and make an educated guess. If you don’t read the question, you can’t even make an educated guess.

Make an ultimatum to yourself today that you will read and answer all the MBE questions per session at the exam site.

It’s a difficult endeavor and you must practice every day to get yourself ready for the MBE marathon.

How do you practice the MBE effectively and efficiently?

First, I would recommend you practice the MBE in ½ hour increments, for now. Ordinarily that would mean you need to do 17 questions per half hour. The stress of the actual test will make you work slower, so you’ll need to practice more questions per half hour. If you perfect a pace of say 19 or 20 questions per half hour, then come test time you’ll average your 17 questions per half hour.

Until you get used to all this extra study and practice time, try 3 to 4 sets of half hour tests, per study day, doing 19-20 questions at a time. Do not interrupt that time with bathroom breaks or phone calls or eating a snack while you are testing yourself. Time yourself, as it is very important that you keep up with the strict time limits of MBE testing. Do not cheat on the time. Yes, it is going to be very hard in the beginning, but with enough practice, you’ll find yourself getting through the questions faster and with more ease.

Once you finish your 19-20 questions, look over every single answer, even the ones you got right. You want to make sure you understand the reasoning behind the correct answer, even your right answers. If there is a point of law you don’t understand, write it down or try to memorize that point of law. You may want to go over to your study guide and re-read that section of the law.

Right now, the MBE testing will be like running in sand. You are going to frustrated and tired. Some days or some sessions you’ll do fine, other days and other testing sessions will leave you convinced you don’t know a thing about the law. You will be inconsistent and irritated. But don’t get discouraged, you will get better at them and the questions will start to become easier for you. Conversely, don’t get over confident. A few good scores does not make a passing score. Keep practicing. Your practice times will make you stronger for the actual test, and, believe it or not, you will actually start to see patterns and stock answers that you will know can’t be right. The MBE questions are like doing cross word puzzles. The same clues and answers will start to repeat themselves and you’ll discover the tricks the MBE examiners use to distract you from the right answer.

Practice, practice, practice and you’ll conquer the MBE test as you earn your way to your bar license.