How to Read Multistate Questions for the Bar Exam

I will concentrate on the Multistate for a few days since everyone must go through the process and with the weight of the test on your overall grade.

Reading a Question

Because of time constraints, you will have time for only one reading of the fact pattern. However, don’t make the mistake of sacrificing a careful reading for a quick one. Do not read the fact pattern as a novel. As you know, one of the major changes of the multistate is that there will be one fact pattern for one question.

You must read carefully and actively to spot signal words and legally significant facts. Pay attention to the bar examiners’ particular use of language and look for the following as you read:

1) Relationships between parties that signal the area of law and legal duties: landlord/tenant, employer/employee, principal/agent, buyer/seller;

2) Amounts of money, dates quantities and ages;

3) Words such as “oral” and “written,” “reasonable” and “unreasonable,” among others;

4) Words that indicate the actor’s state of mind. These are crucial for Criminal Law and Tort questions. Look for such language as:

• Intended
• Decided
• Mistakenly thought
• Deliberately
• Reasonably believed

Since you may write in the test booklet, circle or highlight these words and others which “legally” characterize the behavior of the actors.

Never Assume Facts

The bar examiners carefully construct MBE questions to contain all the facts you need to answer the question. You must rely solely on these facts and no others, to answer the question. Of course you may draw reasonable inferences from the facts but you cannot fabricate your own or create “what if” scenarios.

Don’t go off on tangents based on possible theories you see raised in the facts. Sometimes when you read a fact pattern, you’ll see the potential for a number of possible causes of action. In such instances, you must refrain from anticipating what the bar examiners will ask by moving forward on your own and formulating responses based on what you think might be asked. This is one of the reasons you have to read the call of the question before you read the fact pattern – to keep from going astray. This is just as dangerous as misreading or adding facts.

Stick to the Law

You must apply the rule of law to the facts without hesitation or equivocation. You cannot get emotionally involved with the parties or substitute your instincts for what you know is legally correct. Don’t think someone is guilty when the call of the question say he is not. That is not what the question is asking you.

Do not consider what you think would happen if you were in actual practice. This isn’t real, this is the bar exam. The bar exam is no time to worry about the great divide between theory and practice – simply apply the rule of law as you’ve learned it to answer the questions and you’ll do fine.