Real MBE Scores Forum

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If you've received your July 2016 scores, please consider posting both your real and practice MBE scores here.

Please indicate
-which bar prep company's practice test you took and any practice test score,
-real MBE score,
-how you felt post-MBE,
-the state you took, and
-anything else you think is notable

If you're a UBE taker, feel free to also post your overall UBE score here too. If you'd prefer to keep your scores/state private, you can DM them to me and I can post them.

Last year, someone created a google doc with people's real and practice MBE scores. Seeing real v. practice MBE score is great for both future takers and those patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for their own July 16 results.

Here's the google doc from last year: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

Here's the 2015 thread: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 9&start=50

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Taken from this thread (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&start=25)

Redfactor's scores

147/200 Barbri Simulated MBE
72/100 Barbri Refresher
176 scaled July 2016 MBE score

Jayrock's Scores

153 raw Kaplan simulated MBE score
145 scaled July 2016 MBE score

[immalawyer]

Barbri

Just found out. Passed.

Simulated: 107/200 (scared the crap outta me...)
Refresher: 71/100
MBE Scaled Score: 148.9
Written (no idea if you wanted this): 160.6

[SLS_AMG]

Taken from this thread (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&start=25)

Redfactor's scores

147/200 Barbri Simulated MBE
72/100 Barbri Refresher
176 scaled July 2016 MBE score

Jayrock's Scores

153 raw Barbari simulated MBE score
145 scaled July 2016 MBE score

I thought Jayrock stated pretty clearly s/he took Kaplan, not BarBri.

[squiggle]

Taken from this thread (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&start=25)

Redfactor's scores

147/200 Barbri Simulated MBE
72/100 Barbri Refresher
176 scaled July 2016 MBE score

Jayrock's Scores

153 raw Barbari simulated MBE score
145 scaled July 2016 MBE score

I thought Hayrack stated pretty clearly s/he took Kaplan, not BarBri.

You're right. In the thread I linked to, he said he used Kaplan and then later someone else said that Jayrock took Barbri. I'll edit my post. Thanks for catching that!

[Robb]

Hey all, went and added these to the spreadsheet from last year on the 2016 tab. Feel free to PM, or post here or the other thread and I'll put them in.

[arklaw13]

Barbri
159 raw simulated MBE
72/100 refresher
65/100 on that god awful half day one
Real MBE was 178.90
Felt really good after. Only had 10-15 where I wasn't sure of the answer.

[clouded.memory]

Took Barbri and passed the bar. 135/200 simulated MBE iirc. 73/100 on the MBE refresher. Real MBE 169. Felt pretty confident about the first half, but rushed for time and unsure about a lot on the second half.

[mvp99]

Took Barbri and passed the bar. 135/200 simulated MBE iirc. 73/100 on the MBE refresher. Real MBE 169. Felt pretty confident about the first half, but rushed for time and unsure about a lot on the second half.

This is reassuring. I felt the same about the MBE.

for posterity I think I had like

146/200 barbri simulated
69/100 simulated
77% average adaptibar

will update once I get my results.

[passx3]

Took Barbri and passed the bar. 135/200 simulated MBE iirc. 73/100 on the MBE refresher. Real MBE 169. Felt pretty confident about the first half, but rushed for time and unsure about a lot on the second half.

This is reassuring. I felt the same about the MBE.

for posterity I think I had like

146/200 barbri simulated
69/100 simulated
77% average adaptibar

will update once I get my results.

Same deal with me and the MBE. AM session I marked ~15 questions as unsure, felt conident overall. PM session I marked ~35 questions as unsure, felt less confident.

My bar prep strategy was to have average essays and make up any deficit on the state portion with an above-average MBE. Focused 75% or so of my studies on the MBE. I took Kaplan and Adaptibar.

No scores yet, but I will update when they come in. My bar prep & law school stats for those who are curious about predictive value:

166/4.0 ugrad
top 15% at T1 after 1L
Kaplan Midterm: 135/200 raw (Kaplan predicted 155 scaled)
Kaplan Final: 148/200 raw (Kaplan predicted 163 scaled)
Adaptibar Overall: 73.4% after 1500 questions (According to adaptibar this would predict a 146.8 raw MBE, I would estimate the scaling to equate to roughly 160).
Adaptibar last 3 weeks: ~80%

Final MBE Score: ___ (will update around Sept. 20)

[brandoloni]

Scores:

-Barbri Simulated Bar: 118/200
-Barbri Refresher: 72/100
-Real MBE Score: 155.8
-Overall UBE Score: 306

-I felt confident after the morning MBE, but very unsure after the afternoon MBE - felt much harder. I was completely bamboozled by half of the essays, although I made up enough law and formatted them correctly (IRAC), which I think helped me a lot in the end. The questions felt unnecessarily long. The MPTs were fairly hard for me to organize and time-consuming, but once they clicked they felt alright.
-I took it in North Dakota and passed

I prepared mainly with Adaptibar. I tried to follow the Barbri lectures but would doze off, I'd force myself to fill them in essentially. I think I completed ~85% of Barbri's program. Adaptibar was the program that kept me engaged. I felt as the Barbri program went on that their tricks became more apparent, i.e., ridiculous nuances and difficult questions to "scare" me into studying. The "study smart" modules just pissed me off with the level of difficulty, and I just stopped doing them at a certain point. Adaptibar amplified Barbri's effectiveness, but Barbri did not amplify Adaptibar's effectiveness, if that makes any sense.

I focused on Adaptibar more once that happened. They were fairly similar to actual MBE questions - but there were formats I never saw on Adaptibar on the actual MBE. I also used Critical Pass - they were very valuable early on in studying, I thought they provided good foundation for the future nuances we needed to learn. I used Lean Sheets in the last week as a very broad overview...because my brain was destroyed at that point.

That being said, the actual MBE had really odd and specific questions that neither Adaptibar or Barbri included. Coming out of the exam I felt confident that I would pass, and it turned out my gut was right. Good luck to everyone else going through this process...it is a pain, but ultimately the reward of passing is an indescribable sense of relief.

[SLS_AMG]

Seems weird to me that some people have fewer than 50 that they're unsure of. The whole exam seemed to be testing either a) material that was not covered in BarBri (the minority of questions, and some seemed obvious, but there were certainly some questions this way) or b) topics we had covered but that threw new wrinkles in. I was mostly concerned about the latter category. There were several topics where I knew a rule and even the exceptions to the rule, but I was left scratching my head as to where the topic addressed in the question would fit among the exceptions/sub rules/whatever. These I would categorize as "educated guesses," and I feel like I made like 80+ of them.

[passx3]

Seems weird to me that some people have fewer than 50 that they're unsure of. The whole exam seemed to be testing either a) material that was not covered in BarBri (the minority of questions, and some seemed obvious, but there were certainly some questions this way) or b) topics we had covered but that threw new wrinkles in. I was mostly concerned about the latter category. There were several topics where I knew a rule and even the exceptions to the rule, but I was left scratching my head as to where the topic addressed in the question would fit among the exceptions/sub rules/whatever. These I would categorize as "educated guesses," and I feel like I made like 80+ of them.

I posted that I probably marked 50 as "unsure." I would define "unsure" as having narrowed it to two or three answer choice and not really having a good reason for choosing one over the other, or testing a point of law that I was completely guessing on. The rest I was able to select an answer choice that I felt was either correct, or probably correct.

I expect that I'll get some wrong that I didn't mark as unsure, and that I'll get some right that I did mark as unsure. I didn't come away from the MBE feeling like I nailed it and I'm definitely getting a 150+, to clarify. I really hope I did, though.

[SLS_AMG]

Oh, I see. I was thinking the "non-unsure" questions were the ones where you were 100% sure you got them right. I guess it just hinges on definitions. I felt 100% sure on very few questions. There were a good number I was like 90% sure, but probably only like 20-30 on the whole exam I was 100% confident of.

[StarLord23]

I used Barbri and Adaptibar.
My MBE Score was 150 scaled.
Post-MBE - I felt like I failed the whole damn test (no exaggeration), especially after the PM session. Ended up feeling like I guessed on 75 of them.
I took Oklahoma and passed.
My Barbri simulated MBE was 123. Didn't do the refresher. Had about a 66-68% average consistently on Adaptibar.
I ended up doing 80% of my Personalized Study Plan and 500 Adaptibar questions.

[JaviSTB]

WA (UBE)

Scores:

Barbri simulated: 113/200
Barbri Refresher: 56/100
MBE scaled: 148.9
Total UBE: 299

Wasn't asked, but I completed 99 percent of the barbri plan.

I felt unsure going into the exam because my MBE scores weren't so hot and I had never done a full MPT.

First day, felt super confident in most of the essays except for the Secured Transactions and parts of the Torts and K's essays. Definitely ran out of time and my time management flew out the window early on. The MPTs weren't that bad, although I spent way too much time on the first MPT and felt rushed for the second one.

Second day, I don't know if I had a better feeling in the Am or PM portions. There were definitely parts throughout where I felt 100 percent confident on the answers I was circling.

I definitely did a crap ton of MBE questions after the simulated exam. Was doing more than Barbri was suggesting. Last two weeks would start each morning with about 30-40 questions then go into review of them then into the day's plan. Didn't really deviate much from what barbri told me to do. For essays such did what they told me and read/reviewed a lot of them the final week.

Just glad I don't have to do this again.

[SLS_AMG]

I used Barbri and Adaptibar.
My MBE Score was 150 scaled.
Post-MBE - I felt like I failed the whole damn test (no exaggeration), especially after the PM session. Ended up feeling like I guessed on 75 of them.
I took Oklahoma and passed.
My Barbri simulated MBE was 123. Didn't do the refresher. Had about a 66-68% average consistently on Adaptibar.
I ended up doing 80% of my Personalized Study Plan and 500 Adaptibar questions.

I guess this is where I get confused. You just randomly guessed on ~75 of them and were sure/kind of sure/made educated guesses on the rest? Or you were very confident on 125 of them and unsure of 75? If the latter, that's where I don't understand why people were worried.

[paul554]

WA UBE

Scores:
Themis simulated- 135
Averaging around 65-70% in final days before exam.
Completed 68% of course, no studying after 4pm or before 10am and no studying on weekends or holidays.

MBE: 156.6
MEE/MPT: 168
Total UBE: 325

I felt really good the first day. Oddly, we had covered almost to the word the questions regarding LLC's and secured transaction at my school, so that helped a lot. The MPT also wasn't bad, I finished the first half ahead of schedule, but I barely finished the second half with about a minute on the clock.

For the MBE, the AM session seemed to be about what I expected and I thought I probably got around 70% of them right. The PM session though . . . ugh. I didn't feel like I failed, but there were a lot more questions where I just wasn't as confident as I hoped to be in my answer.

Overall, I felt Themis was fine for the UBE and I would recommend them.

[jess]

.

[casgoodnight]

UBE:

Themis simulated: 122
I did maybe 60-65% of the course. I did most of the essay questions but relatively few MBE questions (maybe 30-35% of the ones available?) because I was lazy and they were hard.

MBE: 146.6
MEE/MPT: 159.6

After day one, I felt like I had done well enough that as long as I didn't totally self-destruct on the MBE I would be okay, which turned out to be right. I felt like I bombed the MBE but still felt like I had an 80% chance at passing.

[Vtlawguy]

VT UBE

The state does not release a score breakdown, but my total score was 301. I didn't really start studying until three weeks before the exam because I also work full-time (took three weeks off). I signed up for Barbri and began with their videos, but quit Barbri and shifted to Bar Max to work on MBE. Did a lot of self-study. On the NCBE OPE 4 scored 155 simulated prior to exam. Printed/purchased ten years of MPT and MEEs. I did not use IRAC on any of my essays. Rather, used CRAC, with the C being in a bolded, underlined heading, followed by opening paragraph with the rule, then analysis, and finally restated my conclusion.

Totally bullshitted on Secured Transactions, felt strong on K and Civ Pro essays. Evid. essay just OK. The rest all meh. Felt strong on MPTs, but spent too much time on first one and barely got the main points in on the second one. Increased font size for all the essays in Exam Soft to make answers seem longer.

Felt good about MBE. Had about 25 questions in total where I seemed unsure between two possible choices.

The bar exam has nothing to do with being a lawyer. Just glad I don't have to take it again.

[eastwardway]

Got results this week. Passed.

Barbri Simulated MBE: 153
Barbri Refresher: 73
Scaled MBE: 168

Felt completely awful after the actual exam. Convinced myself that I had failed and battled many sleepless nights. Hang in there for those still awaiting results.

[hangingtree]

They aren't providing the raw MBE score eh? Just your scaled? Appears there was a healthy bump

[PBateman1]

Passed in Montana. Took Kaplan.

Midterm Practice MBE: 119
Final Practice MBE: 120
MBE Scaled Score: 148.9

I felt horrible after the MBE but in retrospect I think I was overly focusing on the 15-20 questions that I had no idea whatsoever rather than the 180 other questions where I at least had a 50/50 guess.

[passx3]

Passed in Montana. Took Kaplan.

Midterm Practice MBE: 119
Final Practice MBE: 120
MBE Scaled Score: 148.9

I felt horrible after the MBE but in retrospect I think I was overly focusing on the 15-20 questions that I had no idea whatsoever rather than the 180 other questions where I at least had a 50/50 guess.

Love seeing good news from fellow Kaplan bar students! Congrats! Those are average to just above-average prep test results, and an autopass MBE score in 50/50 jurisdictions.