MPRE/MBE Comparison Forum

[Calbears123]

Curious about how many I got right in the MBE for my score of 175.4

[JoeSeperac]

Curious about how many I got right in the MBE for my score of 175.4

Based on your scaled MBE score of 175.4, your estimated raw MBE score was about 164/175 correct (based on my estimate of the MBE scale). This means you answered about 93.7% of the graded MBE questions correctly. This places you in the 99.2% percentile for the MBE. This means that 0.8% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 175.4 (based on July national data).

Did you take any other practice exams other than the Barbri 135/200 score?

[Findedeux]

MPRE: 130

MBE: 169.6

[curlietop86]

@Joe, could you give me an analysis of my score? I scored a 308 with a 157.2 MBE (NY UBE). Thanks!

Congratulations on passing the J18 exam. Based on your scaled MBE score of 157.2, your estimated raw MBE score was about 138/175 correct (based on my estimate of the MBE scale). This means you answered about 78.9% of the graded MBE questions correctly. This places you in the 81.9% percentile for the MBE. This means that 18.1% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 157.2 (based on July national data for the past 7 years). Based on a total score of 308, this means your written score was 150.8, which would have placed you in the 69.3% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 30.7% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT).

[abracadabra!]

MPRE: 106

MBE: 143.7

UBE: 302

Joe, would you analyze my MBE/UBE results? Thanks!

[abracadabra!]

MPRE: 106

MBE: 143.7

UBE: 302. Joe, would you mind giving me the percentile breakdown on my MBE/UBE scores? Thanks!

[Gkmc]

I guess my scores are anomalous?

MPRE: 86
MBE: 168

[JoeSeperac]

MPRE: 106

MBE: 143.7

UBE: 302. Joe, would you mind giving me the percentile breakdown on my MBE/UBE scores? Thanks!

Congratulations on passing the J18 exam Abracadabra!. Based on your scaled MBE score of 143.7, your estimated raw MBE score was about 119/175 correct (based on my estimate of the MBE scale). This means you answered about 68% of the graded MBE questions correctly. This places you in the 52.8% percentile for the MBE. This means that 47.2% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 143.7 (based on July national data for the past 7 years).

Based on a total score of 302, this means your written score was 158.3, which would have placed you in the 83.8% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 16.2% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT).

On the MBE, examinees usually score close to their MBE practice scores, especially if they have done a large number of MBE questions in practice. How many questions did you answer in practice, from what sources (e.g. Barbri, Kaplan, Adaptibar, NCBE) and what was your overall % correct?

[JoeSeperac]

I guess my scores are anomalous?

MPRE: 86
MBE: 168

I would say so. Did you study much for the MPRE?

[Gkmc]

I guess my scores are anomalous?

MPRE: 86
MBE: 168

I would say so. Did you study much for the MPRE?

Not really; probably not more than 10 hours. Watched some barbri videos and did maybe 60 practice problems (and did poorly on them).

[MurdockLLP2]

@Joe, could you give me an analysis of my score? I scored a 308 with a 157.2 MBE (NY UBE). Thanks!

Congratulations on passing the J18 exam. Based on your scaled MBE score of 157.2, your estimated raw MBE score was about 138/175 correct (based on my estimate of the MBE scale). This means you answered about 78.9% of the graded MBE questions correctly. This places you in the 81.9% percentile for the MBE. This means that 18.1% of Jul examinees nationwide did better than you on the MBE based on your scaled MBE score of 157.2 (based on July national data for the past 7 years). Based on a total score of 308, this means your written score was 150.8, which would have placed you in the 69.3% percentile among examinees nationwide (meaning that 30.7% of examinees nationwide would have scored better than you on the MEE/MPT).

Thanks Joe! If it helps your site and research, I scored a 97 on the MPRE.

[Lawworld19]

Anxiously awaiting bar results. Ohio comes out this Friday. I know there probably isn't much correlation here but what was your MPRE and corresponding MBE?

I got a 98 on the MPRE this August and felt like I guessed on 70% of the questions. Half ass studied for a few days after work prior.

Based on your MPRE score of 98, you answered about 67% correct on the MPRE. According to NCBE, there is a moderately high relationship between MPRE scores and MBE scores (correlation of .58). This is understandable since both exams require you to choose a correct answer from usually two plausible choices. If you likewise answered 67% correct on the MBE, you should expect to see a scaled MBE score of about 142 (this is based on the 2013 raw to scaled MBE conversion in New York). NCBE also states that MBE scores are a surrogate for total bar exam scores since MBE scores are highly related to total bar exam scores.

http://www.ncbex.org/assets/media_files ... esting.pdf.

For example, in 2014, NCBE responded to complaints that the lower pass rates in July 2014 were somehow due to the MBE. To support their position that the decline in MBE scores (and therefore pass rates) was due to the quality of the candidate rather than the test itself, NCBE compared the MBE scores to MPRE scores. According to Erica Moeser, the President of NCBE: "I also looked at what the results from the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE), separately administered three times each year, might tell me. The decline in MPRE performance supports what we saw in the July 2014 MBE numbers. In 2012, 66,499 candidates generated a mean score of 97.57 (on a 50-150 scale). In 2013, 62,674 candidates generated a mean score of 95.65. In 2014, a total of 60,546 candidates generated a mean score of 93.57. Because many MPRE test takers are still enrolled in law school when they test, these scores can be seen as presaging MBE performance in 2014 and 2015."

http://seperac.com/pdf/830414-presidentspage.pdf

Here, NCBE is using this positive correlation between MBE scores and MPRE scores to support its argument regarding bar passage declines. Somehow this 2-hour test on attorney ethics correlates well enough with the MBE that NCBE relied on it to bolster their position. This of course begs the question, why is the MPRE positively correlated with the MBE? If there was indeed a weaker pool of candidates, why should they be expected to score worse on a test that involves a single subject and only a few days of study. What if these weaker candidates studied more than normal for the MPRE – shouldn't they then have higher mean scores? The only explainable difference is that if the quality of the candidate has decreased, this means there are fewer "good test takers" and good test-taking is a skill necessary for success on the MBE and MPRE. What exactly are good test-takers? Good test takers frequently take practice tests. Good test takers read test questions carefully but still analyze them quickly. Good test-takers recognize that the test is a game and approach it accordingly. Good test takers become familiar with how questions are asked and what kinds of answers are correct for those questions. Good test takers are able to avoid the "distractors" or "foils." Good test takers learn from their mistakes and are less likely to repeat them. In contrast, poor test-takers likely do worse on the MPRE for the same reason they do worse on the MBE – they have weaker reading comprehension skills, are more prone to choosing the appealing but wrong answer choices, and are more likely to repeat their mistakes.

Bottom line – if you can do well on the MPRE after a few days of study/practice, you will likely do well on the MBE after significant study/practice. Conversely, if your first attempt at the MPRE was poor even though you studied/practiced, this should serve as a signal that your MBE score may be problematic.

I ended up getting a 144.50 Joe. After a ton of looking at people's mpre and your predictions and their actual mbe score, it seems mpre to MBE prediction holds some weight

[JusTrynnaPass]

MPRE: 97

MBE: 158

GA Bar score: 290 (270 needed to pass)

[jerrym]

MPRE: 124
MBE: 175.4
UBE: 338

[notrub14]

MPRE: 116
MBE: 176

[cmc032393]

Hey Joe, can you please analyze my MPRE and NY July 2018 UBE scores

MPRE 116

MBE 153.9

UBE 320