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Recap of the Summer and Fall 2020 Uniform Bar Exams

Here we give a detailed recap of the summer and fall 2020 Uniform Bar exams — we tell you what surprised us, what didn’t, and what it means for future bar exams!

If you were unaware, the coronavirus pandemic upended the standard bar exam administration in the summer of 2020. Instead of one bar exam administered in July, states chose all kinds of different dates for bar exams. The National Conference of Bar Examiners provided material for three Uniform Bar Exams and then an abbreviated bar exam in October.

Here, we give a recap of the summer and fall 2020 Uniform Bar Exams.

General Thoughts on the Summer and Fall 2020 Uniform Bar Exams

• These three exams were standard exams, with the July bar exam being (in our humble opinion) slightly more difficult than the remaining two Uniform Bar Exams.
• It was interesting to see that on all three exams, the most difficult questions were Wills/Trusts questions. The Corporations questions were moderately difficult. And the “harder” subjects, like Secured Transactions, Real Property, Evidence, and Contracts — tested more straightforward issues.
• We were surprised that Torts was not tested at all. (We suspect it will be coming up.)
• We were surprised to see a Constitutional Law issue in each exam!
• Civil Procedure was only tested on one of the three fall exams (October 2020). This is a big change from it being a virtually guaranteed subject on every MEE. 
• It was interesting that the October 5-6 exam tested the exact same essays that the September 30-October 1 bar exam did. We do not ever expect to see repeat questions again.

July Bar Exam (Administered July 28-29, 2020)

1. evidence (moderate difficulty).

•  subsequent remedial measures
•  authentication, best evidence rule, hearsay—statement against interest
• physician-patient privilege (as applied by state law)

2. Corporations and Constitutional Law (difficult and nuanced)

• shareholder right to inspect
• shareholder action/board approval
• Citizens United  free speech issue

3. Wills/Trusts (difficult and nuanced)

• charitable trust not subject to RAP
• noncharitable trust can only last 21 years after creation under UTC (but under common law void)
• consanguinity method: uncle and niece take in equal shares; parentelic distribution: only niece

4. Family Law

• A state may grant a divorce if a person is domiciled (even if no PJ over other spouse)
• State may grant custody even if no PJ over other respondent parent
• State may not grant property though because need PJ over respondent
• Fault basis may be established for divorce
• best interest of the child factors

5. Secured Transactions

• first to file or perfect rule, equipment (identify), PMSI is perfected and superior over non-PMSI
• equipment (identify), not a true lease, perfected takes over unperfected

6. Real Property

• Fair Housing Act of 1968

1. A persuasive cover letter (functions the same as a brief but technically a “wildcard” task)

2. an objective memo.

This was a moderately difficult exam. The Evidence and Family law questions were moderately difficult. The Corporations and Wills/Trusts questions were difficult. And the last two questions (Secured and Real Property) were relatively straightforward (that is, they were “easier”– but these are still very difficult subjects to master so we hesitate to call the questions themselves easy even if the issues were straightforward!)  Note that this is why it is important to keep track of time — the “easier” questions were at the end so you don’t want to miss the opportunity to fully analyze these!

The MPTs were not extraordinarily difficult. Even though the first MPT was a persuasive cover letter, it was really very similar to a persuasive brief. So it should not have been too surprising for examinees.

September Bar Exam (Administered Sept 9-10, 2020)  

1. criminal law (easy to moderate difficulty).

• first-degree murder (interpretation of statute)
• voluntary manslaughter (interpretation of statute)
• defense-of-others defense
• felony murder

2. Real Property (easy to moderate difficulty — required issue-spotting)

• constructive eviction
• acceptance of surrender
• covenant of quiet enjoyment and privity of estate with future tenant

3. Wills (difficult, lots of issue spotting and nuanced law)

• mental capacity to create a will
• proof of mistake and DRR
• valid codicil, holographic will, incorporation by reference doctrine

4. Constitutional Law (moderate, only because examinees tend to hate takings!)

• regulatory taking
• permanent physical invasion (taking)
• “public use”

5. Agency & Corporations/LLCs (moderate/easy)

• member-managed LLC
• actual authority of agent
• dissociation

6. Contracts (moderate)

• implied warranty of fitness
• rejection or revocation of acceptance

1. Persuasive brief

2. opinion letter.

The exam, on the whole, seemed a little bit more straightforward than July’s exam. The Criminal law question was mostly statutory interpretation, which was a little bit surprising. The issues were slightly more straightforward. The Wills question was again pretty difficult.

October Bar Exam (Administered Sept 30-October 1, 2020)

1. civil procedure (moderately difficult — new law on esi).

• ESI must be electronically preserved
• adverse inference instruction
• default judgment

2. Trusts (moderate difficulty)

• definite beneficiaries
• special power of appointment

3. Evidence (easy to moderate/straightforward)

• opposing party’s statement, then-existing state of mind
• statement against interest
• police officer report not admissible
• Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause

4. Agency & Partnership (easy)

• partners are agents of partnership
• partners are personally liable for partnership obligations
• partner can be reimbursed for partnership funds
• partner not automatically reimbursed for hours worked
• sale of land not in ordinary course of business

5. Constitutional Law (moderate)

• content-based speech v. content-neutral speech
• “narrowly tailored” meaning

6. Family Law (moderate/difficult)

• reduction of child support award
• spousal support modifiable

1. Objective memo

2. persuasive memo.

This was a moderately difficult exam, in line with a standard Uniform Bar Exam. The Civil Procedure question was nuanced and tested a slightly more recent change in the law on ESI. Trusts was difficult. The most straightforward questions were Evidence (the issues tested were standard though this is typically a difficult subject for many) and Agency and Partnership (which tested very straightforward issues). The Constitutional Law model answer went into a detailed discussion of the different meanings of “narrowly tailored.” We would be shocked if most examinees underwent a similar analysis…

Additional October Bar Exam (Administered October 5-6)

This was not technically a Uniform bar exam as only 100 MBE questions were given, 3 MEEs and 1 MPT. The written portion was the same as the above exam (with the last three MEE’s — Agency & Partnership, Constitutional Law, and Family Law — administered).

We wondered if the NCBE would repeat questions on the 9/30-10/1 exam. This was in part due to the fact that states prohibited taking multiple fall bar exams. We did not fully expect them to do this, though.

We hope you found this recap of the summer and fall 2020 Uniform Bar Exams helpful! We are glad that the 2021 bar exam season is looking to be a bit less crazy and complicated!

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Previously Released Bar Exam Essay Questions

Welcome to the past California Bar Exam past essays directory. 

To view a varying range of graded essays from the State Bar, visit BarEssays.com . Email us for a  $25 discount code  at  [email protected] .

Join the Facebook Group titled:   California Bar Exam Essay Discussions . 

One-Hour Essays

90 minute performance tests.

Multistate Performance Test.  Property of the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

MPT 2002   MPT 1:  State v. Tweedy

MPT February 2009 MPT 1:  Phoenix Corporation v. Biogenesis, Inc. MPT 2:  Ronald v. Department of Motor Vehicles MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2009   MPT 1:  Jackson v. Franklin Sports Gazette , Inc. MPT 2:  In re City of Bluewater MPT Point Sheets

MPT February 2010   MPT 1:  State of Franklin v. McLain MPT 2:  Logan v. Rios MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2010   MPT 1:  In re Hammond MPT 2:  City of Ontario MPT Point Sheets

MPT February 2011   MPT 1:  Butler v. Hill MPT 2:  In re Magnolia County MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2011   MPT 1:  In re Field Hogs, Inc. MPT 2:  In re Social Networking Inquiry MPT Point Sheets

MPT February 2012   MPT 1:  Franklin Resale Royalties Legislation MPT 2:  In re WPE Property Development, Inc. MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2012   MPT 1:  State of Franklin v. Soper MPT 2:  Ashton v. Indigo Construction Co. MPT Point Sheets

MPT February 2013   MPT 1:  In re Wendy Martel MPT 2:  In re Guardianship of Will Fox MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2013   MPT 1:  Monroe v . Franklin Flags Amusement Park MPT 2:  Palindrome Recording Contract MPT Point Sheets

See this link for  more   MPTs and Score Sheets.  

Also, here are  MPTs from Georgia . I like these MPTs because the library does not have a two-column format for cases. https://www.gabaradmissions.org/essay-and-mpt-questions-and-selected-answers

Disclaimer:  Past exams found here are the property of the State Bar of California and the National Conference of Bar Examiners. The property is used here in accordance with all written regulations.

Write A Passing

Performance  test, on  the   cal. bar, e-book is titled   1440:  mastering the, performance test, get this free, pt  e-book, delivered to your email now.

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• MEE Jurisdictions
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• A Step-by-Step Approach on How to Read, Organize, & Draft Your Answer to an MEE Essay Question
• 15 MEE Tips to Increase Your Essay Score
• How to Study & Prepare for the MEE
• MEE Practice: How to Use Model Essay Answers & Sample Examinee Answers Effectively

Where to Find Past MEE’s

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A Guide to Mastering the Multistate Essay Exam (MEE)

(including free essay questions & answers), what you’ll learn:.

• Where to find Past MEE Questions & Answers (including FREE sources)

We have compiled the following lists of where you can find past MEE essay questions and answers that are available from the NCBE and UBE/MEE jurisdictions.

Past MEE Questions & Model Analyses (released by the NCBE)

Recent MEE Questions-Analyses :

• MEE Questions and Analyses from recent exams can be purchased from the NCBE store here .

FREE Sources of MEE Questions-Analyses :

• The six MEE questions ( without analyses) from the most recent exam can be downloaded for FREE on the NCBE website here .
• MEE Questions and Analyses from older administrations can be downloaded for FREE on the NCBE website via the links below.

Sample Examinee Answers (released by UBE/MEE Jurisdictions)

Below you can find links to MEE Questions and Sample Examinee Essay Answers released by Arkansas, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, and South Dakota.

NOTE:  Be careful when reviewing examinee answers for other years not listed above.  We have intentionally omitted certain exam years because the MEE was not used in that jurisdiction at the time.  For example, DO NOT use any New York bar exam released essay answers prior to July 2016 – when NY switched to the UBE format.  These were omitted because New York administered different state specific essays prior to that exam – those examinee answers were based on New York specific law.

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Past Bar Exam Essays and Performance Tests (PTs)

Where do you find essays and performance tests from past exams to practice on?

Rather than have you go hunting for them or flip through your bar course materials, I’ve compiled past essays and PTs for California . I also link to past MEE and MPT questions from various UBE jurisdictions.

California : Here are downloadable California Bar Exam essays and selected answers going back to 2001, and California performance tests (PTs) and selected answers.

👉 See also the essay answer bank for real graded answers

👉 CA essays – frequency chart and issue chart (use this to find when topics were tested)

UBE: Downloadable MEE questions and representative answers

NCBE MEE Questions and Analyses are available from 2013 July to 2018 February.

Representative answers to MEE questions are available from various states (some may be missing):

• Arkansas from 2013 February to 2021 February
• Maryland from 2019 July to 2023 February
• Minnesota from 2020 September to 2023 February
• New York from 2016 July to 2023 February
• South Dakota from 2019 February to 2021 February

MPT questions and answers are below this section. Click here to jump to MPT.

MEE questions

Sample answers: Maryland

Sample answers: Maryland , Minnesota , New York

Sample answers: Arkansas , Maryland , Minnesota , New York , South Dakota

MEE questions (October version)

Sample answers: Maryland , New York , South Dakota

Sample answers: Arkansas , New York , South Dakota

Sample answers: Arkansas , New York

NCBE Questions and Analyses

Sample answers: Arkansas

UBE: Downloadable MPT questions and representative answers

NCBE MPT Questions and Point Sheets are available from 2013 July to 2018 February.

Representative answers to MPT questions are available from various states (some may be missing):

• Georgia from 2011 July to 2023 February

MEE questions and answers are above this section. Click here to jump to MEE.

MPT question 1 , MPT question 2

MPT questions

Sample answers: Georgia , Maryland , Minnesota

Sample answers: Georgia , Maryland , Minnesota , New York

Sample answers: Arkansas MPT-1 MPT-2 , Georgia , Maryland , Minnesota , New York , South Dakota

MPT question (one MPT administered)

Sample answers: Georgia , Maryland , New York , South Dakota

Sample answers: Arkansas MPT-1 MPT-2 , Georgia , New York , South Dakota

Sample answers: Georgia , New York

NCBE Questions and Point Sheets

Sample answers: Arkansas , Georgia , New York

Sample answers: Arkansas , Georgia

Sample answers

UBE: Links to find past MEE questions and answers, past MPT questions and answers, and MEE and MPT analyses

The files above were sourced from these places:

• Free recent MEE questions and analyses from NCBE
• Free recent MPT questions and point sheets from NCBE
• If you want the official analyses for more recent ones, you can find them in the MEE study aids (paid)
• Arkansas MEE and MPT questions and best answers (2013 and on)
• Minnesota’s representative answers (last few years)
• Maryland’s representative answers (last few years)
• South Dakota’s representative answers (last few years)
• New York Past Exam Essay Questions with Sample Candidate Answers (2016 July and on)
• Georgia Essay (not MEE) and MPT Questions and Selected Answers (2011 July and on include MPT questions and sample answers)
• Colorado MEE and MPT selected answers (past year)

Others : Check your state bar website or law school’s academics resources to see if it offers questions and selected answers

• Nevada offers sample passing answers for essays and PTs going back to 2007
• A Virginia law school offers past Virginia bar exams to review

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Discussion of all things related to the Florida Bar Exam. Users can post questions about the exam, both substantive and procedural. Current and former takers of the Florida Bar Exam are welcome.

October Essays Released

In case you are interested, the essays from the October exam are posted to FBBE website.

Edit: Here are the essays.

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Category : en:Cities in Ulyanovsk Oblast

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English names of cities in Ulyanovsk Oblast, a federal subject ( oblast ) of Russia .

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Ulyanovsk Oblast

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A town that is situated in Russia, has a minimal population density. 0 rating rating ratings Oren Mayer

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Chinese : 乌里扬诺夫斯克州 0 rating rating ratings Bryan Liu French : L'Oblast D'Oulianovsk 0 rating rating ratings Verbrugghen

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