The most important step you can take toward improving your Multistate Bar Exam scores is constantly evaluating WHY you are getting answers wrong, or right. Doing hundreds of MBE practice questions alone will not prepare you for this portion of the bar exam. You should take note on every question why you got it right or wrong. The best way to do this is in the form of an MBE Journal.
You can use any program that you prefer to keep your journal (excel, word, google, etc). It is a good idea to note the practice set you are working, the date, and the subject at the top of the page or section of the document, as well as your percentage right. This makes it easy to quickly see how you are scoring in each subject. For each wrong answer, indicate the letter you chose, the correct letter, a brief comment as to why you missed the question, the correct rule of law, and any additional notes that strike you (like questions for your bar exam tutor, mnemonics, etc.).
The most common comments as to why you missed a question are the following:
• Misread the fact pattern
• Misread the call of the question
• Did not know area of law at all
• Did not know law well enough to identify nuance
• Misapplied law to facts – legal misunderstanding
• Misapplied law to facts – emotional distraction
• Added or assumed facts not present
• Got tricked
You may come up with additional comments that you begin to recognize in your own practice. Just make sure the comments are brief, as above, and that you repeat, more or less, the same phrasing. This makes it easy to spot patterns and recognize your own personal MBE “potholes.”
In the next column, write out the rule of law you were missing or mistaken about in as much or as little detail as you deem necessary. Be sure you right the rule of law correctly, but try not to copy verbatim from a legal text. In addition to your wrong answers, include any answers you got right but for the wrong reasons along with the same analysis
Note in your journal what are your GRRRR questions. The ones that made you mad, increased your desire to strangle bar examiners, made you throw your pencil or sigh with exasperation, or just otherwise annoyed the beejesus out of you. If you are taking the bar exam again, they may all feel like GRRR questions but try to pick a handful that particularly grrrrrate on you. These are the questions you have an almost visceral reaction to. GRRR questions tend to reflect places where your natural reasoning style differs from the reasoning the NCBE wants from you, as well as the places where the answer goes against your personal beliefs, values, or expectations. You want to pay particular attention to GRRR questions, asking yourself why you wouldn’t choose the correct answer and why you chose the answer you did. You may be too plaintiff’s minded, too caveat emptor minded, your emotions may have been triggered, or you may just think intentional infliction of emotional distress is a stupid tort. Play Sherlock Holmes to your own psychological process. The NCBE is extremely skilled at baiting you down the rabbit hole by playing to your presumptions, assumptions, prejudices, and predilections and making wrong answers sound and seem right. Identifying just one of these tendencies can bump your score 2 or 3% overall. A bar exam tutor can make this process more effective and efficient.
Do not worry initially about time. As you get better at the strategies, your time will improve. Do, however, note on your journal what number you were on when you should have been done. For example, if you are doing 50 questions and you are on number 43 at the 1 ½ hour mark – make a note on number 43 on your journal to that effect. Then go ahead and complete the assignment. That way you get the practice but keep yourself aware of timing issues.
Keeping a well-organized journal for each subject will make it easy to see where you have timing issues, where you have substantive issues, how much you have improved, and how much you need to improve. It also provides an excellent review resource for the rules of law that did not come naturally to you during your practice. Most importantly, it will help you uncover your own tendencies to choose the answer the NCBE tempts you with rather than the answer that is actually correct under the law.