Better study tools always lead to better results

Essential materials for bar candidates seeking to efficiently improve their MEE and MPT exam performance

The F25 UBE Essays subscription module is now available

Over the past 15 years, I have examined the scores and essays of thousands of bar candidates which has led me to develop a very good understanding of what it takes to pass the bar exam. This UBE Essays subscription site contains bar preparation materials not available anywhere else that are designed to fill the gaps that examinees encounter during their MEE and MPT study. A UBE Essays subscription is the perfect complement to a full bar review course – I regard these materials as essential for anyone looking to bolster their MEE and MPT performance on the exam, especially those who plan limited preparation for the written portion of the exam. For example, a re-taker who passed with an MBE of 144.5 and total score was 275 told me: “I was able to identify my strengths (MBE) and to enhance those strengths by allocating a higher share of prep time to those areas. My goal was to hit 80% in Torts, Con Law, Criminal Law/Pro, and Contracts which left me with only needing 60% in the remaining three subjects to score around 70%. I am a hand-writer who inevitably misallocates time causing my essay organization to suffer.  I used your UBE Essay subscription intermittently for the last two weeks of bar prep, and was the only essay prep I used. I found it very helpful, the fact that I was even close to the cut score with essays is a testament to that.”

An examinee who failed J19 with a total score of 226 (MBE 116, written 110) passed J21 with a total score of 272 (MBE 146, written 126) attributed his improved essay score to the UBE Essays module: “For the MEEs I outlined the top 50 by priority, and extracted rules from the MEE bank and released answers, then I put them into my own words, and wrote them over and over again until I could memorize them, and say them out loud without looking at my rules. … The Torts essay I think I absolutely killed, because it had a RIL issue, that Joe went over on the MP3’s, and I literally could hear the rule from MP3 in my head as I typed it word for word in the essay (thanks Joe). For the second essay session, I did the essays in this order: Civ Pro, Wills, and Evidence. The Civ Pro, and Evidence essays I felt I did well with from going over the top 50 and outlining rules for them. … The MEE/MPT answer banks were absolutely clutch, because seeing the difference between a passing score, and a high passing score helped me establish goals in my essay writing. First, I would get my essay writing to passing level, then incrementally increase it to as close to the high passing score as possible. I never really reached the high passing score, but I made sure to lock in the passing score essay writing so that way as long as I got the MBE above 140 my essay writing would do the job. On test day I remember saying to myself no matter what comes on the screen in front of me, stay focused and kill it! Meaning don’t freeze up, and don’t allow any negative mental thought to linger, instead put all of my energy into reading the essays, issue spotting, and writing the answer.“

An account to UBE Essays.com can significantly benefit you if:

I regard a UBE Essays account as essential for anyone looking to bolster their MEE and MPT performance on the exam, especially those who plan limited preparation for the written portion of the exam. For example, a re-taker who passed J18 with an MBE of 144.5 and total score was 275 told me: “I was able to identify my strengths (MBE) and to enhance those strengths by allocating a higher share of prep time to those areas. My goal was to hit 80% in Torts, Con Law, Criminal Law/Pro, and Contracts which left me with only needing 60% in the remaining three subjects to score around 70%. I am a hand-writer who inevitably misallocates time causing my essay organization to suffer. I used your UBE Essay subscription intermittently for the last two weeks of bar prep, and was the only essay prep I used. I found it very helpful, the fact that I was even close to the cut score with essays is a testament to that.”

A UBE Essays account includes the licensed MEEs, but I transform them into more efficient study tools (e.g. an outline specifically for MEE Issue Spotting along with MP3s of the MEE questions and answers to create different memory impressions). This UBE Essays subscription will give you a lot of insight into what is required of you on the MEE and MPT (looking only at exemplar answers will often create unrealistic expectations). For example, the site contains proprietary MEE and MPT Comparators based on thousands of graded examinee essays. For example, an examinee who significantly improved on the MEE/MPT after using only the Comparators told me: “I did much better on my essays this time due in large part to your comparison tool. I found that to be extremely helpful.” This examinee’s written average went from 58th percentile to 96th percentile among the failing examinees who sent me their scores. Put simply, in the span of a few hours, you can see how hundreds of passing examinees organized and wrote their MEE/MPT answers and you will start to see what a good MEE/MPT consists of from essentially the same perspective as the grader.

UBE Essays.com is the first and only commercial bar review that provides actual graded examinee MEE and MPTs for review/comparison (along with a number of other uniquely beneficial MEE and MPT materials such as audio versions of the MEE questions and answers). You can view poor answers, exactly passing answers, or high scoring answers, and also compare any answer to another side-by-side. I find that many candidates benefit greatly from this creative approach to examining/comparing graded MEE and MPT answers. For example, an examinee that recently passed told me: “I think this helped me immensely, because although I had not practiced writing any essays, I still really got a feel for the tone, length, content and structure of passing answers which created a ‘voice’ in my head when writing essays.”
I strongly believe that if you don’t review and practice with the released MEE questions, you are making a serious mistake in your MEE study. If you don’t have access to the released MEE questions & answers through your bar review, it is more cost-effective (and extremely more efficient) to obtain these questions/answers/synopses through a UBE Essays subscription ($175 for a subscription versus $150 to purchase the 2012-2017 MEEs from NCBE) because you will obtain the exact same licensed MEE Questions and Answers that are available on NCBE’s website, but you will also gain access to a whole host of other useful MEE/MPT materials and tools that no other bar review provides.
If you are an auditory learner, you will love the subscription site. I make MP3s of a lot of the content (samples are below) so you can listen to it rather than read it. For example, I make MP3s of the NCBE Questions and Answer Analyses. Even if you are not an auditory learner, audio versions of the materials you study are a great way to create different forms of memory impressions (meaning if on the exam if you don’t remember something you read, you may remember something you heard). If you are limited on time, use the MP3s when you commute/cook/work out (or just get sick of reading). Every examinee should try the MP3s to see if they are helpful as an alternate learning tool. As one subscriber told me: “I realized during this process that I actually am much more of an auditory learner, and I found myself able to focus more and retain more from audio or audio with text than I ever have just by reading. So the fact that you provide so many audio resources made a big difference for me.” This is another example of where the subscription site acts as a gap-filler – no other bar review has MP3s of the actual MEE questions and answer explanations.
Since the graders are referring to a point-sheet, I believe issue-spotting is paramount on the MEE. Because an MEE question must be answered in 30 minutes, there is less time for an examinee to write a thoughtful analysis that might sway the grader. Instead, the MEE is seemingly designed as a hit-and-run exam where examinees must hit each issue and then simply run to the next one. In such circumstances, if what you say is not on the grader’s checklist, you are not likely to earn points for it. For this reason, I specifically made an MEE Issue Spotting outline (in both written and MP3 formats) that examinees should use to improve their MEE issue-spotting abilities.
If you are willing to self-evaluate, I suggest you write answers to released MEE questions under timed conditions and then consult the NCBE Answer Analysis to determine your grade. For each discrete point that is graded, if you correctly spotted the issue and concluded correctly (with some accurate law and relevant analysis in-between), you can confidently give yourself half-credit for that answer. If you can score half-credit for every issue, it will likely be an above-passing MEE answer. You can also write an answer to a question in the MEE or MPT Comparison Banks and then compare your answer to other graded answers. If this is too much effort, you can simply look at passing and above-passing MEEs. For example, one subscriber told me: “I think this helped me immensely, because although I had not practiced writing any essays, I still really got a feel for the tone, length, content and structure of passing answers which created a ‘voice’ in my head when writing essays.” Put simply, good essays look like other good essays.
I frequently talk about how I try to make this subscription site a gap-filler where I create study materials that are useful, efficient and unique. The MPT Comparison Banks are a perfect example of this. Each MPT Comparison is an essay bank of graded MPT answers for a particular administration – this is an excellent resource that does not exist anywhere else. The MPT is a “closed universe” practical problem using instructions, factual data, cases, statutes and other reference material. Accordingly, one of the most effective things an examinee can do is to answer MPTs under exam conditions and then dissect their answers along with the answers of high-scoring MPTs to see how the answers differ in regards to their use of the factual data, cases, statutes and other reference materials. This process of examination often leads to a good understanding of how to compose an above-passing MPT. I created these MPT Comparisons to enable examinees to do this. Utilizing these Comparisons, examinees can learn how other examinees (especially high scoring examinees) incorporate the MPT File and Library in their answers. Examinees can also use this MPT Comparison to analyze their own MPT answer to the question.
Examinees type much faster than they write, so hand-writing the exam requires planning. Accordingly, if you are hand-writing the exam (or are concerned you might have to), it is almost a prerequisite for you to look at past answers from other hand-writers to better understand what is required of hand-writers. The MEE and MPT Comparison Banks contain graded hand-written essay and MPT answers that you can use to plan out how much you will write, how you will layout what you write, and how you will format and edit your writing.

With the bar exam changing, these time-saving study materials/tools represent the next generation of bar preparation. The UBE Essays subscription package consists of the following materials/tools intended to efficiently improve your MEE/MPT performance on the current exam:

MEE/MPT Essay Comparison Banks – There are 109 different MEE/MPT Comparison Banks (based on 72 different MEE questions and 37 different MPT questions) each containing actual graded examinee MEE/MPT essays where you can not only see the scored answers in PDF form, but you can compare them to other scored answers in text form with any commonalities hyperlinked.  For example, an examinee who passed with a written of 145 after failing with a written of 121 told me “Many thanks for your precious advice and for your very very helpful essay comparisons – I doubt I would have improved my MEE score so much without these.” Click here to read more about this or here to view a sample.

Released MEE Essay Compilation – this is a WORD file of all the released MEE questions and answers from 1995 to present (56 exams) in a single document where the information is edited and arranged in a certain way to make MEE studying/practice much more efficient. Click here to read more about this or here to view a sample.

Released MEE Essay MP3s – 50+ hours of MP3 audio files covering the last 200+ MEE questions and NCBE Answer Analyses (from July 2007 to present). For example, an examinee who failed J19 with a total score of 226 (MBE 116, written 110) passed J21 with a total score of 272 (MBE 146, written 126) told me: “The MP3s were helpful to me because I would listen to them while driving to pick up my daughter from daycare, and at other time I would read along with them while handwriting out the exact rules to try and create as many memory impressions as possible.” Click here to read more about this or here to listen to a sample.

MEE Issue Spotting Practice Outline – contains every released MEE question from 2002 to present (200+ MEE questions) grouped by subject with the questions sorted from newest to oldest with the corresponding issues and short answers for issue spotting practice. Click here to read more about this or here to view a sample.

MEE Issue Spotting Practice MP3s – 25 hours of MP3 audio files (including MP3s broken down by subject) in the same format as the MEE Issue Spotting Practice Outline. Click here to read more about this or here to listen to a sample.

MPT Format Bible – contains each MPT tested on the New York Bar exam since July 2001 (when the MPT was first introduced). This MPT document should serve as your bible for learning MPT formats. Click here to read more about this or here to view a sample.

Visit the Study Suggestions Blog page or click on any of the above links to learn more about each feature or watch the below video for an explanation tutorial of the MEE/MPT Comparison Banks:

A clever person learns from his own mistakes, but a wise person learns from others’ mistakes. With these Comparison Banks, you can not only learn from the mistakes of others, but you can also learn from their achievements (so that you can avoid making your own mistakes). One of the best (and most unique) features of the UBE Essays subscription are the extensive MEE and MPT Comparison Banks. I strongly believe examinees learn by example and seeing how examinees assemble their answers can help you immensely in understanding how to assemble your own answers. For example, telling an examinee they need to weave the facts from the question into their answer is advice everyone gives, but low-ability examinees do not truly understand what this means until they see it in practice repeatedly. When you use these MEE/MPT Comparators to compare high scoring examinee answers to the question to see how those examinees used the facts in the question and then compare lower scoring examinee answers to the question, you start to recognize the things the high scoring candidates do that the low scoring candidates do not. It is this process of deconstruction that leads to better future written answers. In a sense, you are putting yourself into the shoes of the grader, seeing what the grader is seeing, and learning why a grader decides one answer deserves a higher score than another. NOTE: For the past 10 exams, I have provided my “Top 50 MEE” outline to any UBE Essays subscribers. Although there are 360+ released MEE essays, this outline contains the top 50 MEE essays I expect to have topics repeated in some fashion on the upcoming MEE. This outline is based on the same topic priorities as my UBE Master outline (which is part of my UBE Course), but since I am only identifying full essays, it is not as transparent as to which topics I regard as most important or least important for the upcoming MEE. However, in my UBE Course, I strongly advise the tutees to know these 50 MEE essays better than any other MEE essays. For example, a J22 examinee who passed with a written of 159 told me: “I used your MEE material to outline as many essays as possible, with a heavy focus on issue spotting and structure. I started with your top 50 in priority and then went by subject to focus on my weaknesses.”  Based on past results, you can usually expect these essays to cover at least 50% of the issues in at least two MEE questions. For example, an examinee who failed J21 with a written of 123.6 subscribed to my UBE Essays module for the F22 exam and passed with a written of 160.3. The examinee told me: “Hope all is well! I’m excited to inform you that I passed with a score of 316 on the NY Bar Exam. It feels surreal to say that! Your top 50 MEE essays were such a huge help!! At first, I constantly wrote and rewrote a number of essays (including my J21 essays) and read the model answers. Then, towards the end of bar prep, I utilized your top 50 essays compilation along with your essay comparison feature and I think that really helped — just so I could see the difference between good, not so good, and really good answers. This helped further build upon my issue spotting (that I’d improved through writing timed essays), and I was able to better put myself in the grader’s shoes by looking at comparisons.  On test day, as I was writing one of the essays (agency), it literally felt as if I was writing the same exact agency essay I’d written a day before (from your top 50 MEE outline).  As a second time test taker, I couldn’t have fathomed a 53 point jump. I am in shock! Do let me know if you’d like me to complete any forms (can i still do the post exam one??) or leave any testimonials, as I am more than happy to! THANK YOU!!!“ A repeat Texas examinee who passed J21 with a 279 (MBE 139 and written 140) after failing with a 259 (MBE 136 and written 124) told me: “I used your Seperac J21 MEE essay compilation to study for the MEE and I can’t give you enough credit for how you laid the essays out in order of priority. I used your document to study for the MEE in a quick and efficient manner. Instead of writing out practice essays, I read the question, then spent a few minutes writing out quick answers to see if I was understanding the call of the questions correctly. I felt adequately prepared for 5 of the essays, and as I expected Trusts instead of Wills and had 10 minutes to answer the Wills essay I’m fairly confident I scored a 1 on that essay. I credit your MEE essay compilation with contributing most to my passing and I’ve recommended that several individuals who failed J21 reach out to you.” A F21 subscriber told me: “I started reading through the top 50 and the very first essay ( of the top 50) was virtually identical the the February 2021 essay on agency and I froze—I realized this was for February 2021 and you had been SPOT-ON. I can tell you that the vicarious liability essay #1 was EXACTLY like the essay in February. There was also an easement question—I bombed it but I remember it being related to prescriptive easement and tolling of the time. There was a secured transactions very similar to #27 on the February top 50” A repeater who passed F20 with a written of 160 (previously failed with a written of 129) told me: “Spent the Monday reviewing the top 50 essays though which again was extremely helpful. Wish I’d done that earlier to be honest as the essays are extremely helpful in solidifying knowledge and putting what feel like obscure rules into meaningful context (when you see them applied to an understandable fact pattern).” Another examinee who passed F20 with a written of 147 told me: “Finally, the top 50 was perfect for me because I worked full time until two weeks prior to the exam. It gave me something to focus on and outline my answers.” This Top 50 MEE is generally on point with each exam. For example, one J19 UBE Essays subscriber who passed with a written of 143 told me: “Again, your materials really made the difference for me, and focusing on the MBE and Top 50 essays as you suggested. Thank you so very very much!” Another J19 subscriber who passed with a written of 140 told me: “Just wanted to let you know that I passed the Washington UBE with a score of 279. You had predicted that I would score a 290, so not far off! This was my second attempt (sat for Florida first time). Please let me know what I need to fill out for you so that you can use my statistics for others in the future. I relied heavily on your program and did not take a traditional bar course. I am quite certain that I would not have passed without your MEE/MPT materials. What was especially useful was the top 50 rules outline that you sent to us weeks before the exam. Thank you for all your help, I am eternally grateful.” Another J19 UBE Essays subscriber who passed told me: “I wasn’t sure if there was a form on your website where you wanted follow up info on our scores, but I just received my scores from Arizona. Total combined: 320 MBE: 159.1 Scaled written portion: 160.7. The essay subscription was very helpful because of the way the essays and answers were formatted. Overall, using the materials made me feel more confident for the essay portion. What ended up being the most helpful thing for me was the compilation of the 50 essays with issues you thought might be tested again. Those were very spot on from what I remember. I only read essays in the subjects that I felt I needed the most help in, though. I wish I would have spent more time reading that whole compilation a few times instead of attempting practice essays. But even just reading some of that compilation helped. I was also spending time going through the critical pass flashcards. The written material from the subscription can be overwhelming, but the organization of it is good and easy to navigate. I also listened to some of the audio files while driving and as a break. The audio files were great and I haven’t seen that anywhere else so that really attracted me to your subscription.” A F19 examinee who passed with a written of 140 told me: “I relied heavily on your program and did not take a traditional bar course. I am quite certain that I would not have passed without your MEE/MPT materials. What was especially useful was the top 50 rules outline that you sent to us weeks before the exam.  Thank you for all your help, I am eternally grateful.” One J18 examinee who used it told me: “ … It was amazingly helpful in studying the last week of my bar prep … It really was a huge part in building my confidence and receiving almost all 4s on my MEE section.” An examinee who passed in F18 with a written of 155.2 (MBE of 158.8 and UBE of 314) told me: “in the last week I would spend 2 hour reciting the rules and checking if they were right and then reading through your top 50 essays over and over.  … I spent the last week reviewing your top 50 essays 3-4 times through with first pass taking 4 days and then skimming through all 50 each morning leading up to exam for highly tested areas.” A foreign examinee subscriber who passed in J17 with an MBE of 162.7 and UBE of 327 told me the following: “For the MEE, on hindsight, doing and re-doing your top 50 essays document alone would also have sufficed as they were extremely spot-on.” Updates are posted to the UBE Essays site on a rolling basis. Generally, the most recent MEE essays are added to the compilations about two months before next exam (e.g. F23 MEE essays and MP3s would be added in late-June 2023 while J23 essays and MP3s would be added in late-December 2023) while the MEE and MPT Comparisons are updated about one month before the exam (e.g. the Comparisons of F23 examinee essays/MPTs would not be added until sometime around July 2023). However, if you are sitting for a February exam, you should be looking exclusively at the February Comparisons (F22, F21, F20, F19, F18, F17, etc) because they better reflect the scale and quality of candidate you will be competing against. It will simply give you a more realistic idea of what you need to write since the model answers are rather unrealistic of a typical examinee. Please note that updated Top 50 MEE and MEE Topic Intros outlines are not available until late-May for July exams or late-December for February exams because I need to first establish MEE priorities. Accordingly, feel free to study the content in the older edition, but don’t rely on the priorities until the updated edition for the upcoming exam is released. If these links do not work, please click here to subscribe. If you are looking for supplemental MBE materials, please visit my MBE Rules site. If you are looking for tutoring-level assistance, please visit seperac.com