(I’m American and am aware that different states have different tests).
In: 23
States have different exams ‘kind of’ all use the same multiple choice portion, but some states do their own essay portion (for example PA has theirs and includes tax) The exam itself is 2 days making up 4 3 hour blocks.
1 block is purely on writing. It uses fictitious law and you are given a task ‘write a memo to the zoning board explaining whether the basketball court can be built as planned’ is a fair question, you will get 3-4 ‘sources’ like the local zoning ordinance, and 2 fictitious cases where the law is WRONG intentionally. If it is a DUI case the legal limit for BAC will be .10 because it is to catch someone not reading.
1 block is real law questions writing and you have to answer all of the questions. The entire time you’ve spent learning about estates was a single 3 hour lecture? Oh well hope you remember the law or can make it up good enough.
the last 2 are 100 multiple choice questions (each) and require you to know very specialized aspects of law and ‘why’. Should the evidence from the traffic stop be excluded? Yes because it is a Brady violation (every one knows it is a case…involving criminal law and evidence so it sounds like a ‘good’ answer but it applies only to the prosecution not turning over evidence to the Defense) Yes because it is a violation of the Defendant’s fourth amendment rights (4,5, and 6 are all very similar but apply at different times – it also has absolutely nothing to do with the prompt, again to punish someone whose rushing and skimmed the question) yes because the officer didn’t have probable cause to search the vehicle (this could actually be the right answer depending on the prompt) or No.
between the exam itself being difficult and the exam conditions- you basically take the exam in a massively sterilized environment with everyone else taking it in the same room, possibly in a city you’ve never been in after staying in a trashy hotel…with everyone else taking the exam
‘how well does law school prepare’ …it depends. You can take the mandatory classes then whatever you want no matter how useless for the bar exam, or you can take straight bar prep courses. Either way you are going to need a commercial law course which is made solely to pass the bar. It isn’t ‘fun’ and requires you to commit to 8+ hour days studying for months. Honestly, I think someone who sat through 1 semester of law school then spent the rest of their first year studying for the exam would be FAR better off than someone who even took straight bar courses at school then took the exam
Latest Answers