Ray's J.D. (Juris Doctor)

The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE):

In short, the end result is that I passed. I wanted more than 100 on the MPRE, and I scaled out to a 103.

For California, we need an 86 or better to pass.

The MPRE, Let's Chat, Shall We?:

I do not think the MPRE exam is easy. I studied for it for a little more than a month, and I scaled out to 103, but I don't think the exam was easy.

The problem is that this is not "real world" ethics... it is legal ethics. During my masters program, we had to take a course on ethics. Those ethics are not like legal ethics.

It would be wise to use one of the free programs available online. I used parts of four - BarBri, BarMax, Kaplan, and Themis.

I loved the Themis course, and focused primarily on that, but I used parts of all four programs.

Knowing what I know now, the best way to deal with the materials in these courses is to watch the lectures that you enjoy the most (I liked the Themis professor best), then blow through the outline as quickly as you can, and jump into working on questions. When you answer the questions, you can review why the right answers are right, and why the wrong answers are wrong. That I can tell, in all four programs, this information is coming right from the outline for the course.

Let me explain why I suggest videos, outlines, working on questions:

1) The videos for Themis are quick, and you can increase the rate of play to 1.5 times the normal speed - which makes them even shorter!

2) You watched the videos, now go over the outline - you just got the basic information in your head, now the outline will start to make more sense sooner than if you just read that first - cold. The video material gives you a jump start.

3) Jump into working on questions quickly because this is what you are going to see on the MPRE - you will not be seeing the same questions (these are retired ones!), but there is only so much they can cover, and they have to cover it... so you are going to see the same types of questions... reading why the right answers are right, and why the wrong answers are wrong just helps to lock it in that much better!

If you watched the video material and read the outline, you should start seeing information that ought to help you do relatively OK on the practice questions.

I never did really great on the practice questions. I would get some decent scores, but nothing like I would have hoped for in practice!

What I ended up doing is the best I thought I could do, I scanned the outlines and other materials again, but, in the end, I walked into the MPRE with zero stress. I sat for the exam with no feeling of any pressure at all, and when I left, I thought I did the best I could... and I felt "satisfied" with the effort.

I wanted to pass, and score higher than 100, but I did not care if I failed, because I had a good number of opportunities to pass the exam before I "had to" pass it - and getting things done early really helps keep the stress and pressure down!

Registrations:

Yes, there is an "s" at the end of the word. The reason is that in order to register for the MPRE, we have to be registered with both the NCBE and LSAC, so lets go into that briefly.

NCBE: Go to ncbex.org and follow the directions for setting up an account with them. There is a bright orange account button on the page, and when you click on that, it gives you a log in page, where it also offers you the option to create an account.

Use the tool to make sure you do not already have an account, and if you do not, set it up at this time.

MPRE.LSAC: You set up the NCBE account first because you need the NCBE account for the mpre.lsac.org site. Right from the MPRE.LSAC site, it will tell you that you must have the NCBE account number to apply, so get that done first.

Here is the link to the LSAC.MPRE.ORG site.

I registered for the August 2015 MPRE on 23 December 2014, skipping the March 2015 MPRE date. November 2015 was also available at that time, so you could have registered for any of the 2015 MPRE's in December 2014.

My registration cost $80, and I get to take it very close to where I live in South Florida.

FREE Prep Programs:

There are a variety of free MPRE prep programs available, here is an alphabetical list of the ones I looked at, but there are certainly more available.

BarBri: Updated Link (August 2016) BarBri MPRE.

BarMax: BarMax MPRE.

Kaplan: Kaplan MPRE.

Themis: Themis MPRE.

I used parts of all of these four programs. If you Google "Free MPRE Prep Course," you will find others.

Ray Hayden's MPRE Adventure:

I had decided that I would sit for the MPRE while I was repeating my 2L year. I did this because I lost two years of effort while I was trying to pass the FYLSX.

For California, we need to score a "scaled" 86 - or better - to pass the MPRE exam.

The MPRE is the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination - Ethics.

I took one month to prepare for the MPRE because I wanted to do very well on the exam, and I wanted a little "revenge" on the efforts I put into the FYLSX.

I would have been very happy with anything 86 or above (passing for California (and Utah)). When I got the scores back on 9 September 2015, I had scaled out to a 103.

This made me very happy, and I feel a bit of self respect in that my study efforts paid off very well for me on this exam.

Let me tell you a little bit about the day:

Getting set up to take the MPRE was not that difficult, and I signed up for the August 2015 MPRE exam when I got back into my 2L year (December 2014)! I knew that I needed time to get back into the swing of things with my own program, and I would want a little time to gear up for the MPRE exam as well.

Once you do that, you can use any of the above programs to study for the MPRE. I focused on the Themis program, but I used parts of all four.

I took my own passport style photo for the admittance ticket, and everything was smooth at check in. In fact, the check in process was very smooth, and the staff working that station had been very professional.

I took the MPRE at Florida Atlantic University - Davie Campus.

The room staff had been very professional, and the set up and exam taking process ran without a hitch. The other examinees that I was taking the exam with had been just about the most perfect group of people you would want to take an exam with... everyone was great.

If there was anything disturbing about the day, it was me. I had a slight cough that bugged the hell out of me, and more so because I did not want to bother anyone else!

BECAUSE I took the time to invest in studying for the MPRE, and BECAUSE I stuck to my plan of attack, I went into the exam with no stress or discomfort.

I felt perfectly at ease getting in, sitting for, and checking out of the exam. I had no idea of how I did on the exam, but I felt very comfortable with my efforts.

Seeing the end result made me very, very happy!