MBE questions are developed by drafting committees composed of recognized experts in the various subject areas. Before a test question is selected for inclusion in the MBE, it undergoes a multistage review process over the course of several years. Besides intensive review by the drafting committee members and testing specialists, each test question is reviewed by other national and state experts. All test questions must successfully pass all reviews before they are included in the MBE. After an MBE is administered, the performance of each test question is reviewed and evaluated by content and testing experts. This final review is conducted to ensure that the exam is graded fairly, particularly with regard to any questions affected by recent changes in the law.
The performance information provided for the MBE is a scaled score which can range from about 40 (low) to 200 (high). MBE scaled scores are calculated by NCBE based on a statistical process known as equating that is commonly used on standardized examinations. This statistical process adjusts raw scores on the current examination to account for differences in difficulty as compared with past examinations. Equating makes it possible to compare scaled scores across test administrations because any particular scaled score will represent the same level of knowledge/performance from one test date to another. Equating helps to ensure that no examinee is unfairly penalized or rewarded for taking a more or less difficult form of the test. Because the adjustment of scores during equating is examination-specific (i.e., based on the level of difficulty of the current examination as compared to previous examinations), it is not possible to determine in advance of the test how many questions an examinee must answer correctly to achieve a specific scaled score.
NCBE-developed MBE, MPT, and MEE questions typically are drafted, revised, and finalized over an approximately three-year period, including pre-testing of MBE items on a live exam prior to administration as scored items. For more information, see:
You must have an NCBE account to request NCBE score services. If you do not know whether or not you have an NCBE account, use the NCBE Account Lookup before proceeding.
If you did not have an NCBE account when you sat for the exam, create an account to request score services. We will locate your score using other pieces of biographic information. You must have provided sufficient biographic information on your answer sheet to identify your score at the time you tested. NCBE may refuse to provide score services if your scores cannot be identified with confidence.
With proper scheduling and approval by the jurisdictions involved, an examinee may be permitted to take the bar examination in two jurisdictions over a period of three days. One of the two jurisdictions must administer its local examination on Tuesday and the other must administer its local examination on Thursday. The examinee will take the local examination in the first jurisdiction on Tuesday, the MBE in either jurisdiction on Wednesday, and the local examination in the second jurisdiction on Thursday. Arrangements to use the MBE score in conjunction with two concurrent bar examinations must be made through the jurisdictions that allow concurrent use of scores. It is the examinee’s responsibility to verify that his or her MBE score will be available by the receiving jurisdiction’s deadline. NOTE: If one of the jurisdictions is a UBE jurisdiction, you will not earn a portable UBE score. You must take all portions of the examination (MEE, MPT, and MBE) in the UBE jurisdiction in the same exam administration to earn a portable UBE score; you cannot use an MBE score earned concurrently in a non-UBE jurisdiction.
If your testing jurisdiction is not included in this list, contact that jurisdiction directly to have your score transferred.
*concurrent only **reciprocal only.
Examinees are strongly advised to contact the jurisdictions directly for the most current information.
Examinees sitting in the following jurisdictions may request their scores only from NCBE, as these jurisdictions do not provide score information directly to examinees:
The following jurisdictions, which release scores directly to examinees, authorize NCBE only to provide a replacement copy of an examinee’s score if an examinee requires a replacement copy after scores are initially released by the jurisdiction:
Examinees are strongly advised to contact the jurisdictions directly for the most current information.
Examinees are strongly advised to contact the jurisdictions directly for the most current information.