Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Resources for the February Bar Exam

Taking the February bar exam in a few weeks? Whether you're a December graduate facing down your first examination or making a repeat performance in a new -- or old –- jurisdiction, it never hurts to supplement your study course with additional resources. In our online catalog, try a subject keyword search for "Bar examinations—United States". This will retrieve some helpful resources for any state’s bar exam, including Strategies & Tactics for the MBE (Reserves KF303 .W345 2010) and other titles like The Zen of Passing the Bar Exam (KF303 .N673 2011).

Past exams from North Carolina are available at the NC Board of Law Examiners site. This site offers past exams from 2005-2007 free for download. (Older essay questions are available in the library at the call number KFN7476 .N671, but the latest exam available in print is 2003.) The Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association has also prepared a brief guide to Drafting a Bar Exam Essay Answer (Reserves KFN7476.Z9 D73 2004), with tips and tricks for NC test takers. An updated (2009) version of this pamphlet is available online in PDF.

Older bar examinations from 31 other states can be found in our Microforms Room on Level 1 of the library (cabinet # 35, top drawer). Available dates vary by state, although generally exams from 2010 or early 2011 are included. Note that many other states also make past exams available for free on their bar exam websites, such as New York’s page of Past Exam Questions, which may be more up-to-date than our microfiche collection. Visit http://www.ncbex.org/bar-admissions/offices/ to locate the Board of Law Examiners site for your state.

Good luck to all of our February 2012 test takers!