November 10, 2017

Everything You Need to Know About the MPRE

What is the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam? What to expect on the MPRE. What is the MPRE? Preparing for the MPRE. MPRE study strategies. How to pass the MPRE. MPRE test day tips. Difference between the MPRE and Bar exam. Difference between professional responsibility and the MPRE. Difference between PR and the MPRE. How to register for the MPRE. When to take the MPRE. When is the MPRE offered. What to bring to the MPRE. Do I have to take the MPRE? Is the MPRE required? | brazenandbrunette.com

Well guys it's been about a week since the MPRE so I guess it's time that I talk about it (and let's all collectively pray that I passed πŸ™πŸΌ). Fun fact about the MPRE— I did not even know it existed until I was filling out one of those "get to know me" questionnaires on the first day of Professional Responsibility (PR) and the first question asked when I was going to take it and I just kinda looked around like wut because I had no clue what my professor was talking about. Fun, probably frowned upon by the people who create this test, way to read this post is drink every time I say MPRE and maybe this won't sound so scary! (PG version is just to pronounce this like umpire and pretend like this is just a test over your ability to yell playyy baaaalllll!) Whatever floats your boat ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

What the MPRE is

Yay another $200 that law school is gonna cost you! And yay another test! Yes my friends, MPRE stands for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. It's an ethics exam. Not like the intro-to-philosophy ethics class you took about Kant and how many people you're going to kill with a trolley. No, this is more like attorney-client privilege and conflicts of interest. There's also ethical things that came after a little scandal called Watergate and this little guy called Bill Clinton. Basically, the TV show Suits is now ruined for you because they could be disbarred after like every episode. 

Anyways, it's a 60 multiple-choice question test that you have 2 hours to take. I was also really relieved to find out that you don't have to have the rule numbers of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct memorized because we definitely had to know those for my PR class. Also, you should know that this test is mandatory for everyone to take and pass just like the Bar is (except for Maryland and Wisconsin, idk what you guys do). Here's the official website for ya! The states vary on what the minimum score is for passing so I recommend going to their site and clicking on your state and finding that out because that's kinda important. 

Registering for the MPRE

When you go to register for the MPRE, you're taken to a website that will give you LSAT horror flashbacks because guess who runs both sites?? That's right guys, LSAC isn't done with you yet! But I guess the good part about this is you'll already be familiar with the site so you know how to navigate your way around things. What this means is that you get to go through the whole test-day admission ticket fun again! 

To any pre-law students out there reading this, you know how you end up getting 2 passport pictures for the LSAT? Well save one of those because you'll need it again. Yes that's right my friend, you get to pay $14 for a picture of you as extra ID on top of your license (see why Suits makes me roll my eyes when Mike takes the LSAT for people because like yo they triple check your identity). If you don't have an extra passport photo, I have found out that if you explain to the person that you only need one copy and it's for a test that your future depends on and isn't just so you can go get drunk in the Bahamas, sometimes they're nice and will find a different code to ring this up as so you can save a little money. Oh, and obviously this means that you should print out your ticket beforehand!

Another thing about using LSAC again is that it's nice that you don't have to put in all this background information and really you just have to put in your current law school. I feel like they save all your information like your name and email but also I registered for this like a month ago so I can't be sure (comment below and let me know!). This also means that there is a late registration fee so save yourself some moolah and write down the registration dates in your planner! Go ahead and add your test date as well because a girl in my class definitely found out on a Thursday in class that the test was that Saturday so that's always a fun predicament to be in.

Studying for the MPRE

Failing the MPRE is really embarrassing because 1) lol are you an ethical person? and 2) everyone says it's easy. Like the girl who started studying 2 days before most likely passed (although I personally know her and we took PR together so I know she already knew this stuff). What's nice about studying for this is that it gives you a chance to kinda test out bar prep companies since they all offer this as well. For example, if you follow Brazen and Brunette on Insta (and if you don't, boo you whore) then you saw how I was all excited to study with BarMax for the MPRE until I realized that their flashcard style just wasn't for me. I did get a free MPRE prep book from Themis when I was in PR but I couldn't remember where I stashed it so I won't review them. I ended up studying with the Barbri app and really liked it. 


A good study plan is to start about two weeks out before the test, studying one hour a day the first week and then up it to two hours a day the second week. I started by reviewing my PR outline to refresh my memory since I took my PR final in May but took the MPRE in November so I was a little rusty. Then I watched the videos and took the quizzes. What I liked about Barbri is that the way their quizzes are set up is if you are missing a lot in a section then they'll give you like 4 quizzes in that section but if you're getting everything right then you only have 1 or 2 quizzes. I really liked this because there were some areas that we briefly went over in my PR class so the extra quizzes gave me an extra chance to review and practice. And I'd always make sure to read their explanations for why I got my answer wrong and why the right answer was correct. The last thing to do is go through real practice problems and test yourself. Barbri also had an outline that I'm guessing is fill-in-the-blank because the guy in the video kept saying "we fill out is..." but I didn't bother printing that out.


What is the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam? What to expect on the MPRE. What is the MPRE? Preparing for the MPRE. MPRE study strategies. How to pass the MPRE. MPRE test day tips. Difference between the MPRE and Bar exam. Difference between professional responsibility and the MPRE. Difference between PR and the MPRE. How to register for the MPRE. When to take the MPRE. When is the MPRE offered. What to bring to the MPRE. Do I have to take the MPRE? Is the MPRE required? | brazenandbrunette.com

Taking the MPRE

The MPRE really feels like the LSAT2.0 (or 3.0, if you retook the LSAT). Again to my little eager college students, just go ahead and save your gallon baggie because you need it again. What I packed: gallon baggie, jumbo eraser, wooden pencils, pencil sharpener, lip balm (I bite my lips when I think), admission ticket (with photo!), ID and car keys. It sucks but you can't use mechanical pencils (yes they check your bag so don't think you can sneak them, they're specifically listed on the no-no list), or earplugs (my law school gives these out at finals and they're a game changer, I swear. i'm not exactly sure how they think you could cheat with earplugs), or even an analog watch (pray you get seated in viewing distance of the clock). One thing on the time though, they do give you a warning at the half mark (1 hour), 30 minutes remaining, and 5 minutes remaining. 


What's weird is that our MPRE was given at a different building than the law school so I was glad that I went here for undergrad and knew where the building was. On our Saturday, it was actually game day so we had to park at the law school and walk over and it was weird seeing people out setting up tailgates. It was also great because we walked past the freshman dorms and I saw a girl doing the walk of shame and I felt old AF and then wondered who was having a worse start to their morning... 

Here's how the MPRE is different from the LSAT. Before the LSAT, everyone just sits in the room awkwardly quiet because chances are that you don't really know anyone except like maybe a person or two from a random poli sci class plus the fact that you're nervous AF. In comparison, the MPRE is definitely a more chill test so the nerves aren't really there this go around. Even better, you'll know like half of the people there because you've been in class with them already. So overall the atmosphere is a lot more relaxed. One of my friends was told not to smile for her picture and she has RBF so she was passing around her photo and we were all laughing about how her picture accurately reflected our attitudes about being up at 8am on a Saturday. I liked this because any nerves I had coming in to it were completely gone. Another silver lining to taking this test is that it's two hours long so after being used to the LSAT and law school finals, it was nice to have a test that is only two hours. 

If you want to get a feel for what the questions are like on test day, here ya go.

My advice for the MPRE

Because basically everyone has to take this test, your school will probably require you to take PR sometime as a 2L or 3L (you can read my thoughts on PR in this post). The most common thing to do is take PR one semester and then take the MPRE the next semester because the MPRE is offered throughout the year like the LSAT is. I do have a friend who took the MPRE as a 2L before she had taken PR and she passed, but unfortunately for her this didn't test her out of PR so she still had to take it even though she already knew the information. 

My advice to you is to take this as a summer course! You can take it after your 1L summer but most people wait until they're at least 2L's. It's definitely not as mentally demanding as something like evidence so you won't feel overwhelmed trying to get this in while you're working. And the MPRE is offered every year in like August so then you'd take the class for a month, study for the final, then do a quick refresher in a few weeks and you'd be good to go. Seriously guys I wish I could go back and do it this way because I think it's just easier. If your school offers it as a Maymester, Life in Law and Coffee has a whole post about her experience with that, and I highly suggest you read that.

Update- I passed the MPRE!!


let's be friends!

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