NCBE Releases New Statement on SCOTUS Decisions and the Bar Exam

By Amy Ortiz
Updated: January 27, 2023

Struggling to know when new Supreme Court (SCOTUS) opinions will show up on the bar exam? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!

Back in June 2022, the NCBE stated that all examinees preparing for the July 2022 bar exam would not be required to be familiar with the vast amount of controversial SCOTUS opinions hitting the news at the time.

The NCBE’s bar exam drafting approach

However, what’s to be said about this time around? Or next?

According to the NCBE’s latest statement, new exam questions for the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) and its components, the MBE, MPT, and MEE, take roughly three years to draft, revise, and integrate into the exam.

This is due to an extensive, multiple step process requiring the involvement and expertise of several committees made up of law professors, judges, practicing attorneys, editors, proofreaders, and psychometricians whose work is to collaborate with each other to craft an exam that meets both NCBE policy and best testing practices.

Thus, students preparing to take the upcoming bar exam should rest at ease knowing that the bar exam and all of its questions have undergone series of revisions and tests long before exam day, and that questions on new SCOTUS opinions and other law material will have to undergo the same process before making it on the exam.

So, how should you prepare for the bar exam?

First, get familiar with the UBE and all of its parts: the MBE, MPT, and MEE. Then, seek out the right tools to help you prepare. For example, Crushendo is an amazing platform filled with outstanding audio outlines, written outlines, and memory hooks that will help you study in a way that’s clear, concise, and easy to digest. Once you’ve got that solid base, it’s time to polish those study skills and prepare to CRUSH the bar exam! Here are some tips to help you create the ultimate study schedule.

If you are looking for additional information, check out the following articles where the NCBE breaks down the exam-writing process:

• How Are Questions Written for NCBE’s Exams? Part One: Two Multiple-Choice Question Drafters Share the Process
• How Are Questions Written for NCBE’s Exams? Part Two: Two Written-Component Question Drafters Share the Process