The following is taken from an announcement sent to the law school by the Minnesota Board of Law Examiners on 10/5/11.
October 4, 2011
St. Paul, MN
Announcement
The Minnesota Board of Law Examiners announces that beginning with
the July 2012 exam, the Board will add a second Multistate Performance Test
(MPT) question to the bar exam. This will increase the number of 90-minute MPT
questions per exam from 1 to 2, for a total of 180 minutes devoted to answering
MPT questions. Both MPT’s will be administered during the morning of the first
day of the 2-day bar exam.
The Board also announces that starting with the July 2012 exam,
the essay questions will be shortened and the amount of time examinees are
given to answer the 6 essays will be decreased from 45 to 30 minutes per essay
question, for a total of 180 minutes devoted to answering essay questions,
rather than 270 minutes. All 6 essay questions will be administered during the
afternoon of the first day of the exam.
The Board will weight the 3 segments of the exam as follows: 20%
for the 2 MPT questions, 30% for the 6 essay questions, and 50% for the 200
Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) questions. This is a slight change from the current
practice of weighting the single MPT question 12.5%; the 6 essays 37.5%; and
the MBE 50%.
By increasing the number of MPT questions and compressing the time
allocated for answering the 6 essay questions, the Board will have 1 additional
examination answer upon which to judge an examinee’s performance, without
lengthening the examination day or increasing the number of exam days.
The Multistate Performance Test is a test of an applicant’s
ability to use fundamental lawyering skills in completing a simulated legal
task that a beginning lawyer should be able to accomplish. Examinees are given
a simulated client’s file containing the facts pertaining to the legal matter,
the examinee’s assignment, and documents such as transcripts of interviews,
correspondence, or police reports relevant to the assigned task. The MPT also
includes a library of legal reference materials such as cases, statutes, or
rules, which may be relevant to solving the problem. The task is designed to be
completed within 90 minutes. Minnesota has been using 1 MPT question per exam
since 2001.
The essay portion of the exam tests examinees on any 6 of the 13
examination subjects listed in Rule 6E(1) of the Minnesota Rules for Admission
to the Bar. www.ble.state.mn.us/rules/
The Board administers the Minnesota Bar Exam twice annually in St.
Paul. The examination is held on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of February and
again on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of July.
The Board is a 9 member body comprised of 7 lawyers and 2 public
members, all of whom have been appointed by the Minnesota Supreme Court and
charged with the responsibility of administering the bar examination and
conducting a background investigation for each applicant to the Minnesota Bar.
For additional information see the Board’s website:
www.ble.state.mn.us or contact Margaret Fuller Corneille, Director, Minnesota
Board of Law Examiners at [email protected].