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One common element of the bar exam in many jurisdictions is the Multistate Essay Exam (MEE). For a list of jurisdictions that administer the MEE, please see the map at the bottom of this page. 

Content and Scoring of the Exam

The MEE consists of six 30-minute questions. It is administered by user jurisdictions as part of the bar exam on the Tuesday before the last Wednesday in February and July of each year. For the MEE’s scope of coverage, see the  MEE Subject Matter Outline . 

Additional details regarding the structure of the exam and tested subjects are available on the NCBE’s  MEE Preparation page .

According to the NCBE, “[t]he purpose of the MEE is to test the examinee’s ability to (1) identify legal issues raised by a hypothetical factual situation; (2) separate material which is relevant from that which is not; (3) present a reasoned analysis of the relevant issues in a clear, concise, and well-organized composition; and (4) demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental legal principles relevant to the probable solution of the issues raised by the factual situation. The primary distinction between the MEE and the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) is that the MEE requires the examinee to demonstrate an ability to communicate effectively in writing.”

Study Resources for the MEE

The Law Library contains a special  Bar Success Collection  of resources to help you prepare for the bar exam. This collection is located in the Main Reading Room on Level 3A.

The Library also has eBook collections that can assist you in studying: 

• Bar Exam Success eBooks  
• Black Letter Outlines
• Gilbert Law Summaries
• Law School Legends Audio
• Lexis Digital Library Study Aids
• Short and Happy Guides
• Sum and Substance Audio

Below is a sampling of the print and electronic resources available from the Law Library: 

If you’re looking to purchase additional resources yourself:

• (FREE)  MEE Questions and Analyses  from older administrations are available on the NCBE website. 
• The NCBE provides you with some  sample test questions  online. 
• When you register for a Bar Review course they will provide you with multiple simulated MEE exams.
• The NCBE has a list of MEE study aids in their  online store .

Jurisdictions Administering the MEE

(updated Feb. 22, 2024) :

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Top 17 Bar Exam Essay Writing Tips | MEE

Bar Exam Basics | MBE Tips | MEE Tips | MPT Tips  | MPRE Tips

The MEE is normally the first part of the first day of the bar exam (some states reverse the order and have you do the MPT first). You have three hours to write six essays. That makes for about 30 minutes per essay. The six essays account for 30% of your total UBE score. Twelve topics are fair game, and you won’t know which will actually pop up—almost any combo is possible.

Some use CRAC; others use IRAC. But why use something that sounds like an illegal drug or a torture apparatus when you could just remember UROC?

Mee tips & tricks, tip #1 – study all the mee subjects.

Trying to streamline your studies by guessing which subjects you’ll actually have to write about is a risky recipe for ulcers.

• What are the MEE subjects? All seven of the MBE subjects plus five MEE-specific subjects. Again, the seven MBE subjects are Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts. The five MEE-specific subjects are Business Associations (which covers agencies, partnerships, corporations, and LLCs), Conflict of Laws, Family Law, Trusts and Estates, and Secured Transactions. Typically, each essay only hits one subject area, but some combine multiple, like Family Law and Conflicts, Criminal Procedure and Evidence, Agency and Torts, and so on.

Tip #2 – Competence before practice

You want to practice writing good essays, not bad ones. Good ones require knowing the right rules.

• Remember the tips we gave you for memorizing the MBE rules; use the same techniques in tackling the MEE rules—target the right content within each subject based on the NCBE’s—the company that writes the UBE’s—own outlines, and use accurate prep materials, mnemonics, flashcards, audio outlines, chunking, and so on.

Tip #3 – Use the real stuff

Use real practice questions and point sheets.

• The NCBE publishes old MEE questions and their point sheets—the sheets actually used to grade those old MEEs. Like past MBE questions, you can buy past MEE questions directly from the NCBE or through Crushendo.

Tip #4 – Time yourself

Practice writing each essay under timed conditions.

• As with the MBE, your pace and productivity are half the battle. Though strenuous, push yourself to complete each practice essay within 30 minutes.

Tip #5 – Time some full MEEs

Practice writing some full MEEs under timed conditions.

• It won’t be enough to rock one essay in 30 minutes, you’ll need to do be ready to do six back-to-back. Don’t let exam day be the first time you attempt that grind.

Tip #6 – Tackle the most familiar subjects first

• You can do the essays in any order. Do the less intimidating ones first. This does not mean you should read all the questions and fact patterns top-to-bottom before diving into your first question. It should only take a minute to glance at all six questions and get a decent feel for familiarity.

Tip #7 – UROC

UROC . I mean it. Some use CRAC;  others use IRAC .

But why use something that sounds like an illegal drug (or a way to smuggle it into a prison) or a torture apparatus when you could just remember UROC ?

UROC is your basic structure for addressing each issue in each essay. Each essay will have multiple UROC structures. Bar essays are not creative works; organization should be formulaic and predictable.

• U pgraded issue
• O perate on the facts
• C onclusion

Tip #8 – Upgrade the issues

• Each question will hand you the basic issues. Write those down; you must address each. But don’t settle for how they’re framed; upgrade them. Issue statements in point sheets are normally more detailed and helpful than the issue statements in the questions. Your issue statements should be similar in caliber and quantity to those in the point sheets. Study point sheets carefully.
• Example . Don’t just say: “Is Jane liable for Bob’s injuries?” even if the question puts it in such basic terms. Instead, say something like, “Can Bob recover damages from Jane under a negligence claim when they crashed after Jane ran a red light while Bob was speeding?”
• Upgraded issue statements not only give graders a good first impression, but they offer a basic outline for each UROC structure.

Tip #9 – Avoid fluff

Avoid lengthy intros and summaries. Your upgraded issue statements should suffice.

Tip #10 – Keep it simple

Keep rule statements simple. Lay out the basic elements or factors and mention any relevant defenses.

• Example . Negligence requires duty, breach, actual cause, proximate cause, and damages. A common negligence defense is comparative negligence.

Tip #11 – Outline issues first

Write all your upgraded issue statements and general rules before operating on the facts under each. This will give you a solid outline to follow for your entire essay.

Tip #12 – Operate on the facts

Four things to remember about operating:

• Like the MBE, one thing that will help you isolate helpful facts is reading the actual questions before the accompanying fact patterns.
• Second, operate in order. Work through the facts in the order of the elements, factors, and relevant defenses laid out by your basic rules.
• Example . You could begin your paragraph addressing proximate cause with “Proximate cause means the type of harm was reasonably foreseeable.” And then immediately apply the specific facts to that specific law by saying, “Serious broken bones are a reasonably foreseeable type of harm for blowing a red light and causing a high-velocity car accident. Thus, Jane’s actions were likely the proximate cause of Bob’s broken back.”
• Fourth, like any good surgeon, don’t leave behind foreign objects. Don’t invent or assume facts. Stick with what you’re given.

Tip #13 – Conclude quickly

Conclude quickly, highlighting the scale-tipping facts.

• Remember: Graders don’t normally care much about what you conclude, but instead, how you got there. Stress less about whether you got your conclusion “right” and more about whether you supported your conclusion.

Tip #14 – Embrace active voice

• Jane hit Bob.
• Not: Bob was hit by Jane.

Tip #15 – Don’t use citations

Don’t waste time on specific citations.

• With the exception of key constitutional amendments, you normally should not spend study time memorizing the specific sources of law, or exam time citing them.
• That said, it does not hurt to name other basic sources that you happen to know, if name-dropping does not slow you down or interrupt flow.

Tip #16 – Double-check

Spend a couple minutes at the end of each essay double-checking that you hit all the issues, major rules, and key facts.

Tip #17 – Type fast

Type faster than 50 words per minute. If you cannot comfortably type at least 50 words per minute, consider taking a typing course. Some good free ones are available online.

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The Smart Guide to the MEE

• MEE Jurisdictions
• Format & Overview of the MEE
• A Step-by-Step Approach on How to Read, Organize, & Draft Your Answer to an MEE Essay Question
• 15 MEE Tips to Increase Your Essay Score
• How to Study & Prepare for the MEE

MEE Practice: How to Use Model Essay Answers & Sample Examinee Answers Effectively

• Where to Find Past MEE’s
• MEE Grading & Scoring
• What’s Next?
• Download the PDF

A Guide to Mastering the Multistate Essay Exam (MEE)

What you’ll learn:.

• The Difference Between Model Essay Answers vs. Released Examinee Answers
• The Best Way to Use Sample Examinee Answers (released by MEE jurisdictions)
• How to Use the Model MEE Analyses Released by the NCBE

Model Answers vs. Sample Examinee Answers

• Model Answers/Analyses , and
• Sample Examinee Answers .

Model Essay Answers are perfect essay answers, normally written by the drafters of the bar exam (the NCBE) or bar review companies/tutors. The NCBE releases past MEE Questions and Analyses – these Analyses are model answers provided to jurisdictions to assist with grading essays.

Sample Examinee Answers are actual essay answers written by examinees that received a high or above average score. These answers are released by a few MEE jurisdictions.

How to Use the Sample Examinee Essay Answers

Specifically, you should review a few past examinee essays to see:

• The level of detail needed in your answer – it is much less than shown in a Model MEE Analysis;
• The structure and organization of a good essay; and
• What a well-written IRAC analysis looks like.

Remember, you do not need to be perfect to pass the bar exam – almost all of the examinee answers do not include every possible issue, and some even have incorrect statements of law. You only need to be better than average to do well on the MEE essay section.

Reviewing model essays are good for many reasons (as discussed below), but can add a certain level of stress for examinees because they think writing a perfect essay is the goal. That’s why examinee answers are a great tool to dispel the unrealistic idea of a “perfect essay,” and will remind you of what’s really required to pass .

How to Use the Model MEE Analyses (Answers)

Why are these the best to use?  There are three primary reasons:

• They are illustrative of the discussions that might appear in excellent answers to the questions.
• They are provided to the user jurisdictions to assist graders in grading the examination . The grading percentages are also next to each essay topic “point” – e.g.  “Point Two (35%)”.
• They address all the legal and factual issues the drafters intended to raise in the questions.

Essentially, you can see what the graders used to score past essays, and can see every issue raised in the essay question.

The model MEE Analyses are ideal to grade yourself when writing practice essays because they contain every issue, rule statement, analysis, and conclusion required for an IRAC analysis.  They can also be used for issue spotting practice , as discussed in Chapter 5 (Step #4) of this guide.

Important Things to Know when Using Past MEE Questions & Analyses

• Negotiable Instruments/Commercial Paper (UCC Articles 3 & 4) was removed from the MEE as of the February 2015 exam. Thus, ignore these questions in older MEE Questions & Analyses.
• Six of the current MEE subjects (Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law & Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts) have only been tested on the essays since July 2007 . Note, the subject of Sales (UCC Article 2) was tested on a few exams prior to July 2007.
• Feb. 1995 to Feb. 2007 — MEE booklets each contain seven (7) essay questions ; and
• July 2007 to July 2013 — MEE booklets each contain nine (9) essay questions .
• The MEE Analyses contain separate “Summary” and “Legal Problems” sections. DO NOT include such separate sections in your essay answers – these were provided for grader purposes.  Please see Chapter 3 of this guide for how to properly structure your essay answer.
• On the actual test, the essay questions are simply numbered rather than being identified by area of law. Thus, the bar examiners will not tell you the subject(s) the question is testing on the exam – unlike what is shown in the past MEE Questions & Analyses released.

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Looking for Multistate Essay Exam outlines? We have the best!

Looking for mee outlines (multistate essay exam outlines) we have the best.

The Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) is a very important component of the bar exam. The MEE comprises 30% of the overall score in Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) jurisdictions. Non-UBE jurisdictions that administer the MEE set their own policies to determine how much weight should be given to the MEE in relation to the overall score. Because the MEE compromises almost 1/3 of the overall score in UBE jurisdictions, it is important to use quality outlines to help you study. Not all outlines are created equally! Below are a few reasons why JD Advising has the best MEE outlines .

Why Our Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) Outlines are the Best:

We tell you when each topic was tested on the mee in our multistate essay exam outlines.

All issues are not tested equally! A lot of issues are repeatedly tested. And when it comes to studying, it makes sense to prioritize your time by first focusing on the most highly tested issues so that you can get the most points! In our outlines, we tell you the exact administration each issue was tested (e.g., shareholder voting was most recently tested in July 2010).

Additionally, at the end of each outline, we provide you with an overview of what issues were tested for each subject during the last 20 years. This will help you see how often issues were tested. It also helps you see which issues are likely to be tested together. Lastly, it helps you see whether certain issues are likely to be tested again. You will also be able to see whether the subject itself is frequently tested or not (e.g., is corporations on every exam?). Such information is invaluable when you develop or refine your study schedule and study efficiently.

Here is a sample of our Evidence UBE/MEE outline: Evidence UBE / MEE outline sample.

Sign up for our MEE Course or private tutoring to get these outlines!! Or, you can buy them separately here !

Our MEE outlines contain virtually every issue that has been tested on the MEE since 1995.

We create our Multistate Essay Exam outlines by going back to 1995 to the present bar exam and making sure that every issue that has been tested is in our outlines.

Our outlines are thus extremely comprehensive and detailed. However, you will find that many of them are not that long! For example, our Trusts outline is about 17 pages. Decedents’ Estates is about the same length.

We try to keep our outlines comprehensive, yet manageable.

We include examples from past MEEs.

All of our MEE outlines include examples from past MEEs so you can see exactly how a particular issue was tested. This is useful because the bar examiners often use similar fact patterns to test issues. The more familiar you become with how issues have been tested in the past, the easier it will be to spot issues on the upcoming exam. You can also see this in the sample above.

We include charts to help you understand complex areas of law.

Are you avoiding learning secured transactions because the concepts or vocabulary seem too daunting? Are you having trouble seeing the bigger picture? Does a creditor always need to attach and perfect to secure his interest? We break down such concepts (and others) in our charts. This will help you understand the bigger picture, which makes it easier to see how specific issues should be analyzed. We demystify complex areas of law in an effort to help you learn a subject and memorize the rules.  (As a side note, our students actually hope for a Secured Transactions question after using our outlines!)

We tell you when it is important to address different rules of law .

Remember that that the UBE does not test the law of a particular state, but rather general legal principles. For some issues it is enough to know the common law rule. However, for other issues you will want to know multiple approaches to get more points (e.g., how is disclaimer addressed under the Uniform Probate Code and common law?). Additionally, for some issues examinees will want to know the approach under both the Second and Third Restatement to get the most points.

We have reviewed the bar examiners’ analyses to see when they discuss multiple approaches to an issue. Knowing this information will help you accumulate more points on exam day!

Our Multistate Essay Exam outlines are well-organized and visually pleasing.

We color-code our outlines. Further, we organize them logically by topic. We also explain concepts in our outlines in an easy-to-understand fashion. Our outlines are especially good for visual learners.

Some students complain that standard commercial course outlines are too long, illogically organized, and do not have all of the issues that appear on the exam. We have perfected our outlines to minimize all of these concerns. Our outlines are concise, to-the-point, logically organized, aesthetically pleasing. Further, they contain virtually every issue that has been tested since 1995 to the present date. So you do not have to worry that you are missing out on anything!

We update our outlines after every administration.

When you study it is important to use up-to-date outlines. If you learn law that is out-of-date your analysis on an essay question will be incorrect and you will get fewer points. We update our outlines after every administration to reflect changes in the law. We also include issues that the NCBE will begin testing. For example, there are some new Real Property issues that will be tested beginning with the February 2017 administration.

We are constantly working on updating and improving our MEE outlines.

Want to see a sample of our Multistate Essay Exam outlines?

Note that we offer tutoring for the MEE-only subjects (Corporations & LLCs, Agency & Partnership, Secured Transactions, Family Law, Decedent’s Estates, Trusts & Future Interests, and Conflict of Laws) + essay feedback.

We also have outlines for the remainder of the MEE + MBE subjects (Real Property, Evidence, Torts, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law & Procedure, Contracts & Sales, Civil Procedure).

Buy our outlines here!

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Trackbacks & Pingbacks

[…] First, we give you different (much better!) outlines than your commercial course outlines which not only makes you more efficient when you study but also gives you a fresh perspective on the material. (Read this post if you want to see an example of our MEE outlines); […]

[…] materials. We have fantastic MBE and essay outlines (for both the MEE and Michigan). To see an example of our MEE outlines, please click here. They are well-organized, aesthetically pleasing, an excellent tool for visual learners, and […]

[…] If you are wondering what our materials look like, check out this post to see why we have the best outlines. We have outlines for the MBE, MEE, and other state bar […]

[…] We hate to promote our own products and courses, but if you want to study for the MEE as efficiently as possible, you should use outlines that are made directly from the NCBE’s examiner’s analysis. And that highlight every single time a subject was tested. Our outlines show you exactly what is heavily tested. They state two different views when you need to know two different views. They give examples from past MEE’s. Further, hey highlight the most important areas of law. And we go back to 1995 to make sure we haven’t missed anything. (To learn more about why we have the best MEE outlines and to see a sample, click here!) […]

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