ca bar 2021 essays

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Previously Released Bar Exam Essay Questions

Welcome to the past California Bar Exam past essays directory. 

To view a varying range of graded essays from the State Bar, visit BarEssays.com . Email us for a  $25 discount code  at  [email protected] .

Join the Facebook Group titled:   California Bar Exam Essay Discussions . 

One-Hour Essays

90 minute performance tests.

Multistate Performance Test.  Property of the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

MPT 2002   MPT 1:  State v. Tweedy

MPT February 2009 MPT 1:  Phoenix Corporation v. Biogenesis, Inc. MPT 2:  Ronald v. Department of Motor Vehicles MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2009   MPT 1:  Jackson v. Franklin Sports Gazette , Inc. MPT 2:  In re City of Bluewater MPT Point Sheets

MPT February 2010   MPT 1:  State of Franklin v. McLain MPT 2:  Logan v. Rios MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2010   MPT 1:  In re Hammond MPT 2:  City of Ontario MPT Point Sheets

MPT February 2011   MPT 1:  Butler v. Hill MPT 2:  In re Magnolia County MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2011   MPT 1:  In re Field Hogs, Inc. MPT 2:  In re Social Networking Inquiry MPT Point Sheets

MPT February 2012   MPT 1:  Franklin Resale Royalties Legislation MPT 2:  In re WPE Property Development, Inc. MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2012   MPT 1:  State of Franklin v. Soper MPT 2:  Ashton v. Indigo Construction Co. MPT Point Sheets

MPT February 2013   MPT 1:  In re Wendy Martel MPT 2:  In re Guardianship of Will Fox MPT Point Sheets

MPT July 2013   MPT 1:  Monroe v . Franklin Flags Amusement Park MPT 2:  Palindrome Recording Contract MPT Point Sheets

See this link for  more   MPTs and Score Sheets.  

Also, here are  MPTs from Georgia . I like these MPTs because the library does not have a two-column format for cases. https://www.gabaradmissions.org/essay-and-mpt-questions-and-selected-answers

Disclaimer:  Past exams found here are the property of the State Bar of California and the National Conference of Bar Examiners. The property is used here in accordance with all written regulations.

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Performance  test, on  the   cal. bar, e-book is titled   1440:  mastering the, performance test, get this free, pt  e-book, delivered to your email now.

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Bar Exam Preparation

Past Bar Exam Essays and Performance Tests (PTs)

Where do you find essays and performance tests from past exams to practice on?

Rather than have you go hunting for them or flip through your bar course materials, I’ve compiled past essays and PTs for California . I also link to past MEE and MPT questions from various UBE jurisdictions.

California : Here are downloadable California Bar Exam essays and selected answers going back to 2001, and California performance tests (PTs) and selected answers.

👉 See also the essay answer bank for real graded answers

👉 CA essays – frequency chart and issue chart (use this to find when topics were tested)

UBE: Downloadable MEE questions and representative answers

NCBE MEE Questions and Analyses are available from 2013 July to 2018 February.

Representative answers to MEE questions are available from various states (some may be missing):

• Arkansas from 2013 February to 2021 February
• Maryland from 2019 July to 2023 February
• Minnesota from 2020 September to 2023 February
• New York from 2016 July to 2023 February
• South Dakota from 2019 February to 2021 February

MPT questions and answers are below this section. Click here to jump to MPT.

MEE questions

Sample answers: Maryland , Minnesota , New York

Sample answers: Arkansas , Maryland , Minnesota , New York , South Dakota

MEE questions (October version)

Sample answers: Maryland , New York , South Dakota

Sample answers: Arkansas , New York , South Dakota

Sample answers: Arkansas , New York

NCBE Questions and Analyses

Sample answers: Arkansas

UBE: Downloadable MPT questions and representative answers

NCBE MPT Questions and Point Sheets are available from 2013 July to 2018 February.

Representative answers to MPT questions are available from various states (some may be missing):

• Georgia from 2011 July to 2023 February

MEE questions and answers are above this section. Click here to jump to MEE.

MPT questions

Sample answers: Georgia , Maryland , Minnesota

Sample answers: Georgia , Maryland , Minnesota , New York

Sample answers: Arkansas MPT-1 MPT-2 , Georgia , Maryland , Minnesota , New York , South Dakota

MPT question (one MPT administered)

Sample answers: Georgia , Maryland , New York , South Dakota

Sample answers: Arkansas MPT-1 MPT-2 , Georgia , New York , South Dakota

Sample answers: Georgia , New York

NCBE Questions and Point Sheets

Sample answers: Arkansas , Georgia , New York

Sample answers: Arkansas , Georgia

Sample answers

UBE: Links to find past MEE questions and answers, past MPT questions and answers, and MEE and MPT analyses

The files above were sourced from these places:

• Free MEE questions and analyses from NCBE
• Free MPT questions and point sheets from NCBE
• If you want the official analyses for more recent ones, you can find them in the MEE study aids (paid)
• Arkansas MEE and MPT questions and best answers (2013 and on)
• Minnesota’s representative answers (last few years)
• Maryland’s representative answers (last few years)
• South Dakota’s representative answers (last few years)
• New York Past Exam Essay Questions with Sample Candidate Answers (2016 July and on)
• Georgia Essay (not MEE) and MPT Questions and Selected Answers (2011 July and on include MPT questions and sample answers)
• Colorado MEE and MPT selected answers (past year)

Others : Check your state bar website or law school’s academics resources to see if it offers questions and selected answers

• Nevada offers sample passing answers for essays and PTs going back to 2007
• A Virginia law school offers past Virginia bar exams to review

BarEssays.com Blog

How to properly set up issues and rules in bar essays.

06/22/2021 by baressays

A Guest Column by Brian Hahn of Make This Your Last Time

Last time in the BarEssays blog, I alluded to how issues were the most important component of IRAC in an essay answer .

That’s different from many students’ instincts from law school and school in general—that they need to write more to score higher.

This is not necessarily true. You can write little and score well. It’s not the word count itself that matters, although the word count is indicative of how many issues you’ve identified.

I know we’re already dropping bombshells 20 seconds in. But now you’re already ahead of the curve by arming yourself with these insights.

Let’s see if there’s more you can take away about essay writing for the California Bar Exam, with some specific examples illustrating the above:

• A Professional Responsibility essay that scored a 70, which has short, punchy IRACs courtesy of BarEssays )
• Another example from BarEssays where the word count is low but scored a 65 (PDF link courtesy of BarEssays )
• A client of mine who received a 65 on this 603-word Community Property essay from the recent 2021 February California Bar Exam (courtesy of Make This Your Last Time with permission from the author)

But before we go on, I want to be perfectly clear here:

I’m not suggesting that you write less in order to score high. Generally, shorter answers don’t get high scores because they tend to not discuss important issues the graders are looking for. Conversely, there are many lower-scoring answers that write a good amount (over 1,000 words) or even a lot (over 2,000 words). (Take a look at BarEssays to study more examples like these!)

With the passing scaled score of 1390 in California, an average written raw score of 60-62.5 would likely put you on track to pass (assuming you were also scoring 1390 on the MBE side).

As you saw above, a score of 60 or higher is doable if you can use the relevant issues and rules. Of course, you want to be able to discuss the facts and connect them to the rules, but this is not always the pivotal point as many bar takers assume. In fact, the application part is the easy part.

The hard parts that require understanding of the material are the issues and rules. Once you’re able to set up that issue skeleton and support it with rules, then you’re basically home free.

Even if you write beautiful rules or analyses, if you miss the issues that are intended to be identified, you’re turning in an incomplete answer, and you’ll get a score reflecting that.

To that end, I’m going to share how to set up the issues and rules, and when to go deep into analysis (or not).

How to set up issues and rules for the California Bar Essays

As always, the part we avoid is the thing that will make a bigger difference.

When you open up an essay question and try to answer it, where do you get stuck the most—probably the issues, right?

The blank-page syndrome is where you don’t know where to start writing. It’s less daunting to write something reasonable once you have the issues and rules down.

Fortunately, the bar exam tests you on a limited universe of issues. There are only so many issues they can test you on. And with 20+ years of essays available , many of these issue patterns have repeated over the years.

Consequently, if you’ve seen the past essays, you’ve pretty much seen them all. (You’ll still need to memorize areas that haven’t been tested, although that’s less important than the areas that have been tested frequently before.)

So how do you even find these issues in the essays?

As noted above, there’s a limited set of testable issues.

The issues are triggered by the facts (facts relate to rules, and rules relate to issues). But I never use the phrase “issue spotting.” To me, that implies you wing it and somehow happened to draw the issues out of thin air. As if you will somehow know it when you spot it in the wild.

Rather than a haphazard approach, I found that a systematic approach was more helpful to me (as well as many of my readers through the years).

This is called issue checking : Rather than thinking of it as spotting issues, you are now checking for issues, matching the facts to the known and preexisting issues.

So have a list of issues when you practice your essays. You can make your own, or you can use something like Approsheets ( fact-issue checklists and flowcharts, samples here ) or BarEssays templates which are available as part of a premium BarEssays membership .

If you had something like this set up already, does it seem more doable to write a full essay answer?

For 2015 February Essay 1

Here’s what I suggest when trying to solve those past essays…

List the issues and their corresponding rules. Be able to do this within 10-15 minutes (for California essays).

This is your skeletal outline. Now you can corral the facts from the hypothetical and connect them to the appropriate rules. Incidentally, this is known as essay cooking , a technique that allows you to double or triple your essay practice efficiency.

The “meaty” part of your answer, the application, is more stylistic than anything. The “correct” issues and rules will be relatively consistent. When skimming your answer, the graders will be looking for those over the precise choice of facts you included in your answer.

Speaking of the application part of IRAC, sometimes you want to dial that part up or down, depending on the situation.

When to focus on issues vs. deep analysis in your essay answer

If you see a broad call of the question, focus on identifying issues, less on analysis. Examples of broad calls of question:

• “With what crimes may D be charged?”
• “What ethical obligations did L breach?”
• “What remedies, if any, would be available?”

If you see a narrow call of the question, analyze the facts more. The issue has already been given to you. Examples of narrow calls of question:

• “Is D guilty of robbery?” (Discuss the elements of robbery and the facts relating to each element)
• “Can L ethically withdraw from representing P?” (Discuss mandatory and permissive withdrawals)
• “Did the court rule correctly on the motion to dismiss based on lack of personal jurisdiction?” (Analyze the various sub-issues of the International Shoe test)

Note that narrow calls may raise sub-issues, nuances, exceptions, and/or defenses.

As you can see, distinguishing broad vs. narrow calls of the question can inform your issues and essay coking.

Should you ping pong?

There’s often a lot of “P would argue… D would argue…” type arguments in student answers.

Now, others may say you need to do this. And you can. But blindly throwing in fake court drama isn’t always the best of use of your limited time.

This style should be used where appropriate , not as a default.

Going off the above distinction between broad and narrow calls, this type of argument may be more useful for narrow calls where you want to be more thorough with your analysis. Or maybe the facts are vague; then you can look at different angles.

With a broad call of the question, the better approach is to argue opposing legal theories (such as a prima facie case vs. defenses) or split views (such as Cardozo and Andrews).

So don’t automatically go into ping-pong mode. Don’t lose sight that issues are key.

If you want to use what you learned here and write better essay answers, take a look at the variety of actual graded answers at BarEssays.com , and supplement with an issue checking aid like Approsheets .

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Conquering Community Property Essays on the California Bar Exam

• Maureen MacManus
• CA Bar Exam , Essays

There is significant overlap between the essay portion of the Uniform Bar Exam (known as the Multistate Essay Exam) and the California Bar Examination. Still, Community Property is one topic area unique to California—and a few other non-UBE jurisdictions, such as Nevada.

Community Property has been fair game on the essay portion of the California Bar Examination since the 1980s.

It’s also bar examiner favorite, appearing at least forty times (either on its own or as part of a cross-over) since 1984.

As with any subject, certain topics are tested more often than others.

Issues relating to transmutations, titles, and debts make frequent appearances, but more esoteric issues (looking at you Pereira/VanCamp) are also fair game.

Because this is a California-specific subject, it goes without saying that California law always applies.

To help you face Community Property confidently, we have gathered some useful California bar essay tips.

Start Off Right

Community Property essays typically ask about the parties’ (usually some variation on “ H ” for “ husband ” and “ W ” for “ wife ”) rights in certain pieces of real and personal property.

Relevant examples include a house, a painting, stock options, or a bank account.

While you may be tempted to jump right into an analysis of how the first piece of property will be divided, resist the urge.

A bar grader will expect to see the same customary introduction in every Community Property essay.

In short, it should be some variation of:

California is a community property state. All property acquired during marriage by the labor of either spouse is community property unless otherwise agreed. Property acquired prior to the marriage or property earned during the marriage but falling into a special category — such as gifts, inheritances, devises, property subject to a transmutation, or subject to a premarital agreement — is separate property.

If you start with something different, you risk activating your grader’s super-sensitive “bar grader antennae.” And trust us, that is something you don’t want to do.

Once their antennae are activated, your grader may read your essay with a more critical eye, on the lookout for erroneous rules and lackluster analysis.

Play it safe and memorize this accepted introduction (adding in a sentence about quasi-community property if the facts raise this issue).

It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over

If you haven’t heard, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have rekindled their romance — not unlike some of the couples featured on Community Property essays.

Often, a Community Property essay can read more like a soap opera script, with “H” and “W” separating and then resuming their relationship one or more times before finally and officially calling it quits.

However, unless and until there is a permanent separation (marked by one party clearly communicating their intent to end the marriage to the other party), the community still exists (even if, like Ross and Rachel from Friends , the parties were “on a break”).

This is important because, until that date, the earnings and accumulations of each spouse are treated as community property unless another rule applies.

Do the Math

If you are anything like us, you may have gone to law school because math isn’t a favorite or a forte.

However, if the bar examiners provide you with numbers, they expect you to “do the math” and be specific about the amount each individual will get.

For example, if you are presented with, “Wendy, married to Harold, settled with Dan’s insurance carrier for $50,000,” you need to explain that Wendy and Harold will get $25,000 rather than simply stating that each will get half the total amount.

Fortunately, there’s no need to brush up on your calculus skills. Any math you need to do is likely to be simple.

Keeping Pereira and VanCamp Straight

While it isn’t always tested, it’s not unusual for students to struggle with Pereira and VanCamp.

When there are community property contributions to a separate property business (funds or labor of one of the spouses after marriage), it can be hard to keep these two different formulas straight.

Just remember, use P ereira (which favors the community) when the business’s growth is attributable to the “ p eople skills” of the spouse.

Use V anCamp when the business’s growth is attributable to the “ v ery nature” of the business.

Community Property Practice for the CA Bar Exam

With the California Bar Examination fast approaching, there is no time to waste when it comes to studying.

But it’s not enough to memorize information, you need to put it into practice!

With our EssayRx platform, you’ll have access to 30 years of previous bar exam questions and answers.

Get bar exam ready by brushing up on Community Property and getting lots of practice essays in.

Explore EssayRX today ⇢

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Highly Tested California Bar Exam Essay Subjects

Are you wondering what subjects are highly tested on the California Bar Exam essays?  We break down the most highly tested subjects in this post!  You can find even more information about the California Bar Exam essays in our California Bar Exam Essay Guide , which you can download for free!

What is the format of the California Bar Exam essays?

The California Bar exam includes 5 essays.  You will have three hours in the morning to answer three essays and three-and-a-half hours in the afternoon to answer two essays and a performance test.  You should plan on spending about one hour per essay and 90 minutes on the performance test.  Note that the changes to the California Bar Exam in July 2017 did not change the format of the essays. California simply reduced the number of essays from six to five.  The format and length of each individual essay remain the same.

What are the California Bar Exam essay subjects?  

The following subjects are fair game for the essay portion of the California Bar Exam:

• Agency and Partnership (now called “Business Associations” and can include Corporations)
• Civil Procedure
• Community Property
• Constitutional Law
• Corporations (now called “Business Associations”)
• Criminal Law and Procedure
• Professional Responsibility
• Real Property
• Wills and Succession

Do you need to know California law for the essays?

Often, the call of the question will specify whether to apply California law or Federal law.  If the call of the question does not specify which law to apply, you should apply the majority/Federal law.

Historically, some subjects frequently test California law while other subjects frequently test majority law.  The following subjects may test California distinctions:

California law tends not to be tested when the following subjects are tested on the essays:

• Agency and Partnership
• Civil Procedure (***California Civil Procedure distinctions were heavily tested ONE TIME on the California Bar Exam essays. We suspect that California distinctions could be tested more now that Civil Procedure is tested on the Multistate Bar Exam, so it’s a good idea to be familiar with them!)
• Corporations
• Criminal Law

Do some subjects appear more often than others?

Yes! The most popular subject that is tested on the California Bar Exam essays is Professional Responsibility.  After the high frequency of Professional Responsibility, Community Property and Remedies appear slightly more frequently than others.

Here is a chart depicting the frequency with which each subject has been tested on the California Bar Exam essays:

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• Jun 7, 2021

July 2021 California Bar Exam Predictions

We correctly predicted 3 out of 5 subjects on the February 2021 California Bar Exam;

4 out of 5 subjects on the October 2020 California Bar Exam; and 4 out of 5 subjects on the July 2019 and February 2020 California Bar Exams, respectively. Since July 2017, the California Bar Exam has changed its examination format to five essays and one performance test. We have said this many times before – be ready for crossover essays. Crossovers are being tested more frequently now that the examination has changed its format. We ask that you not rely solely on these predictions and study all essay subjects tested on the California Bar Exam.

We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again: Study Professional Responsibility! Study all past essays and all PR rule statements in detail so that you can score high and compensate for other lower scoring essays.

Here are Cal Bar Bible’s predictions for the July 2021 California Bar Exam:

1. Professional Responsibility

2. Torts w/ Remedies Crossover

3. Constitutional Law

4. Civil Procedure

5. Business Associations

*Wild card: Crimes

The February 2021 California Bar Exam Pass Rate was 37.2%. The pass rate reflected an increase of 10.4% compared to the February 2020 California Bar Exam. The February 2021 Bar Exam was the second remote exam and second exam graded under the new passing score of 1390.

We have spent the last few years working with California Bar Exam repeaters, which provided us with great insight into the crux of the problem: Why is it so difficult to pass the CA bar exam? Focusing only on the essay writing component of the exam, we discovered a number of issues, but overall, it came down to 1) understanding the information, 2) retaining the information, 3) regurgitating the information, and 4) applying the information. All of which are essential to pass the California bar exam.

As a result, we have compiled a guide that will help overcome barriers faced by all bar takers – whether it’s your first time taking the exam, or you are a repeater, our Cal Bar Bible materials (only $199) includes all subjects tested on the California Bar Exam. Each CBB subject copy includes an essay checklist, simplified and easy to memorize rule statements, condensed study sheets, essay templates, essay cheat sheets, outlines, hot topics, essay tracking, MBE tips, issue spotting, mnemonics, and much more to help you pass the formidable CA Bar Exam. Our reviews speak for themselves so feel free to checkout a sample of a CBB copy on Civil Procedure here .

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