Law Research Guides: Bar Examination Resources: Pennsylvania Bar Exam

Bar Admission Rules

Bar Exam Application Info
As a rule, the bar exam is always held on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of every February and July.

Exam	Dates of Exam (Tuesday and Wednesday)
July 2017	July 25-26
February 2018	Feb 27-28
July 2018	July 24-25
February 2019	Feb 26-27
July 2019	July 30-31
February 2020	Feb 25-26
July 2020	Jul 28-29

ESSAY EXAMINATION consists of six essay questions that cover one or more of the following subjects:
- Business Organizations (including corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, and professional corporations)
- Employment Discrimination (limited to Title VII, ADA, and ADEA)
- Professional Responsibility
- Civil Procedure (Pennsylvania and federal)
- Evidence (Pennsylvania and federal)
- Real Property
- Criminal Law (including related Pennsylvania and federal constitutional issues and DUI)
- Family Law
- Torts
- Conflict of Laws
- Federal Constitutional Law
- U.C.C., Art. II — Sales
- Contracts
- Federal Income Taxes (personal only and limited to taxable and non-taxable income, deductions, proprietorships, and capital transactions)
- Wills, Trusts and Decedents' Estates (including related fiduciary responsibilities)
PERFORMANCE TEST: one Performance Test (PT) question, developed by the Board, may be used in lieu of a Multistate Performance Test question as a component of the essay portion of the bar examination. The Performance Test (PT) is intended to test an applicant's ability to use basic skills that a lawyer should possess to perform a task that a newly admitted attorney would be expected to perform.
MULTISTATE BAR EXAM (MBE) consists of 200 multiple choice questions that cover the following subjects:
- Civil Procedure
- Constitutional Law
- Contracts
- Criminal Law & Procedure
- Evidence
- Real Property
- Torts

Recent Pennsylvania Bar Exam Questions
Links to the past 3 years of sample essay questions, answers, and examiners' analysis.

Passing Standards
The six answers to the essay examination and the PT (valued at 1.5 times an essay question) will be graded, totaled and scaled to the MBE. The combined essay and PT scores will be weighted at 55%, and the MBE score will be weighted at 45% of the total scaled score. The scaled scores of the PT/essay examination and MBE will then be combined to determine whether a scaled score of 272 or higher has been attained.
Bar Exam Results
Results of the February Bar Exam will be released in April, and the July Bar Exam in October.
Pennsylvania Bar Exam Statistics
All files are in PDF format.

Pennsylvania MPRE Information
Preparing for the MPRE
The MPRE is a two-hour, 60-question multiple-choice examination developed by NCBE that is administered three times per year.

Mailing Address via US Postal Service (Certified/First Class/Priority/Express Mail) Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners 601 Commonwealth Ave., Suite 3600 P.O Box 62535 Harrisburg, PA 17106-2535	Physical Address (Overnight Deliveries via DHL, FedEx, UPS, etc.) Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners Pennsylvania Judicial Center 601 Commonwealth Ave., Suite 3600 Harrisburg, PA 17120-0901
Phone: (717) 231-3350 Fax: (717) 231-3351
Office Hours: Monday - Friday 9:00am- 4:00pm Closed for Court Holiday
E-mail (technical issues only): webmaster@pabarexam.org
Directions to Board Office