The MBE (Multistate Bar Examination) is a six-hour, 200-question multiple-choice exam developed by NCBE and administered by the jurisdictions that use it as part of their bar exam, on the last Wednesday in February and July.
It is the multiple-choice component of the UBE, and it is also given in jurisdictions that never adopted the UBE.
This page covers its seven subjects, its format, how it is scored, who uses it, and how the NextGen UBE replaces it.
What is the MBE?
The MBE — the Multistate Bar Examination — is NCBE's six-hour, 200-question multiple-choice exam.
The jurisdictions that use it administer it as part of their bar exam, on the last Wednesday in February and the last Wednesday in July each year.
NCBE develops the exam.
In UBE jurisdictions, NCBE says each jurisdiction still independently decides who may sit and be admitted, its character and fitness review and its passing score.
Where the MBE fits depends on the jurisdiction.
In jurisdictions that have adopted the UBE, the MBE is one of three NCBE components, alongside the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) and two Multistate Performance Test (MPT) tasks.
Jurisdictions that never adopted the UBE administer the MBE inside their own bar exam instead.
What subjects are tested?
The MBE's 175 scored questions are distributed evenly across seven subjects, with 25 scored questions from each:
- Civil Procedure
- Constitutional Law
- Contracts
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Evidence
- Real Property
- Torts
The 175 scored questions are drawn from 200 total; the other 25 are unscored pretest questions that do not count toward the result.
The MBE is the multiple-choice piece only.
The UBE's other two components — the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) and the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) — are separate exams; in UBE jurisdictions, the MEE, two MPT tasks and the MBE together make up the UBE.
Format and timing
The exam runs six hours in a single day, split into two 3-hour sessions of 100 questions each.
Every question is multiple choice with four answer options, and there is no penalty for a wrong answer — nothing is subtracted for an incorrect response.
The MBE is given twice a year, on the last Wednesday in February and the last Wednesday in July.
Because the 25 pretest questions are unscored, only 175 of the 200 questions you answer on exam day count toward your result.
How is it scored?
No points are subtracted for wrong answers.
Your MBE result comes back as a scaled score that can range from about 40 to 200, and scores are equated across administrations so results are comparable from one exam date to the next.
Inside the legacy UBE, the MBE carries the heaviest weight: 50% of the total, against 30% for the MEE and 20% for the MPT, on a 400-point scale.
The pieces are assembled in a specific way — NCBE scores the MBE itself, while each jurisdiction grades its own MEE and MPT answers, and those scores are scaled to the MBE before NCBE calculates the UBE total score.
Which states use it?
As of October 2026, NCBE's map shows the MBE administered in 44 of 56 jurisdictions.
NCBE lists 12 where it is not given: Connecticut, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, Washington, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The 12 fall into two groups.
Seven of them — Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, Washington and the Virgin Islands — switched to the NextGen UBE in July 2026 and no longer give the MBE.
The other five — Louisiana, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau and Puerto Rico — are on NCBE's list of jurisdictions that never adopted the UBE at all.
One distinction matters if you are counting on score portability: an MBE score by itself does not produce a portable UBE score.
To earn a portable UBE score, you must take the MEE, the MPT and the MBE in the same UBE jurisdiction, in the same administration — transferring a separate MBE score does not produce one.
Jurisdictions that use the MBE without the UBE administer it as part of their own bar exam instead.
Exam use is moving through 2028 — confirm before you register
What happens to it under NextGen?
The MBE is being retired along with the MEE and the MPT.
NCBE says that between July 2026 and July 2028, most jurisdictions will move from the MBE, MEE and MPT to the NextGen UBE.
The end date is on NCBE's implementation timeline: the final administration of the MBE, MEE and MPT is scheduled for Q1 2028 — the February 2028 exam.
Which exam you would sit on a given date depends on your jurisdiction's switch date within that window, so which exam your registration names — and what to prepare — is worth confirming with your jurisdiction's bar admission authority rather than assuming.
Career information, not legal advice. Exam use, scoring and admission rules are set jurisdiction by jurisdiction and are changing through 2028 — confirm anything that matters to your plans with NCBE and the bar admission authority where you intend to practice.