What is on the bar exam depends on which exam your jurisdiction gives.
On NCBE's legacy Uniform Bar Examination — adopted by 42 jurisdictions over time and still administered in 35 as of October 2026 — it comes down to three components: 175 scored multiple-choice questions spread across seven subjects (the MBE), six 30-minute essays (the MEE) and two 90-minute skills tasks (the MPT).
Between July 2026 and July 2028 most jurisdictions move to the NextGen UBE, which swaps in its own subject list and question mix.
What subjects are tested on the bar exam?
In the jurisdictions that use NCBE's Uniform Bar Examination, the tested content is set by three components: the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE), two Multistate Performance Test (MPT) tasks and the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE).
The pieces combine into one score on a 400-point scale, weighted 50% MBE, 30% MEE and 20% MPT.
Each component carries a different kind of content:
| Component | Format | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| MBE | Six hours, 200 multiple-choice questions (175 scored) | Seven subjects, 25 scored questions each |
| MEE | Six 30-minute essays | Essay subjects; before July 2026, some outside the MBE's seven |
| MPT | Two 90-minute tasks | Lawyer skills, not substantive knowledge |
The MBE reaches further than the UBE itself: as of October 2026, NCBE's map shows it administered in 44 of 56 jurisdictions, including states that never adopted the UBE.
And this whole structure is scheduled for replacement — between July 2026 and July 2028, most jurisdictions move from the MBE, MEE and MPT to the NextGen UBE.
This page is the subject-and-question-type breakdown.
For who runs the exam, who can sit for it and what passing unlocks, start with our bar exam overview.
What are the MBE subjects?
The MBE is a six-hour, 200-question multiple-choice exam given on the last Wednesday in February and July.
It runs as two 3-hour sessions of 100 questions each; of the 200 questions, 175 are scored and 25 are unscored pretest questions.
The 175 scored questions split evenly — 25 each — across seven subjects:
- Civil Procedure
- Constitutional Law
- Contracts
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Evidence
- Real Property
- Torts
Every question offers four answer choices, and there is no penalty for a wrong answer.
The seven-subject list is the MBE's complete scored scope, and it carries 50% of a UBE total.
What extra subjects does the MEE cover?
The MEE adds six 30-minute essay questions, given on the Tuesday before the last Wednesday in February and July.
Each jurisdiction grades the MEE itself, and the component carries 30% of a UBE score.
Before July 2026, the essay portion reached beyond the MBE's seven subjects.
Michigan's Board of Law Examiners, announcing changes that took effect with the July 2026 exam, listed four subjects the MEE would no longer test: Conflict of Laws, Family Law, Trusts and Estates, and Secured Transactions — all areas outside the MBE's seven-subject scope.
The essay outline has been moving during NCBE's transition to the NextGen, and the pages we read publish the MEE's format rather than a subject-by-subject syllabus.
Confirm the tested subjects for your exam date with NCBE's MEE materials and the notice from your jurisdiction's bar admission authority.
What does the MPT test?
The MPT is two 90-minute tasks, and it is a skills test rather than a test of substantive knowledge.
Each task asks the examinee to complete an assignment a beginning lawyer should be able to do.
UBE jurisdictions use both tasks, and the component carries 20% of the total score.
The tasks sit on the Tuesday alongside the MEE essays, and like the MEE they are graded by the jurisdiction, with NCBE calculating the UBE total.
Is the bar exam multiple choice?
Partly.
On the legacy UBE, only one of the three components is multiple choice: the MBE's 200 questions, each with four answer choices and no penalty for a wrong answer.
The MEE is essay writing and the MPT is written skills work, so a UBE test-taker spends the Tuesday writing and the Wednesday on multiple choice.
The NextGen UBE keeps multiple choice but changes its shape.
Its 120 standalone questions are still multiple choice — 40 per section, in a select-one-of-four or select-two-of-six format — but they sit alongside six integrated question sets and three performance tasks.
NCBE weights the mix at 49% standalone multiple choice, 21% integrated sets and 30% performance tasks.
How do state-specific exams differ?
The components are national; the assembly is local.
42 jurisdictions have adopted the UBE since 2011, and as of October 2026, 35 still administer the legacy version while seven — Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, Washington and the U.S. Virgin Islands — have already switched to the NextGen UBE, first given in July 2026.
Fourteen jurisdictions never adopted the UBE at all: California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, South Dakota, Virginia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau and Puerto Rico.
Jurisdictions using the UBE still add their own layers.
Some require a separate jurisdiction-specific law component — a test, a course, or both — and each UBE jurisdiction independently decides who may sit and be admitted, educational requirements, character and fitness, retake limits, ADA accommodations, local-law components, passing scores and how long incoming scores are accepted.
On the legacy UBE, minimum passing scores range from 260 to 270 on the 400-point scale.
In California and Georgia, two states that never adopted the UBE, the subject lists reach past the MBE's seven.
California publishes essay and performance-test topics covering Business Associations, Civil Procedure, Community Property, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Professional Responsibility, Real Property, Remedies, Torts, Trusts, and Wills and Succession.
Georgia's essay subjects include Georgia Practice and Procedure, Federal Practice and Procedure, Family Law, Professional Ethics, UCC Articles 2 and 3, and the core MBE subjects.
So the answer for a given state has two layers: the multistate components that jurisdiction uses, plus whatever its own bar admission authority adds on top.
Exam content changes — verify before you register
What changes under NextGen?
The NextGen UBE was first administered in July 2026, in Connecticut, Guam, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Palau, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Washington.
Between July 2026 and July 2028, most jurisdictions move to it; NCBE administers the legacy exam through February 2028, and as of October 2026 only Arkansas, Louisiana, Nevada and Puerto Rico show no adoption on NCBE's map.
From July 2026 through February 2028, the NextGen tests eight foundational subjects: business associations and relationships, civil procedure, constitutional law, contract law, criminal law and constitutional protections of accused persons, evidence, real property, and torts.
Family law becomes a tested foundational subject starting with the July 2028 exam; until then, family law and trusts and estates appear only in skills questions with legal resources provided, and Conflict of Laws, Secured Transactions and Trusts and Estates are not foundational subjects at all.
Alongside the subjects sit seven foundational lawyering skills: legal research, legal writing, issue spotting and analysis, investigation and evaluation, client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, and client relationship and management.
The question mix changes too: 120 standalone multiple-choice questions, six integrated question sets and three performance tasks, weighted 49%, 21% and 30%.
NCBE reports one score on a 500–750 scale, with no separate multiple-choice and written scores, after 9 hours of testing over 1.5 days — down from the legacy exam's 12 hours over two days.
For the switch dates jurisdiction by jurisdiction, the announced passing scores and how transfers work, the NextGen bar exam guide tracks the rollout.
Career information, not legal advice. Exam content and admission requirements are set by NCBE and by each jurisdiction's bar admission authority; confirm what your exam will cover with both before you register.