Texas Bar Exam Information

2010 exam dates and location(s)

The February 2010 Texas bar exam will take place on Tuesday, February 23, Wednesday, February 24, and Thursday, February 25. The July 2010 Texas bar exam will take place on Tuesday, July 27, Wednesday, July 28, and Thursday, July 29. Exams are given in the following locations: Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth area, Houston or Pasadena, Lubbock, San Antonio, and Waco.

Subject matter

MBE subjects: Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts.

Texas essay subjects: Business Associations (including Agency, Corporations, Partnerships, Limited Liability Companies, and Professional Associations), Trusts and Guardianships, Wills and Administration, Family Law, UCC (including Consumer Rights, including DTPA and insurance), and Real Property (including Oil and Gas).

Cross-over topics: Income, estate, and gift tax issues, to be included where appropriate, as an element of questions in other subjects, such as Family Law, Will and Estates, and Real Property.

Procedure & Evidence subjects: Texas Civil Procedure and Evidence, including jurisdiction, and Federal and Texas Criminal Procedure and Evidence.

Structure

The Tuesday exam day is a morning session only consisting of the first part of the written exam – MPT and Procedure & Evidence (90 minutes each). The Wednesday exam day consists of the MBE. The MBE is a 200 question multiple choice exam. 100 questions are asked in the morning over a three hour period, and 100 questions are asked in the afternoon over a three hour period. The MBE has 33 questions each for Contracts and Torts, and 31 questions each for Constitutional Law, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, and Real Property. 190 of the 200 questions are graded, the other 10 are experimental. 200 questions over six hours averages out to 1.8 minutes per question. The Thursday exam day consists of the second part of the written exam – Texas essays.

Examinees can expect to see two essays on each of the following: UCC; Business Associations (including Corporations, Agency and Partnerships); Family Law; Wills and Administration; and Real Property. Examinees can expect to see one essay on each of the following: Trusts and Guardianships, and Consumer Law.

Note that subjects covered on the MBE are not emphasized on the Texas essays. However, Texas essay subjects may involve some issues covered on the MBE.

Scoring

The total score for the Texas bar exam is broken down as follows:

1. The MPT comprises 10% of the total exam score, and is graded on a scale of 0 - 6;
2. Procedure & Evidence exam comprises 10% of the total exam score, and it is graded on a scale of 0 - 5 (Procedure & Evidence questions are broken down into 40 short answer questions on Texas and Federal Procedure and Evidence, 20 Criminal Law short answer questions, and 20 Civil Procedure short answer questions);
3. The MBE comprises 40% of the total exam score; and
4. The Texas essays comprise 40% of the total exam score, and are graded on a scale of 0 - 25.

The highest possible scaled score on the Texas bar exam is 1000. An examinee must achieve a total scaled score of 675 or higher in order to pass.

MPRE

An applicant must achieve a minimum score of 85 on the MPRE no later than two years after passing the Texas bar exam.

Pass rate

Texas’s pass rate for the July 2008 exam was 85% for first time takers, and 80% for all takers.

Other exam information

A laptop program is available to a limited number of interested applicants for a $50 fee. Laptops may not be used on the Procedure & Evidence and MBE portions of the exam.

Bar examiner contact information

Declaration of Intent to Study Law

Students attending a Texas law school must file a Declaration of Intent to Study Law (Declaration of Intent) according to the following deadlines: 1) fall entrants must file the Declaration of Intent by October 1 of the first semester of law school; 2) spring entrants must file a Declaration of Intent by May 1 of the first semester of law school; and 3) summer entrants must file a Declaration of Intent by September 15 of the first semester of law school. Each student must also submit a $190 fee ($150 Investigation fee plus a $40 Fingerprint Card Processing Fee) when filing the Declaration of Intent.

Application deadlines

Applications for the February exam may not be filed earlier than June 30. Applications filed by August 30 are considered timely. The late deadline for applications is October 30.

Applications for the July exam may not be filed earlier than November 30. Applications filed by January 30 are considered timely. The late deadline for applications is March 30.

An applicant who has filed a Declaration of Intent must submit the “In-State Student Application.” A non-Texas law student applicant must submit the “General Application for Admission.”

All deadlines are postmark dates. The Board suggests that applications be mailed via certified mail, return receipt requested. If an application is filed in person, filing must be done before 5:00 PM on the applicable date. The Board will acknowledge receipt of an application within 30 days of submission.

Application fees

A Texas law student must pay $300 in fees when submitting his or her bar exam application. This amount covers the $150 Application Fee, the $75 Examination Fee, and the $74 Investigation Fee.

An out-of-state student must pay $415 in fees when submitting his or her bar exam application. This amount covers the $150 Application Fee, the $40 Fingerprint Card Processing Fee, the $75 Examination Fee, and the $150 Investigation Fee.

An additional $150 late fee will be assessed (in addition to the above-stated regular application fees) for late applications.

All fees must be paid via check, money order, or cashier’s check made payable to “Board of law Examiners.” Do not post-date checks.

Forms

An applicant who is unable to download the application may request a physical application from the Board for a $30 fee (this additional fee will be credited toward the application fee if the completed application is submitted within one year of the original request).

Each applicant must submit two original, signed and notarized authorization and release forms.

Applicants will be asked to indicate their first and second preferences for examination sites. Note that the laptop program is not offered at every site.

Attachments

An application is considered incomplete until the applicant submits an individual, passport-style photo and a copy of the applications filed with each law school that the applicant attended. These documents may be sent to the Board’s office prior to submitting the application.

Results

The Board releases the results of the February exam in the first week of May, and the results of the July exam in the first week of November. The Board mails and posts them to its website. The Board does not provide passing examinees with a score breakdown; however, these examinees will receive their MBE score and final combined score.

*All state bar exam information is subject to change without notice; please verify this information with the bar examiner’s office.*