Confidence – The Blackacre Times

by Ralaya Evans, Law Library GRA

The Multi-State Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) is one of the stepping stones that law students must confront at some point on their journey to becoming a licensed attorney. This exam is usually offered three times during each year: March, August, and November. NCBEX.org will always provide reliable information on any and all things concerning the MPRE, including upcoming important dates.

Often, law students are overwhelmed when it comes to the MPRE. This is understandable, as there are uncertainties that usually lie around this exam, such as how much one should study, what materials to study with, and more.

Here are five tips to ease some of the uncertainty around taking the MPRE:

(1) Take advantage of free resources. Law school is expensive in every way: tuition, books, BAR prep, etc. There are numerous sources of MPRE prep out there that one can pay for. However, many platforms also offer free resources that are extremely useful for preparation of the exam. For example, Barbri offers free practice exams and numerous modules and explanations to practice questions. In addition, the Short & Happy Guide to the MPRE is available to GSU students through the law library’s online study aid collection.

(2) Practice exams are your best friend. Speaking of free practice exams, these exams will be one of the best resources for your preparation for several reasons, including: (a) the practice exams help you become comfortable with the formatting of the exam, (b) you become aware of how different potential topics are tested, and (c) many of the practice exams are timed. Therefore, they will help you gauge whether your pace at answering needs improvement before taking the official exams.

(3) Be aware of your state’s requirements for a passing rate. Every state has a different threshold for what is passing and failing. Be sure to know what your specific state requires and defines as passing, so that you can measure your readiness on practice exams based on that number.

(4) Take your Professional Responsibility class before you sign up for the MPRE. This class is such a great starting place for preparing for the exam. Though it will not fully prepare you for everything on the exam, this class will introduce you to how this specific area is approached by attorneys and make you comfortable with reading the rules.

(5) During the test, be confident in yourself. Confidence plays a major role in test-taking, and the MPRE is no different. There will always be some answers that you are iffy on. However, if you are familiar with the rules, the best answer will jump out at you. On the other hand of that, there will be some questions that seem too easy to be true. Do not get tripped up on these! If the answer seems easy and obvious to you, that doesn’t automatically mean that it isn’t correct.

Hopefully, these five tips will set you on a path to MPRE success. If you have any tips that have helped you along, feel free to share them in the comments!

The GSU College of Law Library is excited to post another exciting installment of “Dear My 1L Self.” In this series, Librarians, Law Library GRAs, Law Students, and other interesting folks write actual, time-traveling letters to their 1L selves, giving them advice and telling them what to expect from law school and the practice of law. We hope that some of this advice will be helpful for our readers. Today, we’ve got an uplifting missive from 2L (and Urban Fellow) Liliana Esquivel…

Dear 1L Liliana:

First, be confident and don’t overthink things. The more you second guess yourself, the harder this journey will be. You made it in, you earned your spot! So, speak up when you know the answer or don’t understand something. You assume everyone else knows what’s going on, but the opposite is true: no one knows what’s going on. So, breathe and be open to talk more to the people around you; they know what you are going through.

When it comes to those really difficult cases, read them three times. Look for the arguments when you read a case, and always, always, always outline. You will find that what works best for you is handwriting your outline and then typing it up before class, so that it’s fresh in your mind. It’s also important to stick to your schedule and tell people no when you need those days to yourself. It’s ok to need alone time.

Later in your law school career, you’ll discover that the entire GSU Law community is extremely proud of you! But it might help to know now that you really do have a group of people who support you and root for you, so that you don’t feel alone. When you are overwhelmed, take it one task at a time, and little by little, you’ll get through it. I believe in you.

Best wishes,

Liliana Esquivel (2L version)