Days 90–61 (April 28 to May 27): diagnose, then cover every subject once
The legacy UBE is scored on 400 points: the MBE counts for 50%, the six MEE essays for 30% and the two MPT tasks for 20%. The MBE tests seven subjects (Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property and Torts), and the MEE covers those plus Business Associations. Since the July 2026 exam, Conflict of Laws, Family Law, Trusts and Estates and Secured Transactions are no longer tested on the MEE. A 90-day plan has room to under-weight a subject you already know, not to skip one.
Start with a timed diagnostic across all seven MBE subjects and weight the next eight weeks by the result. A subject that felt comfortable in class often tests differently at 1.8 minutes per question, which is what 200 questions in six hours allows.
- Week 1: timed diagnostic, then the bar application if it is still open
- By May 27: first pass of every MBE and MEE subject
- Condense each rule outline as you finish the subject
- One timed set per subject right after you cover it, to catch what did not stick
Days 60–31 (May 28 to June 26): questions and graded writing
This is the phase where question volume and graded writing should outweigh rereading. Answering a question and working out why the wrong choices fail teaches more per hour than a second read of an outline. The exam is 175 scored MBE questions plus 25 unscored ones you cannot tell apart, so review the misses, not just the score.
Submit a first essay and a first MPT early in this phase. Both exam days ask for written work under a hard clock (six 30-minute essays on Tuesday morning, two 90-minute MPTs on Tuesday afternoon), and a submission has to come back graded before it can change how you write.
Days 30–0 (June 27 to July 27): rehearse both exam days
Run the two days as they will happen. Once in the final month, sit the Tuesday format: six essays in three hours and two MPTs in three hours. Once, sit the Wednesday format: 200 questions in two three-hour sessions. Use the same start time as the real exam so your energy curve matches.
From July 20, day 7, the week is for your error log, logistics and sleep, not a new outline. Content you meet for the first time in the final week rarely comes back on the exam; content you misread three times already has.
The 90-day arc for the July 27–28, 2027 exam
| Phase | Dates | Days out | Main work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diagnose and cover | April 28 – May 27 | 90–61 | Diagnostic, one pass through every subject, application filed |
| Practice and write | May 28 – June 26 | 60–31 | Timed question sets, first graded essay and MPT |
| Rehearse | June 27 – July 19 | 30–8 | One full Tuesday format, one full Wednesday format, error log |
| Final week | July 20 – July 27 | 7–0 | Logistics, light error-log review, sleep |
What to do next
- 1
Check your jurisdiction's July filing deadline before you plan anything else; the median sits 119 days before the exam.
- 2
Sit a timed diagnostic in week one and weight the schedule by the result.
- 3
Finish one pass of every subject by day 61, May 27 for the 2027 exam.
- 4
Get a first graded essay and MPT back by day 45 so there is time for a second round.
- 5
Rehearse the Tuesday and Wednesday formats once each before day 8.
Common questions
When is the July 2027 bar exam?+
Tuesday and Wednesday, July 27–28, 2027. Jurisdictions that give the UBE use the last Tuesday and Wednesday of July. Day 90 before that is April 28, 2027.
Has my state's July filing deadline already passed by day 90?+
Probably. Of 53 jurisdictions with a parsable July 2026 deadline, 38 closed before April 29, 2026, the matching day 90. The median deadline was 119 days before the exam, and the closest was 57 days out. Look yours up on its jurisdiction page.
How many questions are on the MBE, and how long do I get per question?+
200 multiple-choice questions over six hours in two three-hour sessions, which is 1.8 minutes per question. 175 are scored and 25 are unscored pretest questions.
What do the UBE components weigh?+
The MBE is 50% of the 400-point UBE score, the six MEE essays are 30% and the two MPT tasks are 20%. Each jurisdiction sets its own passing score, so the same raw work can pass in one state and not another.
What does the Tuesday and Wednesday schedule look like?+
Tuesday is written: six 30-minute MEE essays in the morning and two 90-minute MPT tasks in the afternoon. Wednesday is the 200-question MBE. Rehearse each as a block, because the endurance demand differs.
Does a NextGen jurisdiction change this plan?+
The three phases hold, but the exam content differs. Guam and Connecticut began NextGen with the July 2026 administration, and Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and West Virginia start it in July 2028. NCBE administers the legacy UBE through February 2028, so confirm which exam your jurisdiction gives in July 2027.