Authority-ranking sets
Given five sources on the same point, rank them by which one actually controls.
NextGen skill course
Legal Research
Legal research on the bar exam is not searching a database. NextGen gives you a bundle of legal resources and tests whether you can find the authority that controls, read it accurately and apply it, and those tasks are set inside larger files rather than tested alone. Success means working out which source binds the court, distinguishing holding from dicta, noticing when a statute or rule is superseded or does not apply, and citing only what the resources contain. The common failure is answering from memory instead of the materials provided, which is a serious error when the supplied law differs from the rule you learned. Train it by practicing with closed sets of authority and forcing yourself to quote the source. The sequence below lists the actions, and the drills isolate each step.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| Performance actions | 7 |
| Common failure modes | 5 |
| Isolated drills | 6 |
| Rubric criteria | 5 |
Performance sequence
The actions to perform
- 01
Translate the client problem into research questions
- 02
Identify jurisdiction, source type, and authority hierarchy
- 03
Use statutes, regulations, cases, and secondary sources appropriately
- 04
Read holdings in procedural and factual context
- 05
Check currency and negative treatment
- 06
Synthesize multiple authorities into one rule
- 07
Document the research path and remaining uncertainty
Focused training
Drills that isolate the skill
Holding versus dicta classification
Mark each sentence of an opinion as holding or dicta, then defend the ones that are genuinely close calls.
Statute-to-case synthesis
Combine a statute's text with the cases interpreting it into one rule you could actually apply.
Negative-treatment decisions
A case has been criticized, not overruled. Decide whether it still controls, and how you'd say so in writing.
Research-log reconstruction
Work backward from a finished answer and rebuild the research trail that would have produced it.
Medium recommendation drafting
Turn a research finding into a client-ready recommendation, in one paragraph, with the risk stated plainly.
01 · From NCBE's own content scope
How NCBE defines Group C, legal research
NCBE's content scope says the purpose of Foundational Skills Group C is to assess the extent to which an examinee can identify and implement legal research strategies. That includes preliminary issue spotting, working with provided resources, developing and refining a theory of the case, and reaching closure on research questions.
Legal research is assessed with provided sources, so the skill is choosing and reading them well.
02 · From NCBE's own content scope
Defined research tasks
NCBE's research tasks include framing the questions that still need answers, spotting unclear wording in a supplied source, and choosing efficient search terms and research methods.
They also include identifying the roles and characteristics of sources, including their authoritative weight, and identifying facts analogous to or distinct from the dispositive facts in judicial opinions.
03 · From NCBE's own content scope
Provided resources and skills-focused questions
NCBE says other legal areas, family law and trusts and estates among them, can supply the setting for a skills question. In those questions the statutes, regulations and cases needed are supplied, so examinees do not have to have studied those areas in advance.
That is why task 21 asks which sources in a set bear on or decide a legal issue. Reading a supplied source accurately is what is being tested.
04 · From NCBE's own content scope
Worked drill: a search log on a closed library
This drill uses an invented library, not NCBE material. The assignment: decide whether a tenant may withhold rent after a landlord ignores a broken heater. The library has four items: a statute allowing withholding after written notice and 14 days, a case that requires the notice be delivered to the address on the lease, a case holding that a text message is not written notice, and a repealed older statute. Keep a log with four columns: item, what it holds, how it affects the answer, and whether it is controlling.
The log should show the ranking before the writing starts. The current statute controls; the delivery case adds a condition; the text-message case decides the client's problem if the notice was a text; the repealed statute is out and should not appear in the rule. The point is that research on a bar exam means sorting a small set of authorities correctly, not finding more of them. A weak log records all four as 'relevant' and merges the repealed rule with the current one, which produces a wrong rule in the final answer.
QUICK ANSWERS
Questions about Legal Research
What is the purpose of Foundational Skills Group C?+
To assess whether an examinee can identify and implement legal research strategies, including preliminary issue spotting, working with provided resources, refining a theory of the case and reaching closure.
Does the NextGen UBE ask about search terms?+
Yes. Task 17 has examinees choose efficient search terms and research methods likely to turn up further sources.
How does NCBE test the weight of authority?+
Task 18 asks examinees, given a collection of legal sources, to identify the roles and characteristics of the sources, including their authoritative weight.
Can I be asked whether my sources are sufficient?+
Yes. Task 22 has examinees judge whether a set of legal sources is enough to finish a given research or lawyering assignment.
What does NCBE mean by identifying ambiguities?+
Task 16 has examinees spot unclear wording, standards, elements or factors in a supplied statute, contract or court opinion.
Are opinions compared on the NextGen UBE?+
Yes. Task 19 asks examinees, given judicial opinions, to identify facts analogous to or distinct from the dispositive facts in the opinions.
Does NCBE test updating sources?+
Task 20 has examinees name other sources, search terms or research approaches that could update what they have or turn up more.
Is legal research tested with a live database?+
NCBE describes these tasks as working with provided legal resources, so the content scope tests research reasoning instead of database searching.
Do I need to memorize family law or trusts and estates for the research skill?+
No. NCBE says examinees need not have studied those areas beforehand, because the legal materials needed are supplied with the question.
What does task 15 ask?+
In a matter that requires legal research, to identify the research questions that need to be answered, according to NCBE's content scope.
SOURCE DESK
Official NCBE sources
NCBE: NextGen UBE content scope, July 2026 to February 2027 (PDF)↗NCBE: NextGen UBE content scope↗Train it in context
From drill to full client file
Further reading
Primary and secondary sources, and how researchers move between them, are laid out in a general reference on legal research. Legal research (Wikipedia) ↗