Resources and Advice for the Bar Exam Retaker
10.27.2026
We share in your disappointment and know that it won’t be easy to pick up your study materials once again, but pick them up you must if you want to be the attorney you went to law school to become.
What to Do Next
- Contact the New York Board of Law Examiners. Make the required written request for a copy of your answers to the MEE and MPT, the MEE questions, the MPT questions, and the Law Examiners selected candidate answers to these questions. You must see the questions and your responses to assess weaknesses and provide insights into how you could better approach the essays. Do not delay because the request should be made “no later than 60 days after the Board’s failure notice to the applicant.” See, Frequently Asked Questions and General Information Guide for Taking the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE) in New York State, p. 14. https://www.nybarexam.org/TheBar/NYBarExamInformationGuide.pdf
- Find someone to talk to about the exam. Talking to someone with experience in these matters can be incredibly helpful. Many law schools provide assistance to re-takers. Contact the Dean of Students or the Director of Academic Development. Take advantage of all resources available to you.
- Contact your bar review provider. They are the experts on the bar exam and can offer useful advice. They may also allow you to repeat the course at no additional charge. However, if you did not find that bar review course structured in a way that was compatible with how you learn, then consider another provider.
- Look for concentrated bar review courses or individual supplements. These may be well-suited to meet your specific needs, whether in a particular subject or with a particular skill. Consider the following:
Pieper Bar Review: Concentrated Review: This program is carefully constructed and “designed for the working person who received a UBE score of 250 or above.” See, https://www.pieperbar.com/courses
Barbri: There are many options at this provider. It is best to go directly to the website and review them all to determine what might work best for you. https://www.barbri.com/bar-review-course/
Kaplan Bar Review: Like the other bar review companies, Kaplan offers a range of options for exam takers. It is best to go directly to their website. https://www.kaptest.com/bar-exam
Themis Bar Review: https://www.themisbar.com/pass-the-bar-exam/new-york-bar-exam
- Private tutoring. Working one-on-one with an expert can help identify your strengths and weaknesses in each section of the UBE. A tutor can also assist you in setting up a structured study schedule that ensures you will cover all the tested subjects and incorporate timed practice exams for each section of the UBE – the MBE, the MEE, and the MPT. Ask your law school and bar review company for recommendations.
- Practice with released bar exam questions. There is no better source for practice questions than released bar exam questions. Bar exams must be consistent over time to ensure reliability and consistency among bar takers. This means that the questions must be consistent in their structure, content, and levels of difficulty. If you practice with a sufficient number of past exams, you will begin to see the similarities in word usage, issues tested, and question structure.
The New York Board of Law Examiners provides past MEE and MPT exam questions with sample candidate answers on its website for each administration of the UBE from July 2016 to February 2026. They are giving you a gift – take it. See, https://www.nybarexam.org/ExamQuestions/ExamQuestions.htm
The National Conference of Bar Examiners also provides authentic and official study aid materials including all three components of the UBE. Since you will be taking the UBE, then go to this site for the Official Legacy Bar Exam Study Aids for the UBE, MBE, MEE and MPT: https://www.ncbex.org/study-aids/legacy-exam
We wish you good luck on the bar exam and in your future endeavors as a practicing attorney.
