Bar Examination    

     The bar examination is administered twice a year, the last Tuesday and Wednesday of February and July.  The examination is currently administered at three locations in July (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg areas), and two locations in February (Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas).  The board staff processes approximately 3,000 applications per year.  Approximately three weeks prior to the bar examination, each eligible applicant is mailed an admission ticket with detailed instructions regarding the bar examination.  The first day of the examination consists of one Performance Test (PT) question and six essay questions that are prepared by the examiners and approved by the board.  Please read the information contained in the Information and Passing Standards for the Pennsylvania Bar Examination section which is available at the board’s web site regarding specific details regarding bar examination information, test subjects, and passing standards.  Applicants are expected to demonstrate their knowledge of Pennsylvania law, where applicable, when answering the essay portion of the bar examination.

     The second day of the examination is the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), which is prepared by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) in conjunction with American College Testing (ACT).  The examination consists of 200 multiple choice questions on the following subjects:  Contracts, Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Real Property, Evidence and Torts.  The MBE is a national examination and does not contain specific Pennsylvania law questions.