Grading and Reread Procedures     

The MBE answer sheets are forwarded to American College Testing (ACT) for scoring immediately after the bar examination is concluded statewide. The PT and six essay answers are graded by the examiners and readers subsequent to semiannual meetings held following the February and July bar examinations. At the conclusion of each bar examination, the executive director sends a copy of the actual bar examination essay questions, examiners' proposed analyses and grading guidelines to representatives from each of the seven Pennsylvania law schools. The representatives expeditiously circulate the questions and analyses to the professors who teach the respective subject material covered by the six essay questions and solicit comments and suggestions from each of them. The comments and suggestions are shared with the board, examiners and readers at the calibration session conducted at the semiannual meetings. The examiners then use the feedback to revise their analyses and grading guidelines in order to grade the applicants' essay answers in the most equitable and fair manner possible.

There are three graders for the Performance Test (PT) and each essay question, each of whom grades one-third of the answers for that specific question. Once all grades have been submitted, any applicant receiving a combined scaled score of 265-271, inclusive, will automatically have their PT and six essay answers reread and regraded by a different grader. The reread graders are not aware of the scores originally given. The revised scores, if applicable, are then recalculated with the MBE score for a final combined scaled score. Once results are released, the scores are final and are not subject to judicial review pursuant to Pa.B.A.R. 221.
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