Mississippi Bar Exam

Mississippi Bar Examiners

Mississippi Board of Bar Admissions
P.O. Box 1449
Jackson, MS 39215-1449
(601) 576-4620

Bar Exam Format

The Mississippi bar exam consists of its written components on one, longer day and the multiple choice questions on the other, shorter day.

Day 1

The first day’s three and one-half hour morning session has one MPT and four MSE questions.  You will have one and one-half hour to complete the MPT and two hours to complete the MSE questions.
The first day’s four hour afternoon session consists of two MSE questions and six MEE questions.  You will have one hour to complete the MSE questions and three hours to complete the MEE questions.

Day 2

The second day’s 3-hour morning session consists of 100 MBE questions.  The second day’s 3-hour afternoon session consists of another 100 MBE questions.

Reciprocity

Upon motion, the State of Mississippi consents to Mississippi bar exam reciprocity and permits admission of an attorney to the Mississippi Bar without taking the exam, provided that several conditions are fulfilled, including that:

  • the attorney must have obtained her Juris Doctor from a law school approved by the American Bar Association as of her graduation;
  • generally, the attorney is barred in a reciprocal jurisdiction; and
  • the attorney has practiced law for at least five years in a reciprocal jurisdiction.

Subjects/Topics

The Mississippi essay questions may examine these topics:

  • Administrative Law;
  • Bankruptcy;
  • Business Organizations (Corporations, Partnerships, and Agency);
  • Conflict of Laws;
  • Constitutional Law (Federal and Mississippi);
  • Contracts;
  • Criminal Law and Procedure;
  • Domestic Relations;
  • Evidence;
  • Federal Income Tax;
  • Federal Jurisdiction and Rules of Civil Procedure;
  • Practice and Procedure of Mississippi Courts;
  • Professional Conduct and Ethics;
  • Real Property;
  • Torts (including Worker’s Compensation);
  • Uniform Commercial Code (Commercial Paper, Sales, Secured Transactions); and
  • Wills, Estates, Trusts and Future Interests (including basic federal tax consequences).

Bar Exam Dates

The Mississippi bar exam is held in February and July. The exam is usually on the last Wednesday and prior Tuesday of each month.

2024

  • February 27-28, 2024
  • July 30-31, 2024

Exam Results

Generally, the Board releases the results of the February, Mississippi bar exam in mid-April and the July exam results in mid-September.  The Mississippi Bar Admissions Administrator notifies each applicant by regular mail as to whether they passed or failed the exam.  For those who fail the exam, the administrator includes in the mailing a report that shows the score on each component.  The State of Mississippi Judiciary’s website has Mississippi bar exam results.

Scoring/Grading

A passing score on the Mississippi bar exam is 132 on a 200-point scale.  The Mississippi Board of Bar Admissions weights the exam components as follows:

  • 40% for the Multistate Bar Exam (“MBE”);
  • 30% for the Mississippi Essay Exam (“MSE”);
  • 15% for the Multistate Essay Exam (“MEE”); and
  • 15% for the Multistate Performance Test (“MPT”).

The board scales the raw scores on the MSE, the MEE, and the MPT to the MBE, averages each of them, and then adds them together to calculate the total score, which includes the MBE score.

Before the final calculation, the board must individually review each essay “answer of those applicants achieving a combined score between 129 and 131.9.”

Pass Rate/Stats

Typically, the Mississippi bar exam pass rates are 60% to 85% for all takers, 77% to 90% for first-time takers, and 6% to 62% for repeat takers.