Tutorial 3 of 4 · ~10 minutes

The MPT approach

The Multistate Performance Test is the most honest part of the bar exam: two 90-minute lawyering tasks — a memo, a brief section, a client letter — where the law is handed to you in a library of cases and statutes. You are not tested on what you memorized. You are tested on whether you can lawyer: read, organize, analyze, and write.

Exam facts: NCBE, MPT description at ncbex.org/exams/mpt. California's performance test follows the same lawyering-task logic in its own format.

1. The three documents

The task memo: your assignment from the supervising attorney. It tells you exactly what to produce and what questions to answer. This is your compass — everything else serves it.
The file: the facts — client interview notes, pleadings, correspondence. Messy, like real practice.
The library: the law — cases, statutes, rules. Everything you need is here, including law you have never seen before. That is the point.

Our read: students fail the MPT by treating it like an essay exam — writing from memory and ignoring the library. The MPT is an open-book exercise in following instructions. The task memo tells you what a passing answer looks like; read it twice before you read anything else.

2. The 90-minute budget

Minutes 0–10: the task memo, twice. Underline the deliverable, the questions to answer, and any formatting instructions. Note the jurisdiction — the library may include a "fake" jurisdiction's law, and you must apply that law, not the real law you know.
Minutes 10–45: the library, then the file. Read the library first and outline the legal framework: elements, factors, holdings. Then read the file and slot facts into that framework. (Reading the file first wastes time — you won't know which facts matter yet.)
Minutes 45–80: write. Headings for each question in the task memo. IRAC inside each heading, citing library authorities by name.
Minutes 80–90: rescue. Fill thin sections, check you answered every question in the task memo, add a brief conclusion.

The real-law trap. The library sometimes states the law of a fictional jurisdiction that differs from the law you learned. Applying real law instead of library law is the classic MPT failure — graders score application of the provided authorities.

3. What graders score

MPT graders look for organization, analysis, and responsiveness to the task: did you answer the questions asked, in a usable format, applying the library's law to the file's facts? A complete, well-organized answer that follows the task memo beats a brilliant analysis of the wrong question.

Use the task memo's questions as your headings — verbatim.
Cite library cases by name for every rule you state.
Address counterarguments the library's cases raise — the file usually contains facts for both sides.
Write in the assigned format (objective memo, persuasive brief section, letter) — tone and audience matter.

Our read: the MPT is the highest-leverage written component per hour of preparation, because it tests skills rather than memorized law. Two or three timed practice tasks — with Eli's rubric feedback afterward — is enough to make the format second nature.

Practice with Eli: paste a practice task and your answer with the prompt "score my MPT against an MPT rubric" — he checks task responsiveness, organization, use of the library, and analysis, as rubric-guided self-assessment, not official grading.

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