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MBE FAQs
Which jurisdictions administer the MBE?
| Alabama | Georgia | Maryland | New Jersey | Pennsylvania | Washington |
| Alaska | Guam | Massachusetts |
New Mexico | Rhode Island | West Virginia |
| Arizona | Hawaii | Michigan | New York | South Carolina | Wisconsin |
| Arkansas | Idaho | Minnesota | North Carolina | South Dakota | Wyoming |
| California | Illinois | Mississippi | North Dakota | Tennessee | |
| Colorado | Indiana | Missouri | N. Mariana Islands | Texas | |
| Connecticut | Iowa | Montana | Ohio | Utah | |
| Delaware | Kansas |
Nebraska | Oklahoma | Vermont | |
| District of Columbia | Kentucky | Nevada | Oregon | Virgin Islands | |
| Florida | Maine |
New Hampshire | Palau | Virginia |
Which subjects are covered on the MBE?
Subject Matter Outlines, an excerpt from the 2013 MBE Information Booklet
How is the MBE developed?
MBE questions are developed by drafting committees composed of recognized experts in the various subject areas. Before a test question is selected for inclusion in the MBE, it undergoes a multistage review process over the course of several years. Besides intensive review by the drafting committee members and testing specialists, each test question is reviewed by other national and state experts. All test questions must successfully pass all reviews before they are included in the MBE. After an MBE is administered, the performance of each test question is reviewed and evaluated by content and testing experts. This final review is conducted to ensure that the exam is graded fairly, particularly with regard to any questions affected by recent changes in the law.
How is the MBE scored?
MBE answer sheets are scanned and centrally scored. Both a raw score and a scaled score are computed for each examinee. A raw score is the number of questions answered correctly. Raw scores from different administrations of the MBE are not comparable, primarily due to differences in the difficulty of the questions from one administration to the next. The statistical process of equating adjusts for variations in the difficulty of the questions, producing scaled scores that represent the same level of performance across all MBE administrations. For instance, if the questions appearing on the July MBE were more difficult than those appearing on the February MBE, then the scaled scores for the July MBE would be adjusted upward to account for this difference. These adjustments ensure that no examinee is unfairly penalized or rewarded for taking a more or less difficult exam.