About the Questions

The following sample questions provide a preview of the question types that appear on the NextGen UBE.   Sign up here to be notified of future releases of new sample questions. 

The Foundational Concepts and Principles are tested on every administration of the NextGen bar exam. These are business associations, civil procedure, constitutional law, contract law, criminal law, evidence, real property, and torts. Starting in July 2028, family law will be included in the Foundational Concepts and Principles.  

Throughout the exam, the following Foundational Skills, organized into four broad skills areas, are assessed:  

1. Issue spotting and analysis, investigation and evaluation
2. Client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, client relationship and management
3. Legal research
4. Legal writing and drafting   

For outlines of testable legal doctrine and skills, please see the NextGen Bar Exam Content Scope. 

The NextGen UBE features three broad categories of question types:  

Multiple-Choice Questions: Approximately 40% of the exam time is devoted to standalone multiple-choice questions in two formats: select one of four options and select two of six options. Note that some multiple-choice questions also appear in the integrated question sets and performance tasks, which are described below.  

Integrated Question Sets: Just over a quarter of the exam time is devoted to integrated question sets. Each of these sets is based on a common fact scenario and may include some legal resources (e.g., excerpts of statutes or judicial opinions) and/or supplemental documents (e.g., a police report or excerpt from a deposition). Each set includes multiple-choice, medium-answer, and/or short-answer questions. In addition to testing doctrinal law, some integrated question sets are focused on drafting or editing a legal document; other sets are focused on counseling and/or dispute resolution. 

Performance Tasks: Approximately a third of the exam time is devoted to performance tasks. These tasks, like Multistate Performance Test (MPT) questions on the legacy bar exam, require examinees to demonstrate their ability to use fundamental lawyering skills in realistic situations, completing tasks that a beginning lawyer should be able to accomplish. These tasks may feature areas of doctrinal law, with accompanying legal resources, not included in the Foundational Concepts and Principles. There are two types of performance tasks: standard performance tasks (PTs) and legal research performance tasks (LRPTs). PTs include a client file of facts and a library of legal resources with one extended-response writing assignment. LRPTs include a client file of facts and a library of legal resources, along with multiple-choice and short-answer questions focused on research and analysis skills, followed by a medium-length writing assignment.