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MBE subject checklists.

The MBE is 200 questions — 175 scored, 25 per subject across 7 subjects (the other 25 are unscored pretest). Every subject gets equal weight, so every subject gets equal study. The ★ marks are the heavy hitters.

Civil Procedure

  • ★ Personal jurisdiction, subject-matter jurisdiction, venue — the gateway questions
  • ★ Erie doctrine, claim & issue preclusion
  • Pleadings, discovery scope, summary judgment standards
  • Trial: jury rights, JMOL, appeals & final-judgment rule

Constitutional Law

  • ★ Individual rights: due process, equal protection tiers of scrutiny, First Amendment speech & religion
  • ★ Congressional powers & limits (Commerce Clause, spending, taxing); executive power
  • Federalism: preemption, dormant Commerce Clause, state action doctrine
  • Justiciability: standing, ripeness, mootness, political question

Contracts (incl. UCC Article 2)

  • ★ Formation: offer, acceptance, consideration; the mailbox rule; UCC vs. common-law formation differences
  • ★ Performance, breach, and discharge; conditions; anticipatory repudiation
  • Defenses: Statute of Frauds, mistake, misrepresentation, duress, unconscionability
  • Remedies: expectation, reliance, restitution; UCC remedies; parol evidence

Criminal Law & Procedure

  • ★ Homicide ladder (intent, felony murder, manslaughter); accomplice & conspiracy liability
  • ★ Fourth Amendment: searches, seizures, warrants, exceptions, exclusionary rule; Fifth (Miranda, self-incrimination); Sixth (counsel, confrontation)
  • Defenses: self-defense, insanity, duress, necessity, entrapment
  • Attempt, solicitation; double jeopardy basics

Evidence

  • ★ Hearsay: definition, non-hearsay uses, exemptions, and the big exceptions (present sense, excited utterance, business records, dying declaration, statements against interest)
  • ★ Relevance, unfair prejudice, character evidence & the exceptions that swallow it
  • Privileges; impeachment methods; authentication & best evidence
  • Expert testimony standards; judicial notice & presumptions

Real Property

  • ★ Present & future interests; concurrent ownership (joint tenancy, tenancy by entirety, partition)
  • ★ Mortgages, recording acts (notice/race/race-notice), title assurance
  • Landlord-tenant: habitability, assignments vs. subleases
  • Easements, covenants, servitudes; adverse possession; zoning basics

Torts

  • ★ Negligence: duty, breach (Hand formula thinking), causation (actual + proximate), damages; defenses (comparative fault, assumption of risk)
  • ★ Strict liability & products liability theories
  • Intentional torts: battery, assault, false imprisonment, IIED, trespass, conversion; defenses
  • Defamation & privacy torts; nuisance

Our read: negligence is roughly half the Torts questions, and formation/performance/breach/discharge is roughly half of Contracts — master those two blocks and you've banked a large share of 50 questions. Then equal-weight everything else: with 25 scored questions per subject, a neglected subject costs exactly as much as a strong one earns. (Frequency notes per the NCBE subject-matter outline discussions; verify the current outline at ncbex.org.)

MBE structure (200 questions, 175 scored, 25 per subject, 7 subjects, two 3-hour sessions of 100) per the NCBE as described at ncbex.org. Topic emphasis is study guidance, not a promise of any exam's content.