ProfessorTommy.Tips

One of my former students recently asked a great question that I suspect many Legacy UBE examinees have been wondering: I know that Choice of Law is no longer tested on the Legacy UBE beginning with the July 2026 exam. Does that also mean Erie doctrine is gone? The NCBE outline lists Erie under Conflict of Laws, but [my bar review course] still teaches it in Civil Procedure. Should I keep studying it? My answer is an emphatic "YES." I would absolutely continue studying Erie d

Lionel Messi added another accomplishment to an already legendary career by breaking the World Cup scoring record yesterday. For more than two decades, Messi has dazzled fans with his vision, precision, and ability to make difficult things look effortless. He sees opportunities before others do and consistently puts himself in position to succeed. But while Messi may be brilliant, a messy bar exam essay response is not. Photo source: www.messi.com Yes, it's a groan-worthy pla

One of the most common concerns I hear from bar examinees is some variation of the following: "I'm struggling with the essays. I keep running out of time, and I really want to improve my scores." The good news is that essay performance is often one of the most improvable portions of the bar exam. While there is no magic solution, there are several practical steps that can help you become more efficient and earn additional points on the essay portion of the bar exam, like the

One of the more common frustrations I hear from bar examinees is this: "I know the law, but when I sit down to write an essay, I can't remember the rule statement." If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. Many students believe that success on the essay portion of the bar exam requires memorizing hundreds of rule statements word-for-word. They spend hours rereading outlines, highlighting commercial course materials, and reviewing flashcards, only to discover that when they

If you’ve taken one of my classes, you might have seen this comment on your essays: You did a good job of following IRAC, but it's recommended that you don't label the components of each IRAC section. That advice tends to catch students off guard. After all, IRAC is what you’ve been taught from the beginning. So why stop labeling it now? Because at this stage, labeling IRAC does more harm than good. Years ago, I heard a bar exam grader describe a labeled IRAC response like th

If you’ve spent any time studying Evidence, you’ve probably internalized one core principle: Everything starts with relevance. Relevance under the Federal Rules of Evidence is intentionally broad: Rule 401: Evidence is relevant if it has any tendency to make a fact more or less probable and that fact is of consequence. Rule 402: Relevant evidence is admissible unless a rule excludes it. Irrelevant evidence is not admissible. Rule 403: Even relevant evidence can be excluded if

If you’re studying for the bar right now, you may have seen this NCBE update: "Effective with the July 2026 bar exam, the following areas will no longer be tested on the MEE: Conflict of Laws, Family Law, Trusts and Estates, and Secured Transactions. From July 2026 through February 2028, both Family Law and Trusts and Estates will be tested regularly through the Multistate Performance Test." That announcement might have you wondering: “Wait … do I still need to learn Family L

Some pop-culture moments don’t happen because a studio planned a crossover. They happen because the calendar accidentally creates one. And people can’t resist treating it like an event. We saw that in Summer 2023 with “ Barbenheimer ”: Barbie and Oppenheimer opened on the same day (July 21, 2023) and audiences turned it into an unlikely double-feature phenomenon. Two completely different vibes. One shared release date. Suddenly, “which one are you seeing?” became “are you d

Let’s talk about pickles, and and not just because it’s National Pickle Day . On the Uniform Bar Exam, the Multistate Essay Examination gives you six essays to answer in one three-hour block. That means you have, on average, 30 minutes to complete each essay, and those six essays make up a significant chunk of your overall UBE score. Thirty percent, in fact. This design assumes you'll pace yourself evenly. But that's not always what happens. Photo by Solstice Hannan on Unspl

If you’ve heard Generation Alpha chanting “six–seven,” which Dictionary.com recently named its 2025 Word of the Year , then congratulations: You’re now holding the perfect icebreaker for explaining bar‑exam scoring to anyone. On the written portion of the Uniform Bar Exam (the six Multistate Essay Exam essays and the two Multistate Performance Test questions), jurisdictions don’t all use the same raw scale. Although a majority of UBE jurisdictions grade your answers on six