Examiners, Law Students Ready For Test Changes

The state’s bar exam has come under scrutiny for its pass rates and allegations of unfair grading practices.

Chris Thomas, secretary of the state board of law examiners, disputes the claims. In fact, Thomas said, Arkansas’ pass rates for first-time takers of the bar exam — between 75-84 percent — are similar to other states in the region. And the 11 law professionals who grade the written portion of the test grade it according to what they believe is minimal proficiency, he said.

Because of these allegations, however, the state bar exam has undergone some changes and grading has been streamlined to “provide a consistent measure of performance,” Thomas said.

The board is preparing to add the Multistate Performance Test in its July testing. This test, developed in the mid-1990s by the National Conference of Bar Examiners in Madison, Wis., is used by 29 other states and adds an additional half day to the test, Thomas said.

MPT measures “lawyering skills,” or the applicant’s ability to read and understand complicated issues and apply appropriate law and reasoning to the case they are presented. The potential lawyers are given a packet containing a case similar to those they may encounter and several pages of laws they could use in regard to the case.

The test-taker must choose which law is most appropriate, ruling out all others, and explain how that particular law could be used in the courtroom. This analytical portion of the exam is similar in nature to the essays requiring the students to know Arkansas law. The MPT, however, judges national law knowledge.

The 200 multiple-choice test, called the Multistate Bar Exam, also was designed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners to test generally recognized principles of law. It will continue to be used in the bar exam after the MPT is included, Thomas said.

Thomas said he doesn’t believe the addition of the MPT will affect the overall pass rate, but it might have some impact on individual scores. Some students are better analytical thinkers than multiple-choice test takers, he said.

Chuck Goldner, dean of the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said that the current bar exam, including the addition of the MPT, is an accurate account of the basic skills a lawyer needs to have, but the score required to pass is too steep.

“The score is set higher right now than it needs to be to test the competency to enter practice,” Goldner said.

Currently, test-takers must score at least 75 percent, or 405 points, on the overall test to pass. Goldner said he believes the score should be lowered by 10 points to allow more people to pass on the first try.

Goldner said his graduates are well prepared for the new MPT style and aren’t stressing too much about its inclusion.

“There’s no need to add anything new to our curriculum. We’ve already been doing this,” he said.

Arkansas Bar Exam Results

CategorytFeb. tJulytFeb. tJulytFeb.tJulytFeb.

Total Testedt120t223t171t235t127t237t141

Percentage Passingt57.5%t75.8%t69.6%t49.3%t48.0%t69.0%t48.9%

Number Passingt69t169t119t116t61t164t69

Oncet73.4%t84.8%t73.2%t57.7%t62.5%t77.7%t60.7%

Twicet50.0%t41.2%t71.2%t23.8%t45.7%t51.5%t42.1%

Three or Moret30.0%t27.3%t55.6%t18.8%t17.9%t37.9%t10.5%

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First-time test-takers from Arkansas law schools

University of Arkansasttttttt

Total Testedt19t72t15t68t16t80t27

Number Passingt15t62t12t38t10t63t11

Percentage Passingt78.9%t86.1%t80.0%t55.9%t62.5%t78.8%t40.7%

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UALR

Total Testedt16t91t25t87t19t64t24

Number Passingt10t79t15t51t9t47t13

Percentage Passingt55.6%t86.8%t60.0%t58.6%t47.4%t73.4%t54.2%

Source: State Board of Law Examiners