Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE)

Of the 60 questions, 50 are scored and 10 are unscored pretest items mixed in without identification, so every question deserves equal effort. Each question carries four answer choices and ends in a precise 'call' — 'Is the lawyer subject to discipline?', 'subject to civil liability?', 'subject to disqualification?' — and each call points at a different body of law, which is why reading the call first is the standard MPRE technique.

Scores are scaled from 50 to 150, and each jurisdiction sets its own passing score — most fall in the 75-86 band. Because the scale is national, one sitting can qualify you in multiple jurisdictions, and NCBE score services transfer results between them.

The fee to schedule your MPRE test appointment with Pearson VUE is $185, paid by debit or credit card during the multi-step registration: complete NCBE's portion, schedule with Pearson VUE, and pay by 11:59 p.m. Central on the deadline. The operative warning is the deadline itself — NCBE accepts absolutely no registrations after it, so a missed date means waiting for the next of the year's three administrations.

Failing also costs time: a delayed MPRE can gate bar admission timing.

Format at a glance: 60 multiple-choice questions in 120 minutes — two minutes per question — administered on Pearson VUE computers at testing centers, three times per year. Arrive 30 minutes before your appointment; arriving more than 15 minutes late may forfeit it. Door to door, expect roughly 2½ to 3 hours.

The 50 scored questions produce a scaled score from 50 to 150. There is no penalty for guessing, so no question should be left blank. Candidates who miss their jurisdiction's line simply retake at a later administration. Some jurisdictions impose recency requirements on MPRE scores, so confirm the accepted score window with your bar admissions office before choosing a test date.