Arkansas

The Arkansas State Board of Law Examiners are among the most open and public bar examiners in the country. Below, you’ll find links from their website, connecting you up with essay questions and answers from 1996.

Notice how the examiners concede that the ‘top’ papers are full of mistakes! The lesson: achieve uniform mediocrity and occasional excellence, and you’re on your way to a law license. If you are interested, here is the link to the page from the Examiner’s website that this material is from.

But first, some basic information about the Arkansas Bar Exam is in order:

The Arkansas bar exam, a 3-day exam, consists of the six-hour Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), weighted 33%; two 90-minute Multistate Performance Test (MPT) problems, weighted 20%; three 30-minute Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) questions and four 45-minute Arkansas essay questions, together weighted 47%.

The successful applicant must achieve a combined scaled score of 405. Applicants also must pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) with a scaled score of 85 either before, or within a year after, the bar exam.

The following subjects may be tested on the Arkansas bar exam: business organizations (business associations), commercial transactions, including UCC Articles 1 (general provisions), 2 (sales), 3 (negotiable instruments), and 9 (secured transactions), conflict of laws, constitutional law (Arkansas and federal), contracts, including UCC Article 2 sales, criminal law and procedure, domestic relations (family law), equity (remedies), evidence, practice and procedure, including federal and Arkansas trial and appellate practice, remedies, and choice of forum (civil procedure), property, real and personal, including real estate finance, torts, including product liability, wills, estates, and trusts, including guardianship

Arkansas Bar Examination Arkansas Essay Questions and Top Examination Papers Rule III(f) of the Arkansas Rules Governing Admission to the Bar provides: “The top examination paper in each subject shall be available for review in the Office of the Supreme Court Library and the libraries of any American Bar Association accredited law school in Arkansas, but the name of the author shall not be disclosed.” In compliance with this rule, the Arkansas State Board of Law Examiners is releasing these papers. Members of the Board note that many papers may have significant deficiencies in style, draftsmanship and organization. Indeed, some may fail to recognize issues and may have reached erroneous legal conclusions. Those who review these papers are cautioned that numerous elements enter into the determination of the “top paper” including the perceived writing, analytical, and reasoning ability, as well as knowledge of the law. These papers are not perfect papers but are examples of the better papers. They should be used merely as one of many guidelines in preparing for the examination. With few exceptions, the transcribed (typewritten) copy of each handwritten answer appears exactly as it was written.  This includes spelling errors, grammatical errors, as well as the format. Acrobat Reader is required to view and print PDF documents. Click the icon to download the FREE program. Arkansas Essay Questions and Top Examination Papers Examination Date HTML PDF WPD July 2008 February 2008 July 2007 February 2007 July 2006 February 2006 July 2005 February 2005 July 2004 February 2004 July 2003 February 2003 July 2002 February 2002 July 2001 February 2001 July 2000 February 2000 July 1999 February 1999 July 1998 February 1998 July 1997 February 1997 July 1996 (essay questions only) February 1996 (essay questions only) Other Document HTML PDF WP5 Transmission Letter Cover Sheet

NOTE:  The Arkansas State Board of Law Examiners also provides a hard copy (only) of the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) questions and “top examination papers” to the Arkansas Supreme Court Library, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Young Law Library, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Library, for public use.