Exam Guide

(explanatory note from Profs. Fox and Dunn)

Ohio Bar Essay Questions and Sample [NOT “model”] Answers are available at the Supreme Court of Ohio (SCO) web site. Please click the following link to access them.

Additionally, the Law School provides (for bar-preparing students) access to both Ohio Bar Essay Questions and MPT materials—i.e., all the materials needed to practice for the written portion of the Ohio Bar Exam. On the Student Home page, left-side menu, eligible students should find a link entitled “Bar Prep Materials (3Ls only).” The MPT materials found on this site are complete sets of MPT items (two items per Bar administration) starting from 2005. They are licensed directly from the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) for your use.

The materials are listed alphabetically by title of the question, with date of the question noted for your information. Suggested instructions for use of these materials are given at the top of the listing—but for brief clarification, the three documents included for each item are as follows:

1) The Question. This comprises the client File and the source Library you would receive in the examination, along with the instructions for completing that exam segment.

2) The Drafters' Point Sheet, which is a systematic listing of all points the writers of the question thought candidates might usefully include in their responses. (As its heading will repeat, these are not required points; some are more important than others, but generally they are a list of possibilities, not of requirements.)

3) The Ohio Sample Answer, which (as noted above) is a sample (NOT "MODEL") answer released by the Ohio Bar Examiners. It was written by an Ohio examinee in the 90-minute allowed time, so it gives a more realistic sense of a target for preparing students than does the Drafters’ Point Sheet.

The MPT is an important part of bar preparation. Standard recommendation includes writing at least one complete 90-minute MPT each week during the bar-prep period, along with numerous substantive-content essays. Since commercial bar-preparation courses tend to focus on memorization of substantive content, they may include less than the recommended amount of MPT practice and feedback. 

Details about the exam contents and application requirements are on the USPTO's website, which includes a hyperlinked list of the source materials for the exam, e.g. Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP).