Scores from the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) are interpreted comparing a scaled score received as part of the test results notification to the cutoff number established in the jurisdiction where the examinee will be taking the bar exam. The examinee is considered to have met the minimum level of proficiency in the subject matter if the scaled score is higher than the cut off score. When a scaled score falls below the cutoff, the examinee must retake the test in order to improve their score.
To practice law in the United States, law school graduates must take and pass a bar examination. Each state has its own judicial bar, which establishes the requirements for legal licensing. Although certain aspects of the bar examination process have been standardized across states, it is still up to each state to decide whether to use the standardized tools or its own, as well as how those tools are applied to the state’s unique bar admission qualifications. One of the standardized exams used in the licensing process is the MPRE.
MPRE scores are used most states to determine whether candidates have the ethical professional conduct knowledge required to practice law. The exam has 60 multiple-choice questions, but only 50 of them are used to determine a test taker’s score. Each state establishes its own cutoff point for passing the MPRE. In one state, a score may be sufficient to meet the MPRE requirement, but in another, it may be insufficient.
Understanding how a scaled score is calculated is also necessary for interpreting MPRE scores. The examinee is given a raw score based on the number of questions correctly answered. The examiners then assign a difficulty rating to each question, ostensibly correcting for test difficulty across test sessions. The theory is that factoring in the relative difficulty of the questions, the scoring process levels the playing field, removing any advantage that a test given in one session has over another.
When you assign difficulty levels to questions, you get a scaled score that ranges from 50 to 150, with an average scaled score of 100. The statistical formula used to create the scale isn’t available to the general public. Examinees will have a general idea of the raw MPRE scores needed to achieve certain scaled scores on a year-to-year basis, but they will not know their scaled score for sure until official test results are received.