The Illinois Uniform Bar Examination is administered by the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar as part of the process of identifying and recommending to the Supreme Court qualified candidates for admission to the Illinois Bar. The Examination spans two days— the last consecutive Tuesday and Wednesday in February and July—with the performance test and essays on Tuesday and the multiple-choice Multistate Bar Exam on Wednesday.
Beginning on the July 2019 Bar Exam, Illinois will incorporate the Uniform Bar Examination (“UBE”). Illinois is the 30th state to incorporate the UBE. An additional Multistate Performance Test will replace the 3 Illinois essay questions in the morning of Day 1 on the Bar examination. In addition, Bar examiners will now receive a portable UBE score that can be transferred to other UBE jurisdictions.
About the Exam
The Illinois Uniform Bar Exam essays can include agency and partnership, contracts and sales, criminal law, torts, evidence, constitutional law, real property, corporations, conflict of laws, criminal procedure, family law, civil procedure, secured transactions, trusts and future interests, and wills.
The Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) is a six-hour, 200 question multiple-choice examination covering civil procedure, contracts, criminal law and procedure, torts, evidence, constitutional law, and real property. The test is divided into two periods of three hours each, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, with 100 questions in each period.
The forms and instructions are available on the bar examiner’s website.
Uniform Bar Examination Schedule
Day One (Tuesday) Morning
- Two Multistate Performance Tests (90 minutes each)
Day One (Tuesday) Afternoon
- Six Multistate Essay Exam Questions (3 hours)
Day Two (Wednesday) Morning
- 100 Multiple-choice Questions from Multistate Bar Examination (3 hours)
Day Two (Wednesday) Afternoon
- 100 Multiple-choice Questions from Multistate Bar Examination (3 hours)