How are study hours allocated?

The plan follows the standard UBE weighting: the MBE (multiple choice) is about 50% of the score and gets roughly half the hours, the MEE (essays) gets about 30%, and the MPT (performance test) about 20%. Hours are split across these in those proportions.

How many weeks of prep do I need?

Full-time bar prep is typically 8-10 weeks at 40-55 hours per week, totaling roughly 400-600 hours. The planner counts your actual weeks remaining and flags if your total hours fall short of the recommended range.

Should I taper before the exam?

Yes. The planner reserves the final days for light review and full-length simulation rather than new material, which most bar coaches recommend to consolidate learning and reduce burnout.

Is this a substitute for a commercial bar course?

No. This is a scheduling aid to structure your hours. Use it alongside a commercial outline and question bank (Barbri, Themis, Kaplan, etc.) for the actual substantive content and practice questions.

What is the Bar Exam Prep Schedule Calculator?

Enter your bar exam date and daily available hours to generate a structured bar prep calendar with MBE subjects, MEE practice, and MPT simulation sessions distributed across the weeks before your exam. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Bar Exam Prep Schedule Calculator

Name: Bar Exam Prep Schedule Calculator
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Build your bar exam prep schedule

Bar prep is an exercise in time management as much as memorization. This planner counts the weeks between your start date and your exam, multiplies your daily study hours into a total budget, then allocates that budget across the MBE, MEE, and MPT using the Uniform Bar Exam weighting so no component is neglected.

How the allocation works

Total available hours are split by the UBE score weighting:

totalHours = weeks × 7 × hoursPerDay
mbeHours   = totalHours × 0.50   (50% of score — 7 subjects)
meeHours   = totalHours × 0.30   (essays — 6 questions)
mptHours   = totalHours × 0.20   (performance test — 2 tasks)

The MBE block is further divided roughly evenly across the seven subjects: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts. The final week is reserved for full-length simulation and review rather than new material.

What a realistic schedule looks like

Full-time bar prep is typically 8–10 weeks at 8–10 hours per day, giving a total of roughly 400–600 hours. Here is how that plays out across phases:

Weeks 1–3 (Substantive learning): Work through outlines and lectures for each MBE subject. Read, outline, and do a modest number of practice questions for immediate reinforcement. Do not skip MEE outlines during this phase — essays require issue-spotting that needs time to develop.

Weeks 4–7 (Practice and reinforcement): Shift toward timed MBE practice sets. Begin writing full MEE essays under timed conditions and reviewing model answers. Start MPT simulations with a focus on format and organisation rather than speed.

Week 8 (Integration): Full-length MBE simulations (100 questions in 3 hours), timed MEE essay sets, and MPT under exam conditions. Review weak MBE subject areas.

Final days (Taper and review): Light review of rule statements and essay outlines. No new material. Rest and logistics — know the location, timing, and rules for exam day.

The 400-hour benchmark

The commonly cited recommendation is 400 total hours as a minimum for a full-time candidate. The planner flags schedules that fall below this. Realistically, candidates who pass tend to have put in 400–600 structured hours over 8–12 weeks. Part-time candidates (working during bar prep) often need 12–16 weeks at lower daily hours to hit the same total.

What to do when your total falls short

If your available weeks multiplied by your daily hours falls below 300–350 hours, consider:

Adding weekend study hours to close the gap
Extending the prep window if your exam date allows
Prioritising MBE heavily, since it is 50% of the score and the most predictable with practice volume

Using this alongside a commercial course

This planner structures your time. The substantive content — outlines, lecture videos, flashcards, and essay banks — comes from a commercial course (Barbri, Themis, Kaplan, Adaptibar, etc.). Use the planner to verify that your commercial course’s schedule hits the target hours, and adjust if the pacing is too front- or back-loaded for your situation.