Ten Property Subjects Commonly Tested in Bar Exams

• Author: Alan R. Romero
• Profession: Professor of law and Director of the Rural Law Center at the University of Wyoming College of Law
• Pages: 347-350

Chapter 21

Ten Property Subjects Commonly

Tested in Bar Exams

In This Chapter

▶ Considering commonly tested subjects in state and multistate bar exams

▶ Identifying other law school courses that cover these subjects

Y

ou may wonder what property law you need to know in order to pass

the bar exam. If only the bar examiners would tell you the questions

beforehand, you’d be sure to find the right answers and know what they want

you to know, right? If only.

The coverage of state bar exams varies, but all include some property law

subjects. You can find many online descriptions of state bar coverage,

although often without enough detail to tell which specific property law

subjects are likely to be tested. Almost all the states have adopted the

Multistate Bar Exam, however, and many states have also adopted the

Multistate Essay Exam. The website of the National Conference of Bar

Examiners (www.ncbex.org), which administers these multistate exams,

includes outlines of the subject matter covered by the exams. The Multistate

Bar Exam, a multiple-choice exam, has 33 property law questions out of the

total 200 questions on the exam.

This chapter highlights ten property law subjects that commonly show up

on bar exams, both state and multistate. It doesn’t aspire to predict which

property issues you’ll be tested on, but it may help you think about some

areas you shouldn’t neglect as you study for the bar.

Because a first-year property law course surveys a broad range of issues, it

can’t cover all property law issues in depth. Other courses in the law school

curriculum offer more detailed study of many of these subjects, so this chapter

also mentions other courses that can deepen your understanding.