Marygold S Melli, The Multistate Essay Examination, 57 The Bar Examiner 5 (1988).
Abstract
The July 1988 bar examination marked the inauguration of a new service of the National Conference of Bar Examiners--the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE). On Tuesday, July 26, 1988, six jurisdictions gave, for the first time, as part of their July bar examination, a set of essay questions developed for them by the NCBE. Like the other NCBE produced tests, the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE), the MEE is designed to improve the quality of the bar examination process. But, unlike those two examinations, which brought a new testing concept, the multiple-choice examination, to the bar examination, the MEE represents an attempt to improve the quality of a traditional staple of the bar examination, the essay question.
This article describes the examination, outlines its history, and discusses its development.
