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Perfect Compromise Or Perfectly Compromised Tests: Law School Examinations That Mimic A Bar Examination’S Format?, Charles J. Senger

Charles J. Senger

Increased coverage, facial validity based on similarity to many bar examinations, and reduced scoring time all support combining bar examination type essay questions and Multistate Bar Examination multiple choice questions to form a typical three or four hour law school examination. Unfortunately, great care must be exercised or the resulting examination will be seriously flawed. In particular, six challenges must be met to produce a quality examination. Those six are: 1. Mismatches between the examination’s questions and scoring methods when compared to teaching, curriculum, or institutional goals; 2. Insufficient sample size; 3. Insufficient resources for drafting, pre-testing, and processing; 4. …