Taking the Oregon Bar in July and trying to figure out the right split between MBE and MEE prep. I went to a T2 school with a 3.2 GPA and took a Barbri course but I'm supplementing heavily with Themis. My diagnostic MBE score was 135 which I know isn't where it needs to be - I'm targeting 150+ by exam day.
Oregon uses the UBE format so I know the MEE and MPT matter a lot. I'm spending about 60% of my time on MBE practice and 40% on essay. Does that ratio make sense or should I shift it given that Oregon's total UBE score requirement is 270? I keep reading conflicting advice on this.
Currently 9 weeks out and putting in 9-10 hours a day. I feel okay on Contracts, Torts, and Con Law but Evidence and Real Property are rough. Anyone who passed the Oregon bar have advice on subject matter weighting? Are there topics that show up more than the standard MBE breakdown suggests?
60/40 MBE to essay is about right for the first half of bar prep. The last 3-4 weeks I'd shift to 50/50. The MEE essays in Oregon follow standard UBE format and doing 2-3 timed essays per week is what moved the needle for me.
Evidence was my weak spot too. I did 30 Evidence MBE questions a day for 3 weeks straight and went from 55% accuracy to 72%. It's very rule-based once you get the FRE structure down - just takes repetition.
I passed Oregon at 278. Real Property clicked for me when I stopped trying to memorize rules and started drawing out fact patterns - future interests especially. 9-10 hours a day for 9 weeks is a lot, make sure you're actually retaining and not just grinding through questions.
I failed my first attempt and honestly the thing that killed me was spending way too much time grinding MEE outlines while my MBE sat at like 138. Don't make my mistake. The MBE is half your score and it's the part you can actually move with reps. Second time around I flipped my whole split. I did MBE questions every single day, minimum 50, and I went back through every wrong answer until I understood why I missed it instead of just reading the explanation and moving on. That alone took me from the low 140s to a 158 on the real thing.
For the MEE side I stopped trying to memorize everything and just drilled the highly tested subjects until I could spot the issue fast, because they grade you on issue spotting and structure more than perfect black letter law. Your 135 diagnostic is fine, that's basically where I started. You've got time to hit 150 but only if MBE is your priority and you're reviewing wrong answers, not just racking up question counts. Quantity without the review loop is what got me last time.
Just passed (July sitting) and the one thing that moved my MBE more than anything was treating crim pro as its own beast instead of lumping it in with crim law. I was sitting around 135 too, and when I broke down my missed questions almost a third were 4th/5th/6th amendment stuff where I kinda knew the rule but couldn't apply it fast enough. So I stopped doing mixed sets for a couple weeks and just grinded one subject at a time until the patterns clicked. This or bar/questions/criminal procedure set was what I drilled the most and it's basically why I stopped bleeding points there.
On the split, honestly don't overthink the MEE. The MBE is what sinks people. I'd put maybe 65% of your time into MBE questions and trust that the essay stuff comes together with outlines and a few timed writes. You don't need to be perfect on essays, you need to not tank the MBE. Get to 150 and you've got a real cushion. You've still got time, just be ruthless about drilling your weakest subjects instead of redoing the ones you're already decent at.
I was in a similar spot last year, working full-time and squeezing in maybe 3-4 hours of study on weekdays and longer sessions on weekends. Honestly, what helped me most was going harder on MBE fundamentals first because everything else kind of flows from that. I drilled or bar/questions/criminal procedure obsessively because it's one of those subjects that shows up everywhere and I kept missing easy points on it. Your 135 diagnostic isn't dire, it's fixable, but you need consistent daily MBE practice not just passive reading.
For the MEE side, I didn't start really focusing there until I felt like my MBE score was stable in practice sets. It's tempting to split everything 50/50 from the start but with a 135 diagnostic I'd say something like 70/30 toward MBE until you're consistently hitting 145+ on timed sets, then shift. Barbri essays are solid for spotting issues but Themis has better explanations in my opinion so you're already set up well. Just don't let weekends become your only real study time or you'll burn out by week six.
Quick update since I posted last week -- jumped from 137 to 143 on my most recent MBE practice set, which honestly surprised me because I didn't think I'd move that fast. I've been doing timed 33-question blocks every morning before touching MEE at all, and I think that's what's clicking for me. Contracts and Torts are finally feeling solid.
I'm sitting in July so I've got about five weeks left. Still need to get MEE up to speed but I'm feeling more confident about the MBE side now. If you're at 135 on your diagnostic don't panic, it's very moveable with consistent practice.
I was in a similar boat last year, working full-time and squeezing bar prep into early mornings and lunch breaks. Honestly the MBE grind was what saved me because Oregon's scaled score relies so heavily on it. I'd do a 17-question set before work, review the misses on my commute, then hit MEE outlines at night for maybe 45 minutes. It's not glamorous but it works. If your diagnostic is 135 I wouldn't panic yet, that's pretty normal at the start, but I'd definitely front-load the subjects you feel shakiest on. For me criminal procedure was brutal until I drilled it obsessively with practice sets like or bar/questions/criminal procedure 3 and things finally clicked.
On the MEE side I didn't write full essays every day, I didn't have time. Two or three issue-spotted outlines per week kept my analysis sharp without burning me out. The key is consistency over heroics. You've got Barbri and Themis which is probably more than you need, so don't let yourself get caught in tutorial purgatory where you're watching videos instead of actually practicing. Get to 150 on the MBE and your MEE doesn't need to be perfect.