Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions
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ESSAY GRADING PROCESSBoth the Kentucky State Essay and the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) are graded by bar examiners or graders. There are seven bar examiners on the Board of Bar Examiners. Six of the examiners participate in preparing a Kentucky essay question for the bar examination. The National Conference of Bar Examiners prepares the MEE questions. Examiners/graders grade all of the answer booklets for both the Kentucky essay and MEE questions. The passing score on the essay portion of the Kentucky bar examination is 75% out of 100%, which is determined by calculating the average score of the 12 individual essay questions. To obtain a 75% on the essay exam, an applicant would need to receive a total of 900 points on the 12 essays, which is 75% of the possible 1200 points. The scoring is based on 100% as the highest possible score and 50% being considered the lowest score for an answer that demonstrates a fundamental deficiency in understanding facts and law. If the applicant does not answer the question at all, turns in a blank paper, the score is a zero. AUTOMATIC RE-GRADING PROCESSThe Kentucky Board of Bar Examiners has a process that allows for the re-grading of certain applicants’ essay answers. This process is called an Automatic Re-grade. The Automatic Re-grade occurs before the final results are released to applicants. Applicants’ answers are only re-graded when an applicant’s average score initially falls in a range between 73.00 and 74.99. During the re-grade process, the examiner/grader can only raise the score, if warranted, or leave it as is, but may not lower the score.
MBE SCORINGThe MBE scores are computed by the American College of Testing and sent to the Board of Bar Examiners when completed. Because the score sheets are scanned into their computer system, applicants who fail the MBE may submit a written request to have their answer sheet hand scored. The written request, along with a fee of $7.60 made payable to ACT, must be sent to the Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions. The request is then forwarded to ACT for hand scoring. The hand scoring normally takes approximately three to four weeks. The results are returned to the Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions, who will then notify the applicant of the results.
NO RIGHT OF APPEALThere is no appeal process. Kentucky Supreme Court rules
do not have provisions for appealing bar examination scores (In Re: Alfred
Wade Boykin, III). Therefore, applicants may not appeal their score or
request another re-grade of their answers. Once the results are released, the
scores are final and not subject to change.
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Last modified: October 26, 2007 |
