2019-2020 Registration Guide

Diagnostic Exam

All students are required to complete the Diagnostic Exam in order to be eligible to graduate, and this requirement will be included in each student’s degree audit. Students scheduled to graduate before 2020 will be required to take the exam during designated periods in their final year of study. Students scheduled to graduate in 2020 or later will be required to take the exam during designated periods in the fall of their second year of study if enrolled in the day division or the fall of their third year of study if enrolled in the evening division. The Diagnostic Exam is designed to assess four essential skills necessary for success on the Bar Exam: (1) knowledge of the law, (2) critical reading skills, (3) analytical skills, and (4) the ability to apply the law to resolve hypothetical legal problems. The Diagnostic will isolate your strengths and weaknesses across these four key areas. The Diagnostic Exam is comprised of 120 questions and is taken online. Eligible students will be emailed a link to the exam in spring or fall. Students will have approximately 2.5 weeks to complete the exam. You may complete the exam in one sitting. Alternatively, you may complete it in increments by logging out and then logging back in and continuing to work through additional questions. Although the Diagnostic is untimed, you are encouraged to try to complete it in approximately 3 hours. The Diagnostic is designed to be completed closed book. It covers fives areas of law heavily tested on the Bar Exam: (1) Civil Procedure, (2) Contracts, (3) Criminal Law, (4) Real Property, and (5) Torts. You may struggle with some of the concepts as you may not have studied them since your first year of law school. Do your best to recall what you have learned in law school when answering the questions. There is no minimum score required to pass this exam. Results of the diagnostic exam will be reported to students but will not appear on their transcripts and will not affect their grade point averages. Following the Diagnostic you will be contacted by Professor DeFabritiis or Jim Janda to discuss your results. They will help you develop study strategies and answer any questions that you may have about the Bar Exam.