Making Synapses · Bringing Knowledge to Mankind
Court & LawNextGen UBE: Subjects and Skills
Twenty flashcards on what the new US bar exam tests: its eight core subjects, its seven lawyering skills and how they are grouped.
Free to startYour progress here is temporary and is lost when you close this page. Install Making Synapses free to keep it, with spaced repetition.
20 cards
- Which eight subjects are the Foundational Concepts and Principles from July 2026 to February 2028?
- Business associations, civil procedure, constitutional law, contract law, criminal law, evidence, real property and torts.
- Which seven Foundational Lawyering Skills does the NextGen UBE test?
- Legal research, legal writing, issue spotting and analysis, investigation and evaluation, client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, and client relationship and management.
- Which subject joins the core list starting with the July 2028 exam?
- Family law.
- How do family law and trusts and estates appear from July 2026 through February 2028?
- On every exam, inside a performance task (and possibly in integrated question sets), with the legal resources provided.
- What happens when a question uses an area of law outside the core subjects?
- The examinee gets the needed statutes, regulations or case law and is not expected to know that area beforehand.
- Into how many groups are the Foundational Skills organized?
- Four: A, B, C and D.
- Which skills form Group A?
- Issue spotting and analysis, plus investigation and evaluation.
- Which skills form Group B?
- Client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, and client relationship and management.
- What does Group B measure?
- Whether the examinee can pick lawyering strategies inside the lawyer-client relationship that fit the rules and the client's objectives, interests and constraints.
- Which skills form Groups C and D?
- Group C is legal research; Group D is legal writing and drafting.
- Which task asks for the best plan to meet the client's goals?
- Determine the best strategy to identify the client's needs and achieve the client's stated goals and objectives.
- What does a dispute-resolution task often ask about a proposed deal?
- Name two benefits or two drawbacks of the proposed resolution, in line with the client's objectives, interests and constraints.
- Which writing task is about keeping the client up to date?
- Draft or edit a letter to the client that explains the legal effects of a course of action, the status of the matter or the next steps.
- Where can the listed Model Rules of Professional Conduct be tested?
- Inside integrated question sets that assess Group B skills, never in the standalone multiple-choice sections.
- How are those professional conduct rules tested?
- From memory, with no legal resources, and only the rules themselves, not their comments.
- What does a star next to a topic in the outline mean?
- It is tested from recalled knowledge only, with no legal resources provided.
- How does NCBE define a newly licensed lawyer?
- A lawyer within the first three years in practice.
- How many attorneys did the nationwide practice analysis survey?
- Over 14,000 attorneys.
- Which three factors did the 21-member content scope committee weigh?
- Frequency, universality and risk.
- How much notice is given before the content scope changes?
- Updates are announced at least one year before the exam where they first appear.
Official sources
National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE)
NextGen UBE Content Scope (web page)
National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE)
About the NextGen UBE
National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE)
NextGen UBE Content Scope, July 2026-February 2027 (August 1, 2025)
National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE)
NextGen Uniform Bar Exam Fact Sheet (November 2025)
Making Synapses is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by the NCBE, the American Bar Association, the Virginia State Bar or any jurisdiction. NextGen, UBE and MBE are trademarks of their respective owners and are named only to describe the exams.