The courses students take their first year of law school including contracts, federal civil procedure, criminal law, constitutional law, torts, legal writing, and property are all tested on the multi-state multiple-choice examination usually held on the second day of the bar examination. All American Bar Association, or ABA, accredited law schools require first year students to take these courses before they can continue with the second year. In addition, a state can also test one of these topics in the essay portion of the examination, so it is extremely important for a law student to get a firm grasp of topics covered in first year courses.
During the second and third years of law school, the ABA requires students to take criminal procedure, federal evidence, professional responsibility, business associations, and remedies. In addition, criminal procedure and evidence are two upper division courses included in the multi-state multiple-choice examination. Many of these upper division courses are included in the essay portion of a state's bar examination. For example, the California bar examination always focuses at least part of one essay question on professional responsibility, or attorney's ethics and practices.
Each state includes topics unique to the state in the essay portion of the bar examination. For example, the California bar examination now includes California civil procedure and California evidence. In Texas, the essay portion includes oil and gas. Therefore, to be successful on the essay portion of a state's bar exam, a student must take all state specific courses tested on the state's bar examination.
Taking quality electives, like the Uniform Commercial Code, or UCC -- in addition to wills and trusts -- will help a student have a well-rounded knowledge of information about topics and issues tested on the bar examination. In addition, taking an upper division writing class and focusing on writing clear essays will help a student do well on the essay portion of the bar examination.