Pass Rates

Patent Bar Pass Rates and Statistics

Your ability to pass the exam is based on a number of factors:

• Reading Comprehension
• Aptitude
• Work Ethic
• Understanding the MPEP and Searching the MPEP
• Understanding the Scope of the Exam
• Having a Working Knowledge of Prior Exam Questions

The first three items are individual traits. Persons with high reading comprehension, good aptitude for understanding rules and regulations, and the ability to put in long hours on a daunting task, tend to do very well on the exam. As you get further away from this model you would tend to do less well on the exam. You can compensate for this by accepting a longer study period and the possibility of taking the exam multiple times. In the end, a good practitioner does not require any unusually high level of reading comprehension or aptitude, but it sure comes in handy for passing the exam.

The last three items are directly related to the competence of the organization that you have hired to prepare you for the exam. At the end of the day, if you are not an expert on taking the exam and searching the MPEP, and extremely knowledgeable on exam questions that are being tested and the basic core curriculum that defines the scope of the exam, then you are not going to be fully prepared to easily pass the exam.

For example, a success-driven course should include all of the following:

• An emphasis on learning the MPEP topics and where to find them;
• A primer on how to search the MPEP using the computer search function;
• Significant practice--taking exams, including searching the MPEP and learning the exam's exact computer format;
• A complete understanding of the exam questions that have been reported to be on the exam;
• Study sessions that are relevant and educationally challenging, including appropriate summaries, bulleted points, tables, etc; and
• In the case of a home study course, customer service that supports the preparation materials;

If your course does not have all six attributes, you are guaranteed to have a frustrating experience on exam day with the possibility of a failing score. The PatBar course was designed and produced with the above factors in mind. For this reason, your ability to pass the exam with the PatBar course is much higher than with any other course. This is true irrespective of whether you have a high or low aptitude for the material, high or low reading comprehension or whether you plan to spend $1500, $2000, $2500 or $3000; at the end of the day your chances are better with the PatBar course.

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The reason for taking a patent bar review course is to do well on the Patent Bar exam. To choose a course, many attempt to compare the pass rates of available patent bar classes. This is not a reliable predictor of the quality of the course, or of how well you will do on the exam.

Other factors are far more important than the pass rate of the patent bar study course you take. The most important of these are: (1) How much time you have to study, (2) How you use the study time that you have, and (3) Your learning style and efficiency.

We have sent questionnaires to our students who have taken the patent bar. We have found a predictable relationship between study time and patent bar pass rate, as illustrated in the graphs. As a result of this research, we recommend 125-150 hours of study for most people preparing for the patent bar. This commitment of time will afford a conservative passing score for the vast majority of exam-takers.

The PatBar Home Study Course is designed to allow for the recommended study time with ease and efficiency. It is divided into 92 study sessions, each one taking about 1-hour to complete. Most of our students do either 1, 2 or 3 study sessions per day.

This approach allows our students to evenly spread out their study time, which makes studying effective and efficient. People learn more effectively for the first 2-3 hours per day, as shown in the graph. Attempting to do more in a single day becomes less efficient, and results in the need for more overall time to prepare for the exam.

You should start studying for the patent bar as soon as possible, and not wait until the last minute. If you study around 2-3 hours each day (as we suggest), and spread your learning over a longer time-span, you will learn the material more easily and require less overall study time to pass the exam.