UPDATED: April 11, 2011

The patent bar exam is a multiple choice examination made up of 100 questions. You will be given 3 hours to complete the first 50 questions and another 3 hours to complete the second 50 questions.  Effective April 12, 2011, the patent bar examination has been updated and now tests MPEP 8th edition revision 8, as well as KSR v. Teleflex, Bilski v. Kappos and the 112 Guidelines.  The testable material brings the patent bar exam current through Winter of 2011, and it can be expected that the patent bar examination will now be continually updated with new law, rules and procedures as they are released.  See USPTO Updates Registration Exam.

Those who would like to rely on old study materials to pass the exam are running an extraordinarily high risk of failing the exam.  Since the Patent Office has not released exam questions since 2003, and with 8 years of significant changes in the law since, taking a patent bar review course is more important than ever.

In terms of exam administration, the patent bar exam is delivered via computer and upon receiving an exam registration ticket you must schedule the exam during a 90 day window.  You take the exam at a Prometrics testing facility, and there many hundreds of facilities across the United States.

At the end of each 3 hour segment answers will be submitted so it will not be possible to return to the first 50 questions during the second 3 hour segment. It is also important to realize that when time expires the computer will automatically submit the answers whether or not you have selected an answer choice for each question. Therefore, it is extremely important to pace yourself and be sure that you answer every question, even if you only guess.  To help you develop strategies to succeed with this time sensitive exam please see MPEP Search Strategies and 10 Patent Bar Exam Strategy Tips.  For those who are thinking about taking the patent exam without first taking a patent bar review course I recommend that you read Do I really need to take Patent Bar Review Course?

Unlike certain other standardized tests there is no penalty for guessing. You merely need to get 70% on the exam, so if you can guess your way to that threshold you will pass. This 70% score to pass does not exactly translate into needing 70 correct out of the 100 questions asked.  This is because everyone who takes the exam is given 10 beta questions that do not count toward the overall score.  So you really need to get 70% out of the 90 questions that count, or 63 out of 90.  There is no way to tell which questions are beta questions though, so you should not assume any question is a beta question and can be skipped.  The purpose of these beta questions is presumable to allow the Patent Office to add questions and test them to see if they are good questions prior to adding them to the permanent database of questions that count toward achieving the 70% required.

While you can indeed guess without penalty you should not, however, anticipate being able to guess your way to passing this exam. The Patent Bar Exam is an extremely difficult exam and the pass rate is approximately 50%. Because there are a number of review courses that claim students taking their course pass at a rate between 80 to 90% you can imagine that those taking this exam on their own without any guidance are likely to fail. Add onto this the fact that those who qualify to sit for the exam are engineers and scientists, who are a group not typically known for such widespread failure, and you can get a sense for just how difficult this exam is to pass.

In order to represent clients before the United States Patent Office it is necessary to take and pass the Patent Bar Examination. In order to be registered to practice before the Office the individual seeking registration must:

1. Apply to the USPTO Director in writing by completing an application for registration form supplied by the OED Director and furnishing all requested information and material; and
2. Establish to the satisfaction of the OED Director that the applicant possesses good moral character and reputation and the requisite scientific qualifications and competence to advise and assist patent applicants in the presentation and prosecution of their applications before the Office.

I have collected all the information you need to know about the Patent Bar Exam and preparing for the examination.  For more information please see:

• Patent Reform and the Patent Bar, What You Need to Know
• USPTO Announces Impending Update to Patent Bar Exam
• Does My Degree Qualify Me to Take the Patent Bar?
• Do I need to take a Patent Bar Review Course?
• Who can take the Patent Bar Exam?
• Patent Bar Qualifications Under Category B
• Those Who are Ineligible to take the Patent Bar Exam
• Patent Bar Exam Administration
• 10 Patent Bar Exam Strategy Tips
• MPEP Search Strategies
• General Requirements Bulletin