[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-391014-105":59,"doc-detail-391014-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","the-testing-column-differences-in-performance-on-the-mbe","THE TESTING COLUMN - Differences in Performance on the MBE","","The testing column reports findings from a national database of bar applicants following the July 2005 MBE, comparing men and women on scaled MBE performance. Men score about five points higher, a statistically significant and practically meaningful gap. The analysis considers how predictors (undergraduate GPA, LSAT, MPRE) relate to performance, examines variation across MBE content areas, and outlines item-level review to test alternative explanations and identify potentially problematic questions.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":20,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-testing-column-differences-in-performance-on-the-mbe/391014/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-testing-column-differences-in-performance-on-the-mbe/391014.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Connor ","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-09-25",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the main gender performance difference reported on the MBE?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Men outperform women on the MBE by about 5 points, roughly one-third of a standard deviation, and the difference is statistically significant as well as practically meaningful.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Which factors are considered as potential predictors of MBE performance?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The column examines predictors including undergraduate GPAs, LSAT scores, and MPRE scores to see whether they account for the observed gender difference.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does the analysis recommend investigating differences after the initial results?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It proposes further study using subscores across MBE content areas and item-level analyses, followed by expert review to determine whether any flagged items are unfair to women or reflect the intended knowledge being assessed.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},391014,1791436445,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":19,"category_name":20,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":81,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":39,"preview_page_count":4},687207022233,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","THE TESTING COLUMN  \nMEN AND WOMEN:  \nDIFFERENCES IN PERFORMANCE ON THE MBE  \nby Susan M. Case, Ph.D.  \nR  \necently we began to assemble a national database of bar applicants. Following the July 2005 MBE, the  \ndatabase included some biographic information such as gender as well as undergraduate GPA, LSAT score, MPRE score, and MBE score for each of 22,000 applicants.  \nOur preliminary analysis showed  \nthat men outperform women on the MBE by about 5 points, which is about 1/3 of a standard deviation (SD) . (My column in the May 2005 issue of THE BAR EXAMINER provides an explanation of SDs.) The graph on the next page shows the spread of scores for women and men. The curve for men is slightly to the right of the curve for women. With such a large sample size, a difference of this size is statistically significant; it is also large enough for many people to believe that it is practically significant. This result was not a complete surprise to me because I found similar results in some areas of medical licensing. As readers of this column are aware, I frequently compare our results with those found in medical licensure. There are several reasons for making these comparisons. One is that medicine is probably the most heavily researched profession, with a substantial body of published research on virtually every topic related to education, assessment, and licensing.  \nThe second is that the profession of medicine is probably most similar to law in terms of the quality of the applicantsand the rigor of the educational and licensing experiences.  \nOnce a result is found that shows a difference in overall performance between groups, it is appropriate to undertake a series of research studies directed at various hypotheses that might explain the observed result: in this case, that men outperform women by about 1/3 of an SD. One possible explanation is that men are, in fact, more proficient than women in the knowledge and skills that the MBE is designed to assess. If men are more proficient than women in these areas, then it is appropriate that the scores reflect this difference in proficiency.  \nHowever, there are several studies that should be done before a conclusion about the validity of the result would be reached. These studies are designed to investigate whether or not other factors could account for the differences. First, the predictors of performance on the test should be investigated. This would include a look at factors such as undergraduate GPAs, LSAT scores, and MPRE scores. In this case, we found that the women had on average slightly higher undergraduate GPAs (+0.25 SD) than  \n􀀴􀀴 THE BAR EXAMINER, MAY 􀀲􀀰􀀰􀀶  \n\n| Percentage of Candidates | 0 5 10 15 20 25 | MBE PERFORMANCE BY GENDER GROUP\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| MBE Scaled Score |  |  |\n\nthe men, but slightly lower LSAT scores (-0.14 SD), and almost identical MPRE scores (-0.07 SD) . These results are similar to those we found in medicine, where women outperformed men on their undergraduate GPAs, but men outperformed women on the MCAT (the medical analog to the LSAT) .  \nThe next set of analyses might look at subscores to see if the differences were consistent across the MBE content areas (Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts) . In medicine, we found larger differences between men and women in some subjects such as biochemistry and anatomy, and smaller differences in other subjects such as pathology; this led us to investigate a hypothesis that men performed relatively better on subjects that were more“pure science” and less closely linked to patient care. In the case of law, I could not predict a difference between the genders on the six MBE subjects, and would be happy to hear from any of you who have hypotheses about our results. We found that men outperformed women in all six content areas of the MBE, but that the differences were lowest in  \nEvidence and Real Pr","cbCaidho6RejnwcG","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidho6RejnwcG","pdf",70504,"English","# MEN AND WOMEN: DIFFERENCES IN PERFORMANCE ON THE MBE\n## National database and initial results\n## Possible explanations and needed follow-up research\n## Predictors of performance\n## Subscores across MBE content areas\n## Performance on individual items","[{\"question\":\"What is the main gender performance difference reported on the MBE?\",\"answer\":\"Men outperform women on the MBE by about 5 points, roughly one-third of a standard deviation, and the difference is statistically significant as well as practically meaningful.\"},{\"question\":\"Which factors are considered as potential predictors of MBE performance?\",\"answer\":\"The column examines predictors including undergraduate GPAs, LSAT scores, and MPRE scores to see whether they account for the observed gender difference.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the analysis recommend investigating differences after the initial results?\",\"answer\":\"It proposes further study using subscores across MBE content areas and item-level analyses, followed by expert review to determine whether any flagged items are unfair to women or reflect the intended knowledge being assessed.\"}]","THE TESTING COLUMN - Differences in Performance on the MBE | PDF",1790344520]