Practical Tips for Passing the Patent Bar While Studying Part-Time

I recently took and passed the USPTO registration exam (first try!) while studying part-time (early mornings, evenings, weekends). Here’s some general advice for those in the same situation.

Sign up for a patent bar exam course.

PLI is the gold standard, which is what I used. Yes, it’s costly, but for me it was worth it to maximize my chances of success without prolonging my time studying as well as my stress level. Not only are the binder materials and video lectures great, their Patware testing program is extremely helpful for identifying holes in your knowledge and running mock exams.

I was also fortunate to be able to try out the full version of Wysebridge. The difference between PLI and Wysebridge are night and day. PLI has a series of lecture videos that teach you the skeleton of what you need to know before the exam. Wysebridge has a hodgepodge of articles from various sources, YouTube videos, presentations from the USPTO, etc. The information might have been useful, but I found that the ratio of (amount of content presented) to (useful information for exam) was way too high compared to PLI. Wysebridge and PLI have a ton of practice quizzes and questions, but some of the Wysebridge questions were NOT updated for AIA, and there were plenty of distracting grammar / formatting / spelling errors that I did not face with PLI.

Do not expect to take the exam as soon as you finish learning all the necessary material.

I thought I would be ready after completing lectures + reading then taking and reviewing all the practice exams. Nothing could be further from the truth. There was a lot of information I realize I did not have securely under my belt, even though I had watched, read, and taken notes on them. You have to go over the material several times, from various perspectives/scenarios, before it really starts to take root.

Get very comfortable with the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP).

For any given topic, you should know which chapter in the MPEP it can be found. This will save critical seconds/minutes of pulling up the lengthy index, waiting for it to load, then finding the right chapter. I put together an overview of all MPEP chapters which you can access here, but you should also take the time and at the very least read through the bold lines in each chapter’s table of contents.

Also focus on the content within important chapters, especially MPEP 700 and MPEP 2100. For me, reading straight through those ~400 pages was more than I could withstand (and honestly seemed like it would be a horribly inefficient way to study), so I skimmed them both heavily.

The Young Patent Practitioner Series was also very helpful for me to gain understanding of MPEP 2100 and helped me on at least a couple of questions on the exam. I also put together an extensive outline of MPEP 2100 here so I would at least know where certain topics are in relation to each other. (Note: As of May 2021, the Young Patent Practitioner Series seems to be taken offline. A copy of the study guide has been uploaded here.)

Pro tip: While you are studying, use the PDF version of the MPEP chapters. The HTML version is easier to load and search, but it’s the PDF versions you’ll have on the exam.

Memorize the essential law.

Be able to describe what it means to get one of the 35 USC 101, 102, 103, and 112 rejections. You might think you can look it up in the MPEP when necessary, but why waste that time when you know that these topics will come up a lot. I spent a lot of time learning the nuances of both pre-AIA and AIA 102, though I only saw AIA 102 on my exam.

Don’t discount learning pre-AIA though, in case it does come up. You should know the various parts of 102 especially, for example, if a certain prior art reference will count under 102(a)(1) or 102(a)(2) — I saw this several times throughout my exam.

Use flash cards.

I used Quizlet for this and would often copy and paste text from the MPEP to explain the answer. Flash cards are helpful because they test comprehension and recall tailored to the areas you need further work. I started out with browsing some of the many other patent bar sets on Quizlet then started my own deck to cover conceptual questions that I missed in practice exams.

I also got a friend to test me on the flash cards several nights a week. Part of the reason for this is that I wanted to deepen my learning by discussing the material aloud, instead of just silently reading, writing, and recalling (cf. level 2 in Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning). Related to this is to find a study group if you can. Converse about these topics together, test each other, and solidify your understanding.

Draw things out.

Organize the data in a way that makes sense for you, in the form of flow charts, and tables. This adds a visual aspect of learning that can help build memory for certain things, such as the difference between a reissue and reexamination, or the timeline for which an Information Disclosure Statement can be filed, or who qualifies for small entity status at the USPTO.

Feel free to use some of my tables and flowcharts here and at the end of my patent bar glossary here.

Take and re-take past exams.

Take full-length exams in realistic testing scenarios if you can (no food, no water, no Internet, bathroom breaks cut into your time, etc.) I took a timed test in as realistic conditions as I could every weekend for the 5 weeks leading up to my exam. My goal was at least 3 practice sessions, one for each full-length exam, but my testing date was a bit later than I wanted, so I re-took two exams.

My first practice attempt was only a half exam (3 hours only). It was the most difficult of all my practice sessions as I could barely sit still and found myself in physical discomfort/restlessness and impatient to finish. My focus got much better over time.

And finally some logistical advice…

Apply early!

Seriously. This was the single advice one person strongly emphasized to me. The USPTO says it can take up to four weeks to hear back (which was true for me). A friend of mine who recently took the exam didn’t sign up until he was ready to take it, by which time he had to extend his studies until they gave him the go-ahead. Not to mention that Prometric test dates start to become booked up as well.

I applied via the online Exam Applicant Portal which was easy and straightforward; no need to fill out long forms by hand and find an envelope and stamp. Once your application for the exam is approved, you have a 3-month window so you could apply about a month before you think you’ll be ready. I ended up taking the exam 2 months after I sent in my application with my test date falling in the middle of the 3-month window.

Draw an answer choice grid.

Also do this for every practice exam because (1) you can better find a format that suits you, and (2) you literally get better at drawing well-spaced lines. My first few grids looked awful, didn’t have a notes column, and were very poorly spaced out and didn’t quite fit the full 50 questions per each half-exam.

Here’s an example of one of my better practice grids. I use a half sheet so it’s easier for me to quickly survey my progress. O’s and X’s denote what I think are right and wrong answers, respectively. I used the notes column to jot down references to MPEP sections or other general notes (e.g., whether a fact pattern was pre-AIA or AIA).

Get accustomed to waking up early.

My exam started at 7:30 am, so I had to wake up at 6 am, which was much earlier than I’m used to. So for a week leading up to my exam, I forced myself out of bed at 6 am to get used to functioning at that early hour. This also helped gradually shift my sleep cycle so that I wasn’t laying in bed unable to fall asleep right before the big day.

Also, give yourself a time buffer from when you leave your house to when you arrive at the testing center. Account for potential traffic delays, lack of parking spots, etc.

Do the Prometric tutorial the day before.

Doing the tutorial ahead of time not only lets you get used to the testing environment earlier on, it allows you to use those 15 minutes to make your answer grid (see above). I made answer grids for both the AM and PM sections during the tutorial time. Alternatively, you can take a shorter lunch break and make the PM grid.

Prometric has highlighting and strikethrough functions which I used extensively on my practice and actual exams. I used PLI’s Patware for my practice exams.

Also, be aware of a few things that might trip you up regarding the Prometric testing software. This article also has some Prometric tips. One thing I will add is that you can’t search with apostrophes or quotation marks. For example you will not get any hits if you search for examiner’s answer in MPEP 1200.

My experience, by the numbers

• 3.5 months studying for the patent bar concurrent with doing a full-time PhD
  • 2 months going through PLI video lectures
  • 1.5 months on practice questions and reviewing flash cards (wouldn’t have passed without this)
  • It probably would have taken me longer to study overall except that I studied over Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. That gave me least a week of full-time studying.
• 10 questions, more or less, repeated from past exams (Oct ’02, Apr ’03, Oct ’03)
• 50-60% of questions looked up in the MPEP during the actual exam

Resources mentioned

General

• PLI
• Flash cards — main concepts
• Flow chart of proceedings at the USPTO
• Glossary of terms; charts and graphics

Content of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure

• Concise descriptions of each MPEP chapter
• Chapter 2100 Outline
• Young Patent Practitioner Series: MPEP 2100 Summary (and related Quizlet deck)

Prometric

• Official tutorial for USPTO exam
• Tips from another

Thank you to Stefan Brooks, Andrew Launder, and Eric Alcantara for sharing advice that went into this article! As a side note, this article reflects my own experiences and is not sponsored by any of the brands mentioned.

Image credit.

Updated on October 6, 2020.