The fifth edition of Emanuel’s Strategies and Tactics for the MBE was published this past October (2012) and, as many of you know, is my favorite book for MBE prep. A new edition is usually published every 3 years or so, with only minor changes. The biggest change was in the last edition, the questions were re-written and updated to reflect the new style of MBE questions in 2009, while the content of the subject matter outlines (Study strategies and exam tactics) was left unchanged. This newest edition with the purplish cover actually does have some new content in the subject matter outlines, although mostly the book is unchanged. If you already own an earlier edition (even the 2005 olive green cover) then you don’t need to buy the latest edition, but for those of you looking to buy this book for the first time I would definitely recommend getting the latest (5th) edition.
As for the content of the book, it’s the same great book. There is an introduction to the MBE itself as well as an introduction to the book, explaining how best to use the book. The main bulk of the book are the 6 MBE subject chapters, each has an outline of the areas tested followed by some well-written study strategies (with black letter law explained in the context of the MBE) and exam tactics for each subject tested. Each chapter also has about 50-70 practice questions from past MBEs. Finally, the back of the book has 200 practice questions from all 6 subjects from past MBE exams, giving you more than 500 actual previously tested MBE questions. The answers are well written and very thoughtful in their explanations of both the correct and incorrect answer choices. For those of you who have previously purchased questions from the ncbex.org website, some of the questions from the book are the same as on the website, but the explanations/answers are much better and more detailed in the Strategies and Tactics book.
Amazon and the publisher (Aspen) have free shipping on the book and usually have it in stock. The book retails for $79.75 and is well worth the price. Feel free to post any thoughts you may have in the comments section for this post.
