Set 3 turns to Torts and Constitutional Law—two subjects where a familiar fact pattern can still produce the wrong answer if you apply the wrong standard. This quiz gives you 25 questions on each subject, with concise explanations so you can see why the rule fits.
The Torts section covers negligence doctrines, premises and products liability, intentional torts, privacy, defamation, and economic torts. Constitutional Law moves through scrutiny, fundamental rights, federalism, state action, the First Amendment, preemption, and related structural rules.
Do not rush the constitutional questions just because you recognise the topic. Identify the government action, the right or classification, and the controlling standard before you look at the choices.
Want to test yourself? Select one answer for each question and avoid opening the optional explanations while you play. At the end, tap “See Answers & My Score” to reveal the correct answers, explanations, and your result automatically.
Format note: These are original four-choice, single-best-answer doctrine drills, not official NCBE questions or a full NextGen simulation. The official NextGen UBE also uses select-two-of-six standalone items, integrated question sets, and performance tasks. Pair this quiz with the official NCBE sample questions and current content scope.
- ✔ Negligence per se and res ipsa loquitur
- ✔ Premises and products liability
- ✔ Intentional torts, privacy and defamation
- ✔ Comparative fault and causation
- ✔ Levels of constitutional scrutiny
- ✔ Due process and equal protection
- ✔ First Amendment speech and religion
- ✔ Federalism, state action and preemption
Torts: Negligence & Liability Doctrines (Q1–13)
TORTS — PART 1Work through negligence shortcuts and defenses, premises duties, products liability, economic loss, comparative fault, and superseding causes.
1. Negligence per se applies when a defendant violates a statute and:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: D — Negligence per se substitutes the statutory standard for the reasonable-person standard when the plaintiff is in the protected class and the harm is of the type the statute aimed to prevent — satisfying the duty and breach elements automatically.
2. Res ipsa loquitur ("the thing speaks for itself") allows a plaintiff to establish breach of the duty of care by showing:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: B — Res ipsa loquitur permits an inference of negligence from circumstantial evidence when the accident type normally implies negligence, the defendant had control, and the plaintiff was not at fault — useful when the plaintiff can't identify exactly what went wrong.
3. A plaintiff generally may recover for negligent infliction of emotional distress (NIED) under the "zone of danger" rule if they:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: A — Under the zone-of-danger approach, a plaintiff who was personally placed at risk of physical harm may recover for serious emotional distress if the governing jurisdiction's additional requirements are met. The NextGen content scope also flags physical-symptom requirements and other NIED variations as testable.
4. Under the "bystander" rule (from Dillon v. Legg), a bystander who witnesses injury to a close family member may recover for NIED if they:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: C — Bystander NIED rules vary by jurisdiction, but commonly focus on a close relationship to the victim, proximity to the event, direct sensory perception, and serious emotional distress. A question should be answered under the rule supplied by the governing jurisdiction.
5. Under the traditional "status of entrant" approach to premises liability, what duty does a landowner owe to a licensee?
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: D — Licensees (like social guests) are owed a duty to warn of known dangers not obvious to them, but unlike invitees, the landowner has no duty to inspect or repair unknown dangers.
6. What duty does a landowner generally owe to an invitee?
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: B — Invitees (customers, public visitors) are owed the highest duty — reasonable care, including actively inspecting for and correcting dangerous conditions, not merely warning about known ones.
7. Under the "attractive nuisance" doctrine, a landowner may be liable to a child trespasser who is injured by an artificial condition on the land if:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: A — The attractive nuisance doctrine imposes liability for artificial dangerous conditions when young children foreseeably trespass and cannot appreciate the risk, provided the cost of protection is not unreasonable compared to the danger.
8. A "manufacturing defect" in a products liability claim exists when:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: B — A manufacturing defect is specific to a particular unit that came out different from the intended design — unlike a design defect, which affects the entire product line.
9. Under the "risk-utility" test for a design defect, a product's design is defective if:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: D — The risk-utility test weighs the product's risks against its benefits and asks whether a reasonable alternative design would have reduced the harm without substantially impairing the product's utility.
10. A "failure to warn" products liability claim typically succeeds when:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: B — A failure-to-warn claim requires a non-obvious danger that the manufacturer knew or had reason to know about and failed to adequately disclose — there's no duty to warn about patent, obvious risks.
11. Under the economic loss rule in products liability, a plaintiff generally may NOT recover in tort for:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: A — The economic loss rule bars tort recovery when the plaintiff suffers only economic damage to the product itself without accompanying personal injury or damage to other property — those losses belong in contract, not tort.
12. A jurisdiction uses a modified comparative negligence rule that bars recovery when the plaintiff is 50% or more at fault. If a plaintiff is found exactly 50% at fault, the plaintiff will:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: C — The stated rule bars recovery at 50% fault or more, so a plaintiff found exactly 50% at fault recovers nothing. Modified comparative negligence rules vary, which is why the question states the jurisdiction's threshold.
13. A "superseding cause" in negligence law generally:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: C — A superseding cause is an intervening act so unforeseeable that it cuts the causal chain between the original defendant's negligence and the plaintiff's injury, relieving the defendant of proximate cause liability.
Torts: Intentional Torts, Defamation & Privacy (Q14–25)
TORTS — PART 2Distinguish the intentional torts and apply the separate elements of nuisance, privacy, defamation, and economic-interference claims.
14. The tort of assault requires:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: B — Assault requires an intentional act (not just words) that creates a reasonable apprehension in the plaintiff of imminent harmful or offensive contact — no actual touching is needed.
15. False imprisonment requires that the plaintiff's confinement be:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: D — False imprisonment requires intentional confinement within a bounded area with no reasonable means of escape, for any period of time — even briefly, and through any means (physical, threats, or other coercion).
16. To succeed on an intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) claim, a plaintiff must generally show the defendant's conduct was:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: C — IIED requires conduct so extreme and outrageous it goes beyond all bounds of decency, committed intentionally or recklessly, causing severe emotional distress — mere insults or rudeness are not enough.
17. Trespass to land requires:
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Correct Answer: B — Trespass to land is a strict-intent tort requiring only intentional entry onto another's land without consent — the trespasser need not know they're on someone else's land, and no actual damage is required.
18. Conversion differs from trespass to chattels primarily in that conversion involves:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: C — Conversion is a more serious interference with personal property — serious enough to justify a forced sale (the defendant pays full value). Trespass to chattels covers lesser interferences that cause actual harm but don't justify full value damages.
19. Private nuisance protects against:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: D — Private nuisance doesn't require physical invasion; it protects the right to use and enjoy land by providing a remedy for substantial, unreasonable interferences like excessive noise, odors, or vibrations.
20. For defamation, a "slander per se" category exists for statements that are actionable without proof of actual economic harm, including:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: C — Traditionally, certain defamatory statements are treated as slander per se, including statements that injure a person in a profession or business. The precise categories and damages rules can vary by jurisdiction.
21. "Intrusion upon seclusion," a branch of invasion of privacy, requires:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: B — Intrusion upon seclusion doesn't require publication; it focuses on the act of intruding itself into a private space or matter where the plaintiff had a legitimate expectation of privacy.
22. The "public disclosure of private facts" privacy tort requires that the disclosed information be:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: C — Unlike defamation, public disclosure of private facts can involve true information — what matters is that the disclosure is wide, the information is genuinely private, and no legitimate public interest justifies it.
23. The tort of fraudulent misrepresentation (deceit) generally requires the plaintiff to prove:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: A — Fraud requires all five elements: (1) false representation of a material fact, (2) knowledge of falsity (scienter), (3) intent to induce reliance, (4) justifiable reliance, and (5) resulting damages.
24. The tort of interference with prospective economic advantage generally requires that the defendant:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: C — Unlike interference with existing contracts, this tort covers prospective relationships and requires improper means or motive — legitimate competition, even if it harms a rival, is a complete defense.
25. A private figure suing for defamation on a matter of public concern must prove, at minimum:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: D — Gertz held that states may set their own negligence-based standard for private figure plaintiffs suing on matters of public concern — they don't need to prove actual malice, but can't be held to strict liability either.
Constitutional Law: Scrutiny, Rights & Government Structure (Q26–38)
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW — PART 1Choose the correct level of scrutiny, identify the relevant constitutional provision, and review federal-state structural limits.
26. Rational basis review, the lowest level of constitutional scrutiny, requires only that a law:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: D — Rational basis is highly deferential: the law need only be rationally related to a legitimate (not necessarily important or compelling) government interest. Almost any conceivable reason will do.
27. Under intermediate scrutiny, the government must show that the law:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: A — Intermediate scrutiny applies to gender and legitimacy classifications, requiring the government to show the law is substantially related to (not just rationally related to) an important (not merely legitimate, but also not required to be compelling) interest.
28. A government classification based on sex is generally constitutional only if the government can show:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: B — Sex-based classifications receive intermediate scrutiny. The government must provide an exceedingly persuasive justification and show that the classification is substantially related to an important governmental objective.
29. Substantive due process protects against government deprivation of a "fundamental right" without:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: A — When a fundamental right is at stake, the government's burden is the same as in strict scrutiny: the law must be narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest — mere rationality is not enough.
30. Which of the following has been recognized as a fundamental right triggering strict scrutiny under substantive due process?
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: B — The right to travel between states is a recognized fundamental right. Welfare benefits, public education levels, and most economic rights are not considered fundamental rights triggering strict scrutiny.
31. A state law discriminates against citizens of other states in pursuing a common calling within the state. Which constitutional provision is most directly implicated?
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Correct Answer: C — Article IV’s Privileges and Immunities Clause limits discrimination by a state against citizens of other states with respect to fundamental interstate activities, including many common callings. The state must have a substantial reason for the discrimination and a close relationship between that reason and the discriminatory means.
32. Under the dormant Commerce Clause, a state law that does not discriminate against interstate commerce on its face, but incidentally burdens it, is analyzed under the balancing test from:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: A — Pike v. Bruce Church established that nondiscriminatory laws that incidentally burden interstate commerce are upheld unless the burden is clearly excessive compared to the putative local benefits.
33. Congress's spending power allows it to condition federal funds on states meeting certain requirements, provided:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: D — South Dakota v. Dole established that spending conditions must be related to the program's purpose, clearly stated, and not unduly coercive — Congress can't use its spending power as a gun to the head of the states.
34. The "state action" doctrine generally requires that constitutional rights be violated by:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: A — Constitutional protections generally run against government action — a purely private actor's conduct, however unfair, ordinarily doesn't trigger constitutional scrutiny unless the state is sufficiently entangled in it.
35. Which of the following is most likely sufficient to establish "state action" by a private party?
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Correct Answer: B — The "public function" exception to the state action requirement applies when a private entity performs a function traditionally and exclusively reserved to the government — operating a full company town is the classic example from Marsh v. Alabama.
36. When Congress delegates rulemaking authority to an administrative agency, the delegation is generally valid if Congress:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: B — Congress may delegate substantial regulatory authority, but the delegation must be bounded by a constitutionally sufficient guiding standard. The NextGen Constitutional Law scope includes Congress's authority to delegate power to agencies.
37. Under the Tenth Amendment's anti-commandeering principle, Congress generally may NOT:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: A — The federal government generally may regulate individuals directly and may preempt contrary state law, but it may not commandeer state legislatures or state executive officials to administer a federal regulatory program.
38. Under the Eleventh Amendment, a state generally cannot be sued in federal court by:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: D — Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity generally bars private suits against states in federal court, subject to exceptions: the state's own consent, or valid congressional abrogation under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Constitutional Law: First Amendment & Preemption (Q39–50)
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW — PART 2Finish with speech, expressive conduct, religion, association, commercial speech, preemption, and government-employee expression.
39. A "time, place, and manner" restriction on speech in a public forum is constitutional if it is:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: C — Content-neutral TPM restrictions on public forum speech are upheld if they serve a significant (not necessarily compelling) interest, are narrowly tailored, and leave alternative channels open.
40. A prior restraint on speech (preventing publication before it occurs) is:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: B — Prior restraints are the most disfavored form of speech regulation under the First Amendment — they are presumptively invalid, and the government bears a heavy burden to overcome that presumption.
41. Under United States v. O’Brien, a content-neutral regulation of expressive conduct is generally more likely to be upheld when it:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: A — The O’Brien framework applies when government regulates conduct for a reason unrelated to suppressing expression. The regulation must be within governmental power, further an important or substantial interest, and impose an incidental restriction on expression no greater than essential to that interest.
42. The "overbreadth" doctrine allows a person to challenge a law restricting speech even if their own speech could be constitutionally regulated, because:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: D — The overbreadth doctrine allows facial challenges to laws that sweep up substantially more protected speech than constitutionally permissible, recognizing that even constitutional applications can chill others' protected expression.
43. Under the Free Exercise Clause, a neutral law of general applicability that incidentally burdens religious practice is generally:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: D — A neutral and generally applicable law ordinarily does not violate the Free Exercise Clause merely because it incidentally burdens religious practice. If a law is not neutral or not generally applicable, strict scrutiny may apply.
44. After Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, Establishment Clause analysis generally looks primarily to:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: A — The Supreme Court has said that the Lemon test and its endorsement-test offshoot were abandoned. Current Establishment Clause analysis looks to historical practices and understandings, while also considering constitutional concerns such as government coercion in the appropriate context.
45. A restriction on truthful, nonmisleading commercial speech about lawful activity is generally evaluated under a form of intermediate scrutiny that asks, among other things, whether:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: B — Commercial speech receives First Amendment protection. Restrictions on protected commercial speech are generally evaluated under the Central Hudson framework, which examines the government's substantial interest, direct advancement of that interest, and the fit between the restriction and the governmental objective.
46. Freedom of association under the First Amendment generally protects:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: A — Freedom of expressive association protects groups that form for expressive purposes, including their right to exclude members whose inclusion would compromise the group's intended message (Boy Scouts of America v. Dale).
47. The "vagueness" doctrine in First Amendment law requires that laws restricting speech:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: A — Vague laws that don't give fair notice of what's prohibited are unconstitutional — especially in the First Amendment context where vagueness can chill protected speech by making speakers unsure what the law actually covers.
48. Under the Supremacy Clause, a valid federal law may displace state law when:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: D — Valid federal law is supreme over conflicting state law. Preemption may be express or implied, including field preemption and conflict preemption, depending on the federal law and the nature of the conflict.
49. A public employee who speaks pursuant to the employee's official job duties is generally:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: C — Under the public-employee speech doctrine, speech made pursuant to official duties is generally not protected from employer discipline as citizen speech. Different rules apply when an employee speaks as a citizen on a matter of public concern.
50. A state law requiring a newspaper to publish a political candidate's reply to criticism in the newspaper is most likely:
View Answer & Explanation Optional
Correct Answer: C — Freedom of the press protects editorial judgment. Government generally cannot compel a newspaper to publish a candidate's response simply to alter the paper's editorial choices.
For every Constitutional Law miss, write down the trigger and the standard of review. For every Torts miss, identify the missing element. That two-column review is often more useful than rereading the whole outline.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Torts topics are covered in this NextGen bar exam practice set?▾
The Torts section covers negligence doctrines, negligent infliction of emotional distress, premises liability, products liability, comparative fault, causation, intentional torts, nuisance, privacy, defamation, and economic torts.
What Constitutional Law topics are covered?▾
The Constitutional Law section covers levels of scrutiny, due process, equal protection, interstate privileges and immunities, the dormant Commerce Clause, federal spending, state action, federalism, the First Amendment, preemption, and related structural doctrines.
Are these official NCBE Torts or Constitutional Law questions?▾
No. These are original study questions. They are not official NCBE questions and should be used alongside, not instead of, the NCBE’s own sample materials.
Why does this set use the history-and-tradition approach for the Establishment Clause?▾
Current Supreme Court doctrine no longer uses the Lemon and endorsement tests as the governing approach. Establishment Clause analysis now looks to historical practices and understandings.
Educational practice only. These original questions are not official NCBE materials and do not predict a bar-exam score. Rules can be tested through supplied legal resources and may vary by jurisdiction; use the current NCBE content scope and your jurisdiction’s official guidance as your controlling sources.
