Most of the material on the patent bar is drawn from the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP). The MPEP consists of 29 chapters, but they are not equally represented in the test questions. The chapters can be roughly split into four groups for studying purposes: critical, important, good to know, and skim.
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2100: Patentability This chapter details core statutory requirements including subject matter eligibility, utility, novelty, non-obviousness, and specification enablement.
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600: Parts, Form, and Content of ApplicationThis chapter details the specific rules for writing specifications, claims, and inventor oaths, as well as guidelines for drawings and information disclosure statements.
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200: Types and Status of Application; Benefit and Priority ClaimsThis chapter details the rules and requirements for claiming benefit and priority from earlier domestic or foreign applications.
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1800: Patent Cooperation TreatyThis chapter outlines the procedural rules for filing a single international application that secures a filing date across multiple member countries, managing international search and preliminary examination stages, and transitioning into the U.S. national stage.
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1200: Appeal
This chapter covers filing notices of appeal, submitting appeal briefs, examiner answers, and final board decisions.
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700: Examination of ApplicationsThis chapter outlines the official rules and guidelines for how patent examiners review and process patent applications.
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800: RestrictionThis chapter details the guidelines for restriction practice, which forces an applicant to choose a single invention to pursue if their application contains multiple independent and distinct inventions.
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1400: Correction of PatentsThis chapter details how patent owners can fix unintentional errors or modify the scope of granted patents under specific legal guidelines.
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2200: Citation of Prior Art and Ex Parte Reexamination of PatentsThis chapter outlines the strict step-by-step procedures that examiners, patent owners, and third parties must follow during an ex parte reexamination to re-evaluate whether a patent's claims are still valid.
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400: Representative of Applicant or OwnerThis chapter details the rules for who is legally allowed to represent an inventor or patent owner before the USPTO.
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100: Secrecy, Access, National Security, and Foreign Filing
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300: Ownership and Assignment
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500: Receipt and Handling of Mail and Papers
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900: Prior Art
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2000: Duty of Disclosure
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2700: Patent Terms, Adjustments, and Extensions
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2800: Supplemental Examination
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1000: Matters Decided by Various Patent and Trademark Officials
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1100: Statutory Invention Registration (SIR); Pre-Grant Publication (PGPub) and Preissuance Submissions
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1300: Allowance and Issue
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1500: Design Patents
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1600: Plant Patents
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1700: Miscellaneous
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1900: Protest
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2300: Interference and Derivation Proceedings
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2400: Biotechnology
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2500: Maintenance Fees
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2900: International Design Patents
Although you should be familiar with each of the 29 chapters in the MPEP, some are worth devoting a greater percentage of your study time. Remember: no matter which chapter you are studying, do practice questions! Practice questions are the best way to prepare for the exam. Good luck with your studying, you’ve got this!
*You may have noticed that I left out a chapter: 2600 covers Optional Inter Partes Reexamination, which is a process for allowing third parties to challenge patent validity at the USPTO. After the implementation of the America Invents Act (AIA) this process was halted and replaced by Inter Partes Review and Post-grant Review. The exam no longer tests pre-AIA content, so you don't need to spend time studying this chapter.
