Timing of the Certified Paralegal Examination Sections

The following are the required five sections of the Certified Paralegal exam with the time allowed as established by the NALA Certifying Board (Descriptions of the exam subjects may be found on the NALA web site):

• Communications – 1 ½ hours (Essay required)
• Judgment and Analytical Ability – 2  hours (Essay required)
• Ethics – 1 hour
• Legal Research – 1 ½ hours
• Substantive Law – 2 hours
  The Substantive Law section consists of five parts. One is on the American Legal System required of all examinees; the other 4 parts are in practice areas of law and are selected by examinees from a list on the application form.

Timing begins once the proctor has released the exam.  There are no scheduled breaks during the exam. If a break must be taken during testing, the clock will continue to run.

Presentation of Computer Based Exam Questions

• Each objective question will be presented one at a time. Once the answer is selected, examinees are instructed to click “Next” for the next question.
• Each question may be flagged by placing a check mark in the box entitled “Mark for Review” which appears below the answer options. The selected answer may be changed on review.
• When all questions are completed, the entire list of questions appears. Examinees may review this list before submitting the test for scoring. Questions marked for review by the examinee will be in bold type and easily identified. Examinees may also scroll over the text of any question on the list and open it to review the question and selected answer.
• When the time has expired, access to the exam will be terminated, and the test will be submitted for scoring.