MPEP Search Strategy
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You'll have access to the Prometric MPEP the day of the test. Learn tips for how to best utilize this resource and how to manage your time on test day in this 19-page PDF.
There are many tips on using the MPEP for looking up questions as well as how to practice using it within this short guide. Essentially, you will not be able to search across chapters. You will need to open each chapter and from there search within it. However, I use the term search loosely here as the search function they provide you with is very old technology plus it doesn't always work. We have had several reports of computers crashing while people are using the search function at Prometric during their exam. Other test takers have reported it took half a minute or more for the search function to find the results.
It's really best if you can become familiar enough with the MPEP structure to use the online viewer like you would use a book (i.e. no search function). You can use the index or even better the table of contents for the specific MPEP chapter to get to the right section and then quickly flip through it. That means you need to be really good at MPEP structure which is why we've provided you with all the MPEP summaries, the video digests, etc ...
I realize in this day and age using an online tool like a book is not first nature, but it's really to your advantage to prepare like this. The USPTO offers an actual print exam one day a year in Virginia where test takers are offered a hard copy of the MPEP for this exam. The search function for computerized test takers is so stripped down that it is not much better than being given a hard copy of the MPEP the day of the exam. The main difference being it is an electronic file. Having a modern day search function within that PDF file would put computerized test takers at a clear advantage. In addition, it would make passing the Patent Bar without explicit knowledge of the information within the MPEP a possibility (and the USPTO continues to work hard to keep that from happening).
Any modern day search tool you may practice with will be far superior to what you will have the day of the exam. It's really to your advantage to not use a search function while preparing to take the exam. That way the day of the test it will seem more like a luxury to use on just a few questions you don't know the answer to or don't already know where to look in the MPEP.
