Relevance
Evidence having any tendency to make a fact of consequence to the action more or less probable than it would be without the evidence.
On the MBE, the classic stem hands you a piece of evidence and four answers, several of them tempting exclusions; the “any tendency” standard of Rule 401 is a low bar, so the right answer is usually “admissible” unless a specific rule fires. The examiners love testing the gap between logical relevance (401/402) and legal relevance (403) — when a choice says “exclude because prejudicial,” check whether the prejudice substantially outweighs probative value, because mere harm to the opponent’s case is not “unfair” prejudice (which means inviting a decision on an improper, often emotional, basis). Watch for conditional relevance under Rule 104(b): evidence relevant only if a fact exists comes in once there’s proof sufficient to support a finding of it.
The trap is conflating relevance with admissibility. Evidence can clear relevance yet still be barred as character (propensity) or hearsay, so don’t stop at “it’s relevant.” Conversely, students wrongly exclude relevant evidence merely because another fact already proves the point — relevance is not defeated by being cumulative (excluding “needlessly cumulative” proof is a 403 discretion call, not a 401 failure).
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