Taking the bar exam is one of the most stressful periods of a beginning lawyer’s life. Sadly, fewer graduates passed the July 2026 bar exam than the year before. Overall pass rates for the July 2026 bar exam fell in more than three-quarters of states with reported results, compared with July 2025.
In an economy full of stress for young professionals, along with nationwide variations in testing, multiple factors likely contributed to the lower bar exam pass rates. 2026 has been a year of change and difficulty for law graduates, and no single answer is likely to suffice.
Reported Pass Rates for July 2026 Bar Exams
The 56 U.S. states and territories that license lawyers hold bar exams in February and July of each year. The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), which designs the multistate Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), provides pass rates on its website.
Not every jurisdiction has submitted full results for the July 2026 bar exam yet. But as of this writing, the reported overall pass rates for examinees include:
- California: 48 percent, compared to 55 percent last July
- District of Columbia: 75 percent, compared to 80 percent last July
- Texas: 70 percent, compared to 75 percent last July
- New York: 67 percent, compared to 70 percent last July
- Illinois: 71 percent, compared to 74 percent last July
These represent some of the largest bar exams in the country. New York alone had 9,936 test takers in July, while California had 7,942. The ABA Journal reports that Wisconsin and West Virginia saw the largest drops in bar pass rates from July 2025, at 15 percentage points each. They also report that, although 37 states saw lower pass rates than last year, nine states reported higher ones, and two had steady rates.
What Happened? Possible Factors
The drop in rates spans states and territories across the country, with different passing scores and testing requirements, so it seems test takers nationwide shared the difficulties they faced this year. Although several factors come to mind, some may have actually helped examinees, rather than hurting them.
The NextGen UBE and Its Rollout
The NCBE introduced the NextGen UBE as a replacement for the legacy UBE that multiple states and jurisdictions require. This test emphasizes legal research and practical skills, such as “client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, [and] client relationship and management.” The NextGen UBE debuted this year in 10 jurisdictions and is scheduled to replace the UBE entirely by July 2028.
Serious tech issues plagued the NextGen UBE’s first administration in Missouri, Maryland, and Washington. The Missouri and Maryland exams went forward after delays. Ultimately, Washington offered affected test takers a retake of the bar exam or other options to complete their licensure. Missouri saw a two-percentage-point drop in its pass rate compared with July 2025, while Washington saw a 2-percentage-point increase. However, the Washington Bar Association released its July and September makeup results together, which makes a year-over-year comparison less straightforward.
Maryland also showed a rise in overall bar pass rates this July, up six percentage points from last year. Indeed, the ABA Journal reports that four jurisdictions offering the NextGen UBE reported a rise in overall pass rates. Thus, the NextGen UBE itself may not have been a major obstacle to this summer’s examinees.
Changes in the Legacy UBE
The legacy Uniform Bar Exam consists of three components, including the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) and the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE). Thirty-six jurisdictions currently use the legacy UBE.
In July, the legacy exam narrowed its focus by dropping four areas of law from the scope of the MEE, including trusts and estates and secured transactions. This did not seem to help bar exam results. According to LSAT tutor Sean Silverman, as reported in the ABA Journal, the essays on the July 2026 exam seemed more difficult for repeat test takers than in previous exams.
Nonetheless, the drop in overall pass rates includes states that do not use the UBE, such as Florida and Georgia. Any change in the legacy UBE could not have affected their bar exam pass rates.
Changes in Study Tools
This July, the national average (mean) MBE score dropped for the first time since 2022. What has happened since 2022 that could affect the MBE’s outcome?
In late 2022, ChatGPT was released. Since then, AI tools have become widely available to students, and institutions have accepted them, if not embraced them. Some studies suggest that generative AI use has a negative effect on learning, which is the reason that the University of Chicago Law School gives for restricting use of AI in its curriculum.
Test takers who relied on LLMs to study and prepare may have been at a disadvantage, even if their materials were accurate. However, scholarship on the AI-learning landscape is evolving and complex, and this may not be a factor in play at all.
Availability of Student Accommodations in Law School
According to Reuters, Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller suggests that “an increase in student accommodations in law school” may take some of the blame. Law students with documented mental or physical disabilities can now request accommodations, such as extra time for ADHD students or those suffering chronic pain. However, test takers may find it more difficult to meet a state bar’s requirements to receive accommodations during the bar exam.
One study found a link between a higher percentage of students receiving accommodations and lower first-time bar passage rates. The study’s author, Scott DeVito, offers multiple possible explanations without blaming either students or administrators. Muller suggests that “test takers who are accustomed to those accommodations might struggle to perform under the time pressure of the bar exam.”
Although the cause of the drop in pass rates remains uncertain for now, future pass rates should help explain why test takers struggled this year.
