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Bar Exam Pass Rates Rise Nationwide

By Vaidehi Mehta, Esq. | Last updated on

Are law students getting smarter? Maybe, maybe not. But they are passing the bar exam more often.

Approximately 50,000 candidates took the July 2024 exam. This was an 8% increase from the previous year. Of them, 76% were likely first-time examinees. This, despite the fact that a couple of maverick states (Washington and Oregon before this summer, and Utah after) have recently decided they aren’t going to require a bar exam at all anymore, opting for other ways to measure a graduate’s readiness to practice law.

COVID Contributes to More Test Takers

This surge in candidates is thought to be linked to a 13% rise in law school applications in 2021. Why? COVID. It may sound counterintuitive that more people went to law school after the pandemic hit. After all, here at FindLaw we can count our blessings we didn’t have to sit through the snoozefest that is a virtual Civil Procedure class.

But some believe that the pandemic created a unique environment that influenced many individuals to consider furthering their education, including pursuing law degrees. With the disruptions and uncertainties in the job market during that time, many saw law school as a viable option to enhance their qualifications and career prospects.

Additionally, the conditions allowed law schools to be more selective in their admissions processes, resulting in a class with stronger academic credentials. The class of 2024 entered law school with an average LSAT score 1.27 points higher than the previous year, a factor that NCBE's director of psychometrics, Rosemary Reshetar, notes as a good predictor of bar exam success.

Whatever the reason, the results that just came in for the July 2024 bar exam certainly seem in line with this theory: they’re the best they’ve been in a while.

Results Overall Positive

The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) makes the dreaded test, but also collects and analyzes scores and trends every year. According to the data they just released, the mean scaled score across the country for the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) reached 141.8, marking an increase of 1.3 points from July 2023, This score is the highest since 2013, excluding the modified 2020 exam due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In New York, the jurisdiction testing the most candidates, the pass rate rose to 69%, an 11-year high. California, testing the second-largest group, saw its pass rate increase to 53.8%, the second highest in 11 years. Texas and Georgia also reported significant improvements, with Texas reaching a 75% pass rate and Georgia achieving its highest rate in a decade at 70.4%.

While most jurisdictions experienced increases, some saw declines. Utah had a slight decrease in its pass rate to 88% from 92% in July 2023—despite having decided to lower its “cut score” (the minimum score needed to pass) just last year. Wyoming experienced the largest drop, with its pass rate falling 15 percentage points (65% from 80% last year). But that datum should be taken with a grain of salt, seeing as how an incredibly small number of examinees (52) sat for the test this summer. This small sample size can contribute to more pronounced fluctuations in pass rates.

Of course, we can't necessarily conclude that students are better at taking the bar exam, let alone that they are going to be more prepared to practice law. Especially because some states have recently made their exam easier, like Arizona in trying to address its attorney shortage. But hey, it's not bad news.

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