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State Bar Announces 55.9% Passing Rate for February Exam
Proclamation Follows Friday’s Supreme Court Order Agreeing to Scoring Adjustments for Problem-Riddled Test
By Kimber Cooley, associate editor
The State Bar of California announced yesterday that 55.9% of those who took the problem-riddled February bar exam have passed, following the Supreme Court’s order, issued late Friday, agreeing to the agency’s request to lower the qualifying score and to permit an upward adjustment for certain of those hopefuls who were unable to complete the test due to a host of technical difficulties.
Responding to a petition filed by the State Bar on April 29, the high court agreed to lower the passing score for the exam to 534—representing a 26-point reduction from threshold set by the standardized testing expert responsible for analyzing the test—and approved bonus points for test-takers who answered at least 114 of 171 scored multiple-choice questions as well as for those who responded to at least four of the six essay prompts.
Following the order, the State Bar applied the approved metrics and said yesterday that the passing rate “is the highest spring pass rate since 1965 (57.1 percent).”
Incentive Scoring Adjustments
Some examinees received “incentive scoring adjustments” for participating in a November “Special Session” designed to help the agency prepare for the new exam format anticipated for February. According to yesterday’s release by the State Bar:
“Applicants who answered at least 28 of the 49 experimental questions correctly were eligible to receive an adjustment of 40 scale score points on the multiple-choice section of the bar examination. This section level adjustment results in an effective 20 scale score point adjustment to the overall scale score.”
An incentive program was approved by the high court in October, pursuant to an order saying that any adjustment is not to “alter the maximum available points for the General Bar Examination or its passing score” and must only provide “participants with additional questions through which they may demonstrate competency.”
Of the 3,886 applicants sitting for the February test, the regulatory agency said that 29.9% were first-time exam takers and 62.1% of these examinees passed. Of the repeat test-takers, 53.2% achieved passing scores.
The Supreme Court also approved lowering the passing score for those who took the February Attorneys’ Examination, which is open to lawyers in other states who have been practicing, in good standing, for at least four years. According to yesterday’s press release, 76.5% of these hopefuls passed the exam under the new metrics, representing the highest percentage since 1992.
A publicly available pass list will be posted today at noon, the State Bar said.
Multistate Bar Examination
In Friday’s decree, the high court also ordered a return to the Multistate Bar Examination (“MBE”) for the multiple-choice portion of the July test, citing concerns over how the State Bar drafted questions for the February test, including some that were AI-generated, after the decision was made to pivot away from the inquiries generated by the National Conference of Bar Examiners for the first time in California history.
The pivot was made as part of a slew of changes proposed by the State Bar to try to rein in the costs associated with the administration of the bar exam, including the decision to offer a hybrid model of the test such that examinees could choose a remote option. States utilizing the MBE are limited to in-person administration.
In March, the Supreme Court ordered a return to “the traditional in-person format” for the July exam.
Kaplan Exam Services LLC agreed to draft the questions for the California Bar Examination as part of a five-year, $8.25 million agreement announced in August 2024.
Continued viability of a Kaplan-drafted exam for any future tests was not addressed by the Supreme Court’s order.
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