Tuesday, January 27, 2026
Page 1
State Bar Ponders Admission Exam Without California Section
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The State Bar Board of Trustees and the Committee of Bar Examiners have jointly voted to explore a plan for a revamped licensure examination that would not include, for the first time in the state’s history, a California-specific section.
At a joint meeting on Friday, the groups voted to explore adopting the so-called “NextGen Uniform Bar Examination,” created by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (“NCBE”), as the exclusive metric for evaluating attorney-hopefuls. The test is designed to create a “portable score” that is transferable to other states while allowing each jurisdiction to set its own threshold for passing.
Also left on the table at Friday’s meeting was contracting with Kaplan Exam Services, the vendor responsible for drafting most of the questions on the botched February exam, to prepare a test that includes state-specific inquiries.
A final recommendation is expected to be made to the California Supreme Court for approval by July. At the earliest, any change would go into effect for the 2028 bar exams, as the Legislature last year adopted a new rule requiring that the Committee of Bar Examiners (“CBE”) give 18 months’ notice before changing vendors for drafting exam questions.
Uniform Assessment
NCBE’s uniform assessment—which includes an essay portion, a multiple-choice section, as well as a performance exam—is slated to be rolled out in a small number of jurisdictions in July. It is being touted as measuring a “broad range of foundational lawyering skills” and focusing on “a core set of legal concepts” necessary for “entry-level practice.”
To date, more than 40 states have signed on to use the NextGen Uniform Bar Examination (“Next Gen UBE”) by 2028.
The group’s Multistate Bar Examination was used in the multiple-choice portion of California’s bar exams until February 2025, when the State Bar opted to use one prepared by Kaplan Exam Services. The February test, which involved a novel remote option, was riddled with problems, including reports of technical issues, poorly drafted inquiries, and complaints about proctors.
A small portion of the multiple-choice questions on the February exam was prepared by the independent psychometrician, ACS Ventures, which was hired by the regulatory body to evaluate the test. The State Bar admitted in April that ACS had used artificial intelligence tools to draft some of the inquiries.
The California Supreme Court ordered a return to in-person testing for the July 2025 exam, which also reverted to using the Multistate Bar Examination for the multiple-choice portion.
Performed as Expected
Friday’s joint meeting included a presentation by Kaplan representatives who said that the vendor’s questions on the February exam “performed within expected ranges” for difficulty and other metrics.
In November, the State Bar reached out to the deans of California law schools, as well as current and prospective licensees, seeking input on future exam option preferences. According to the body, leaders of American Bar Association-approved institutions “expressed a strong preference for adopting the NextGen UBE” without a California-specific component.
California-accredited law schools called for adding a state-specific section to the uniform test, but the State Bar said that the deans affiliated with the institutions “acknowledged trade-offs and expressed support for adopting NextGen [UBE] without a California component or having the California component be a lower-stakes online assessment.” Unaccredited law schools reportedly favored a streamlined exam modeled after Nevada’s approach—which allows students to complete significant portions of the licensing requirements before graduation from law school—but indicated “openness to NextGen” testing.
Multiple Options
The State Bar announced Saturday that “[t]he Board and CBE have been evaluating multiple options for 2028 and beyond,” including “[s]taying the course and…using questions developed by Kaplan…until the new exam can be developed,” adopting “the NextGen UBE with or without a California-specific component” or following “Nevada’s model, [largely] limited to multiple-choice questions and performance tests.” Board of Trustees Chair José Cisneros and CBE Chair Alan Yochelson issued a joint statement after Friday’s meeting, saying:
“The Board of Trustees and the Committee of Bar Examiners are committed to delivering a bar exam that is fair, accessible, reliable, and responsive to the evolving needs of those who take it. Today, we took an important step toward shaping an informed recommendation for the California Supreme Court. Our work will continue over the next several months and years to ensure that any changes create a better experience for all applicants, strengthen public trust, and uphold the integrity of the profession.”
Copyright 2026, Metropolitan News Company