Bar exam results for the July administration are almost all in, and the class of 2026 is not going to love them. As Reuters reports, pass rates fell in California and the other big-volume jurisdictions this summer… and in the Golden State’s case, it wasn’t close.
The State Bar of California announced Friday that just 48.3% of the 7,942 people who sat for the July General Bar Exam passed. That’s down from 54.8% last year, the lowest July pass rate in five years, and, per Law.com, the first time since 2018 that a majority of summer takers failed.
And no, you can’t pin this on the repeaters. First-time takers passed at 64.7%, five points below last July’s 69.7%. Repeaters had a rougher go at 14.1%, and those on their fourth attempt or more cleared at just 7.7%. Brutal.
Now, California has a notoriously difficult bar exam, but it’s not like that was the only jurisdiction to see a tumble.
New York, the largest exam in the country, passed 67% of its 9,936 takers, down from 70% last year. Texas and Florida slid too. Nationally, the mean MBE score dropped from 142.4 last July to 140.7. By one tally of NCBE’s data, 35 of the 42 jurisdictions that reported results for both summers saw their pass rates fall.
You might be tempted to blame this on the shiny new exam. This was, after all, the summer the NextGen UBE debuted. But it rolled out in only a handful of jurisdictions, and none of the big four were among them. New York and Texas stuck with the legacy UBE, Florida gave its own exam, and California was back on the MBE after the February 2025 debacle that had the State Bar handing out free retakes like a clearance rack. These were the old, familiar tests, and that has folks scrambling for answers. As per Reuters:
Some law professors have speculated that over-reliance on AI for studying and an increase in student accommodations in law school could be contributing factors to this year’s decline in bar pass rates.
Bar exam tutor Sean Silverman said bar exam results fluctuate year-to-year and it’s difficult to draw conclusions from one year of data.
“With that said, there was such a lopsided result this year with over 75% of the states that have reported results publicly reporting lower scores in 2026 than in 2025,” Silverman said.
Congratulations to everyone who passed — and to everyone who didn’t, a gentle reminder that California’s February exam passed 30.8% of takers this year, so maybe crack those outlines a little early.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1
The post Bar Exam Pass Rates Tanked This Summer, And Not Just In California appeared first on Above the Law.
Bar exam results for the July administration are almost all in, and the class of 2026 is not going to love them. As Reuters reports, pass rates fell in California and the other big-volume jurisdictions this summer… and in the Golden State’s case, it wasn’t close.
The State Bar of California announced Friday that just 48.3% of the 7,942 people who sat for the July General Bar Exam passed. That’s down from 54.8% last year, the lowest July pass rate in five years, and, per Law.com, the first time since 2018 that a majority of summer takers failed.
And no, you can’t pin this on the repeaters. First-time takers passed at 64.7%, five points below last July’s 69.7%. Repeaters had a rougher go at 14.1%, and those on their fourth attempt or more cleared at just 7.7%. Brutal.
Now, California has a notoriously difficult bar exam, but it’s not like that was the only jurisdiction to see a tumble.
New York, the largest exam in the country, passed 67% of its 9,936 takers, down from 70% last year. Texas and Florida slid too. Nationally, the mean MBE score dropped from 142.4 last July to 140.7. By one tally of NCBE’s data, 35 of the 42 jurisdictions that reported results for both summers saw their pass rates fall.
You might be tempted to blame this on the shiny new exam. This was, after all, the summer the NextGen UBE debuted. But it rolled out in only a handful of jurisdictions, and none of the big four were among them. New York and Texas stuck with the legacy UBE, Florida gave its own exam, and California was back on the MBE after the February 2025 debacle that had the State Bar handing out free retakes like a clearance rack. These were the old, familiar tests, and that has folks scrambling for answers. As per Reuters:
Some law professors have speculated that over-reliance on AI for studying and an increase in student accommodations in law school could be contributing factors to this year’s decline in bar pass rates.
Bar exam tutor Sean Silverman said bar exam results fluctuate year-to-year and it’s difficult to draw conclusions from one year of data.
“With that said, there was such a lopsided result this year with over 75% of the states that have reported results publicly reporting lower scores in 2026 than in 2025,” Silverman said.
Congratulations to everyone who passed — and to everyone who didn’t, a gentle reminder that California’s February exam passed 30.8% of takers this year, so maybe crack those outlines a little early.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1
The post Bar Exam Pass Rates Tanked This Summer, And Not Just In California appeared first on Above the Law.
