{"id":132287,"date":"2025-08-29T16:00:37","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T00:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/29\/bar-exam-scores-are-up-2\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T16:00:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T00:00:37","slug":"bar-exam-scores-are-up-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/29\/bar-exam-scores-are-up-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Bar Exam Scores Are Up!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The cost of living isn\u2019t the only thing up this year! The bar exam \u2014 one of our industry\u2019s time-honored hazing exercises, is the main hurdle that separates people who merely have JDs from bona fide esquires. And this year the average score of July test takers is the highest it has been in a while! <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/legalindustry\/us-national-bar-exam-scores-hit-12-year-high-2025-08-28\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The national average score on July\u2019s 200-question Multistate Bar Exam was the highest since 2013, the National Conference of Bar Examiners said Thursday, excluding results from 2020 when the test was delayed or modified due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Waiting to get your bar score back sucks, but hopefully knowing that people did well on average can salve the anxiety. Early congratulations on the passing grade! And if you didn\u2019t receive one, there\u2019s always February. While it isn\u2019t the best solution to minting lawyers, one thing you can count on the bar to provide is consistency. Unless you are trying to practice in California. Hard to expect consistency from the California bar when <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/08\/the-california-bar-is-at-a-crossroads\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">they\u2019re still trying to figure out which test to give<\/a> or how to balance their ledgers, but at least it won\u2019t be as bad as the <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/05\/the-california-bar-was-so-bad-that-the-exam-vendor-is-getting-sued-over-it\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hellscape<\/a> February California bar takers had to tread through. Hopefully. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/legalindustry\/us-national-bar-exam-scores-hit-12-year-high-2025-08-28\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">US National Bar Exam Scores Hit 12-Year High<\/a> [Reuters]<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/06\/Chris-Williams-2025.jpg?resize=512%2C288&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1162378\" title=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:cwilliams@abovethelaw.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WritesForRent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/08\/bar-exam-scores-are-up-2\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bar Exam Scores Are Up!<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-single__featured-image post-single__featured-image--medium alignright\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/09\/up-arrow-300x225.jpg?resize=300%2C225&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n<p>The cost of living isn\u2019t the only thing up this year! The bar exam \u2014 one of our industry\u2019s time-honored hazing exercises, is the main hurdle that separates people who merely have JDs from bona fide esquires. And this year the average score of July test takers is the highest it has been in a while! <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/legalindustry\/us-national-bar-exam-scores-hit-12-year-high-2025-08-28\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The national average score on July\u2019s 200-question Multistate Bar Exam was the highest since 2013, the National Conference of Bar Examiners said Thursday, excluding results from 2020 when the test was delayed or modified due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Waiting to get your bar score back sucks, but hopefully knowing that people did well on average can salve the anxiety. Early congratulations on the passing grade! And if you didn\u2019t receive one, there\u2019s always February. While it isn\u2019t the best solution to minting lawyers, one thing you can count on the bar to provide is consistency. Unless you are trying to practice in California. Hard to expect consistency from the California bar when <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/08\/the-california-bar-is-at-a-crossroads\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">they\u2019re still trying to figure out which test to give<\/a> or how to balance their ledgers, but at least it won\u2019t be as bad as the <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/05\/the-california-bar-was-so-bad-that-the-exam-vendor-is-getting-sued-over-it\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hellscape<\/a> February California bar takers had to tread through. Hopefully. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/legalindustry\/us-national-bar-exam-scores-hit-12-year-high-2025-08-28\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">US National Bar Exam Scores Hit 12-Year High<\/a> [Reuters]<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/06\/Chris-Williams-2025.jpg?resize=512%2C288&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1162378\" title=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#8deefae4e1e1e4ece0fecdecefe2fbe8f9e5e8e1ecfaa3eee2e0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">[email\u00a0protected] <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WritesForRent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The cost of living isn\u2019t the only thing up this year! The bar exam \u2014 one of our industry\u2019s time-honored hazing exercises, is the main hurdle that separates people who merely have JDs from bona fide esquires. And this year the average score of July test takers is the highest it has been in a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":82831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AdobeStock_177640476-scaled-gOdzJ0.jpeg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}