February bar exam scores dropped in big states

By Karen Sloan

April 29 (Reuters) - Results for this year’s February bar exam were all over the map, with notable pass rate declines in most of the biggest states.

Of the 43 states that reported results as of Tuesday, 24 had lower overall pass rates compared with the previous February exam, while 18 states had higher overall pass rates. One state — Oregon — had the same pass rate as last year.

Most states with large bar exams reported pass rate declines for February. New York, which has the highest number of annual bar examinees in the U.S. with about 14,000, saw its overall pass rate decline from 42% in 2024 to 38% in 2025. Texas’ pass rate fell one percentage point to 47%, while Illinois went from an overall pass rate of 44% in 2024 to 40% this year.

Florida, which has the third-highest number of bar examinees after New York and California, bucked that large bar exam state trend with a pass rate increase of five percentage points and an overall pass rate of 46%.

Five states of the 43 reporting their results had changes of 10 or more percentage points — an unusually large margin of year-over-year change, though the biggest swings came in states with small number of test takers.

The National Conference of Bar Examiners in March predicted that pass rates would be down because results for the multiple-choice portion of that national test were the lowest on record.

“I think that the lower MBE is the greatest contributor to what we're seeing with these scores,” said bar exam tutor Sean Silverman.

The national conference attributed the lower MBE score to California giving a separate bar exam in February and to declining performance by repeat bar takers. California test takers typically have a higher mean MBE score than do examinees elsewhere, and their absence from the national average likely pulled that number down.

Many states, including some that posted higher February pass rates, are still falling below the 50% mark — a result Silverman called “discouraging.” Of the 43 states that have released results so far, just 14 had pass rates above 50%.

February bar exam pass rates are typically lower than July, in part because it draws a larger percentage of repeat test takers. Those who have already taken and failed the bar once have lower pass rates than first-time examinees.

California is among the eight states that have yet to report their pass rate. The State Bar of California had planned to release results Friday but told test takers in a Monday email that results may be delayed because it had not yet sent a petition to the California Supreme Court requesting a score adjustment.

February marked the debut of California’s hybrid bar exam given both remotely and in person, which did not include any components of the national bar exam the state had been using for decades. Test takers reported a slew of problems ranging from software crashes to interruptions from proctors.

The score adjustment, which requires the approval of the state supreme court, is intended to address some of the problems examinees encountered on the test. The state bar said the petition took longer than anticipated to finalize.

Read more:

National bar exam score hit record low in February

California bar seeks to reduce pass score after disastrous exam rollout