California considers scrapping revamped bar exam after botched test rollout

By Karen Sloan

April 30 (Reuters) - The California Supreme Court could ditch the state's redesigned bar exam in July amid mounting criticism of the new test's problem-plagued February debut.

In a 65-page petition filed on Tuesday to the high court, the State Bar of California introduced the potential return of the Multistate Bar Exam, which is the multiple-choice component of the national bar exam produced by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. The petition also asked the court to approve several scoring adjustments meant to address the various technical issues February bar examinees faced.

The state bar administered a new bar exam in February that was given both remotely and in-person and did not use any components of the national bar exam. That change was expected to save as much as $3.8 million annually by eliminating the need to rent out large event spaces, but the exam was marred by various technical and logistical problems.

The state bar now projects that addressing those problems in July will cost at least $2.3 million more than anticipated. Test takers and legal academics have also questioned the development and quality of the 200 multiple questions that appeared on the exam.

Katie Moran, co-director of the academic and bar exam success program at the University of San Francisco School of Law and a vocal critic of the February test, said on Wednesday that the court should restore the MBE.

“After reading their petition, it is the most prudent thing to do given the number of issues with questions on the exam,” Moran said.

The State Bar acknowledged that the California Supreme Court may opt to revert to the MBE “so that there is not a risk that the process improvements are not effectively implemented before the next administration of bar examination," while also laying out its plans to improve the vetting and oversight of its multiple-choice questions for the upcoming July exam.

The California Supreme Court has already ordered the July bar exam to be administered in person at testing centers.

A spokesperson for the national conference said it would need a decision by June 10 to make the MBE available to California for the July exam. California produces its own bar exam essay and performance tests, but until February had used the MBE for the multiple-choice section.

A California Supreme Court spokesperson said on Wednesday that the court had just received the petition and did not yet have any comment on it. A state bar spokesperson did not immediately provide comment Wednesday on the petition or the potential restoration of the MBE.

Legal academics in California have pushed for the return of the MBE. Deans of 14 of California’s 17 American Bar Association-accredited law schools requested that the MBE be used in July and that all of February’s multiple-choice questions be released to the public for review, in an April 25 letter to California Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero.

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