To sit for the bar exam in most U.S. jurisdictions you need a Juris Doctor from an ABA-approved law school and a passing character and fitness review; the exam itself is a two-day test built from three components (the MBE, MEE, and MPT), and passing scores in Uniform Bar Examination states currently run from 260 to 270 on a 400-point scale. Those are the headline rules on bar exam eligibility, components, and passing scores, but each piece has meaningful variation by state, and a redesigned version of the test begins rolling out in July 2026.
Who Can Sit for the Bar Exam
Eligibility is set by each state’s board of bar examiners, not by the American Bar Association or any single national authority. The requirements follow a common pattern, but the details vary enough that you have to check the rules for the specific jurisdiction where you plan to be licensed.
The Standard Route: A J.D. from an ABA-Approved Law School
In most jurisdictions, the baseline requirement is a Juris Doctor from an ABA-approved law school.1American Bar Association. Legal Ed Frequently Asked Questions ABA standards require at least 83 credit hours of law study for the degree, which most students complete over three years of full-time enrollment. Some schools offer accelerated or part-time tracks that extend to four years, but the credit floor is the same.
Reading the Law and Other Alternative Paths
A handful of jurisdictions allow candidates to qualify without attending law school. Often called “reading the law,” these apprenticeship routes involve years of supervised study under a licensed attorney or judge. California, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington each maintain their own version, typically requiring three to four years of structured study with specified weekly hours and direct supervision. Several other states permit a mix of partial law school attendance and law office study. In practice these routes are rare and carry extra hurdles such as progress exams and strict supervision rules, so they are not an easier alternative to the traditional path.
Foreign-educated lawyers face their own set of rules. Some jurisdictions let candidates with a law degree from another country sit for the bar after completing a set number of credits in an LL.M. program at an ABA-approved school; others require a full J.D. Credential evaluation is almost always part of the process.
One state offers diploma privilege: graduates of its two accredited law schools can be admitted based on their degree alone, without sitting for the bar exam. Character and fitness review still applies.
Character and Fitness
Every jurisdiction requires a character and fitness investigation regardless of educational path. The review examines criminal records, credit history, civil litigation, academic discipline, and employment history. Past convictions or dishonesty do not automatically disqualify an applicant, but failing to disclose something the investigation later uncovers usually does. The review can take anywhere from a few weeks to well over a year depending on the complexity of your background, so it needs to be started early.
What the Bar Exam Tests
The bar exam is administered on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of February and July each year. In the 41 jurisdictions that give the Uniform Bar Examination as of 2026, the test is built from three nationally developed components produced by the National Conference of Bar Examiners.2National Conference of Bar Examiners. The Bar Examiner – FAQs About Bar Admissions Non-UBE jurisdictions administer their own exams, which may include state-specific essays, but the core components are largely the same.
The Multistate Bar Examination
The MBE is a full-day session of 200 multiple-choice questions, split into two three-hour blocks of 100 questions each. Only 175 are scored; the other 25 are unscored pretest items, and you will not know which are which.3NCBE. MBE Bar Exam The tested subjects are civil procedure, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law and procedure, evidence, real property, and torts. Each item gives a factual scenario and four answer choices, and the difficulty lies less in memorizing rules than in applying them under time pressure to facts written to be ambiguous.
The Multistate Essay Examination
The MEE is six essay questions, 30 minutes each. It can draw from a broader pool of subjects than the MBE, adding business associations, family law, trusts and estates, secured transactions, and conflict of laws to the core MBE topics.4NCBE. MEE Bar Exam Some questions blend multiple areas into a single fact pattern. Graders are looking for organized analysis: identify the issues, state the applicable rules, apply them to the facts, reach a conclusion.
The Multistate Performance Test
The MPT is two 90-minute tasks that simulate real legal work. Each task gives you a File of case documents, interview transcripts, or correspondence, and a Library of cases and statutes.5NCBE. MPT Bar Exam – Multistate Performance Test A memo from a fictional supervising attorney tells you exactly what to produce, whether that’s a persuasive brief, a client letter, a contract provision, or a case analysis. You are not expected to know the law going in; everything you need is in the materials. The test measures whether you can pull the relevant rules and facts and turn out a competent work product on a deadline.
The MPRE Sits Alongside, Not Inside, the Bar Exam
Nearly every jurisdiction also requires a passing score on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, a separate test focused on the ethical rules governing lawyers.6National Conference of Bar Examiners. Which Jurisdictions Require the MPRE The MPRE has 60 multiple-choice questions, of which 50 are scored; the other 10 are unscored pretest items.7NCBE. Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination Most candidates take it during their last year of law school or shortly after graduation. MPRE scores remain valid for a limited number of years, so timing matters if bar admission is delayed.
Passing Scores and How They Transfer
There is no single national passing score. Each jurisdiction sets its own cutoff, and in UBE states those cutoffs currently range from 260 to 270 on a 400-point scale.8NCBE. UBE Bar Exam Score Range The most common cutoff is 266, used by jurisdictions including the District of Columbia, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas are among the states requiring 270. Non-UBE jurisdictions such as California and Louisiana use their own scoring systems that do not translate directly to the UBE scale.
Portability is one of the UBE’s main selling points. A UBE score can be transferred to any other UBE jurisdiction whose minimum is at or below your score, usually without retaking the exam.9National Conference of Bar Examiners. About the UBE Some jurisdictions add a state-specific component, such as an online course on local law, before admitting a transfer candidate. Transfer windows also vary, so a score from an older sitting may no longer qualify. Confirm the target jurisdiction’s rules before assuming a prior score is still good.
The NextGen Bar Exam Starting July 2026
The exam is being redesigned. The NextGen Bar Exam, developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners, will be administered for the first time in July 2026. Ten jurisdictions have signed on for that initial administration, including Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, and Washington.10NCBE. NextGen Bar Exam The current UBE will continue to run alongside NextGen through at least February 2028.
The format changes are significant. NextGen is shorter, about a day and a half instead of two full days. It drops the 200 standalone MBE multiple-choice items in favor of integrated question sets that combine multiple areas of law into realistic scenarios, and it adds short-answer questions and performance tasks. The tested subjects shift as well: professional responsibility is added, conflict of laws and secured transactions are dropped, and family law joins the exam starting with the July 2028 administration.
NextGen is designed to assess seven foundational lawyering skills: legal research, legal writing, issue spotting and analysis, investigation and evaluation, client counseling, negotiation and dispute resolution, and client relationship management.11National Conference of Bar Examiners. Recommendations If you plan to sit in July 2026 in a participating jurisdiction, confirm which version of the exam your state is giving before you build your preparation plan.