California Bar Exam Quick Facts
Administering Body: The State Bar of California
UBE State: No, and no UBE score is accepted
Passing Score: 1390 of 2000
MPRE Required: 86
Next Exam: 23-24 February 2027, in person
Timely Filing Deadline: 2 November 2026
Delivery: Laptop or handwriting on Day 1; paper Scantron on Day 2
NextGen UBE From: July 2028
Sources: State Bar of California, dates and deadlines; NCBE jurisdiction profile for California. Checked 1 August 2026. The July 2026 exam was held on 28-29 July 2026; figures here look forward to February 2027.
Why California Is Different
Most states have converged on the Uniform Bar Examination, which produces a single portable score. California has not. It sets its own essays and Performance Test, combines them with the national multiple-choice paper, and scores the result on its own 2000-point scale.
The consequence that matters most to your planning is that no score from anywhere else gets you admitted in California. The State Bar offers no reciprocity and accepts no bar exam score from another jurisdiction. If you want to practise in California, you sit a California exam.
If you are already a lawyer, read this before assuming the worst. An applicant admitted to active practice in another United States jurisdiction for at least four years immediately before the exam, and in good standing throughout, may sit the Attorneys' Examination instead. That is a one-day exam: it uses the essay questions and performance test of the General Bar Examination but not the multiple-choice day. You still cannot transfer a score in, but you are not necessarily facing the full two-day exam.
Going the other way, one thing does travel. California is not a UBE jurisdiction, so there is no California UBE score to port; but the NCBE will transfer your MBE score from the California exam to admitting authorities in other jurisdictions on request and payment of a fee. Whether those jurisdictions accept it is their decision, not California's.
Sources: State Bar of California, attorney applicants; Rules of the State Bar, Title 4, rule 4.3; NCBE jurisdiction profile for California. Checked 1 August 2026.
What Happened in 2025, and Where It Leaves 2026
The February 2025 California bar exam was disrupted by widespread technical failures, which drew criticism from applicants, legal educators and the judiciary. It is the single most important recent fact about this exam, and it explains most of what has changed since.
The State Bar's response was to go back to the national paper: from July 2025 the multiple-choice section reverted to the NCBE's Multistate Bar Examination. The written questions come from Kaplan, which holds a five-year development contract, or from the existing item bank. The exam is administered entirely in person at designated test sites in California.
The longer-term answer is to stop writing its own exam altogether. On 15 July 2026 the California Supreme Court issued an order adopting the State Bar's recommendation to move to the NextGen Uniform Bar Exam, beginning with the July 2028 administration.
What that means in practice. There will be no California-specific component for the July 2028 and February 2029 exams. A California component is proposed for no earlier than July 2029, and is expected to test employment law and family law. Anyone sitting in 2027 takes the current California exam, unchanged.
Sources: California Supreme Court, order of 15 July 2026; State Bar notice on the July 2028 exam; NCBE NextGen adoption chart. Checked 1 August 2026.
California Bar Exam Format
Two days, written first, multiple choice second. The written day is longer and more fragmented than most candidates expect.
Day 1: Essays and Performance Test
Morning session, three hours
Essays 1, 2 and 3, one hour each.
Afternoon session, three and a half hours
Essays 4 and 5, one hour each, plus one 90-minute Performance Test.
Day 2: Multistate Bar Examination
200 multiple-choice questions in two three-hour sessions of 100 questions each. Of the 200, 175 are scored and 25 are unscored pretest items, which is standard in every MBE jurisdiction.
Five one-hour essays in a single day is the part that separates California from UBE states, where the written day is six 30-minute essays and two performance tasks. California asks for fewer, longer pieces of writing, which rewards sustained organisation rather than rapid-fire issue spotting. Note that the one-hour and 90-minute figures are design targets, not enforced per-question limits: you may allocate your time freely within each session.
The two days are delivered differently. Day 1 is typed in ExamSoft's Examplify software, or handwritten if you elect that when you apply. Day 2 is not: you get a printed question book and answer on a paper Scantron sheet with a soft lead #2 pencil. A laptop is not permitted for the MBE session.
Sources: State Bar of California, scope of the California Bar Examination and the exam admittance ticket bulletin; NCBE, the MBE. Checked 1 August 2026.
California Bar Exam Pass Rates
7,362 applicants completed the July 2025 General Bar Examination, 73.9% of them first-time takers and 26.1% repeating.
| Group (July 2025) | Adjusted | Unadjusted |
|---|---|---|
| Overall (all takers) | 54.8% | — |
| First-time takers | 69.7% | 69.2% |
| Repeat takers | 12.4% | 11.7% |
| ABA-accredited California schools, first-time | 84.4% | 83.8% |
What "adjusted" means here. A scoring adjustment ordered by the Supreme Court applied to candidates who had taken part in the State Bar's November 2024 special session and answered at least 28 of 49 experimental questions correctly. They received 40 scale-score points on the multiple-choice section, worth an effective 20 points overall. 967 people received it and 41 of them passed as a result. The figures the State Bar leads with are the adjusted ones, so those are what most coverage quotes.
The headline understates the position of a well-prepared first-time candidate considerably. First-time graduates of ABA-accredited California law schools passed at 84.4%, which is a very different exam from the one the 54.8% figure describes.
The overall rate over five years
| July exam | Overall pass rate |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 53.0% |
| 2022 | 52.4% |
| 2023 | 51.5% |
| 2024 | 53.8% |
| 2025 | 54.8% |
The rate fell in 2022 and again in 2023 before rising in 2024 and 2025. Two consecutive increases is the honest description; it is not a long-running upward trend.
Do not read the repeat-taker figure as a trend. 12.4% looks like a collapse from 23.6% in July 2024, but the pool changed rather than the candidates getting worse. The February 2025 exam passed roughly 900 more repeat takers than a normal February under its remedies, which removed most of the near-the-line candidates from the July 2025 repeat pool. The State Bar notes the average number of attempts among July 2025 repeaters rose to 5.1, from 4.9 the year before. Those still repeating had, on average, failed more times.
Sources: State Bar of California, July 2025 results announcement; July 2025 CBX statistics (data as of 6 January 2026); exam statistics archive for the five-year series. Checked 1 August 2026.
Filing Deadlines and Late Fees
California publishes three dates per exam: when the application opens, the timely filing deadline, and a final filing deadline after which you cannot apply at all.
February 2027 exam
- Application opens: 1 October 2026
- Timely filing deadline: 2 November 2026
- Final filing deadline: 4 January 2027
- Exam: 23-24 February 2027
The November and January dates are the weekday roll-forwards of the statutory 1 November and 1 January deadlines.
The late-fee amounts for February 2027 are not yet published. For the July 2026 exam they were $50 for filing in the month after the timely deadline and $250 after that, but the State Bar has not yet issued a dedicated February 2027 exam page, so do not assume the same tiers carry over. The dates above come from the published dates-and-deadlines table.
The base application fee is set out in the State Bar's Schedule of Charges and Deadlines rather than on the exam page, and card payments carry a 2.5% processing charge that does not apply to ACH payments. Check the current amount against the Schedule before you file rather than relying on a figure quoted elsewhere, including here.
Source: State Bar of California, dates and deadlines. Checked 1 August 2026.
How to Prepare for the California Exam
1. Build stamina for one-hour essays
Five essays of an hour each is a different discipline from six of thirty minutes. You have room to structure a real argument and enough time to lose your way in one. Practise complete essays under the clock rather than outlining.
2. Take the Performance Test seriously
It is 90 minutes of closed-universe work and it is learnable, because it tests triage and drafting rather than memory. Repeated timed practice moves this score more reliably than more substantive revision does.
3. Do not neglect the MBE
The multiple-choice day is the national paper and the most predictable component in the exam. Volume of timed questions with genuine review of the wrong answers is the highest-return preparation available.
4. Plan around an in-person, software-delivered exam
The exam is in person at designated California test sites. If you are typing Day 1, install and test Examplify early. Remember Day 2 is handwritten on a Scantron, so practise the multiple-choice day on paper rather than on screen, and factor travel and accommodation into your budget alongside the application fee.
Keep Going
The bar exam is the last gate, not the first. These guides cover the steps that come before it.