Nebraska bar exam: Legacy or current exam until July 2027; NextGen afterward.
| July exam | Mar. 1 |
| February exam | Oct. 15 |
| Fees | First-time $515 / $615; attorney $515 / $615; repeater $225 / $490 / $590; laptop $100 |
| MPRE minimum | 85 |
Dates can change. Check the board’s site before you pay.
Before filing in Nebraska, check the current NCBE profile ↗.
| Rule | Neb. Ct. R. §3-119(D) |
| Accommodation | Admission by motion with the qualifying bar-exam-score requirement waived for a military spouse assigned to a Nebraska duty station, at reduced fee; not temporary: does not auto-terminate on departure |
| Duration | Permanent once granted |
| Supervision | Not required |
| Adopted | 2018 |
Confirm current status directly with Nebraska's bar admission authority ↗: this area of law shifted federally in December 2024 and states are still catching up.
Nebraska opens a filing window instead of only a deadline. A July exam application can be filed from January 2 through March 1, and a February exam application from September 1 through October 15. An application counts as filed when the Director of Admissions has received it with every required document uploaded.
Since April 1, 2025 the Nebraska Supreme Court rules have no late application period (Neb. Ct. R. 3-114(B)), so applications received March 2 or later for July, or October 16 or later for February, are not accepted. An applicant who failed the February exam has through May 15 to reapply for July, and one who failed the July exam has through October 15 to reapply for February.
Source: Deadlines and Fees ↗
A first-time exam application is $515, and $615 if the applicant has no passing MPRE score on file. A first-time applicant who failed and re-applies for the immediate next exam only pays $250, while any other re-take application is $515, or $615 without a passing MPRE. Each amount includes a $25 payment processing fee, and the Commission accepts online payment only, not cash, personal checks or firm checks.
The optional laptop fee, $100 and subject to change, is paid directly to the software vendor four to six weeks before the exam, and it is not refundable by the Commission. A hand score request is $50 to NCBE. An on motion application is $950, or $487.50 for a military spouse applicant, and a certified or non-certified copy of an application is $35.
Nebraska requires a scaled MPRE score of 85 or higher for admission. An applicant without one can still apply to sit, but pays an extra $100. Nebraska's first NextGen UBE will be the July 2027 exam. A laptop user must submit a notarized liability waiver before the director approves the software registration, and the eligibility notice about six weeks before the exam explains how and when the laptop fee is paid. A withdrawal must be in writing, by mail, email or fax.
Nebraska has four motion classes: UBE motion, non-UBE motion, practice time motion and military spouse motion. A non-UBE exam counts as equivalent to Nebraska's exam only if it has comparable components: at least three hours of performance test, at least three hours of essays on substantive law, and the multistate bar exam. Every motion applicant needs a certificate of good standing from each jurisdiction of licensure dated within the last 30 days and fingerprints submitted for a national criminal history check, and processing time varies with the applicant's situation.
Nebraska publishes no pass-rate page, but both of its ABA-approved schools file bar-passage reports with the ABA, and each report breaks out how its graduates did on the Nebraska exam itself. For the class of 2024, University of Nebraska College of Law graduates went 99 for 111 (89.19 percent) and Creighton graduates went 70 for 91 (76.92 percent), against 83.70 percent for all ABA-school graduates who took Nebraska for the first time.
The gap between the schools is not new. Nebraska Law ran above the state figure in all three classes shown, and Creighton ran below it in all three.
Nebraska Law sent 111 of its 148 first-time takers in 2024 to the Nebraska exam (about 75 percent); Creighton sent 91 of 146 (about 62 percent). Creighton's other 55 first-time takers sat in 18 other jurisdictions and passed at 65.45 percent.
Source: ABA Required Disclosures: University of Nebraska bar passage report ↗
The ABA's two-year ultimate rate follows each graduating class for two years and counts everyone who passed a bar exam anywhere in that time. It is the fairest single number for a school whose graduates scatter.
Nebraska Law's classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022 came in at 93.69, 98.13 and 91.24 percent. Creighton's came in at 92.55, 88.24 and 77.78 percent. Creighton's 2022 class had 119 graduates, and 11 of them did not take a bar exam within two years.
Source: ABA Required Disclosures: Creighton University bar passage report ↗
March 1 for the July exam and October 15 for the February exam, with filing opening January 2 and September 1. Nebraska has no late period.
No. As of April 1, 2025 the Supreme Court rules removed the late application period (Neb. Ct. R. 3-114(B)), so an application received after the deadline is not accepted.
$515, or $615 if you have no passing MPRE score on file. Each includes a $25 processing fee, and a first-time repeater applying for the immediate next exam pays $250.
A scaled 85 or higher. You may apply to sit without one, but you pay an extra $100 and must supply it for admission.
With the July 2027 exam. Nebraska says its first NextGen UBE administration will be July 2027.
$950 for a UBE, non-UBE or practice time motion applicant, and $487.50 for a military spouse applicant.
By May 15 for the July exam after failing February, and by October 15 for the February exam after failing July.
Not through the Commission. The fee goes to an outside vendor, so you must ask that vendor for a refund.
The University of Nebraska College of Law, in each of the last three classes reported. On the Nebraska exam it was 89.19 percent for the class of 2024 against Creighton's 76.92 percent, per the ABA's 2025 school reports.
Most do, but not all. Of the class of 2024's first-time takers, 111 of 148 from Nebraska Law and 91 of 146 from Creighton sat in Nebraska; the rest sat in other jurisdictions.
Compare other state bar exam guides: Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina
Source: NCBE Comprehensive Guide: Nebraska ↗ · reviewed August 21, 2026.