Bar exam statistics
Pick a jurisdiction to see its pass rates by exam and year, how first-time takers compare with repeaters, how lawyers were admitted, and how its law schools' graduates did. Every table names its source.
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How to read a bar exam pass rate
A bar exam pass rate is the share of people who sat one administration and passed it, and the number it hides is who sat. First-time takers from ABA-approved law schools pass at far higher rates than repeaters, so a jurisdiction that draws many repeaters, or many graduates of non-ABA programs, reports a lower overall rate without its exam being harder. Compare first-time rates with first-time rates and overall with overall.
February and July are different populations. July draws most of the year's first-time takers straight out of law school; February draws more repeaters and candidates who deferred. A state's February rate is usually lower than its July rate for that reason, and comparing one against the other measures who sat, not how the exam changed.
Small jurisdictions swing widely
When a jurisdiction reports a few dozen examinees, one person moves the percentage by several points, and a change from 60 to 80 percent can be five people. Read those tables through the counts columns, and read a five-year total rather than a single exam.
Where the tables come from
The pass-rate and admissions tables come from NCBE's published bar admission statistics as each jurisdiction reported them, and the school-by-school tables come from the class-of-2024 bar passage reports that ABA-approved law schools publish. Some jurisdictions also publish their own statistics sheets, and where a table comes from a bar's own sheet its source line says so. Figures are as reported and are not adjusted.
A pass rate is context for choosing where to sit, not a forecast for one candidate. For the passing score, deadlines, fees and score-transfer rules that decide whether you can sit at all, use the jurisdiction's guide from the state directory, and for planning your own preparation use the score planner or any of the other free bar exam tools.