The new exam aims to be more cost-efficient, potentially saving the bar up to US$3.8 million
The California Supreme Court has approved the State Bar of California's plan to implement a revamped lawyer licensing exam that will be administered both remotely and in person starting in February 2025.
Reuters reported that California is the first jurisdiction to fully abandon the traditional bar exam developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE). The NCBE plans to launch its overhauled exam in July 2026.
The approval follows the state bar’s proposal for an alternative exam designed in collaboration with Kaplan North America. The revamped exam aims to be more cost-efficient, potentially saving the bar up to US$3.8 million annually by allowing smaller, remote test centers instead of large, costly venues. This shift comes amid a “fiscal crisis” faced by the state bar’s admissions division.
Alongside the new exam rollout, the state bar introduced a beta test plan to help finalize and refine the exam questions. Participants in the beta test, scheduled for November, will have an opportunity to earn up to a 40-point increase on their official bar exam scores, which is graded out of 2,000 points. However, those who score poorly in the beta will not face penalties on the main exam. While the Supreme Court approved this score adjustment for the November beta, it declined a similar adjustment for a planned July 2025 beta test, pending a review of the results from the initial November run.
California’s move marks a significant departure from the standardized NCBE model, which has long dominated bar exams across the US. The change is particularly noteworthy given California’s position as the nation’s second-largest bar jurisdiction after New York, with over 11,000 aspiring lawyers taking the exam in 2023 alone, according to Reuters.
The Supreme Court’s approval comes after an initial rejection in September when it found that the state bar had not adhered to the necessary administrative procedures in its first attempt to implement the changes. This latest approval followed revisions and compliance with the required process.
Brandon Stallings, chair of the State Bar’s Board of Trustees, expressed gratitude to the Supreme Court for its “decisive action.” However, the plan has faced criticism from several law deans across the state. In a joint letter submitted in September, 15 law school deans urged the court to delay the rollout, citing concerns about the readiness and effectiveness of the new exam. They argued that the new plan could exacerbate existing issues rather than resolve them.
