Bar Exams, Law Schools

Yikes! New Jersey Bar Exam Results Reveal The Worst Passage Rates In A Decade

Is this a harbinger of doom for New York's results?

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fail failureAnother day, another round of disappointing bar exam passage rates.

Connecticut and New Jersey have both released results that may serve as harbingers of doom as we get closer and closer to the release of the results from New York’s first administration of the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE). As previously discussed, Connecticut’s overall passage rate fell from 75 percent in July 2015 to 69 percent in July 2016. Today, we’ll dig into the results from New Jersey’s most recent administration of the bar exam.

According to an announcement from the New Jersey Board of Bar Examiners, the current overall pass rate for the July 2016 exam was just 65.3 percent. (Please bear in mind, however, that 1,110 applicants took the exam, and results have only been released for 1,081 of them. Twenty-nine test-takers have had their results held, and their passage or failure has not been computed into the that 65.3 percentage.) For the sake of comparison, let’s take a look at the results for the past two summer administrations of the New Jersey bar exam. In July 2015, the overall pass rate was 69.9 percent. In July 2014, the overall pass rate was 74.2 percent. As detailed in table we’ve created below, the current overall pass rate for the July 2016 exam is the worst summer pass rate New Jersey has seen for the past decade — and possibly even longer (we were unfortunately unable to find data beyond July 2006 in our research).

New Jersey Bar Exam Overall Pass Rate First Time Pass Rate
July 2006 76.9 percent 82.6 percent
July 2007 78.9 percent 84.3 percent
July 2008 82.2 percent 87.1 percent
July 2009 82.2 percent 86.0 percent
July 2010 80.9 percent 84.9 percent
July 2011 80.9 percent 85.8 percent
July 2012 77.2 percent 79.3 percent
July 2013 79.5 percent 81.3 percent
July 2014 74.2 percent 77.6 percent
July 2015 69.9 percent 73.5 percent
July 2016 65.3 percent (pending) TBA

With rumors swirling as to when New York may release its bar exam results, declines of 4.6 and 6 percentage points in overall exam passage in the states to which New York exam takers typically transfer their MBE scores, coupled with passage rates plummeting in other states that have recently adopted the UBE, can’t be instilling much confidence in those who are still nervously awaiting their results.

Last summer, New York’s overall bar exam passage rate was the worst the state had seen in at least 35 years. Will New York’s results from the July 2016 administration of the exam echo those of New Jersey and Connecticut, with disappointing passage rates? At this point, test-takers can only stay tuned, cross their fingers, and hope for the best (and don’t forget to send your reactions to us via email or via text (646-820-8477)).

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Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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