Law Schools

New York's Adoption Of Uniform Bar Exam Didn't Really Impact Test Pass Rates

Then what was it that made exam performance improve?

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Three years ago, in July 2016, New York administered the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) for the first time. Back then, when bar exam results were plummeting and seemed only to get worse and worse each year, this was viewed as a welcome reprieve to the madness. After all, New York’s former exam was once known as one of the most difficult to pass in the country, but the UBE reportedly offered an “easier” way out for both improved pass rates and law license portability.

But did New York’s transition to the UBE actually help improve test-takers’ performance on the exam?

According to the results of a new study by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), the answer seems to be no. Before we get into the results, here’s some information on the methodology that was used.

The NCBE study looked at performance on the bar exam in New York between July 2015 and July 2017, a time when pass rates increased marginally, examining performance on the bar exam by race, ethnicity, gender, and other background characteristics. The NCBE Research Department also considered how test-takers’ performance in undergraduate education, law school, and the LSAT correlated with their results on the bar exam.

So, what helped law school graduates improve their pass rates on the exam? Here’s a relevant excerpt from the study’s executive summary: “This is not to say that the pattern was perfect, but background characteristics certainly explained at least a portion of the improvement in bar exam scores after UBE adoption, indicating that improvement in bar exam scores was likely not due to the UBE.”

Here are some additional interpretive nuggets from the study:

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  • “[B]ackground characteristics are critical to consider when interpreting fluctuations in bar exam performance across administrations, specifically before and after UBE adoption in New York. We don’t have data to indicate precisely why background characteristics shifted, only that they did.”
  • “The observed positive relationships between background characteristics and bar exam performance were consistent with prior research. Specifically, LGPA had the strongest relationship with bar exam scores, followed by LSAT scores and UGPAs.”
  • “[P]erformance on the New York bar exam before UBE adoption was lower than performance after UBE adoption, however, these differences were largely due to differences in background characteristics of candidates taking the bar exam in New York rather than to the UBE.”

The NCBE won’t come right out and say it, but we will: Bar pass rates started to improve after law schools stopped accepting anyone and everyone, or at least lessened the extent to which they were doing so. As law school application and enrollment statistics started to level off or even slightly increase, there was no longer an excuse to keep admitting students whose performance and success on the bar exam would be questionable at best.

Now that the law school enrollment crisis of the past has been averted, hopefully future bar exam pass rates will rise with the improved background characteristics of students entering law school. After all, we must make sure that those who bet their lives and careers on a legal education don’t wind up in a worse position than what they started with in the first place.

Impact of Adoption of the Uniform Bar Examination in New York [NCBE Research Department]
NY’s Transition to Uniform Bar Exam Had Little Impact on Test Performance, Report Finds [New York Law Journal]

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Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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