Next Gen Bar Exam: First Results, What Changed and Which States Adopt It

Last updated: 4 November 2026. This guide is based on National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) announcements, NCBE’s jurisdiction tables as updated on 2 November 2026, the Washington Supreme Court’s order of 6 August 2026, Washington State Bar Association results and reporting by the ABA Journal and Bloomberg Law. Bar admission rules change, so confirm your own jurisdiction’s position with its admitting authority.

Short answer: The next gen bar exam launched in July 2026 in 10 jurisdictions. NCBE’s first national results showed 72.7% of examinees passing, and 85.2% of first-timers, though a venue failure stopped 645 Washington applicants testing. NCBE now lists 52 adopting jurisdictions, 12 more start in July 2027, and the old exam ends after February 2028.

Key takeaways

• The first administration ran in the last week of July 2026. Most sites tested as planned, but Washington cancelled testing at Yakima for most applicants, and 447 later accepted a court-ordered waiver.
• Among 2,630 examinees with official scores, the mean was 640.6 on a 500 to 750 scale. State pass rates reported by NCBE run from 63% in Connecticut to 80% in Idaho and Oregon.
• The new exam takes nine hours over a day and a half, on laptops, and tests lawyering skills alongside eight foundational subjects.
• Most large states wait until July 2028, including California, New York, Texas and Florida. Arkansas, Louisiana, Nevada and Puerto Rico are not listed as adopters.

What is the next gen bar exam?

The NextGen Uniform Bar Examination, or NextGen UBE, is NCBE’s replacement for the Uniform Bar Exam, which combines the Multistate Bar Exam, Multistate Essay Exam and Multistate Performance Test. NCBE announced the structure in August 2023 and describes the new exam as testing a broad range of lawyering skills using a focused set of legal concepts. If you are still working out where the bar fits in your training, our guide to the JD timeline and bar admission sets out the path.

It sits within a wider debate about licensing. Some courts are also looking beyond exams altogether, as in the chief justices’ call for alternatives to the bar exam we reported in 2025. For now, though, the NextGen exam is the direction nearly every US jurisdiction has taken.

What changed from the old bar exam?

The biggest changes are the format, the scoring and the emphasis on skills rather than recall.

The exam is taken on a laptop through a secure testing platform. In NCBE’s 2023 outline, each session has two integrated question sets, one performance task and about 40 multiple-choice questions. Performance tasks make up 30% of the total score, according to NCBE’s 2025 blueprint announcement, and there are two kinds: a standard task built around one longer piece of writing, and a legal research task. Written answers are graded by jurisdictions on a central platform, with double grading and reconciliation.

On content, NCBE’s preparation page lists eight foundational subjects through February 2028: business associations, civil procedure, constitutional law, contract law, criminal law, evidence, real property and torts. Family law and trusts and estates appear in skills-focused questions, with the legal resources supplied. Family law joins the tested subjects from July 2028.

The seven skills are legal research, legal writing, issue spotting and analysis, investigation and evaluation, client counselling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, and client relationship and management. The Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam stays a separate test.

What happened at the first NextGen bar exam in July 2026?

According to NCBE’s report of 31 July 2026, 2,640 examinees completed the exam across 10 jurisdictions, 16 locations and 131 rooms: Connecticut, Guam, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Palau, the US Virgin Islands and Washington. Seven of those finished without major disruption. Maryland and Missouri had bandwidth problems at some sites on the first day, which were resolved, and examinees finished as scheduled.

Washington was the serious failure. About 700 applicants were due to sit at the Yakima Convention Center, most could not start because of what NCBE calls a venue-specific infrastructure problem, and the state bar cancelled testing. NCBE counted 645 people unable to test and says its platform performed as designed. About 4% of examinees across all sites were given backup devices for routine technical issues.

The state supreme court stepped in on 6 August. Its order let affected applicants with no earlier bar failure choose between a waiver and a free transfer to the September 2026 or February 2027 exam. Those who had failed a bar exam before could only transfer. The waiver comes with conditions: passing the Washington Law Component, scoring 85 or higher on the MPRE and meeting a 28 November 2029 deadline. As the ABA Journal reported, it allows practice in Washington only, so anyone wanting a portable score still has to sit the exam.

Bloomberg Law reported, citing the state bar, that 447 people accepted the waiver. NCBE says 171 sat the make-up exam in Tacoma on 1 and 2 September.

What were the first NextGen bar exam results?

NCBE’s national results, published on 25 September 2026, gave these headline figures for the 2,630 people who earned an official score:

• Mean score 640.6, median 640.
• Overall pass rate 72.7%, which NCBE says is within 4.3 percentage points of every July national rate from 2021 to 2025.
• First-time examinees 85.2%, repeat examinees 41.0%.

Treat those numbers with care. NCBE warns that the pool was much smaller than a normal July group, and that first-timers now means people who have never taken a bar exam anywhere, where past data could include people new only to that jurisdiction. It also found no consistent sign that disrupted examinees scored differently, though a report is still to come. NCBE’s jurisdiction table says scores should not be compared with legacy UBE scores.

The figures above come from NCBE’s pass rate table, last updated on 2 November 2026. Each jurisdiction sets its own passing score and its own definition of first-time and repeat examinees. Oregon’s 615 applied to July 2026 only, and it uses 620 afterwards. Washington’s published results combine the July and September sittings, so that row should not be read beside the national July total.

Which states have adopted the next gen bar exam?

NCBE’s decisions table, updated on 2 November 2026, shows 52 adopting jurisdictions. Here is when each one starts:

Three points deserve attention. California’s Supreme Court approved adoption on 15 July 2026, starting in July 2028, and directed that the passing score reflect the same minimum competence as its current exam. West Virginia appears under July 2028 in NCBE’s current table and chart, although NCBE’s July release named it for 2027, so check with the state board. And Arkansas has not decided: its Supreme Court asked its Board of Law Examiners to report by 31 December 2026, including on results from the 2026 jurisdictions.

Can you transfer a NextGen score to another state?

Often, but not everywhere, and not always straight away. NCBE’s jurisdiction chart shows most adopters accepting scores from July 2026. Florida, New York and Virginia will not accept transfers from exams before July 2028, and Hawaii does not intend to accept them at all. Arizona requires a minimum of 620 until further order.

Many jurisdictions add their own requirement, and the form varies widely. Maryland uses online outlines and a quiz, Missouri an open-book online test, Tennessee a course on state law, Alabama a three-hour essay exam, Florida a four-hour component the day before, and Texas a Texas Law Component. Several, including New York, were still to be announced at the time of writing.

What should law students do now?

Start by matching your expected graduation date to the table. Then confirm with your admitting authority, because some details are still marked “to be announced”. Washington’s experience is also a reason to keep your plans flexible around the exam, with some room in any start date you agree with an employer.

Next, change how you practise. NCBE’s free materials include sample questions, a software tutorial and a Content Scope, and its official study aids run on the real exam software. If you first want the basics of how a bar exam works, start with understanding the bar exam, written before the NextGen launch, then come back here for what has changed. Timed writing and working from supplied legal materials are central to the new format. Your exam date also shapes when you can start practising as an associate, and our guide to the law firm hierarchy shows where that role sits.

Finally, watch July 2027. It will be a much larger test of the system than July 2026, with 12 more jurisdictions joining. NCBE has said it made technical and operational changes after the first sitting.

Frequently asked questions

When did the next gen bar exam start?

It started in the last week of July 2026, in 10 jurisdictions. NCBE reported that 2,640 people completed that first administration. Further test dates listed by NCBE are 23 and 24 February 2027, 27 and 28 July 2027, and 22 and 23 February 2028. The legacy exam’s final administration is February 2028.

Is the NextGen bar exam easier than the old one?

Nobody can say yet. The 72.7% overall pass rate sits within NCBE’s stated range of recent July national rates, but the pool was small and limited to 10 jurisdictions. NCBE says one administration cannot answer every question, and scores cannot be compared with legacy UBE scores. Several more administrations will be needed.

What score do you need to pass the NextGen bar exam?

Each jurisdiction sets its own. For July 2026, passing scores on the 500 to 750 scale ran from 610 in Missouri and Washington to 616 in Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland and the US Virgin Islands. Oregon used 615 for that sitting and 620 afterwards. California must set a score matching the competence required by its current exam.

Why was the Washington bar exam cancelled in July 2026?

Testing stopped because of technical problems at the Yakima Convention Center. NCBE describes it as a venue-specific infrastructure problem and says its platform worked as designed. Bloomberg Law reported connection problems. The Washington State Bar Association cancelled testing for the applicants affected, and NCBE counted 645 of them. The court order and make-up exam followed.

Which states have not adopted the NextGen bar exam?

NCBE lists Arkansas, Louisiana, Nevada and Puerto Rico as not having adopted it. Arkansas is still considering the question, with a board report due by 31 December 2026. Mississippi has adopted the exam but has not announced a date. Check directly with each authority, since this list has been changing during 2026.

Will my state’s own law still be tested?

Often, yes, but separately. Many jurisdictions keep a state-specific requirement alongside the NextGen UBE, ranging from online courses to essay exams. Examples include the Texas Law Component, Florida’s four-hour component and Tennessee’s law course. NCBE’s chart lists the current position, and several jurisdictions, including New York, have yet to confirm theirs.

This article is general information about US bar admission as of 4 November 2026. It is not legal or admissions advice. Dates and requirements are set by each jurisdiction’s highest court and bar authority and can change.