Bar Exam
California moves closer to adopting NextGen Uniform Bar Exam
As a decision deadline looms, California moved a step closer to adopting the NextGen Uniform Bar Exam after the State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners recommended Friday that the California Supreme Court adopt the new National Conference of Bar Examiners test and administer it in July 2028. (Image from Shutterstock)
As a decision deadline looms, California moved a step closer to adopting the NextGen Uniform Bar Exam after the State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners recommended Friday that the California Supreme Court adopt the new National Conference of Bar Examiners test and administer it in July 2028.
The urgency stems from the state’s failed February 2025 administration of a new, proprietary exam that experienced a host of troubles, including technical glitches and revelations that some questions written by artificial intelligence with help from nonlawyers. After that, the California Supreme Court ordered a return to the Multistate Bar Examination until the NCBE sunsets the Uniform Bar Exam in 2028.
Now, the state is under the gun to decide which bar exam to use going forward. Under California law, there must be at least a notice of two years before the state can make substantial changes to how the exam is administered, meaning that bar officials must make a recommendation to the California Supreme Court with enough time to make the final decision by July 2026.
The Friday decision comes after the committee had voted in January to explore two options—creating its own exam using questions developed by test prep company Kaplan or administering the NextGen exam without a California component.
In addition, last week, the state bar’s Committee of Bar Examiners also approved seeking the state supreme court’s direction on which subjects and skills to include in a state-specific portion of the exam that would be considered and developed after the potential NextGen UBE launch.
In the fallout from the February 2025 exam, the Committee of Bar Examiners has approved scoring adjustments, and the state supreme court lowered that exam’s pass score, as well as ordered the return an in-person administration of the exam.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar of the Northern District of California granted a stay in the case that February 2025 class of California bar examinees brought against ProctorU, the vendor operating as Meazure Learning that proctored ill-fated remote and hybrid exam, as the parties move toward mediation.
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