Category: Bar Exam

With less than a week to go until the February 2024 Virginia bar exam results, and about 2 weeks for the DC bar exam results, we see other states starting to post. The initial pass rates look lower than usual, but will need to let more states report before drawing any conclusions. Will update here when Virginia and DC post their results. Hang tight, the wait is almost over.

All test takers of the July 2023 DC Bar exam can access their results online immediately. Full pass list and statistics available now at the DC Bar Exam website here. The overall pass rate was a healthy 78% this time, continuing the trend of a much higher pass rate since the UBE was adopted. We had over 2,000 people sit for the exam this July and the February 2024 registration is now open for those who did not pass.

Virginia has posted the summer (July 2023) bar exam results on their website and you can see the full pass lists here. Nearly 75% (74.91%) of all test takers passed the exam, with the University of Virginia taking the top place with 100% of ALL test takers passing the exam (both first time and repeats). Big congratulations to everyone who passed! Interesting to see that the first time test taker pass rate was only slightly higher at 77.24%, likely due to not as many repeat takers being present this summer.

The flip side of all these pass stats is that a quarter of everyone who showed up this summer to Roanoke did not pass the exam, a full 25%. That’s a lot of people. Don’t be too discouraged, the Virginia bar exam is one of the most difficult (if not the most difficult) exams in the country.

The swearing in ceremony is December 6th, congratulations again to everyone who passed!

The February 2023 DC Bar Exam results are now posted, with the full list of passing names available here. We had a fairly low 45% pass rate for this exam, with 606 people attempting the exam and only 271 successful passers. This pass rate is not unusual for a February exam however.

It looks like the Court of Appeals is still doing virtual swearing-ins, so keep an eye out for the email with the details. Congratulations to everyone who passed!

The results for the February 2023 VA Bar Exam are up! You can find the full pass lists here as well as information on the swearing in ceremony which will be held on June 7, 2023.

The exam had an overall pass rate of 63.27%, quite high for a February exam. First time takers did a little better with a pass rate of 74.60%. Congrats to law students from William and Mary having the highest overall pass rate at 88.89%, and congrats to everyone who passed the exam!

The Committee on Admissions has posted the results for the July 2022 DC Bar Exam. You can find the list of successful applicant names here.

The pass rate was a solid 72% for this exam, not too far off the current average for a summer administration. 1,622 people sat for the exam with 1,166 of those passing. Congratulations to all who passed!

DC released their results a couple weeks ago the the pass list is publicly available here. 162 people passed out of 384 total takers for a pass rate of 42%. A bit lower than expected, at less than half. A big congratulations to those that passed! The last minute change of venue was certainly not ideal but not unexpected.

In other news, Nevada will not be using the MBE starting with this July 2022 bar exams. Due to covid, some past exams did not include the MBE but now it’s official moving forward, the MBE is dead in Nevada. For those interested, the full text of the court’s order is here. Will be interesting to see when other states follow suit and how the NCBE responds. At this point, it’s 50/50 in my eyes whether the NCBE will end up ditching the MBE for something else or keeping it and adding more subjects.

Congratulations again to all the newly minted attorneys! Very proud of your hard work and persistence. For those who did not pass, take advantage of the essay review and modify your plan for the July exam. Take care!

The Feb 2022 VA Bar exam results for Virginia have been posted on the VBBE website here. The results were slightly lower than the typical February exams, with a 66% pass rate and 76% of first time takers passing. William and Mary had an excellent showing with all test takers from there passing the exam, 100% of first time and 100% of all takers from W&M passed, congrats! And congrats to everyone else who passed the exam. For those who did not pass the exam, look to your score breakdown to see where you fell short and think about what could have been done differently. The key to improving is changing parts of your approach.

The admission ceremony is June 8th at 12:30pm, congrats again!

The bar exam results for the July 2021 Virginia bar exam have been posted at the VBBE website. The full pass lists (both list 1 and list 2) are up and viewable now. The results are in line with a typical summer administration of the bar exam, with an overall pass rate of around 75%. Congratulations to everyone who passed! You can find the results here.

Looking at the details, we had over 79% of first time test takers pass and just under 75% of all test takers pass. Congratulations to William and Mary and George Mason for both having a pass rate over 90% (William and Mary wins first prize with a pass rate of 91.53%, congrats!) The admission ceremony will be virtual again and will be on December 8th.

Again, congratulations to everyone who passed the exam! If your name is not on the pass list, reassess your study method and try something different for February. Not just a different set of materials, but a different approach.

The Feb 2021 VA bar exam results are now live and up on the VBBE website here.

Results look pretty typical for February, with 69% of first time takers passing and an overall pass rate of a little less than 60%. There are typically more repeat test takers in February and since repeat takers have a lower pass rate (except my students!) the Feb pass rate is correspondingly lower.

Congratulations to everyone that passed! If you didn’t pass, reassess where you fell short and don’t give up. Take a new approach to your studying and try something different for this July.