Legal Education

Mean scaled score for bar exam's multiple-choice section sees slight increase

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Rosemary Reshetar, the director of assessment and research for the National Conference of Bar Examiners, predicts that overall pass rates for the July 2023 bar exam will be similar to the July 2022 administration. Image from Shutterstock.

The national mean scaled score for the July 2023 Multistate Bar Examination, which consists of 200 multiple-choice questions, is 140.5, the National Conference of Bar Examiners announced Thursday.

In comparison, the mean scaled score was 140.3 for the July 2022 administration.

Rosemary Reshetar, the NCBE’s director of assessment and research, predicts that overall pass rates for the July 2023 bar exam will be similar to the July 2022 administration.

“We saw small score increases this July for both first-time and repeat test takers, with the greatest increase for those who were repeating the exam,” she said in a news release.

According to the NCBE, 45,968 people took the July 2023 MBE, and that was an increase of about 2.8% compared to last year. Of the July 2023 examinees, 75% were first-time test-takers, and 25% were repeaters, according to the release.

For the July 2022 exam, 77% of examinees were first-time test-takers, and 23% were repeaters.

Passing scores by jurisdiction and release dates for bar exam results can be viewed here.

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